When is a class action lawsuit going to be opened against the ADA, CDC, FDA, Delta Dental for pushing "fluoride" in our Drinking water and causing Fluorosis and what ever else, in our young children and that thier are directly resposible for?
Who is going to pay to fix the "cosmetic" and other effects from being exposed unnaturally to fluoride
Read The info at this site
Ecosystems Health
Faculty of Medicine and Denstistry
The University of Western Ontario

LINK

"Western World appears preoccupied with the chiefly cosmetic concern of Dental Fluorosis, documenting recent increases of up to 45% in the incidence of mottled teeth in North American children."

Fluoride is only a small part of the quinolone poisoning. Yes, I have severe documented bone loss because of it, but the main point of quinolone toxicity is that it attacks the DNA, underlying structure of the cells and can affect every organ in your body. This is why so many quinolone victims suffer with a constellation of injuries to multiple organs. It's not just the fluoride, although that is also a problem. So when does the class action suit begin for those people with multiple permanent side effects beyond tendonitis?

That article by "whacky wendy" has been circulating around the Internet for years. It is so full of half truths and out and out misinformation to be absolutely worthless. But she is entitled to her opinions as anyone else may be. But the problem is that she is stating them as facts when the research has clearly shown that they are not. This article of hers has been discussed to death on the various forums and little to nothing she states can or has been proven to date.

Fluoride is a 'non issue' when it comes to this class. The older quinolone did not even contain fluoride yet the same damage resulted. The medical documentation you seek has already been compiled and can be found on LINK and NONE of those articles attribute these injuried to fluoride. And there are 4000 of them there for you to read.

Since I am a guest on your site I cannot express my true feelings regarding fluoride and the fluoroquinolones without abusing your hospitality. As this subject has been debated for over a decade now on the various forums, indeed I am sick to death of hearing about it yet again. Perhaps for the millionth time. So I will try my utmost to remain civil here.

Fluoride may indeed have it's problems but it has no bearing on what we are discussing here. I have researched the fluoroquinolones for almost a decade now and have found NOTHING that supports the view that there is any association what so ever with the severe adverse reactions to the fluoroquinolones and the fact that the later drugs contained a fluorine atom. The amount ingested with a fluoroquinolone drug is so miniscule as to be ridiculous and you absord more fluoride with your drinking water or toothpaste than you ever would by taking these drugs.

The use of a fluorine atom as an accelerator is quite common in thousands of different drugs but you don't see people suffering like this from taking them. Furthermore the original quinolone drugs did NOT even contain fluoride. Yet they too produced spontaneous tendon ruptures as well as ALL the reported adverse reactions associated with this class. Fluoride was not even in those drugs to begin with, but was added at a much later date for deeper tissue penetration.

I am a 43-year-old woman. In December of 06, I was prescribed Levaquin and then Avelox. I took them for a total of 17 days. Within 24 hours, I felt like I was in a fog. Within two days, I was awakened from a sound sleep with severe muscle cramps in my thighs. My leg pain was excruciating. I was also experiencing electrical and burning sensations all over. I called my doctor. She didn't tell me to stop taking my antibiotic. I continued to take it, never attributing my pain to an antibiotic. Over the next 6 months, I developed tendonitis in every possible tendon in my body. As a professional pianist and piano teacher, I couldn’t practice the piano for 2 months. I couldn’t teach for a whole month as I could barely hobble around. I couldn't drive a car due to the pain in my calves, thighs and knees for 6 months. I couldn't walk 20 yards without my legs giving out. I couldn't even rest my foot on the floor for more than a minute because of the pressure on my tendons. I had to constantly keep changing my position from sitting, to standing, to lying down. I had muscle twitching all over and severe insomnia for about 5 months. I had terrible night sweats, but could never get warm during the day. I lost 13 pounds within 2 weeks. I spent over $3000.00 on medical tests to rule out everything from Celiac's disease to neuromuscular diseases and Sjogren's syndrome. Of course, you can imagine the anxiety over the thought of having a disease like ALS. Gradually, I began to get better. Nearly 2 years later, I have mostly healed. However, I do continue to get tendonitis if I am not careful. I workout daily, as this seems to help ease the arthritis I now have. However, I have to be very careful to not over do it. I have nerve pain in my shoulder and neck that isn't getting better. My husband, an MD, was ashamed that he didn't recognize the symptoms and stop me from taking the drug. He and I both just want doctors to inform patients and recognize these reactions. If I had only known within the first 24 hours to stop taking the drug, I probably wouldn't have had such a severe reaction. These reactions are anything but rare, just RARELY recognized.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics have damaged many people. I know of this severe damage on a personal level since I suffered such and adverse reaction to the fluoroquinolone antibiotic Levaquin myself 22 months ago. Since then I have had daily pain and disability of my nervous and musculoskeletal systems and for several months had endocrine and gastrointestinal problems as well. The disability and damage caused by fluoroquinolones is long term and may gradually escalate in that more severe problems such as worsened neuropathy, neuromuscular disorders, musculoskeletal disorders and endocrine disorders once initiated by the fluoroquinolones may develop with a delayed and insidious progress.

