Ortho mcneil symptoms and conditions

I have been taking Femcon FE for almost 3 months and I am glad to say I am not going insane. Up until last night, when I read every posting on this site I truly thought I, whom never suffers from a moment of being irrational thought I would go and see a doctor. Almost every feeling of hatred, depression and irritability that I had been feeling of late (the last two months) was described exactly here. Whew. I saw a posting that one person believed that the pharmaceutical companies actually gave kickbacks to the physicians. Well, as a former member of the woman's health care facility here in my town, it is true. Nice dinners, bottles of this and that, new cars, vacations and so on... Ortho McNeil pharmacies (No, I don't work for them) is the ony company, that it seems to me, that can say that side effects are not the norm. Warner Chilcott, the makers of FemCon FE have many women up in arms over the Loestrin 24FE and FemCon side effects. I paid no mind to this but the more and more I am exepriencing these effects and are hearing of them the more and more I am believing that perhaps these brands should come come with a warning on the side of the box on a big white label that says,"May ruin all of your relationships, may cause you to unnecessarily check yourself into a nuthouse and may cause severe mind and mood altering effects.Please buy stock in a sanitary napkin company before using."
Now the first month was great but for the past 2 1/2 months I have been bleeding every eight days. Now this is not "normal bleeding" but clots. So horrible. Oh, were you thinking of having a lovely romantic dinner? Muhahah, with Warner Chilcott FemCon Your breath will be great but pregnancy will never come between you and... oh wait, you are going to have your period forever...

WOULD EVERYONE PLEASE SEND IN A MEDWATCH REPORT BY GOING TO WWW.FDA.GOV.
IT'S THE ONLY WAY SOMEONE WILL LISTEN TO USE.

ALSO, CALL ORTHO-MCNEIL AND LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU GOT SICK ON THEIR WONDER DRUG. JUST DON'T GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS.

Taking a seven-day course of Levaquin in Dec. 06 resulted in two heart attacks - subsequent catheterization dissected my right cronary artery, necessitating a bypass. This extremely dangerous drug should be taken off the market.
Although Ortho-McNeil has a program to compensate victims for out-of-pocket expenses, they have been slow and reluctant to cooperate, despite admitting that the drug caused my problems.

Hello everyone, I have talked with ortho-mcneil many, many times. They wanted me to send them some information from my doctors and so I did. They sent me a letter that said I never had a reaction to Levaquin. My problems must have been caused by something else. This is why!!! No doctor would say that anything I had (hearing loss, tinnitus, brain fog, tendinitis, psychotic episodes etc, etc,) was from the Levaquin. If you can get a doctor to say definitely that Levaquin caused your problem, you might get compensated for something. Personally, after dealing with them, I wouldn't trust them at all. Just like my doctors. They will not admit to anything. They have interests involving the pharmaceutical companies; ( trips, gifts, luncheons, supples, lots and lots of samples and who knows what else.)
Don't be too willing to send them anything until you get something on paper from your doctor. Helen

I am a physician and have prescribed levaquin to many people. I have had some of them complain of what they thought were serious and variable side effects but mostly I attributed their problems to anxiety and hypochondiasis. I now know differently. I took levaquin, and for over a year I have had serious CNS anxiety, insomnia, joint and tendon pain, and widespread peripheral neuropathy. It has been an awful time and since realizing that the effects are often long term I have been able to identify many other patients who have developed serious long term problems with anxiety, depression, arthropathy and tendonopathy, neuropathy and possibly endocrine effects like gonadal failure and worsening of diabetes. There are no long term studies done post marketing to identify these effects and to unify all of these problems into one syndrom of fluoroquinolone toxicity. This is a big problem and I believe thousands of patients have been adversely affected by the use and misuse of levaquin and probably the other fluoroquinolone antibiotics. I have other colleagues who are beginning to recognize the long term consequences of levaquin and the fluoroquinolones. More research and study needs to be done. In the mean time I am sure that Johnson and Johnson, Ortho- Mcneil, will continue to refute that the incidence of serious adverse reactions is much higher than they report.

After 14 months of suffering from Levaquin I am getting worse.

I have had sore ankles and achilles heels for months but last two days this has increased to where I can't walk on them. My shoulders, arms, hands, legs have incresed in pain 50 % in last two days. All I can do is moan, all night in bed and even during day now.

Just loaded up on Lorazepam today.

Also, my nerve system has been severely damaged.

I am over 50. I know what my body feels. Everything involving my nerves has changed from the first 24 hours I took this stuff back in Dec. 2005. My skin feels prickly. My sensitivity to cold and heat is so off and unbearable.

I get haywire feeling all through me all the time. My heart jumps. My ears pop. I feel extreme anxiety.
Everything connected to my nerves seems effected. I get odd bladder feelings. Penile soreness like a nerve twinge.
My intestinal tract is shot. Everything from gastritis to gerd to middle intestinal inflammation. I have diagnosed tendinitis, torn rotator cuff, fractured vertebrae, neck disc damage, etc.
I am low in B-12 to 100 level. Also low in Male Hormone.Have acquired bronchial asthma, sinusits, scarring in left lung.

