I just want scientists to step up and scream about what they know. Some of them, maybe many of them, fully realize that fluoroquinolones are dangerous. Where is the outrage? Where is the change? I am deeply saddened by this list. Thank you for reading the post!
http://www.hormonesmatter.com/lost-faith-scientists/
Tagged: Avelox side effects, Cipro side effects, faith in scientists, fluoroquinolones, levaquin side effects, lost faith in scientists
Hi Lisa,
I’ve always thought that the Flox Report was a valuable document and the most researched and holistic attempt to figure out what has happened to us (albeit by non-scientists). I was impressed with the effort that went in to preparing it. With all the conjecture in the blogs/forums, I felt that at least this was something unbiased, objective, research-based…something “solid” I could really rely on. The latest edition I’ve seen is from March, 2007. Do you know if this is still a “living” document and is/are the author(s) continuing to update this? If we could just get the smart people together on the same page, researchers, scientists and floxies alike, putting together documents like the Flox Report, perhaps we could really get to the bottom of fluoroquinolone toxcicity syndrome and then work on a fix!
– Lane
Hi Lane,
It has been a while since I last looked at The Flox Report. Thank you for reminding me about it! I agree that it is an excellent resource. I am not sure whether or not it is a living document, but I will ask around about it.
Regards,
Lisa
“Teo Boomer,” who wrote the Flox report, is Spanish. That’s not his real name. I was briefly in touch with him in 2009, when I was poisoned (which happenede when travelling in Spain and I was never able to go back to France, where I lived.) He got fed up with it all and doesn’t reply to requests for contact.
That’s unfortunate, imagine with the new information we now have what a comprehensive document that could now be if it were updated…there’s nothing else substantive currently available that pulls everything together like the Flox Report did (or at least, I haven’t found it).
What I mean by “pulls everything together” is that we see studies that look at fluoroquinolones from one perspective or system only (connective tissues or nervous system or vascular system, etc.), but where is the study that “connects the dots”? There must be a common thread, a common mechanism by which all this destruction is occurring to our bodies.
At some point I’ll write up a summary of what I think I know about what is going on in our bodies when we get “Floxed.” This is very far from complete, but it’s a very short version of my current thoughts on the damage mechanisms involved in FQ toxicity –
“The fluoroquinolone depletes liver enzymes that metabolize drugs (CYP450) (2). When the enzymes are depleted sufficiently, the fluoroquinolone forms a poisonous adduct to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) (3, 4), which destroys and depletes mtDNA (5). While the mtDNA is being destroyed, the fluoroquinolone is also binding to cellular magnesium. (6, 7) The mitochondria reacts to being assaulted by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) (8, 9). Some of the ROS, specifically hydrogen peroxide, combines with the excess calcium (there is a balance in cells of magnesium and calcium and the binding of the magnesium results in an excess of calcium) to induce the expression of CD95L/Fas Ligand (5) which then causes cell death (apoptosis) and immune system dysfunction (10) which leads the body to attack itself – like an autoimmune disease.
Damage is caused by every single step in the process. Additional damage may be done by the fluorine atom that is added to fluoroquinolones to make them more potent. It should be noted that the complexity of these cellular interactions is too vast to write up in this article.”
The sources are linked to in the Gulf War Syndrome post.
I definitely agree that it’s a shame that the author of The Flox Report is no longer working on the issue. It’s too bad to lose institutional knowledge. I’m glad that he did all that he did for the report. If he reads this – Thank you!