Do I have a story for you on quinolones.

My husband was given Maxaquin for 4 years. This is pretty long, but I would like to give you everything that I have so you know where I am coming from.

On January 8, l994 my husband started to have severe pains in his lower abdomen. I took him to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, because I had little faith in our hometown hospital. He was seen by an emergency room doctor. His name was Dr. Datto. He wasn't sure what was wrong, he said that it might be a flu. He gave him dicycloine HCT tablets and told him that if the pain got worse, to come back or contact you family doctor. 

On January 9, l994, that evening the pain got worse. I took him back to Forbes ER. This time he saw Dr. Valentine. He told Ron that he had a problem with his prostate. He told us to make an appointment with Dr. Greco who was a urologist. He could not see him until 2/18/94. Dr. Valentine gave him prilosec. 

On 1/12/94 His pain was terrible. This time I took him to Frick Hospital which was closer. He gave him sulfamethoxazole  / trimethsprim which was an antibiotic and hydrocodone for the pain. On January 28, We got the prescription for the antibiotic filled again because the pain was no better. 

Finally on 2/18/94 we went to see Dr. Greco the urologist. He prescribed Maxaquin which is a strong antibiotic. This seemed to help the pain. 

With in a month or so, I started to notice some changes in Ron's mood, they were subtle at first, but I could see he was sad. I really knew something was wrong when I would call his office an he would tell me that he couldn't stay awake. He would have to lock his door and take a nap.  

On April 15, we were at our cabin in the mountain and our dog got hit by a car. One of our friends had come to see how we remodeled it, and let the dog out by mistake. Ron couldn't handle the death of this dog. He couldn't even talk. He just held the dog and cried. That was not the man I knew a couple of month prior. I mean , I was sad and I loved the dog, but this was much deeper problem. That was the first time I realized that Ron was having problems.  

Ron has a family history of mental illness. His paternal grandfather hung himself. His maternal uncle, shot himself. His brother tried unsuccessfully to shoot himself. And his sister was diagnosed as manic depressant. My thoughts were, oh no, its happening to Ron. Up to this point, at the age of 38, there were no signs of mental illness. Manic depressant usually always occurs between adolescent and the age of 35.

I never once thought that an anti-antibiotic could be the cause of this problem. Maybe if there wasn't a family history, I would have connected the two. 

Dr. Greco gave Ron a prescription for Maxaquin for the next 5 months. He started to have pain, in his chest under his right rib cage. It almost seemed like a heart attack. So again, I took him to the ER at Forbes. This time Dr. Worsey ran test and couldn't find anything wrong. He told us maybe he pulled a muscle because everything came back normal. He then gave him toradol which is an anti-imflamority. 

Two days later, on June 27, l994 he was so out of it, I took him to Western Psychiatric Hospital. He couldn't stay awake, He would fall to sleep at red lights. He would have to pull his car off the road, if he went any distance, to sleep. He would even fall to sleep in his meetings. He was so sad. He couldn't deal with anything. 

Dr. Meyer, his psychiatrist put him on Prozac and it seemed to help. He went back to work. He would call me and tell me he couldn't stay awake. I would have to call on his private line at certain times of the day to make sure he was awake. But he also stopped taking the Maxaquin until October 1994. 

I remember going out on my anniversary to a real nice restaurant. Ron had to go to the restroom. He didn't come back. Our food came and he still wasn't back. I had to send in the waiter to see if he was alright. He fell asleep on the commode. 

His sleep problems didn't get any better. First he went to our family Doctor on7/20/94 who told us he had chronic fatigue.  

Dr. Meyers advised us to go to Dr. Buicci. He suggested that Ron might have sleep apnea and sent him to Dr. Zikos. 

On 8/24/94,Dr. Zikos did a lot of tests on Ron. He stated that he had TB scaring in his lungs. But to Ron's knowledge, he never had TB. He also stated the he had asthma. He was put on provental. He went back to Dr. Zikos on 9/15/94 and was given bactrim.  

He was no better. His pain returned and Dr. Greco put him back on the Maxaquin on 10/18/94. This is the sixth prescription since Feb. He still had pain so on January 24, l995, He gave him another prescription of Maxaquin. 

