Levaquin: "What Pharmaceutical Companies Get Away With is Criminal"

New York, NYStrong words indeed, but articulated by a Levaquin user. While the Levaquin antibiotic has proven to be an effective drug for the treatment of infection, Levaquin medicine—as do virtually all drugs—has a darker side that leaves many users suffering from adverse reactions that have little to do with the reasons they took Levaquin in the first place. Levaquin side effects have fostered a number of lawsuits that will soon be making their way through the courts of law.

A snapshot of the kind of difficulty Levaquin patients are having with the drug can be found at WebMD, the respected site that allows users to post reviews of their experiences.

One reviewer who posted on WebMD in late June identified herself as a 36 year-old woman who was prescribed "a relatively low dose of Levaquin four years ago due to an MRSA infection and [I] didn't suffer many side effects. However, recently I was given a 750 mg. dose to be taken over five days post gall bladder surgery to clear up a possible infection. On the first day, I had severe nausea and insomnia."

The reviewer, who identified herself as Gleom, noted that by the second day she was experiencing "excruciating" pain in her left knee and by the third day she was dealing with weakness in her limbs. She also felt disoriented.

"The day after my last dose, I ended up being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, as I woke from a sound sleep feeling as if an elephant was sitting on my chest. I had cold sweats, couldn't breath and was in excruiating pain. After cardiac and pulmonary diagnostics were done, nothing was found. I asked both the EMTs and the ER physician if they thought it might be the Levaquin to which they replied, "no". The physician sent me home stating that it was likely that I had a severe muscle spasm or reflux attack."

However Gleom had nevr had a reflux problem and was unhappy with the diagnosis. In her heart, she writes, she felt that it was the drug acting as the basis for her trouble.

"When I researched Levaquin further, I realized that in fact it definitely was the culprit. It's been four days since I took my last dose and I still have awful pain in my left knee, severe anxiety that has made handling my small children very difficult, overall feelings of disorientation, fatigue and headaches. I am embarking on a detox to try and get this out of my system and would NEVER recommend anyone take this drug.

"What pharmaceutical companies get away with is criminal"

It should be noted that is one person's opinion. When reviewing a total of 100 patient reviews on the WebMD site, there were those for whom Levaquin antibiotic worked well and a few were elated with their results on Levaquin medicine. However the vast majority—more than 80 percent—were less-than satisfied with Levaquin and the majority of those articulated intense displeasure over being made to suffer through Levaquin side effects.