Avelox and numbness in legs

I'm a 46-year old male and went to my family physician 10/20/08 and was prescribed Avelox for an ear/sinus infection. Like others I've read about I also was given a (free) coupon/voucher for 10 pills redeemable at my local pharmacy. I ingested one 400mg tablet and went to work, within 1-hour I began feeling oddly all over having numbness passing across my arms and shoulders and had to leave work remainder of day. 10/21/08 I ingested pill #2 and that was the back breaker...within hours of taking the pill I began having numerous complications consisting of numbness in chest and arms, numbness in legs, I lost control of my muscles having wobbly legs and weakness in arms, I experienced neck fatigue, had weird receptor flashes, pain in my knee joints, continually thirsty...all these symptom generated panic attacks and paranoia and I was frightened thinking that something more medically severe was wrong with me. I began to think the only thing different is my ingesting Avelox, that's when I began researching the side affects and bingo the testimonials from others whom have taken this antibiotic have experienced same or similar complications indicating Avelox is at fault. Avelox is bad news period and I am so bummed that I was prescribed this devil antibiotic....this drug(antibiotic) must be taken off the market and I will support any cause that supports removal of this evil drug and I strongly urge that no person accept Avelox. My only regret is that I did not research this drugs potential side affects prior to ingesting. I have always felt reasonably safe taking medication prescribed my my family doctor but I now doubt my doctors competence in terms of awareness as it related to the consequences and/or endangerments the medications prescribed may have on any patients health.

My question is; can you and I count on the FDA to protect us? No we can't and that's disturbing because this is another case where another of our Federally controlled agencies has failed miserably, don't be mislead thinking that because it's federally controlled that We or all drugs prescribed are safe. What's the problem? The problem is there are to many powerful drug companies pushing new drugs daily/yearly and the FDA has no possible manpower means to keep up and thoroughly test and time evaluate each drug, large caliber drug companies are aware of this having millions invested in development of drugs therefore pressure for FDA releasement and the FDA crumbles allowing unproven and/or toxic drugs such as Avelox and others to pass into our pharmacy markets. Fact is not only does the FDA miss the boat but so do physicians, arguably many physicians spend little to zero effort actually researching the drugs the powerful drug company reps are pushing on them, as a result we have far to many doctors over medicating and/or prescribing dangerous and sometimes deadly drugs to their patients.

In closing many people have stated they have taken Avelox having no side effects, later these same people claimed they now are experiencing side affects. This invites curiosity; curiosity such as; what has changed? Why no previous side affects and suddenly the drug causes side affects leaved one wondering did the drug manufacture change the drugs chemistry components thus the once affective drug has now become a health risk. Lastly one must question who is chemically auditing/testing and how often are drug manufacturers audited to insure that a drug that passed FDA approval standards still meets health and safety requirements months and years later.