This progression of the fluoroquinolone toxicity syndrome is well know by its sufferers and not recognized by health care givers. There has been no investigation in to the reactions. This lack of attention stems from of an antiquated FDA reporting system and the under-representation of the seriousness and frequency of the adverse reactions. The makers of fluoroquinolones have no interest in investigating adverse reactions when doing so will hurt them financially. It is only recently with the weight of litigation pressing down that the FDA has published its incomplete and grossly inadequate boxed warning about the potential for fluoroquinolone toxicity.


I have met many other patients suffering from the adverse effects of fluoroquinolones. Many of them reside in my community including 3 physicians and more than twenty patients.

Although these drugs may be life saving in certain infections when less toxic antibiotics may fail, they have been promoted for use as first line treatment for sinusitis, and urinary tract infections, and are often given indiscriminately to unsuspecting patients by uninformed and cavalier physicians for such benign illnesses as the common upper respiratory infection. Unfortunately for many patients they are trading a mild short term medical problem for a serious long term one.

Sincerely,


Todd Plumb MD

I think the fluoride in these FQ drugs is what allows them to penetrate so deeply into our cells and even DNA. This is where all the long lasting damage is derived from. Fluoride is one of the most toxic chemicals there are.

The number of side effects and the seriousness of these side effects caused by this class of antibiotics is grossly underrated and under-reported. Tendon damage is only one of the many injuries these drugs inflict on thousands of people each year. The delay in time between taking these drugs and having the adverse reactions present can be what has concealed the high number of reactions. Most Dr’s do not even realize that the tendon, nerve, joint, muscle and CNS injuries that their patients develop after taking Fluoroquinolones is related to this class of antibiotic.

The true number of people affected each year by these antibiotics is astounding and has been well hidden by the manufacturers. There are thousands of people that have been permanently crippled and hundreds of thousands more that have suffered the ADR’s of Fluoroquinolones for months to years.
These ADR’s are not uncommon at all.

I was a normal healthy 51 Y/O male that was prescribed Cipro for a uncomplicated UTI. I was not given a risk vs. benefit warning first by my Dr. When I told him that Cipro had caused severe ADR’s, he refused to file a Medwatch or FDA report as I asked him to. He told me he would no longer treat me and I was asked to leave. I was treated like a criminal because I complained that Cipro had given me bad side effects.

I can only say that this Black Box warning is way overdue and still doesn’t cover many of the other severe and disabling side effects these drugs inflict on otherwise healthy people.

