"Self Portrait as a Fluoroquinolone Induced Cripple, My Body Was Violated, My Trust Betrayed"

Oil on Hardboard, 56"x36", 2021-2022.
(3 Months)

 
In October of 2016 I ingested one 750 mg dose of the Fluoroquinolone (FQ) antibiotic Levofloxacin.  It was prescribed it for a bacterial infection that (according to two doctors I saw prior to receiving the prescription) my body had already metabolized.  When I told this to the prescribing doctor, he yelled at me over the phone- intimidating me with horror stories about this bacteria that in retrospect were inconsistent with all the information I can find on it. 

Two days later the back of one of my knees gave out walking up one flight of stairs.  I was 29, and in the best shape of my life.

Initially the connective tissue damage seemed to be the most significant aspect of the FQ's effects.  It struck my knees and ankles worst, and five months out my knees were still not working correctly so needed to take time off of work.  It was during this time that someone falsely reported me as suicidal, and I was hospitalized against my will.  

While hospitalized I was barred from doing my own research on the drugs they pressed on me.  A simple visit to drugs.com would have warned me that Lexapro was contraindicated with FQs.  This is important, a certain portion of FQ victims develop FQ type reactions to other, non-FQ drugs (most prominently NSAIDs and corticosteroids).  Instead the only warning I was given was a printout that went on and on about "Quinolones"- a shortening of a word I had never said aloud- which I did not recognize as "that long word that begins with an "F"".  Under the threat of being held indefinitely, I took two does of the Lexapro.  I woke up the first day lethargic and with neck pain, but wrote it off.  By the second day I was unable to walk down the hall without leg braces- my knees were so weakened by renewed FQ type damage.

At this point I assumed I just had to avoid those 300 or so contraindicated drugs for the rest of my life.  Then a month later I administered some St John's Wort, a drug I had used several times without issue prior to the Lexapro, but after the FQ.  Over the next 16 hours I suffered the worst reaction I've ever had- targeting my groin, inner thighs and linea alba.  The tissues were so weak that I had to go two months without speaking, laughing, crying, or sneezing.  These actions alone were enough to aggravate the damage and prevent it from healing.

At this point the most sinister aspect of the FQ's effects was revealed.  St. John's wort is not contraindicated with FQs, but it is contraindicated with SSRIs like Lexapro.  They were forming chains.

What's worse, unlike the FQ and SSRIs, St John's wort interacts with foods not listed on drugs.com.  The reactions began to spiral out of control, forming new links in the chain.  Highlights include turmeric, chocolate, the Marcaine I used when trying to harvest my stem cells, as well as 2nd hand cigarette and marijuana smoke.  The last two would cost me my home of 7 years.  My neighbors literally smoked me out of my apartment.

These reactions ultimately made me unemployable, and won me my SSDI case.  I had income, but I was down to less than a dozen foods I could safely eat.

Over the summer of 2019 I happened upon a study employing full body infrared saunas to remove DNA adducts.  There are multiple theorized mechanisms accounting for the different kinds of damage FQs can do, but DNA adducts seemed a better explanation for my reaction chains than oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, or gut biome die off.  I was down to less than a dozen foods- and it only seemed a matter of time before I would lose more, if not all of them, so I took a chance.

It paid off.

Unfortunately the Infra red treatment could only remove reactions if they are no longer present in my diet or environment- so early on I regained the ability to handle my paint solvents and a few other things I had been reacting to via skin contact, but I was still reacting to most foods.  It took 9 months to get the elimination diet right, but I was ultimately able to remove all my reactions.

I hoped to return to work, but in order to do so I needed to know I could be around other people's food residues.  I had been aware for some time that FQ residues are present in all non-organic meat and dairy (except US poultry).  The question was- could they restart my reaction chain in such small amounts?  After one month of eating normal meat and dairy, I tested a 1st degree contraindication, and I got my answer.  The chain had restarted.  The reactions were weaker, perhaps proportional to the amount of FQ in my system- but they were undeniable.  I would never be able function in a shared workspace again.

After another round of treatment, I resolved to just focus on painting.  It was less important than teaching, but I was good at it, and it had its own meaning.  At this point we were in the first summer of COVID, and I was living on the first floor with neighbors who don't mask walking around outside my window.  As such I used dehumidifiers in place of an AC, so I could seal my windows.

The summer heat would prove too much for the machines, and in August one began leaking refrigerant gas- and I reacted to it.  The reaction was mild, so I replaced the dehumidifier and planned to do another round of treatment to remove the reaction link come winter.  I never got the chance.

In September someone- likely my landlord or one of his agents, used an unidentified but conspicuously smelling chemical in the basement- which came through my bedroom.    The reaction was minor, but soon I was reacting to my solvents, and all but two of my foods.  Things had spiraled out of control again.  

I resolved to get as much treatment in as I could before the heat came on in October.  I theorized (correctly it would turn out) that since it was oil heat I might react to the burn off, as I was already reacting to the fumes from my paint solvents (which are just simple hydrocarbon chains).

The treatment worked- partially.  I suspect it was either hydrocarbons released from heating food, or else the gasses my own body produces that kept it from being fully effective.  I got back my six core foods, but was still reacting to the burn-off from the heater.  As luck would have it, the burn off... finished burning off, and I resolved to finish this painting before things fell apart again. 

I lost spinach half way through the painting.  This reaction link cost me my solvents as well, but the reaction to turpnoid is minor enough that the damage isn't progressive so long as I only open the jar when actively using it.  I lost chicken the day after I finished major construction on the painting.

When I started this painting I thought I had this contained.  I still plan on doing treatment as Spring approaches- without cooking food this time. Despite this, there is a good chance the factor that prevented complete success last time was my own bodily gas.  Since I have to break the seal on my airspace come summer- and I live in an area with smokers and automotive exhaust, I may be operating on borrowed time.

*Update as of Nov. 2022:  I seem to have mitigated most of my reactions through the use of urolithin A which kills off damaged mitochondria.  It is unclear if the reactions are gone, or if they are just greatly reduced and prolonged exposure to certain high potency chemicals can still harm me.  For now at least, it seems my prognosis has greatly improved.

I tell this story in the hopes that it can prevent others from having their lives destroyed by these horrible- and in their redundancy- largely unnecessary drugs.  The entire Fluoroquinolone class- Cirpo, Avelox, etc carry these dangers- and many others that haven't affected me personally.  Unless you've been exposed to anthrax, there is always a safer drug.  (FQs are, to my knowledge, the only thing that treats anthrax).

I will continue painting as long as my body allows me.

Enjoy.