More than 20 million individuals are prescribed a fluoroquinolone antibiotic such as Cipro, Avelox or Levaquin in the United States each year, potentially exposing millions of people to numerous severe side effects, including peripheral neuropathy. Quinolone antibiotics treat various medical conditions like sinus infections, ear infections, urinary tract infections and other bacterial infections. New reports suggest that taking quinolone antibiotics may increase the chance of developing permanent nerve damage, a side effect that many patients claim they were unaware of. 

What is Peripheral Neuropathy?

No longer considered a rare side effect of antibiotics, peripheral neuropathy attacks the nervous system and leaves individuals with long-lasting pain. Some patients have reported that the nerve damage symptoms stop a few months after going off the antibiotics, while others claim the quinolone antibiotics left them with irreversible nerve damage. 

The signs of peripheral neuropathy vary but may include the following symptoms:

• Burning pain
• Sharp, jabbing or electric-like pain
• Tingling or numbness of the hands and feet
• Extreme touch sensitivity
• Heat intolerance
• Paralysis
• Muscle weakness
• Skin, hair, or nail changes
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Bowel, bladder and digestive problems

Physicians urge consumers to seek medical help immediately if they notice any of these peripheral neuropathy symptoms. Prompt medical attention may reduce the risk of permanent nerve damage.

Peripheral Neuropathy Linked to Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics

Research findings dating back to 1992 have established a link between antibiotics in the quinolone family and peripheral neuropathy. More recently, researchers followed peripheral neuropathy patients and found that more than half of them still experienced nerve damage symptoms a year after discontinuing use of the product.

Some of the quinolone medications began carrying a peripheral neuropathy warning in 2004, but consumers allege the warnings were misleading because they suggested the nerve damage side effect was “rare.” Peripheral neuropathy sufferers believe that had they been adequately warned of the risks involved, they would have switched to a different antibiotic when they first noticed nerve damage symptoms and therefore could have avoided permanent damage.

By 2013, the FDA decided to intervene and started requiring quinolone manufacturers to include a peripheral neuropathy warning on fluoroquinolone drug labels.  The following drugs now carry the warnings:

• Ciprofloxacin (Cipro)
• Levofloxacin (Levaquin)
• Moxifloxacin (Avelox)
• Trovafloxacin (Trovan)
• Sparfloxacin (Zagam)
• Ofloxacin (Floxin)
• Lomefloxacin (Maxaquin)
• Norfloxacin (Chibroxin Ophthalmic)

Numerous patients feel the antibiotics should have had adequate peripheral neuropathy warnings much sooner, and have filed quinolone lawsuits alleging that the makers of Cipro, Avelox and other drugs in the quinolone family should have included a nerve damage warning so they could have avoided the serious health risk.

Quinolone Antibiotic Lawsuits

Peripheral neuropathy is not the only medical condition being named in quinolone lawsuits. Consumers of Cipro, Avelox, Floxin, Levaquin have also alleged the drugs cause severe eye injuries including pigment dispersion syndrome, retinal detachment, uveitis and blindness. In addition to eye disorders, thousands of lawsuits have been filed, blaming quinolone antibiotics for causing Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, which is a life-threatening allergic skin reaction that has a 15 percent mortality rate.

Often times, filing a lawsuit as an individual or joining a class action lawsuit is the only way to recover damages for medical bills as well as pain and suffering.