"Levaquin the Mother of All Horror Stories"

Queens, NY"My attorney who is handling my Levaquin complaint said I need an MRI of my shoulder to proceed with a Levaquin case," says Patrick. "My x-rays haven't shown any Levaquin rupturing or tearing so my doctor arranged for me to get an MRI done today, and that should prove the damage this drug has caused."

Patrick took five Levaquin pills in April to treat a bacterial infection. "After the fourth pill my whole body ached, mostly in the back of my leg," he says. "I took another pill, even though I had a feeling there was something nasty about this drug. On the fifth day, I called my doctor but he advised me to finish the treatment. Then I read the Levaquin tendonitis warning on the box but I took it anyway because I wanted to clear up this infection." The FDA slapped a black box warning on Levaquin and similar flouroquinolones in 2008, due to reports that "suggested" the antibiotic could lead to tendon rupture and other similar injuries.

"Needless to say, I'm not so happy with what's happened to me as a result of taking Levaquin," says Patrick. "This drug has affected my whole body and I'm so depressed, I'm almost suicidal! Getting hit with tendonitis has put me over the edge. Most parts of my body that are hurting are where I sustained injuries in the past: I had a broken ankle, arm and wrist and a herniated disc, and the pain in those areas have been amplified 1,000 percent.

"If I sit down and do nothing, I get weaker, but if I stand for too long it kills me. This morning I woke up so tight from a short bike ride yesterday—I can't just sit around. I also got a massage yesterday because my back is all messed up. The masseuse said, 'Oooh very bad, very tight.'

"After my doctor took x-rays, he sent me to physical therapy but it hurt too much. I go to the gym but all I can do is try to swim a bit, and then I take a steam and sauna. I'm only 44; although I had a lot of injuries in my past, I wasn't in the greatest shape, but I didn't hurt like I do now.

"This Levaquin is the mother of all horror stories because the pain isn't manageable anymore."

Levaquin and other antibiotics known as flouroquinolones have been associated with extremely painful and debilitating tendonitis, tendon rupture, tendon, ligament, joint and muscle damage, and it has caused irreparable damage to thousands of people. Just to give an idea of how many people have been prescribed Levaquin, Johnson & Johnson reported that sales reached $1.4 billion in 2010, making it one of the company's biggest sellers.

To date, there are about 1,000 Levaquin cases that have been consolidated within the Minneapolis federal court, about 1,500 lawsuits pending in New Jersey and a number of individual suits nationwide. A Levaquin victim was recently awarded nearly $2 million in combined actual and punitive damages in the first trial of the Levaquin MDL (multidistrict litigation).