Anyone ever taken Avelox for sinus infection?

[singer1]

If you have can you tell me if it worked?

[chigs489]

yes, I took Avelox in March. I thought it was an antibiotic. It isn't. It is a form of chemotherapy called a floroquinolone. By the time side-effects appeared, it was too late. Here is a list of what it did to me...

1. Chronic bilateral ulnar neuritis: nerve inflammation in the elbows, causing pain in the wrists, intense hand numbness at night. Difficulty writing and typing. Paresthsia (pins and needles). This has gotten better, but at 6 months, I'm still not 100%.

2. Allergic vasculitis in the hands: my hands turned fire-engine red, and I developed welts all over them. I couldn't grip a soda can.

3. Nerve damage in both feet: I still can't run. Basically intense pins and needles.

4. Bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome -appeared overnight

5. Extreme insomnia -I was getting 3 hours of sleep a night for 2 months. I almost had to go on disability.

6. Extreme anxiety

7. Skin manifestations -rashes, etc.

8. Chronic joint pain, especially in the wrists and shoulders.

9. Chronic Achilles tendonitis

It has been 6 months since I took the drug, and I'm at about 85% or so. For 3 months I was basically disabled, and if I didn't have medical insurance, I would have racked up $50,000 in medical bills.

I should point out that I'm lucky. Lots of people have had tendon ruptures, and ended up in wheelchairs -for life.

Avelox, Levaquin and Cipro are some of the most dangerous drugs in existance. The side-effects are a SYNDROME, meaning that once one appears, there is nothing you can do. Stopping the drug will not stop the damage. It is a form of idiopathic serum sickness. I have a CD with 4000 cases of this sitting on my desk at home.

People have taken one pill and ended up insane or dead. See the book "Bitter Pills" -it talks all about floroquinolones.

Bayer and other companies have consistently lied to doctors about the dangers of these drugs.

If I were you, I would stop taking Avelox immediately, unless you can afford to go on disability for the next 6 months. There are far safer drugs out there, such as Augmentin and Zithromax.

For more information, go to www.fqvictims.org

[reader1]

Fluoroquinolones are listed as antibiotics in every medical reference I've read...not as chemotherapy.

At any rate, I have taken Avelox and several of its relatives. The quinolones are the only antibiotics left that work for me. They are very effective in reaching the sinus cavity. I have never had any trouble with them. Some people do have a great deal of trouble with them. Most doctors do not prescribe this type of antibiotic except for people whose systems are very resistant to more common antibiotics. I fall in that category.

[chigs489]

Floroquinolones are not traditional antibiotics. They are very different than Penicillan or Augmentin. They are basically designer drugs that attack the DNA structure of bacteria.

In any case, you could take Avelox 3 times and nothing would happen. Take it the 4th time, and idiopathic serum sickness develops -landing you in the hospital with permanent nerve and tendon damage. Every time you take this drug, you are putting yourself at extreme risk. Don't tell me I didn't warn you.

No one understands the side-effects these drugs cause. There is no treament or uniform diagnostic criteria in even figuring out what adverse reactions can or will occur. These durgs were rushed through the FDA approval process after the Anthrax scare. Since it's approval, Avelox has demonstrated a far higher incidence of adverse reactions -something like 15%, as oppossed to less than 1%.

If the medical community doesn't understand a medication, it shouldn't be prescribed. I've had doctors come right out and tell me they don't know how it works, and they don't know what side-effects to expect.

[Midget]

Why are they perscribing this stuff if they don't know what it does? I mean...sometimes, I don't think doctors are ever sure it's a sinus infection. I know in my case, I was put on 3 weeks of Amoxicilin, when I specifically asked the doctor if it was allergies and she was like no, it's a sinus infection, or it may turn into one. So she tells me to take some Sudafed. I feel no better after a while, so I go back...then this next guy is like you have a sinus infection. Take this for 3 weeks, and come back if you don't feel any better...so I go back, and the next lady is like: Oh! You have allergies! Ummm...didn't I say that's what I thought it was in the begining? :P Sorry...just ranting...lol