Dr. Cecelia Bove, PhD, is conducting a study of the gastrointestinal effects of fluoroquinolones, and she is seeking participants to answer questions about their gastrointestinal health post-fluoroquinolone-exposure.

Dr. Bove is looking for more survey participants, and I encourage all floxies to participate. To participate in the study, please send an email requesting a link to the study to cb068@bucknell.edu (the email address on the flyer pictured above bounced, but I was able to reach Dr. Bove through cb068@bucknell.edu). Dr. Bove will send you an email with a link to the study. As advertised, completing the study takes about 15 minutes. The questions are mainly about GI health.

Dr. Bove described the study as follows:

“The purpose of this research is to gain insight into a possible correlation between the intake of fluoroquinolones and permanent damage to the brain areas that regulate the gastrointestinal tract. I am a neuroscientist, and my PhD focused on this issue in the context of another illness, Parkinson’s Disease. My goal is to eventually examine the molecular changes that occur following the administration of fluoroquinolones in animal models, but I would first like to understand the nature of gastrointestinal symptoms that arise after FQLs administration. Despite being fairly known that this is the case, very little research is available describing the nature of gastrointestinal issues. A fairly easy, not time-consuming way to assess this, is through the survey I am inviting you all to fill. It is a short (15 minutes) long survey, in which we will ask you some questions about your gut health. The data gathered from the survey is completely anonymized to protect your identity and stored confidentially solely for analysis purposes. My goal is to gather enough responses (~500) to publish in a peer-reviewed journal and, based on the result, reach out to the FDA and the European Drug Administration to modify the current warnings on FQLs.

This would ultimately be my first paper published on gut health and FQLs. As I said earlier, my expertise was on Parkinson’s Disease, and now that I am a faculty at Bucknell University I have the opportunity to pursue my own research plans. My laboratory is now composed of me and two undergraduate students. We have all undergone training to do human research according to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to ensure the protection and quality of this type of research. If you are interested in reading more about my previous research, you can find me on pubmed, researchgate, or google scholar. My main co-author was Travagli R.A., so that would help you narrow down the results.”

Those of you who follow my journey may know that my one remaining lingering symptom of fluoroquinolone toxicity is inflammation in my gut. This inflammation results in loose stools, the feeling of a hot coal in my belly at night, insomnia (sometimes), and I even had surgery on my lower GI tract late last year to fix a somewhat embarrassing issue. None of these GI issues inhibit my life terribly. I’m able to work, eat, sleep well enough, live without too much pain, etc. But the inflammation is still there, and it’s a bit worrisome. My GI issues got notably worse years after I got floxed, so it’s difficult to say whether or not they’re connected to the ciprofloxacin I took years ago. I would like to know if the connection exists though, and perhaps Dr. Bove’s study can help to establish connections between fluoroquinolone use and long-term GI problems.

As Dr. Bove noted in the quote above, the survey is anonymized, so your medical information will be secure.

I hope that Dr. Bove gets enough survey participants to draw meaningful conclusions from the data collected, and I encourage you all to participate. Thank you!

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