In December 2004 I was prescribed Avelox, a fluoroquinolone antibiotic for a sinus infection and bronchitis.
I immediately became very ill. I couldn't get off the couch. As days went on, I began to get pains throughout my body. Then the fasciliations began and the tremors throughout my abdomen. In the insuing weeks, the tremors moved into my extremities. Then the excruciating, burning pain began.
I ended up in the ER twice, had extensive blood tests, Brain MRI's, Cat Scans, and the list goes on to rule out MS, Lupus, Lyme and a host of other diseases. All came back negative. All this began after ingesting the avelox. There is not a doubt in my mind that Avelox poisoned me; that I suffered Central nervous system damage and peripheral neuropathy. It has been 3 1/2 years since this event and I still suffer peripheral pain and short term memory loss.
The first year was wrought with insomnia, anxiety and pain. I thought my life was over. Thankfully my reaction was not as severe as others who have been poisoned by these antibiotics. Nonetheless, my reaction has changed my life. My memory is forever damaged. My hands are in constant pain. My work is hindered. And I feel like it's taken years off of my life.
In my experience, I found very little support from doctors. One neurologist at a major Ivy League medical school believed me and had seen the damage from fluoroquinolones before. But he confessed that he was at a loss how to treat my conditions other than to just treat the pain with pain killers and the anxiety with ativan.
I want more than anything to prevent anyone else from suffering these horrendous adverse effects. These drugs need more than tendon ruptures mentioned in the Black Box. The Black Box needs to mention the CNS damage and the peripheral nerve pain, the excruciating anxiety, as well as a laundry list of other effects suffered by a multitude of victims like myself.
We need a voice! We need support! And we need to be believed!
Sally

I don't think fluoride poisoning is the cause for all the adverse reactions. Something in these drugs has a very toxic effect on the whole body. When my husband had the first rupture in his triceps, something happened before that. A very small piece of calcified material broke off inside his elbow when he bumped it. I think there have been questions about what comes first, rupture or the calcification. I know that my husband already had this calcification occurring before the rupture. The doctors report also mentioned the tissue being very avascular when he operated. I'm not a doctor, but I think something might be wrong concerning blood flow. There was a rash he had after taking Cipro the first time. It looked like tiny sores around his ankles. He thought he must have been bitten by fire ants while outside, but couldn't remember when that could have happened. In 2006, I came across a picture of vasculitic rash. It was identical to what his ankles looked like back then. I have heard quite a few people talking about numbness in arms & legs with tingling, burning sensations & pins & needles feelings. My husband is one of those. If I sit on my leg for too long, it goes asleep. When I get up, it's numb, pins & needles, burning & tingling. I think lack of proper blood flow causes this to happen. That's my best guess for a possible explanation to some of these adverse reactions.

I took exactly 2500 mg (10 pills of 250 mg) of ciprofloxacin over a period of 5 days in the summer of 2007 .

Because of Cipro I need a wheelchair now.

I've always been a healthy person. I took part in squash, tennis, football and jogging.

After taking the third pill the first signs started. I had joint and muscles pain in my calves and arms. Because it was on saturday I did not call my doctor. I did read the paper in the box of Cipro and it did not say to stop immediately. If I did stop I would have less problems. Damned why don’t they warn us better.

On monday I went to my doctor and he said it was from Cipro but he thought it would not harm to go further. He did not know what to do.

MY SYMPTOMS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Joint pains
Calves/Achilles Arms Hamstrings Shoulders
Muscle pains
Increased joint stiffness
Dry ears
Dry eyes
Dry mouth and nose
Insomnia
Numbness feeling right foot
Joint popping all over my body
Dry sinus
Ear pain
Red skin after touching it / pressure on it

It is almost a year after taking Cipro.

I cannot walk because of pain in calves and Achilles.
I need a wheelchair out of my home.

There is a direct mention of fluorides causing muscle and nerve damage in the USDHHS/ATSDR book: Toxicological Profile for Fluorides, Hydrogen Fluoride, and Fluorine (F) 1993, pages 35-36.

My reaction to avelox started almost three months after I took the drug for a sinus infection, in March, 2005. I did not have the muscloskeletal problems that many have, but I had the vision problems, extreme fatigue, dehydration, brain fog and short term memory loss, neuropathy, and tinnitis. Some of these ADRs stay with me today.

The medical community simply does not acknowledge the danger of fluoroquinolones. In 6 months of going from specialist to specialist, no one could tell me what was wrong with me because nobody is looking for ADRs to drugs in their diagnostic paradigm. And because they’re not, people are being mis-diagnosed.

I feel this is nothing short of a health crisis in this country. These drugs are causing major damage to people and incur great cost to our health care system. In my case, I had probably 30K worth of useless tests. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromylgia are possible results of fluoroquinolone ADRs. I know that FQ ADRs mimic arthritis in older people. FQs have been known to cause diabetes. And the list goes on.