Ron, having a lot of pain in his back was given Relafen for the pain in his back. 

His depression was getting worse, Dr. Meyers added luvox on 3/2/95. He continued to take prozac, luvox, relafen, proventil, accutane,prilosec, and areobid.  

On 3/8/95, Ron went to eye doctor, never before had any problems with his eyes. Need glasses. Eyes are very sensitive to light. Which I found out later is a side affect of quinolones. 

He went into UPMC for an overnight sleep study. He was diagnosed with central sleep apnea, (when the brain doesn't function properly and forgets to tell the lungs to breath) and also obstructive sleep apnea.

Before taking Maxaquin, he never had any sleep problems. 

On 8/16/95 he was admitted to WPIC and stayed there until 8/26/95. He was extremely suicidal. It was the hardest thing I ever did in my life.

I would leave there every night crying. They are locked up treated like animals. They were treated like they were not human and had no feelings. While in the hospital, he was given lithium, another mood stabilizer by Dr. Levin. Nothing was helping this depression.  

On 9/6/95, he was still suicidal and so bad but refused to go back to WPIC so I took him to the physiatrist floor at Forbes in Monroeville.

The unit was a lot nicer but the doctors were no better. He stayed there until 9/15/95. 

He started seeing Dr. Strollo on 10/3/95, a sleep pulmonary specialist.

He put him on a bi-pap machine to use when he would sleep. He was not getting any deep sleep.  

Ron didn't like the way he felt on lithium, so Dr. Meyers tried Depakote. On 10/28/95 she added Klonopin. He was seeing Dr. Meyers almost everyday. We were driving to Pittsburgh because I didn't want him in the hospital. He seemed to be worse in the hospital that at home. He was becoming very agitated. On 11/2/95, Dr. Meyers put him on Parnate. It made him real sick, dizzy , diarrhea so I took him to the emergency room in Connellsville . They called Dr. Meyers and she told that some of these medicines cause these problems.  

On 11/22/95 he went back to Dr. Greco, telling him about this psychiatric problems. He gave him Floxin for the pain which is another quinolone anti-antibiotic. 

On 11/29/95 we were going down to Dr. Meyers because he was having a bad day. I always carried a gun in my car. (I have a permit). After we parked in the underground parking garage, I look over at Ron and he had the gun to his head. He said he was tired of living. No one could help him. He had tried tons of pills and nothing seemed to work. Even Dr. Meyer said she couldn't believe that nothing would work. After about fifteen minutes, which seemed like forever, he finally gave me the gun.

You have no idea what it is like to see the person you love have a gun to their head. Not knowing if he was going to pull the trigger or turn it on you. I was scared to death. When we got into Dr. Meyers office, she should tell that I was upset. He told her what he had done. She wanted to put him into the hospital but he promised her he would be safe. 

12/24/95, Ron the to go to Dr. Larson, an orthopedic doctor because he had terrible pain in his right knee. He hadn't done anything that should have hurt his knee.

On 12/5/95 Dr. Greco gave him another prescription of Floxin. Dr. Larson gave him Oruvail which is an anti-imflamority. I learned later that anti-imflamorities increase the side affects of quinolones. He took an anti-imflamority with Maxaquin 3 days before his first visit to Dr. Meyers. And now he was taking them again. 

On 12/26/95 Ron agreed to take ETC treatments. He was desperate to get better. The following day, he got the Floxin filled. He was so agitated he started to take Ativan. On 1/5/96, Dr. Larson gave him more oruvail for the pain in his knee. It is no known that quinolones cause all kinds of joint pain. I didn't know this at this time.  

ECT treatments are the most cruel thing you can do to an individual. I saw no improvement, but he was taking quinolones and anti-imflamorities at the same time. 1/5/00o you have any idea what it I like to have your husband go into that room and come out, tied to a chair, eyes closed, can't communicate with you, slobber dripping down his face, and when he does open his eyes, just sits for hours and stairs at the walls.  

I had the treatments stop when I saw them take an 84 year old women, who couldn't even talk or walk and they were putting her through this, I had to ask myself why would they do this to this poor old lady. She lived in an institution, she had no children. They brought her in an ambulance. I asked the driver why they were doing this to her and his reply was that she had good insurance. So did we. That's the day, I stopped this cruel inhumane treatment.  

