Levaquin: What Patients are Saying

I have been doing research and posting on the dangers of prescription medications and defective products for some time now. One prescription medication that has been of particular interest to me is the antibiotic medication Levaquin. While I have never personally taken the drug, the thousands of accounts of adverse reaction that I read assure me that this medication is dangerous and has left countless numbers of people suffering from serious side effects.

Trail lawyers throughout the nation have filed hundreds of lawsuits over tendon ruptures suffered as a result of taking Levaquin, but thousands of others that have been harmed by the drug have no such recourse available to them.

People taking Levaquin have experienced everything from tendon and joint pain to depression and seizures. I read quite a bit about adverse drug reactions and I am truly astonished at the number of people who have reported to be affected by Levaquin.

Want to see for yourself? Take a look at Medications.com’s 2,700 side effect posts made by people who have been experienced Levaquin side effects. Need more evidence? There are thousands more posted on Medical News Today’s opinion forum. That’s only two website and what has to be several thousand adverse event claims.

Several other websites are devoted to the dangers of Levaquin and other similar drugs in the class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones. Websites like the Fluoroquinolone Antibiotic Victim Community, FQResearch.org, FQVictims.org, and a Yahoo Health Group called Quinolone Survivors, among others allow people who have been affected to tell their stories and connect with others who have suffered similar reactions.

Unfortunately the legal community does not have the scientific foundation at this time to pursue claims for many of the alleged side effects and the FDA apparently does not have enough data to force additional labeling changes or as many suggest, pull the drugs from the market.

Most of the online forums and support groups do encourage individuals who have suffered adverse events to report their reaction to the FDA’s Medwatch system, but I would not be surprised to learn that many never actually file an Adverse Event Report. The Medwatch program is one of the best resources the FDA has at its disposal to help police the pharmaceutical industry.

It is extremely important that if you suffer an adverse reaction to a medication that you report it to the FDA, as this how the agency collects data that eventually leads to labeling changes and recalls.

Hopefully the future will bring about a new class of medications that can be used to treat the ailments currently treated by fluoroquinolones, sparing thousands from terrible side effects that have been associated with these drugs, but for now those suffering should seek comfort in the abundant and available community of others who have experienced similar reactions.

Sometimes just knowing you’re not alone can really help.