Fluoroquinolone Toxicity:
Surviving the Dismissal and Despair IT�S BECOMING AN ALL-TOO-FAMILIAR STORY. Jane, a mother of two, makes an appointment to see her family doctor. She has
been having intense widespread joint pain for
the last 18 months, getting progressively worse.
She�s now having intense headaches, visual dis-
turbances, and a resting tremor in her hands. Her
family doctor refers her for MRIs and blood work;
all normal. Stumped, the family doctor sends her
to a rheumatologist, who promptly diagnoses � bromyalgia and prescribes pain medication.
Of course, the medication doesn�t help, and the
doctors begin to convince the patient that it�s all
in her head and maybe she�s just depressed.
Therefore, she is given another medication, too.
Unfortunately, Jane is suffering from a reaction to
an antibiotic she took two years prior for an upper
respiratory infection that she just couldn�t shake. This antibiotic was a speci � c
type�.a fluoroquinolone.
The � uoroquinolone family of
antibiotics is a powerful treatment in
the � ght against some of the most
dangerous infections. Examples
of fluoroquinolone medications
include Avelox, Cipro, and Levaquin.
Treatment guidelines currently rec-
ommend avoiding the use of this
family of antibiotics for infections
that are less threatening, so that they
may be reserved for antibiotic-resis-
tant bacteria like MRSA (methicillin
resistant Staph Aureus), for infec-
tions contracted while in the hospital,
or for Clostridium Dif � cile infections.
Fluoroquinolone antibiot-ics work by interfering with DNA replication in the bac-
teria, thus preventing their spread.
However, it has also been shown
to interfere with the DNA of healthy
cells, which is what gives rise to
the significant safety risk asso-
ciated with these medications.
Side effects of fluoroquinolone
medications are often misdiag-
nosed by physicians as other separately identi � ed ailments, even
when more than one symptom
is present. Side effects of � uoro-
quinolone medications include:
� blood sugar dysregulation,
� central nervous system toxicity
� gastrointestinal issues,
� skin eruptions
� musculoskeletal joint pain,
� cardiotoxicity,
� respiratory effects, and
� tendinopathy
(including tendon rupture).
However, in a 2005 study, neu-
ropsychiatric side effects were
more commonly caused by flu-
oroquinolone antibiotics than
any other family of medications.
Since widespread joint pain is a common side effect of � uo-
roquinolone toxicity, patients
presenting to physicians with these
symptoms are often diagnosed
with � bromyalgia. In many cases,
these patients also seek out the
advice of complementary and alter-
native (CAM) practitioners after
exhausting the conventional routes.
Thankfully, many patients who by Megan Strauchman, DOMark Morningstar, DC May/June 2012 28 Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Life HEALTH CARE PROVIDER INSIGHTS