This drug does an OK job, however, the side effects are almost un...

This drug does an OK job, however, the side effects are almost unbearable. As a person who rarely gets sick (mild cold a day out of the year), the last time I took antibiotics was as a child -- the pink stuff that needs refrigeration. After acquiring a strange bacterial infection in my chest/lungs, the doctor prescribed Avelox for one week. This happened down in Mexico, where nobody discusses side effects. The packaging had absolutely no warning/information, a pack of gum literally gives you more details. From day one, there was an incredible feeling of anxiety (like being jacked up on 50 cups of coffee), panic attacks, extremely rapid heart rate, shallow breath, depression, despair, severe paranoia, zero appetite, pain in my stomach, blurry vision, insatiably dry mouth that no amount of fluids would satisfy, insomnia, an out of body feeling, dizziness, and fairly vivid hallucinations of geometric shapes and insects. In other words, pure hell. I'd take the drug before bed to try and avoid the side effects, which would subside after around 12 hours. The interaction from Avelox was about ten times worse than the actual illness. After a week, my symptoms had mostly cleared up, but the doctor switched me to five days on Cedax which is as harmless as Tylenol and completely resolved the issue. I'd recommend you stay away from Avelox unless it's a last resort. Although it works great for the majority of people without incident, the side effects are VERY real. This stuff is dangerous.