The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August reiterated and strengthened its warning against fluoroquinolone antibiotic drugs, which have been known to allegedly cause serious and occasionally permanent peripheral neuropathy, or nerve damage.

Fluoroquinolones are a group of antibiotic drugs that include Cipro, Factive, Levaquin, Avelox, Noroxin, and Floxin. During 2011, 23 million Americans were prescribed a drug in the fluoroquinolone family to treat a multitude of health problems such as respiratory and urinary tract infections.

However, while fluoroquinolones have many potential benefits, this family of antibiotics has been known to cause severe side effects, including peripheral neuropathy.

Peripheral neuropathy is a condition in which the specific nerves used to send sensory information from the brain and/or spinal cord to the other parts of the human body are damaged. General symptoms that may indicate a patient has developed peripheral neuropathy includes numbness, tingling, burning and/or shooting pain in an individual’s arms or legs.

Since 2004, nerve damage has been listed as a possible side effect of most fluoroquinolones. However, even with these warnings, several published reports have stated that some fluoroquinolone consumers have allegedly experienced permanent nerve damage and even permanent disability after taking these types of antibiotics.

In light of these disconcerting consumer reports, the FDA recently ruled that current drug and safety warnings on fluoroquinolone products are insufficient and has mandated that fluoroquinolone drug labels and medication guides be updated to emphasize the risk of short term and permanent fluoroquinolone peripheral neuropathy.

Fluoroquinolone Peripheral Neuropathy

As previously stated, new research and recent adverse event drug reports suggests that patients prescribed fluoroquinolone antibiotic drugs are at a markedly higher risk of developing peripheral neuropathy, otherwise known as nerve damage.

Drugs included in the fluoroquinolone drug family known to allegedly cause the development of peripheral neuropathy include:

• levofloxacin (Levaquin)
• ciprofloxacin (Cipro)
• moxifloxacin (Avelox)
• norfloxacin (Noroxin)
• ofloxacin (Floxin)
• gemifloxacin (Factive)

In general, peripheral nerve damage begins rapidly, within only a few days of starting a course of fluoroquinolone antibiotics. The extent of a patient’s nerve damage may vary, with some experiencing nerve damage symptoms for a few months after they stop taking the antibiotic, and others experiencing severe, permanent, and irreversible nerve damage.

Fluoroquinolone neuropathy studies have suggested that patients prescribed fluoroquinolones for eye and ear infections are not at risk of developing peripheral neuropathy as those who are taking the antibiotics orally or by injections.

If you, or someone you know have taken fluoroquinolone and think you may be experiencing nerve damage, some signs to look out for include:

• Tingling or numbness in the extremities starting in the hands and feet and spreading to the arms and legs
• Burning pain
• Sharp, jabbing pain or electric-like pain
• Extreme touch sensitivity
• Skin, hair or nail changes
• Lack of coordination
• Muscle weakness
• Paralysis
• Heat intolerance
• Bowel, bladder of digestive problems
• Dizziness or lightheadedness

As a result of the short-term and long-term permanent nerve damage allegedly experienced by some patients, many individuals are now choosing to file fluoroquinolone peripheral neuropathy lawsuits or joining fluoroquinolone peripheral neuropathy class action lawsuits.