General Surgery - fluroquinolone antibiotics, Levaquin, Cipro
Expert: Dawn Caceres - 4/19/2007
Question Hello again Dawn, do you know anything about the quinolone antibiotics? My husband is supposed to begin taking one 500mg of Levaquin a day for 10 days before and during the surgery and I have found around 60,000 personal stories of terrible and permanent side effects caused by these drugs. Also, the Attorney General Lisa Madigan of Illinois and the Washington D.C. based non-profit consumer advocacy group, Public Citizen in order to protect the public's health and safety have petitioned the Food and Drug Administration "Black Box" warning to take action about severe and increasingly frequent tendon disorders caused by the fluroquinolone drugs especially Levaquin and cipro. Should we ask the urologist for a different type of antibiotic?
Answer Dear Connie,
Simply put, I took the drug Levaquin myself last year for urological illness and suffered no ill effect.
Anything you use these days can have side effects. The trick is to weigh the pros and cons of your choice and see which effect is the best.
In this case, I would give the drug of choice a try and watch for ill effect. You have a great knowledge base and wouldn't let your husband suffer with anything that might harm him.
I believe the study that you speak about was in relation to misuse of this drug (and overuse). Personally speaking I believe either drug would be the best choice in this situation. The next option would be a drug that wouldn't be as effective or possibly none at all which could lead to infection. The later of which you should try to avoid at all cost.
