It's time for some radical authenticity.

I was poisoned by an antibiotic called Levaquin (Levafloxacin). It is among the fluoroquinolone family, along with Bayer's more widely recognized version, Cipro (Ciprofloxacin).

Millions of people are severely affected by these drugs, landing in wheelchairs, or unable to function, or dead. And yet so few have heard about them. So, let's talk about it.

Obligatory disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I have, however, thrown my entire being for over three years into researching and understanding the mechanisms and nature of the damage from these drugs, because, in a very real sense, my life depends on it.

History and Mechanism

In 1962, Lesher et al. accidentally discovered nalidixic acid while synthesizing chloroquine, an antimalarial drug. Nalidixic acid became the first quinolone antibiotic, used primarily for UTIs1.

In 1977, scientists at Kyorin Pharmaceutical Company modified the quinolone structure by adding a fluorine atom at the C-6 position. This led to the creation of norfloxacin, the first fluoroquinolone (FQ)2. The addition of fluorine significantly improved the drug's ability to penetrate bacterial cells and inhibit DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV, enzymes essential for bacterial DNA replication and transcription3. This leads to DNA strand breaks and ultimately bacterial cell death.

This increase in power comes, however, at a price to human cells.