Black box warnings should include the FULL SPECTRUM of the ADRs assocoated with these drugs. The FDA is only cutting their losses with this warning in response to a lawsuit by Public Citizen. The FDA should insist on Dear Doctor letters in the USA like there are in Europe. But the FDA is not protecting the citizens of this country; that much is evident. They have been ignoring the evidence of damage by this class of drugs for at least 25 years.

Fluoride is a toxic poison that I have avoided to the best of my ability for many years (sounds funny to say that now after having taken an FQ), but as previous posters have pointed out it is unclear how much of a factor it is in the development of Quinolone Toxicity Syndrome. Its use as a penetration enhancer may somewhat explain the ability of these drugs to cause side effects that persist in the body for years if not permanently. I was a healthy, vibrant and active 27 year-old wife and mother when I was prescribed Cipro on September 25, 2007. I stopped after the third 500 MG pill when a "guardian angel" friend helped me connect the insomnia and severe headache I was experiencing to the Cipro....within 24 hours of discontinuing the Cipro symptoms intensified and multiplied. I experienced severe neuropathy all over my body, tachycardia, insomnia (not one minute of sleep for over two weeks), profuse sweating, inability to stop pacing, psychosis, loss of appetite, metallic taste in my mouth, mouth sores, dizziness, tendon pain, joint pain, extreme weakness in every muscle of my body especially my jaw, high blood sugar readings, inability to focus my vision on objects, eye floaters, and many more. After this acute stage subsided I have since gone on to develop vertigo (bad enough at times that turning over in bed induced vomiting), severe jaw pain, treatment-resistant hypothyroidism, inability to digest food and extreme stomach pain, atonic colon, skin that will not heal, multiple food and chemical sensitivities broken capillaries all over my body/face, weight loss, extreme fatigue, and a disabling skin reaction to any amount of UV light, and I look like a deflated balloon...there are more but my memory has been affected as well. If I had been given adequate risk/benefit warnings regarding taking this drug I would have absolutely opted to take another antibiotic instead. This drug has ruined my life, and robbed my children of their mother and my husband of his wife. There is not one aspect of my life that hasn't been affected by those three Cipro pills taken almost 10 months ago. My brief experience with conventional medicine is officially done....if there is one thing that I am grateful for from going through this experience it has taught me that without exception no pharmaceuticals can be trusted, and I will never put my life and health in the hands of conventional medicine again

Flouroquinolones antibiotics (Levaquin, Cipro, Avelox) can be very dangerous. It’s imperative to understand the potentially insidious side effects and that research be spent on finding a cure.

I was a healthy 43 year old male. 12 days of Levaquin has changed my life. I had never had a side effect from a medication. This dangerous drug is in a different league.

My side effects from Levaquin include a deep ache in thigh, disabling tendon issues across achilles, groin, elbow, etc. I have tingling, numbness sensations, and muscle twitching. I need crutches now to walk, and some days cannot walk at all. This is my life now because of Levaquin.

While the black box warning issued by the FDA is a start, it doesn’t go nearly far enough in describing the seriousness nor the scope of the side effects.

It’s time to recognize the facts and not rationalize them away. Let’s not have more tragedies.

The ADR from a derivative of fluoroquinolones changed my life for ever. From being healthy to suffering from day one with, cardiac, neurological, liver, kidneys, muscles, tendons, muscles, visual and auditory damage, debilitating weakness leading to being bedridden for many months, neuropathic pains, indescribable pains, and more. For those who want info strictly concerning the ADR, visit LINK and a forum to exchange info, tips, and is diverse, and has a chatroom, where we meet every Thursday nights, visit: LINK

I had surgery in 2000 to remove a urinary bladder stone caused by a previous unnecessary and unsuccessful surgery for minor stress incontinence. I was given Cipro for weeks prior to the surgery and after. I was told that the inside of my bladder looked like raw hamburger meat. I continued to get UTIs while the bladder surface was healing. I was given Cipro many times over the next 5 years by 3 different physicians. I was 60 or over at the time. I was told by 2 physicians that I needed to be on Cipro for a year. After 5 months in 2005, I stopped taking the drug since I developed severe ear pain. I experienced about 20 side effects, tendon rupture, neuropathy, sensitivity to noises, balance problems, rashes and itching, sun sensitivity, fatigue, vision problems, to name just a few. I'm still disabled and suffering. What in the world will a black box do? This drug needs to be withdrawn from the market.