I do not know how much more I can take. And it all started that week I took Levaquin and "no other medicine".

Hadn't taken any medicne for years previous to this.

I called Ortho-McNeill to complain and they asked what happened to me. I told them I was given this after being diagnosed with beginning bronchitis and low electrolytes at our local ER. The lady on the Ortho McNeil complaint line told me " they ( the ER ) should have never given you Levaquin when you had diagnosed electrolyte imbalance."

She also said they were aware of many complaints of tendon damage.

And no attorney will even touch my case. Go figure. This country is crazy.

I posted above (36565) and want to add that I called the manufacturer - Ortho McNeil (l-800-526-7736) to report these side effects. They were very thorough and took lots of information and assured me that every complaint has to be reported to the FDA. They were unable to offer help, except to seek doctor's advice - which of course we have done - to no avail. However, if everyone reported their side effects, maybe the FDA would take some action. It's worth a try.

The company that manufactures Levaquin is called ORTHO-McNEIL. They have a main website.

I have entered here before also.

I can't believe that so many of us are telling the world here what happened to us taking Levaquin...and NOBODY...is doing anything about this !

These stories are not made up or exaggerated. These stories are telling us that we are being given a poison!

If someone just printed out all of the stories on this board and put them in a book form and mailed it to "all" the newspapers in the country...maybe then this insane denial and non-concern would end! Maybe then the nation would see and acknowledge the massive damage this drug is doing to thousands!

Just read these stories...what more does our FDA have to see before they shut down the administering of this toxic substance?

It's been a year since I took 7 days worth of Levaquin.

I did "not" have the swollen throat and hives and red skin "immediate" reaction to Levaquin. Therefore, my doctors say it didn't damage me. They get angry if I bring up this possibility.

But within 24 hours of taking this drug I awoke at home in the night with burning pain in my shoulders, arms and hands so bad I was calling out. I was so confused. I had never felt anything like this before. My hands would also get cold and go numb.

My insides went haywire this first time too. My bladder would feel the urge and then not. I was feeling wincing sharp pains all over. I could not sleep except for a short nightmare type thing. I was anxiety ridden. Shaking inside and out. My legs felt weird. My sensitivity to cold became unbelievablely extreme. I was freezing.

Next morning my stomach went into literal shock with pain and I had to call an ambulance to go back to the ER as I was seconds away from passing out. The weakness? So bad....let me repeat that...SO BAD that I could not lift my hands while laying down! My entire body felt like it was going to die.

I could not walk, legs so weak and body shakey, and feeling so unbalanced. Crying with pain and anxiety and just unbelievable crashing of everything. Lost 35 pounds in 2+ months! Couldn't eat. Metallic taste in throat. Still have most of these symptoms after 1 year! Sorry to tell you all this last point.

Since all my tests "supposedly" haven't shown anything that would explain these most extreme conditions...I have been relegated to the psychiatric area almost totally.

Yes, my nervous system has been effected...damaged.
Yes, I get so anxious and depressed and scared and frantic at times with my suffering and non-treatment and adversarial treatment. Have lost my self-confidence of my body.

My regular doctors have found ways to dump me or schedule me so infrequently they are really out of this situation.

It is like living in cold war Russia. I have made too much protests against my regular doctors refusal to consider levaquin...and now my record is full of psych visits. Once you have these on your record. Let me tell you...most new doctors eyes get real big when they first see these. They label you immediately and silently to themselves as a "problem" case. Your care is different because of this. It's an incredible injustice and almost Kafka'n in it's implications.

But that's just one of the "levaquin" poisoning problems. A medical community refusing to acknowledging it...and if you protest to much to their view...you will be sent off to the psych ward.

54 years and I never saw a psychiatrist in my life. 54 years and I never ever had a problem with drugs, alcohol, the law or even in my first and still on-going 25 year long marriage. I have raised two responsible kids...both working and in college. I had a wonderfully social job as a hotel concierge that I loved for 5 years previous to this "levaquin" poisoning.

But with this case, my normal past means nothing. I am just all of a sudden a nut case for complaining too much about my belief that Levaquin did this to me. That Levaquin destroyed me. Especially since the doctors say they can't explain why I got so sick and I am still so sick. I still feel like I am going to die almost every other day! And it's been a year.

Also, my statute-of-limitations one year period to sue the hospital that gave me this drug ( and never ever told me to quit taking it even after I came rushing back to them with these incredible, unprecedented symptoms just 1 or 2 days after they prescribed it to me and were told it was the only medicine I was taking ) and the drug company that manufactures Levaquin ( Ortho-McNeil ) are almost up.

Not one lawyer I have contacted out of maybe 50 will even consider taking this case. They say it's too hard to prove, drug companes can ruin them they are so rich and powerful and that Bush has limited suit awards to 250,000 dollars and they would need a lot of this to prove you have been damaged!

