Children are Being Hurt By Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics

It breaks my heart when I hear about children getting “floxed.” It’s bad enough that fluoroquinolones inflict pain, tendon tears and ruptures, dysglycemia, insomnia, psychiatric problems, autonomic nervous system disturbances, hormonal issues, and more, on adults–it’s horrifying when those things happen to children. Our children, our babies, our innocent and precious kids, are getting hurt by fluoroquinolones too. We try to protect our children–it’s our job to protect them. We trust that when we go to the pediatrician, he or she won’t poison our babies, but, tragically, sometimes pediatricians do, indeed, poison children with fluoroquinolones. Sometimes they prescribe Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin, and Floxin/ofloxacin to children, and sometimes those children suffer devastating consequences from taking those drugs.

It is so incredibly wrong to give children drugs that can cause permanent pain and disability that I’m furious that it happens at all. I’m also furious that there aren’t any consequences for the various parties that allow fluoroquinolones to be prescribed to children. In case it needs to be said, hurting children, and chemically causing pain and disability for young boys and girls, is wrong.

It is well-documented that fluoroquinolones cause permanent lameness in juvenile animals and that they are contraindicated for the pediatric population. A review in U.S. Pharmacist notes that:

“Fluoroquinolones have demonstrated adverse effects on cartilage development in juvenile animals through the inflammation and destruction of weight-bearing joints.  These arthropathies were often irreversible, and their potential occurrence in children limited the use of fluoroquinolones in this population.  In one pediatric study, ciprofloxacin had a 3.3% (9.3% vs. 6.0%) absolute risk increase in musculoskeletal events within 6 weeks of treatment compared with control agents used to treat complicated UTIs or pyelonephritis. Adefurin and colleagues found a 57% increased relative risk of arthropathy in children given ciprofloxacin (21% overall) versus those in a non-fluoroquinolone comparator arm. In contrast to animal models, neither dose nor duration had an effect on the rate or severity of arthropathy.  A 2007 study by Noel and colleagues determined the incidence of musculoskeletal events (primarily arthralgias) to be greater in children treated with levofloxacin compared with nonfluoroquinolone-treated children at 2 months (2.1% vs. 0.9%; P = .04) and 12 months (3.4% vs. 1.8%; P = .03).  These results and the severity of the effects should be weighed heavily when initiation of fluoroquinolones is being contemplated in pediatric patients.”

To summarize, fluoroquinolones can cause irreversible musculoskeletal harm and in doing so, they can put an end to a child’s days of running, jumping, playing soccer, skiing, dancing, etc. Think about that for a second–a drug, an antibiotic no less, can cause permanent damage to the musculoskeletal system of a child. Fluoroquinolones also have serious CNS effects, and can cause psychiatric disturbances as well as loss of memory and concentration. Children, with their developing bodies and minds, should not be subjected to dangerous, disabling drugs that can set back their development and their lives.

Given the documented adverse effects of fluoroquinolones on children, and the black box warning that notes that they can cause disability, the following examples of children being hurt by fluoroquinolones are both infuriating and heartbreaking. Still, I think they should be shared, so as to warn other parents of the dangers of these drugs, and hopefully fewer children will get floxed in the future.

I have paraphrased the stories that I’ve heard, but all of these are true:

1. A 16 year old boy has Cipro 17 times over the last 7 years. He has various health issues, including a problem with the bones in his feet. The pain in his feet is so bad that he has had to stop school and homeschool on the computer.
2. A 9 year old took fluoroquinolone ear drops twice as a toddler and suffers with chronic foot and knee pain.
3. A young woman was floxed 4 1/2 years ago at 16 years old. After about 2 years, she got better, eventually reaching about 90-95% better, only to have a relapse for no apparent reason about a year later (which is where we are now)! She has had MANY devastating side effects, and still cannot work. When she got her first job is when the relapse took place.
4. A 15 year old girl passed away 6 days after her 10 day Levaquin script.
5. An 8 year old girl had to quit all sports swimming and gymnastics. She is now going to school but no P.E., and no Dr. Wants to take responsibility for how to help with her pain. It’s been only 2 weeks since taking 3 days worth and then being hospitalized because of the effects.
6. A 10 year old girl who cannot stand or walk, and no doctors believe her. 
7. A 16 year old girl took 2 pills of 500 mg of cipro and now has nerve twitching, leg pain, anxiety, and a whole bunch of other symptoms. 

These are kids! They are children and adolescents who are being hurt by fluoroquinolones. They are suffering and there is nothing that doctors can do to relieve their pain. It’s beyond heartbreaking–it’s infuriating–and it needs to stop. The FDA needs to put enforceable restrictions on pediatric fluoroquinolone use. The doctors who prescribe fluoroquinolones to children need to be held accountable when they hurt children with fluoroquinolones (either through Medical Board punishment, or lawsuits). The pharmaceutical companies that make these dangerous drugs need to be punished and they need to compensate their victims. Researchers need to be looking into a cure for fluoroquinolone toxicity. All parties involved need to help these kids to recover, because there really isn’t anything okay about hurting a child.