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lomefloxacin (MAXAQUIN)


E-ALERTS

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DISEASE AND DRUG FAMILY INFORMATION

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Antibiotics
Antibiotics (drugs used to treat bacterial infections) are overwhelmingly misprescribed in the United States. Despite congressional hearings and numerous academic studies on this issue, it has become the general consensus that 40 to 60% of all antibiotics in this country are misprescribed. New studies continue to confirm the fact that a large proportion of antibiotic prescribing for both children and adults continues to be inappropriate.
Fluoroquinolones
One of the biggest-selling and most overprescribed classes of drugs in the United States is the family called fluoroquinolones. One clue that a drug your doctor wants to give you is in this class is the fact that the generic names of all such drugs approved in the United States include the sequence floxacin. These drugs have been alternatives for individuals allergic to, or with infections resistant to, other antibiotics. Some fluoroquinolones are commonly misprescribed for colds, sore throats, bladder infections, or community-acquired (as opposed to hospital-acquired) pneumonia.

WORST PILLS, BEST PILLS NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

Search results below include Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles where your selected drug is a primary subject of discussion.

Antacid Drug Interactions
October 2009
Antacids can interact with a number of medications, either increasing or decreasing drug effect.
Drug-induced Cognitive Impairment: Part 2: Delirium and Dementia
April 2009
This second article about drug-induced dementia or delirium lists and discusses an additional 79 drugs that can cause these reversible kinds of mental deterioration. The two articles collectively review 136 drugs that can cause these serious side effects, especially in older people.
Tizanidine: Watch Out for Drugs Interacting With This Muscle Relaxant
October 2008
Tizanidine (ZANAFLEX) is a muscle relaxant for which more than 3.8 million prescriptions were filled in the U.S. last year. The article lists more than 64 drugs with which it can have dangerous interactions resulting in excess sedation, difficulty breathing or dangerously low blood pressure that can result in falling.
29 Medications That May Cause Adverse Interactions with Thyroid Drugs
September 2008
Thyroid medications are among the most widely-prescribed drugs in the U.S. In this article, we review 29 different medications that can have harmful interactions with thyroid medicines such as levothyroxine (Synthroid). There are four major kinds of interaction problems that can occur: • Certain medications can decrease the absorption of levothyroxine resulting in lower levels in the blood. • Other medications can increase the rate at which the body gets rid of levothyroxine, also resulting in lower thyroid levels in the blood. • Other medications can cause changes of levothyroxine binding in blood, decreasing the body's ability to use levothyroxine. • Levothyroxine can affect the safety or effectiveness of other medications by raising or lowering the levels of these other drugs in the blood, causing them to be either infective (lower levels) or dangerous (higher levels).
Public Citizen Urges FDA to Warn Consumers About Risk of Tendon Rupture Associated With Certain Antibiotics
November 2006
You should stop taking fluoroquinolones(listed in the article) and immediately contact your physician if you experience pain in any tendon while taking one of these antibiotics so you can be switched to another antibiotic.
Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Implicated in Life-Threatening Diarrhea
February 2006
Antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) is quite common and its incidence varies from 5% to 20% of patients depending on which antibiotic they are taking. The article lists some of the drugs most associated with this potentially life-threatening adverse reaction.
Drug Induced Peripheral Neuropathy From The Fluroquinolone Antibiotics
December 2004
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now requires that the professional product labeling, or package inserts, for all fluroquinolone antibiotics must warn about the possibility of peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage). A list of the fluroquinolone antibiotics currently available in the U.S. appears at the end of this article.
Drug Interaction Reminder: Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics and the Anticoagulant (Blood Thinner) Warfarin (COUMADIN)
September 2004
You should consider that all fluoroquinolone antibiotics have the potential to interact with warfarin and your physician should be ordering blood tests to monitor the status of your blood clotting if one of these antibiotics is needed and you are using warfarin. This is the safest thing to do.
Drug-Induced Taste Disorders
September 2003
DO NOT stop taking any of the drugs listed in the table without first consulting your physician. You should report any alteration in your sense of taste to your physician if you are taking a drug.
Inappropriate Prescribing Of Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics, Ciprofloxacin (CIPRO), Gatifloxacin (TEQUIN), And Others
July 2003
In this study, the researchers evaluated 100 consecutive patients who went to the emergency room and received a prescription for a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Of the 100 patients, 81 (81%) received a fluoroquinolone antibiotic for an inappropriate use. In 43 (53%) of these patients, a fluoroquinolone was found inappropriate because another antibiotic was considered first-line treatment, and in 27 (33%) patients there was no evidence of an infection and therefore no indication for the use of any antibiotic.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM PUBLIC CITIZEN

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FDA Must Do More to Warn Patients Taking Flouroquinolone Antibiotics of Possible Tendon Ruptures
Statement of Sidney Wolfe, M.D., Director of the Health Research Group at Public Citizen
Antibiotic Leads to Tendon Ruptures; FDA Ignores Risks
Despite long-standing evidence that fluoroquinolone antibiotics can cause tendon ruptures, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has failed to increase its warnings to patients and physicians about the dangers of the medicines, Public Citizen told a federal court Thursday.
Public Citizen Petitions the FDA to Include a Black Box Warning on Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics (HRG Publication #1781)
Public Citizen, representing more than 100,000 consumers nationwide, hereby petitions the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pursuant to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act 21 U.S.C. Section 355(e)(3), and 21 C.F.R. 10.30, to immediately add a black box warning regarding the risks of tendinopathy and tendon rupture to the product labels of all fluoroquinolone antibiotics presently on the market in the United States.
Petition to Require a Warning on All Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics (HRG Publication #1399)
Based on more than 130 reports of tendon inflammation (many involving rupture), most frequently involving the Achilles tendon, in persons using the widely-prescribed class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones, Public Citizen, representing consumers nationwide, hereby petitions the F.D.A. to add a warning about this serous problem to the label of all fluoroquinolone antibiotics marketed in the United States. These include: