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More Accounts of Cipro/Levaquin Side Effects

Jeff Rasansky — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:20:16 GMT

Last week we blogged about Cipro and Levequin, two antibiotics that have been known to cause some pretty bad side effects. The FDA released a statement on July 8, that requested black box warnings for these drugs. Talk about side effects! These drugs have been linked to a risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture!

I decided to dig around a bit and see if I could find any first-hand accounts of people who have taken these drugs and experienced the side effects. I was amazed at what I found:

I have taken Levaquin 500 mg tablets for 11 days (until 2 days ago) against pneumonia.

I have developed severe pain in my achilles tendons (mostly on the left side ). I can hardly walk in the morning. Not having had any problems before I could not figure whatever could be the reason for this problem, especially since I have been doing stretching exercises for years.

I was diagnosed in an emergency room with pneumonia after some mysterious symptoms that included blood pressure over 200 and pulse of 110 with sputum containing blood. I was given a prescription for Levaquin for the "pneumonia."

After two days, there was tremendous swelling of my right arm and left leg.

There was acute weakness and pain of the left Achilles tendon. My left leg bothers me to this day--about 8 months later.

I was in doubt about the pneumonia diagnosis to begin with, and still am. Doubly in doubt about the prescription, since I have never been allergic or had any reaction to drugs in 85 years.

I just finished taking Levaquin for 10 days for a sinus infection. After the 5th day I noticed extreme pain in my muscles through my entire body. I just finish my 10th pill 3 days ago and am still in extreme pain. I feel like I'm an 80 year old woman in a 34 year old's body.

I’m not sure if a “black box” warning will do anything for the pain these people have already experienced. What about you? Have you experienced any of these side effects with Cipro or Levaquin?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeff Rasansky

Wakefield Legacy: The MMR Scare That Should Not Have Been

Angel Reyes — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:46:00 GMT

British autism "guru/expert" Andrew Wakefield was stripped of his license to practice medicine in his home country Monday after the General Medical Council (GMC) found him guilty of "serious professional misconduct."

According to the AP, Dr. Wakefield sparked an international vaccine scare when he published a study linking the MMR vaccine to autism in children. The scare led to a decrease in the percentage of London parents (update: in some boroughs) who vaccinated their children from 95% in 1995 to 50% in the early 2000s. With this decrease in inoculations came a rise in measles cases. Prior to the scare, measles had been mostly eradicated in Western countries.

"That is Andrew Wakefield's legacy," said Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "The hospitalizations and deaths of children from measles who could have easily avoided the disease."

Wakefield's discredited theories had a tremendous impact in the U.S., Offit said, adding: "He gave heft to the notion that vaccines in general cause autism."

According to the video below, Wakefield did not lose his license because of his theories, which have been widely rejected since, but because of his unprofessional conduct including paying children for samples of their blood without the parents' permission and performing unapproved colonoscopies on children, procedures the GMC says Wakefield was not qualified to carry out.

Despite losing his license and the rejection of his studies by other experts, Wakefield still has many supporters in parents of autistic children who believe autism is caused by vaccines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1bimTGM5EE

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Angel Reyes

Grandmother Blames Gardasil In Granddaughter's Death

Eddie Farah — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:30:29 GMT

Jessie Ericzon was 17-years-old and about to graduate from high school.

Like many girls her age, she was given the first of the three-shot series of Gardasil, the Merck drug that is supposed to protect young girls from the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that causes two types of cervical cancer and two types of warts.

That was 19 months ago.

Jessie had no health problems, but after the second shot in September 2007 she started to get bad headaches, as well as muscle aches, and joint pain, says her grandmother, Denise Melton. Last February she got the third shot in the series, two days later she was dead.

Her grandmother said after the final shot Jessie said she had a headache and went to bed. That next morning her mother found her on the bathroom floor. "Without a shadow of a doubt, I know that Gardasil is what killed her," says Melton.

An autopsy was inconclusive.

Jessie is not alone. There have been at least 43 reports of deaths following the vaccine and the CDC and FDA have collected about 14,000 adverse events including muscle numbness and paralysis, also known as Guillian-Barre Syndrome, headaches, and fainting.

Let's not forget that Merck is the same company that brought us Vioxx, and knew or should have known that heart attack and strokes would result from the painkiller which was eventually taken off the market.

Even the American Cancer Society says that cervical cancer has declined by 74 percent between 1955 and 1992, largely due to the Pap test.

No one really knows if Gardsil works to prevent cervical cancer, but parents should know that about 80 percent of women are exposed to HPV over their lifetime and their natural immunities fight it off. They should also know that if their child is injured, they have no recourse through the courts. Merck enjoys immunity from liability, as to all vaccine makers.