He has lost so much of his memory, and the doctors say that he probably will never regain much of what he has lost. 

On 4/1/96, Dr. Greco gave him Floxin sample and a prescription of Maxaquin . 

He feel off a horse on 4/4/96. He went to Dr. Gardany was given Ultram, another anti-inflamority.  

On 4/8/96 and 4/29/96 Dr. Greco gave him more Maxaquin.. So far he has given him 14 prescriptions of quinolones in 28 months. 

On 4/6/96, Ron was diagnosed with high blood pressure and given Privinil. His health continued to decline. He can't stay awake. Still having tendon pain. No one can tell us what it is from. 

9/11/96 Warning about Maxaquin and tendon problems. Added to the PDR. Still no doctor had told us of these problems. 

101/16/96 Ron had pains on the right side of his chest. EKG is OK. Dr. Tiberio gives him sterapred to help the pain. Ron is now on Lithobid, Effexor, Luvox Prinivil, Accutane and Flonase. No one still knows where the pain is coming from. 

On 12/30/96 Dr. Greco starts him on Maxaquin again for his prostate. He refills it again on 1/9/97 and again on 2/15/97. At the same time, Dr. Strollo and Dr. Meyer decide to put Ron on Dexedrine for his sleep problem.  

On 3/24/97, Ron's pain on the right side of the chest returns. Dr. Tiberio gives him Motrin another anti-imflamority with the Maxaquin. Hetold Ron he was on entirely too much medicine. Dr. Greco gives him another prescription of Maxaquin on 3/31/97 

I take Ron to Dr. Zikos, the pulmonary doctor to see if there is a problem with his lungs, thus the pain on the right side since no one can tell us what it is from. He gives him Predisone which helps the pain. He ran all kinds of test and everything was normal. At this time, I wish someone would have told me about the tendon problem that Maxaquin causes and that anti-imflamorities increase these effects.

On 5/1/97, Dr. Greco gave him another prescription for Maxaquin and again on 6/20/97. At this time he was still taking luvox, dexedrine, lithobid, effexor, maxaquin,flonase, and prinivil. 

On 9/18/97 and again on 10/6/97 he was given Maxaquin. Dr. Meyer can't figure out why nothing is helping his depression.12/29/97 Pain in the right chest is back. Dr. Tiberio gives him predosone and it helps a little.  

On 1/14/98 Pain in right side of chest/ rib area. Dr. Zikos runs tests again and can't find anything wrong. He gives him voltaren, Another anti-imflamority which doesn't help at all. 

2/14/98 Dr. Gardany gives Ron Voltaren for pain in right side of chest. 

In April of 1998, I was watching Prime Time Live when an investigative reporter was talking about a book he wrote about his wife. She had taken Floxin, which is a quinolone and had terrible side effect. The name of the book is "Bitter Pills." It ruined her life. The next day, I went to the book store and purchased his book. Everything I read about, including all the side effects, were the same as Ron's. I started looking on the internet to find out all I could about these Drugs. 

I talked to Stephen Fried, the author of the book "Bitter Pills" and he told me that Steven Sheller an attorney in Philadelphia (215)790-7300 had received a settlement for a Stacy Phillips from Ortho. Her case was built around that NSAID interaction warning---which wasn't on the label when she took Floxin. 

5/19/98 Ron had nose reconstruction to help his sleep apnea. 

On 5/29/98, He went to Dr. Rhode who is an eye specialist who confirmed Ron's eye problems with photo sensitivity caused by Maxaquin. 

10/97 was the last time Ron had Maxaquin filled, but it was a three month prescription., so I'd say he hasn't been on it since January 1998.  

He has had a gun to his head two other times since this has started. I no longer can keep guns in our home. If you could have known him before his illness, you would not know that he is the same person. His personality has changed so much. He can not handle any stress. He is so angry at the world. 

On 2/2/99 I wrote the FDA to let them know my concerns about this drug. I also wrote Dr. Greco and ask him to write to them, but he told me he wasn't aware of my husbands problems, even though in his records he states his psychiatric problems. 

