yes, I took Avelox in March. I thought it was an antibiotic. It isn't. It is a form of chemotherapy called a floroquinolone. By the time side-effects appeared, it was too late. Here is a list of what it did to me...

1. Chronic bilateral ulnar neuritis: nerve inflammation in the elbows, causing pain in the wrists, intense hand numbness at night. Difficulty writing and typing. Paresthsia (pins and needles). This has gotten better, but at 6 months, I'm still not 100%.

2. Allergic vasculitis in the hands: my hands turned fire-engine red, and I developed welts all over them. I couldn't grip a soda can.

3. Nerve damage in both feet: I still can't run. Basically intense pins and needles.

4. Bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome -appeared overnight

5. Extreme insomnia -I was getting 3 hours of sleep a night for 2 months. I almost had to go on disability.

6. Extreme anxiety

7. Skin manifestations -rashes, etc.

8. Chronic joint pain, especially in the wrists and shoulders.

9. Chronic Achilles tendonitis

It has been 6 months since I took the drug, and I'm at about 85% or so. For 3 months I was basically disabled, and if I didn't have medical insurance, I would have racked up $50,000 in medical bills.

I should point out that I'm lucky. Lots of people have had tendon ruptures, and ended up in wheelchairs -for life.

Avelox, Levaquin and Cipro are some of the most dangerous drugs in existance. The side-effects are a SYNDROME, meaning that once one appears, there is nothing you can do. Stopping the drug will not stop the damage. It is a form of idiopathic serum sickness. I have a CD with 4000 cases of this sitting on my desk at home.

People have taken one pill and ended up insane or dead. See the book "Bitter Pills" -it talks all about floroquinolones.

Bayer and other companies have consistently lied to doctors about the dangers of these drugs.

If I were you, I would stop taking Avelox immediately, unless you can afford to go on disability for the next 6 months. There are far safer drugs out there, such as Augmentin and Zithromax.

For more information, go to www.fqvictims.org

There is only one way to tell if it is a sinus infection, and that is to culture the bacteria/gunk in the sinus cavities. Otherwise, the best way to tell is through an endoscopy or CT Scan. You CANNOT tell just by looking up someone's nose.

In my case, the Bayer Pharmacutical representative was lying to my doctor about the side-effects of Avelox. Bayer has gotten into a lot of trouble for this before. I can't remember the name of the drug, but they covered up research and adverse reaction reports and suffered something like a billion dollar settlement about 10 years ago.

Amoxicillan is perfectly safe, but not very effective.