Melton is going to take Jessie's death as far as she can. She has written to the governor and Congress. She has a license plate that says "One Less" in reference to the Merck campaign by the same name. What she wants one less of, is young woman or girls dying from the drug that is supposed to deliver a cure. #

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

FDA To Seek Black-Box Warning on Cipro and Levaquin

Jeff Rasansky — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:41:05 GMT

The FDA has announced that it will be seeking to add black box warning to Cipro and Levaquin. Both are antibiotics that are used to treat bacterial infections. Apparently, each carries a risk of tendon rupture that needs to be addressed. Six months ago, the consumer group Public Citizen sued the FDA to require it to add the warnings to the drug packaging.

Reports of tendonitis and tendon rupture have been on the rise with the use of these drugs, which has prompted the FDA to ask drug companies to add the stronger labeling. Ruptures that have been associated to these drugs include Achilles tendon, shoulder, hand, biceps and thumbs. This risk is especially increased in older patients and those who have received organ transplants.

The FDA believes that the addition of this warning will strengthen the existing warning information already included in the prescribing information.

Other side effects of taking these medications include “seizures, hallucinations, depression, heart rhythm changes and intestine infection with diarrhea.”

The FDA also suggests that physicians “advise patients, at the first sign of tendon pain, swelling or inflammation—symptoms that typically precede tendon rupture and tendonitis—to stop taking the fluoroquinolone, to avoid exercise and use of the affected area, and to promptly contact their doctor about changing to a non-fluoroquinolone antimicrobial drug.”

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeff Rasansky

Sudden Health Problems? Have You Had The Gardasil HPV Vaccines?

Teresa Allen — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:32:05 GMT

www.truthaboutgardasil.org

FDA Recalls: America’s (Legal) Drug Medication Problem

(For any person that received the Gardasil vaccinations and did not have any side effects or symptoms, please have a pap test done immediately. We are getting reports of these girls that had no side effects to the vaccine that are now getting cervical lesions and cervical cancer. So if you know of anyone that received Gardasil with no side effects, please tell them to get a pap test done immediately.)

When my 16 year old daughter suddenly started having symptoms such as numbness and tingling in both legs and left arm, overall weakness, stomach aches, pressure headaches, neck and back pain, brain fog, dizziness, increased heart rate, breathing problems, vision problems, I did not immediately associate it with Gardasil.

But after receiving an email on Gardasil and the side effects that so many of our young girls are suddenly coming down with, I put two and two together.

Of course, the doctor that literally forced this vaccine on us completely denied any association with Gardasil and her side effects. Test after test was done with all results coming back normal.

She continued to have these symptoms. After taking her to several doctors and having her rushed to the hospital by ambulance because of breathing problems, I started researching into this even further.

I have found SO many other mothers going through this same thing! Their daughters also have alot of the same symptoms that my daughter is having. There are alot of these girls that are having seizures, paralysis, fainting and even death.

I am a member of a yahoo group that has other mothers searching for answers. We are trying to get the word out to everyone we can about the dangers of Gardasil and the side effects that the doctors do not disclose to their patients about this dangerous vaccine.

If you know of anyone that has started having any of these symptoms, and they recently received any of the 3 shots for Gardasil, please email me or post to this blog. We will help you find the answers.

Symptoms:

Headache

Weakness

Dizziness

Stomach issues

Pain

Numbness/tingling in extremities

Diarhea

Vomiting

Fainting

Seizures

Blood clots

Rapid heartbeat

Breathing difficulties

Chest pain

Back pain

Arm / leg pain

Pancreatitis

Brain fog

Vision problems

Disruption to the menstrual cycle

Fatigue

Paralysis

Hair Loss

Migraines

Severe joint and muscle pain (arthralgia)

Sensitivity to light

Respiratory problems

Posterial Orthostatic Tachacardia Syndrome (POTS)

Gastrointestional Disease

Frequent UTI's

nerve pain

burning skin

muscle weakness

shortness of breath

swollen lymph nodes

*there are other symptoms...I will be adding*

Please sign the petition to investigate Gardasil Vaccine Risks here.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Teresa Allen

Severe Injuries Linked to Levaquin

Scott Kappes — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:08:00 GMT

Levaquin is and antibiotic medication that was recently given a “black box” warning from the FDA. Levaquin is in a class of antibiotic medications known as fluoroquinolones that are used to treat certain types of infections. I have been searching the internet and the blogosphere and have heard hundreds of horror stories of people who have taken the Levaquin, or the similar drug Cipro, and will never be same because it.

It is astonishing to read the claims made by victims of these dangerous medications. The “black box” warning recently issued is long overdue if the stories posted on forums and around the blogospere are any indication as to the dangers that can be attributed to these drugs.

