Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain LIFE May/Jun 2012, Issue 5 | Page 28

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