Here I sit over 25 months later from taking 4 750mg pills of Levaquin for a simple sinus infection. Here I sit in much pain with blurry vision. I've been in pain every day since day 3 of Levaquin. I wasn't given any warnings, just samples in my doctor's office, who, had been lied to by the drug reps about these fluoroquinolone drugs. I asked, "anything I need to know, any side effects"? "No" I was told, "these are great big-gun antibiotics". No, I have not had a tendon rupture but still have tendonitis in many parts of my body, my shoulder being so bad that my therapist is scared to work on it. My neck froze up 2 weeks ago leaving me screaming in pain and unable to drive. I suffered from severe insomnia, depression and thoughts of suicide, all drug related. I still suffer from many other ADRs including muscle twitching, nerve pain, osteoarthritis (never had this before Levaquin), floaters, gastro problems, liver problems, fuzzy vision, etc., etc., etc. My doctor has written "Levaquin toxicity" as my diagnosis. My neurologist agrees. This Black Box Warning is not strong enough! Tendon ruptures in people over 60 is just the tip of the iceburg! I was only 47 and very healthy when I took this drug. I did not take it with steriods. This drug has ruined my life! It has taken 2 years from me and God knows how many more it will take. These drugs should only be used as a last resort! Please stop hurting people!

Though I had posted this on other sites dealing with this issue, it is still relevant to the discussion at hand and I would hope the host of this site would not take offense at me repeating it here:

In addition to the recent "Black Box Warnings" as well as the European "Dear Doctor" issued by Bayer overseas back in February 2008 concerning Avelox, the European Medicines Agency has moved to severely restrict the use of Avelox (moxifloxacin), to wit:

FRANKFURT, July 24 (Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency has recommended limiting the use of oral moxifloxacin-containing medicines after finalizing a review of the safety of the antibiotics, the agency said on Thursday.

The European body (EMEA) said it had concluded that these drugs should only be prescribed for acute bacterial sinusitis, acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis and community-acquired pneumonia when other antibiotics cannot be used or have failed.

"The agency also recommended strengthening the warnings for oral moxifloxacin medicines," it said in a statement.

Moxifloxacin, a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, is marketed by Bayer (BAYG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) under its brand Avelox.

At its July 2008 meeting, the agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) concluded that the benefits of oral moxifloxacin medicines continued to outweigh its risks.

However, due to safety concerns, mainly related to an increased risk of adverse hepatic reactions, it recommended restricting their use in these indications.

The CHMP opinion will now be forwarded to the European Commission to apply to all oral moxifloxacin-containing medicines authorized in the European Union.

Responding to the recommendation, Bayer said the review confirmed the positive benefit-risk profile of the drug.

"We would welcome an EMEA assessment of other antibiotics used for treatment of these infections in a similar fashion in the interest of patient care," said Kemal Malik, a member of Bayer HealthCare executive committee and chief medical officer.

LINK

Black Box Warnings, Dear Doctor Letters, restrictions place on the use of Avelox, thousands of patients responding to these articles claiming severe injuries from this class, hundreds if not thousands of adverse drug reaction forums with tens of thousands of members world wide, as well as more than fifty percent of these drugs removed from clinical practice, and last but not least the fact that Nalidixic Acid, upon which all these drugs are based is a listed cancer causing agent, I dare to ask: are we still to believe the following comment which can be found at the end of just about any article written about this class?

'The fluoroquinolones as a class are generally well tolerated; most adverse effects are mild in severity, self-limited, and rarely result in treatment discontinuation...'

Or are we to continue wonder if we are the only ones who have bothered to do any research on this class in the past twenty six years. For surely who ever would make such a claim has not.

“Repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth ...” - usually credited to Dr Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister of the Third Reich. I now credit it to those medical researchers who continue to state how safe and effective this class of chemotherapuetic agents are. For they have repeated this lie a thousand times a thousand times. Rather odd coincident that they are both (Goebbels, and these medical researchers who state such blatant lies) members of the medical community.