He went to Dr. Beers, a neuro-phycologist in March of 1999. She tested him and said that he has brain damage. She is going to test him again this month to make sure his condition hasn't gotten worse. She says if it does, that would rule out that the drug cause the problem because usually after the drug is discontinued, the patients shouldn't get worse. 

I also know that this drug is powerful enough to cross the brain barrier that is there to protect the brain.  

I realize that his family history is against him, but his family doesn't have any of the other side effects that this drug causes, such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, eye sensitivity. 

I feel that this drug was perspired to my husband twenty two times from 2/19/94 until 10/6/97. And if I hadn't seen this Prime Time show, how much longer would he have given it to him.  

We have lost almost everything. We had to file bankruptcy because my our income went from $120,000 a year to $ 38,000. We had a cabin in the mountain that we had to sell. We had two Mercedes and two Rolex watches we sold. We have gone through all of our savings just to keep our home. We just received papers on our home for foreclosure. 

Most of all, I have lost my husband, who was the most wonderful man in the world to me. He's gone forever and I'll never get him back.  

My son has lost his father. He treats Jason so bad. He always has to be quiet. Sometimes we sit at the table at dinner and no one is allowed to say a word. He cusses like a sailor. He would never say anything but wonderful things to me. Now he can't say anything nice about anyone or anything.  

He was a District Manager for Prudential and ran an office with 75 people. Now he can't even read a book and comprehend what it says. If you ask him to do two things at a time, he gets so confused, he just stops doing everything. If he is trying to fill out a form for Dr. Meyer, we have to stop talking so he can concentrate. He can't remember where he puts anything. He doesn't know what day it is nor does he care. He sleeps constantly. Gets up and eats, then goes to sleep. He lost all of his abilities to reason with people. He get so upset the he starts to say words that don't even make sense.  

I know in my heart that this medication caused his problems. He never had any major problems until he was put on this medication. The instructions for this medication is to take it for 7-14 day or 21 day if complicated.  

When I told Dr. Meyers about what I had found out, she was astonished. She had no idea that an anti-biotic causes depression. She talked to a pharmacologist to find out more. I even called the Stanley Center and they were not aware of this problem.  

When I questioned Dr. Strollo, who is a sleep study specialist, he told me that he had done a study of quinolones and found out that they caused depression so they cancelled the study. He knew that Ron was taking Maxaquin and he knew of his psychiatric problems. No one put the two together. Maybe because of the family history.  

How would you feel if you woke up one day and realized that that you lost your spouse yet his physical self still exists. What if he or she couldn't remember when you birthday or anniversary was or could care less. All he wants to do is to end his life. What if on Christmas, you didn't have any presents under the tree, when the Christmas before he had gotten you a Rolex. How would you like it if your perfect credit report now shows bankrupt. How would you like it if the house you built and all of your saving were gone because of an incompetent doctor and medication that did not have all of the proper warning labels. I put my faith in that doctor and he destroyed my life. How would you like to tell everyone that your spouse is mentally ill. It hurts so much. No one will ever know the pain and the suffering my son and I am going through. I have to remind him to say Happy Birthday to my son because he can't remember it. Everyday I wake up and wonder, is today the day he will kill himself. It's amazing how the pharmaceutical companies will spend large amounts of money to publicize the miracles of modern medicine and turn right around and spend even larger sums of money to keep the tragedies of modern medicine from the public. 

I just what to clarify that Ron's family who suffered from depression, had none of the other symptoms that are directly a result and a side effect of Maxaquin. They are as follows: Sleep disturbances, central nervous system damage, photosensitivity, and tendon problems. Of these, Ron suffers severely from all of the above side effects. He also has shown no signs of depression until after his quinolone treatments. I believe the information to be accurate and concise and because of this, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize the causation and ultimately where the blame should fall. Hopefully, you will too. 

I am meeting with his psychiatrist tomorrow and she is willing to write a letter stating that she is convicnced that all of his problems are due to quinolones. I am filing a law suit and her and a neuro-phycologist are going to help me in any way possible. I have many binders, filled with information, that I have collected on quinolones.