They say if my liver failed and I died and I had never had liver problems before I took Levaquin...that they would then "consider" taking on a case like mine. But as long as I am alive I haven't got a chance.

I wrote to Ortho-McNeil and told them their product Levaquin has destroyed me and I asked for their financial help with my tens of thousands of dollars I owe in medical bills as financially I am also ruined. I also asked them to help me finanically get more specific, technical tests done beyond my small ton area. Never a word back.

Im a 39 year old male in good health, diagonosed 2 days ago with Epydidimitus of my right testicle, possibly bacterial. My GP prescribed a 4 day dosage of Levaquin after giving me 3 sample 500mg tablets, told me to keep out of the sun and to call him if there were any reactions like a rash/sunburn. When I enquired as to whether I could continue my daily 2 mile bike rides, he suggested I not and I concluded it was due to the Epydidimitus. There was no insert in the sample packs, I filled the prescripton and would pick it up later that day.
However, at work I proceeded to do an Google search on Levaquin at Ortho-McNeil and was alarmed at what I read. I found this site and concluded that I didn't want to take fluroquionones for my illness and now understood why bike riding wasn't a good idea (possibility of Tendon Ruptures!!!).
I called my GP's office, spoke with the nurse and requested an alternate antibiotic. I was told the GP would be get back to me. The next morning his nurse called and instructed me to either take the Levaquin or see the in-plan urologist. An co-worker told me he'd requested not to receive Levaquin for a UTI, as it gave him leg cramps after he'd stopped taking it. I called a drug-rep friend of mine, inquired about Levaquin, was told it was being given out "like candy", most widely prescribed AB, safe, he's taken it, etc. But he'd also seen side effects and was surprised my GP wouldn't prescribe an alternative. He put me in touch with a PA at my urologists office, who called me back within an hour. The PA agreed that it was reasonable to prescribe something less powerful, as fluoroquinones are usually 2nd or 3rd line drugs. He agreed to see me the same day. I then called my GP's office to request that he get on the phone for 5 minutes at his convenience to discuss an alternative drug, but only received a call back from the head nurse who would relay the message!?? The PA did an exam, explained that quionones are often prescribed at his office after a patient hasn't responed to other antibiotics prescribed by a GP. His prognosis was the same as my GP, however he also suggested I get an ultrasound in addition, just to be sure.
End result, I was prescribed Doxycycline 100mg/2xDay for 14 days and will follow up in 3 weeks.

DON'T GIVE IN WITHOUT A FIGHT! If these drugs are unsafe, and there is even a 1% chance of major complications (Levaquin 46% of all patients reported adverse effects of some sort), why take them unless absolutely necessary! This is a family of drugs, that while being very powerful, was originally approved as a 2nd or 3rd line of defence, when other AB's didn't work. GP's may be prescribing them as wide-spectrum cure-alls without knowing the frequency of adverse side-effects. They already work 10+ hour days, why would they hop online to investigate negative effects reported to non-profit watchdog sites? We're not doctors, so what do we know...right? WRONG! Do your homework, ask questions, be considerate but firm. You have the right to ask for alternative treatments so long as you are informed. God Bless, best wishes.

I have taken Levaquin for bladder infections 6 times. I have Interstitial Cystitis and sadly one of the side effects is frequent UTI's. I have tolerated this drug better than any other antibiotic I have ever taken, and I have taken many.

Walgreens lists the vast majority of "possible" side effects and the Ortho-McNeil web site (the company who manufactures the drug) has a very detailed PDF file which lists all of the side effects complaints I have seen here and more. Some of the other side effects include suicidal thoughts and death!

ANY drug can cause side effects that may be severly adverse. It is impossible to know who will have such a reaction. In order to avoid all posssible reactions to drugs the healthcare industry would have to stop using medications of any kind.

I had a bizarre reaction to oxybutynin (which generally causes no side effects) that went far beyond drowsiness, it more resembled Narcolepsy. I could not safely care for my child or drive my car. I still took the pills for 2 months hoping the side effects would go away, which they didn't. I know that my reaction wasn't the "norm, and would not tell someone not to take it simply because it didn't work for me.

Please if you have been prescribed Levaquin, take it. As with any drug, over the counter or prescribed call your doctor immediately if you have any reaction that is uncommon or you feel requires medical attention. All medications can have risks, just use your head :)

I was given two days worth of Levaquin, as well as a precription for another seven days, for recurring acute sinusitis. I took one tablet, and within two hours was having cold clammy sweating spells, a headache on one side, and was unable to sleep. The next morning, I had aches and pains all over. Called the doctor and got a different prescription, but the aches and pains continued for two more days.

I later realized that the samples that the doctor gave me had no drug information included, but upon looking at Ortho-McNeil's website, they have no information about the types of side effects I was experiencing.

I have told everyone I know to avoid this drug like the plague. I know it works for some people - but my three-day experience with it was more than I could handle.