kauaihn
Discussion started by kauaihn, on Sunday, 16 August 2015 02:35
Get ready to spin the wheel, my friend -- and I hope you're feeling lucky today.
If you're battling an infection and your doc has given you the popular fluoroquinolone antibiotic Levaquin, you're about to play the world's worst game of roulette.
And this one has stakes higher than anything you'll find in Vegas: Your life!
Pop that pill and give the wheel a spin... and if Lady Luck is on your side, maybe that infection will be wiped right out.
But she's a harsh mistress. And if she decides she's going to play the other side of the table, you could be left battling a devastating injury... crippled for the rest of your life... or possibly even KILLED by the very treatment that was supposed to heal you.
A new report finds the FDA has been downplaying and flat-out hiding the true risks of Levaquin, which is far and away the most dangerous antibiotic ever approved.
Since at least 2013, the agency has been sitting on a small mountain of data linking this drug to mitochondria toxicity, a devastating condition in which the part of your cells that provide energy drop dead.
That leaves you weak, battling muscle pain and nerve damage and could even lead to organ damage and death.
Last year, drug safety expert Dr. Charles Bennett of the Center of Economic Excellence at the University of South Carolina filed a petition calling on the FDA to at the very least issue a warning over the risk.
Their response? We'll get back to you... someday.
Meanwhile, patients are dropping like flies: The drug has already been linked to 80,000 adverse reactions, including roughly 1,000 deaths, according to the Washington Post.
Not all are due to mitochondrial toxicity either; this drug is known to cause devastating tendon ruptures and crippling nerve damage that in some cases becomes permanent, even after you stop taking the drug.
Levaquin doesn't need a new warning. It needs a burial!
Even by generous FDA-approved standards, one report finds this drug is given unnecessarily at least a third of the time. Not only can you bet the real number is much higher, but in most cases you've got other options including safer antibiotics.
If you're battling an infection and your doc has given you the popular fluoroquinolone antibiotic Levaquin, you're about to play the world's worst game of roulette.
And this one has stakes higher than anything you'll find in Vegas: Your life!
Pop that pill and give the wheel a spin... and if Lady Luck is on your side, maybe that infection will be wiped right out.
But she's a harsh mistress. And if she decides she's going to play the other side of the table, you could be left battling a devastating injury... crippled for the rest of your life... or possibly even KILLED by the very treatment that was supposed to heal you.
A new report finds the FDA has been downplaying and flat-out hiding the true risks of Levaquin, which is far and away the most dangerous antibiotic ever approved.
Since at least 2013, the agency has been sitting on a small mountain of data linking this drug to mitochondria toxicity, a devastating condition in which the part of your cells that provide energy drop dead.
That leaves you weak, battling muscle pain and nerve damage and could even lead to organ damage and death.
Last year, drug safety expert Dr. Charles Bennett of the Center of Economic Excellence at the University of South Carolina filed a petition calling on the FDA to at the very least issue a warning over the risk.
Their response? We'll get back to you... someday.
Meanwhile, patients are dropping like flies: The drug has already been linked to 80,000 adverse reactions, including roughly 1,000 deaths, according to the Washington Post.
Not all are due to mitochondrial toxicity either; this drug is known to cause devastating tendon ruptures and crippling nerve damage that in some cases becomes permanent, even after you stop taking the drug.
Levaquin doesn't need a new warning. It needs a burial!
Even by generous FDA-approved standards, one report finds this drug is given unnecessarily at least a third of the time. Not only can you bet the real number is much higher, but in most cases you've got other options including safer antibiotics.
Don't just ask for them. DEMAND them.
Stopping the wheel of death,
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.