Buzz
I was once prescribed Cipro. After bringing the bottle home, I took a moment to read through the leaflet that the pharmacy had tucked in the bag—just being a cautious nerd, not expecting to find anything too alarming. But when I reached the part that mentioned tendon rupture as a potential side effect(!!!), I immediately set the leaflet aside and called my doctor to ask for an alternative medication.
Since that time, fluoroquinolone antibiotics, a class that includes ciprofloxacin (Cipro), have come to be known for their serious health risks, with new warnings issued as recently as yesterday. These antibiotics can cause dangerously low blood sugar, potentially leading to a coma, and have been linked to mental health side effects like agitation, memory and attention issues, as well as a serious condition known as delirium.
In 2013, the FDA issued new warnings about the risk of permanent nerve damage from these antibiotics. Back in 2008, shortly after I discovered the tendon rupture warning, fluoroquinolones were given a black-box warning about tendinitis and tendon rupture right on the label. (You can tear a tendon, such as your Achilles tendon, even months after finishing the course of the drug.)
Thankfully, these drugs are no longer prescribed as freely as they once were. In 2016, the FDA advised that fluoroquinolones should only be used as a last resort for urinary tract infections and certain other infections, where they were once commonly used. However, Cipro remains an appropriate choice for treating anthrax, plague, and bacterial pneumonia, where the benefits generally outweigh the risks.
If you’re prescribed one of these antibiotics, such as levofloxacin (Levaquin), ciprofloxacin (Cipro), moxifloxacin (Avelox), ofloxacin, gemifloxacin (Factive), or delafloxacin (Baxdela), make sure to ask your doctor these two essential questions that are always fair to ask about any medication or treatment:
What are the potential risks or side effects of this medication?
Is there an alternative that could work for me without these risks?
Sometimes, the answer might be that a fluoroquinolone is indeed the best choice. For example, if I were to contract bubonic plague (yes, it's still around), I’d take it. For more common infections, however, allergies and bacterial resistance might limit your options, making a fluoroquinolone the only remaining option. But if your doctor is still prescribing Cipro for UTIs, they should be aware by now that there are better alternatives.