While this new warning cannot spare those who have already suffer such debilitating injuries as ruptured Achilles tendons and other severely painful and destructive adverse reactions as a result being prescribed Levaquin and Cipro, hopefully it will help reduce the number of victims that will have to suffer from these injuries in the future.

If you have suffered an injury related to the Levaquin or Cipro please post your comments here. Together we can spread the word about the dangers of these drugs and God willing spare others from the pain and agony that thousands have already been forced to endure.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Scott Kappes

Cipro: A Case of Fluoride Poisoning?

Jeff Rasansky — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:53:44 GMT

After my last two blogs about Cipro and Levaquin side effects, you guys have responded with an overwhelming amount of feedback. After reading all of your replies, it definitely seems like something is going awry.

So I decided to dig a little deeper and I came across this article. It’s called, The True Story of Cipro and is written by Andreas Schuld, Wendy Small and Trent Harris. These are the founding members of an organization called Parents of Fluoride Poisoned Children (PFPC), located in Vancouver, BC, Canada. You can check out their website at bruha.com/fluoride.

These people claim that the gastrointestinal side effects of Cipro are signs of fluoride poisoning, not unlike what happens if you digest copious amounts of toothpaste. Still, that doesn’t account for the ruptured tendons and the like.

What do you guys say?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeff Rasansky

Nicotine Candy? FDA, Can You Please Help a Parent Out?

Jessica Hoerman — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:07:46 GMT

This week, the FDA met to evaluate the safety and risks of dissolvable smokeless tobacco products. These smokeless tobacco products are not stop-smoking aids that many Americans turn to fulfill their New Years resolutions. These dissolvables are instead intended to satisfy nicotine cravings in situations where smoking is not allowed (like at your local public school). They usually come in the form of flavored mints, strips, and sticks of smokeless tobacco. Cigarettes that make your breath smell good? What seems to be the problem?

Apparently, parents are not crazy about how easy it will be for their children to get away with sampling these "mints" and, in doing so, acquiring a nicotine addiction. The mints (marketed under the cute names of "Orbs," "Strips," and Sticks" by Camel) are packaged in very colorful looking containers and the mints are the size of a tic-tac.

But, tic-tac it is not. In fact, the form of the dissolvables has now captured the attention of the FDA. The dissolvables raise concerns about accidental ingestion by young children. A study published in the April 2010 issues of Pediatrics found that smokeless tobacco products are the second most common cause of nicotine poisoning in children. Only cigarettes caused more nicotine poisoning.

The FDA may take action to cap the amount of nicotine in each piece to eliminate or significantly reduce the possibility of a fatal nicotine overdose if a child consumed an entire package. Some experts, and this mother, would rather have this type of smokeless tobacco eliminated. Dr. Lee Beers, a pediatrician at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington D.C. says, “There doesn’t really seem to be any reason to have tobacco in a format that is much more easily ingestible and with quite a few downsides, particularly when you think about children and adolescents.”

Its hard enough worrying about all the future trouble coming my way using my own frame of reference as a background. But, turning nicotine into some sort of acceptable breath mint scares me more than a cheap six-pack and my kids home alone for an evening.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jessica Hoerman

Sudden Deaths From Darvocet Without Overdose

Joe Saunders — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:01:00 GMT

The FDA recall of Darvocet and Darvon which are the trade names for propoxyphene was long overdue. These drugs have been on the market for over 50 years. The FDA memorandum dated November 19, 2010 on the recall sets forth some science on Darvocet that should be helpful in understanding the dangers of this drug.

First, Darvocet is cardiotoxic when used as directed on the label. That means that when used as directed Darvocet causes chemical changes in the heart that affect its electrical system. These changes in the heart's electrical system can cause heart arrythmias. In some cases these unnatural heart rhythms can cause ventricular fibrillation. This means that your heart stops pumping blood. This can and does frequently result in sudden cardiac death. This is probably the cause of most of the deaths from Darvocet aside from overdoses. A disruption of the heart's electrical system from Darvocet could also cause atrial fibrillation which could trigger a stroke or heart attack from a blood clot. An electrocardiogram or EKG is the test that is used to detect heart rhythm malfunctions.

The FDA report points out that elderly people or people with reduced kidney or renal function are most likely at risk for propoxyphene-induced cardiotoxicity. Individuals with pre-existing arrthymias would also be at increased risk. That is because those individuals are less able to naturally clear the toxic substances from their bodies. However, the most recent study shows that even healthy individuals taking normal doese were at risk of heart failure and sudden death from Darvocet.

The good news for Darvocet patients is that the medical literature does not indicate that Darvocet has a latent effect after the drug is discontinued. The FDA also observed that there does not appear to be a cumulative effect on the heart after the person stops taking the drug. There has not been much study of this question because most of the scientific reports and literature on Darvocet and Darvon have focused on treatment of overdose in emergency rooms. Since Darvocet and Darvon are opiates and are addictive many deaths may have been attributed to opiate overdoses causing respiratory failure and may not have been closely investigated.

I expect that most of the individual lawsuits and class action lawsuits that are being filed will involve sudden cardiac death cases. A cardiac arrythymia caused by Darvocet or Darvon should be treatable most of the time without permanent damage in most cases. However, it is possible that heart malfunction for a temporary period could cause health damage of other types. For example, lack of blood to the brain or other organs during the period of heart dysfunction could cause significant permanent problems. This would be the basis of a negligence or product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer of the drug.

I would be happy to discuss the science or legal issues with anyone that would like to comment or email or telephone me.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Joe Saunders

FDA Request for Withdrawal of Darvon and Darvocet May Have Come Too Late

Michael Roberts — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:19:25 GMT

Darvon and Darvocet Recall
Failing to remove a dangerous product from the market can have severe health consequences. But it is even worse when the withdrawal effort could have come much sooner and some of the health issues prevented. Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals Inc. which makes Darvon and Darvocet, the brand version of the prescription pain medication propoxyphene, recently agreed to withdraw the medication from the U.S. market. The withdrawal came at the request of the FDA. The FDA sought withdrawal of propoxyphene after the agency received new clinical data that showed that propoxyphene-based drugs puts patients at risk of potentially serious or even fatal heart arrhythmia. After weighing the benefits and risks of the drug, the FDA determined that the serious heart risks, combined with the risks of suicide, addiction and death outweighed the potential benefits of the drug as a painkiller. However, despite the FDA’s decision to request the withdrawal at this time, the consumer watchdog Public Citizen blasted the FDA for waiting too long before issuing a Darvon and Darvocet recall late last week.

Earlier Complaints Ignored
Propoxyphene, which is contained in Darvon and Darvocet, is an opioid used to treat mild to moderate pain. Darvon was first introduced in 1957. Now, the drug is most commonly prescribed as Darvocet, which combines the active ingredient in Darvon with acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. Darvocet’s use is not limited to a small number of people. In fact, it has been prescribed for more than 22 million people and is one of the 25 most commonly used prescriptions.

The widespread use makes the FDA’s slow reaction time even more devastating. Public Citizen released a statement this past Friday stating that the delay may have resulted in 1,000 to 2,000 additional Darvon and Darvocet deaths during the years after the FDA should have recalled all propoxyphene drugs. Public Citizen first petitioned the FDA for a Darvocet and Darvon recall in 1978. At that time, there was already evidence of the adverse health effects Darvon and Darvocet could have on the heart. But the earlier warnings did not end there. The U.K. decided to pull Darvocet and Darvon from that market in January 2005, after determining the drugs were too dangerous and had little benefit. Public Citizen petitioned the FDA for a recall again in 2006, but again to no avail. It then filed a lawsuit against the FDA in 2008 following the FDA’s refusal to act on its petition.

FDA’s Response
It was not until after that lawsuit that the FDA’s own advisory committee voted for a recall in January 2009 for the same reasons as the UK. The FDA defended its decision to wait however, saying that it only recently received enough data to justify that the risks of Darvon and Darvocet side effects outweighed its health benefits.

What the Future Holds
There is a small bright spot for some patients. “With the new study results, for the first time we now have data showing that the standard therapeutic dose of propoxyphene can be harmful to the heart,” said Gerald Dal Pan, M.D., M.H.S., director of the Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, CDER. “However, long-time users of the drug need to know that these changes to the heart’s electrical activity are not cumulative. Once patients stop taking propoxyphene, the risk will go away.”

Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Interest’s health research wing, wasn’t focusing on the limited bright side and instead had some harsh words for the FDA. “Due to FDA negligence, at least 1,000 to 2,000 or more people in the U.S. have died from using propoxyphene since [the] time the UK ban was announced,” Wolfe said. “The FDA’s pitiful excuse that it needed to order a human study to find that ‘the drug puts patients at risk of potentially serious or even fatal heart rhythm abnormalities’ before deciding whether to ban propoxyphene only emphasizes how out-of-step the agency is with the rest of the world – which already had enough human evidence of death and near-death in tens of thousands of people to act accordingly.”

Conclusion
Consumers who have been harmed by Darvon or Darvocet should not just accept their health issues. Whether or not the FDA or Xanodyne acted negligently remains to be determined. Public Citizen has called for a congressional investigation into the agency’s negligence, but patients should not wait for the results of that potential investigation. The time to contact a lawyer and explore all potential remedies is now.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Roberts