Mitochondrial Disorder and Chronic Fatigue from an Antibiotic?

Mitochondrial Disorder is likely one of the major underlying problems for many of the complaints that comprise what is coming to be known as Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome or Fluoroquinolone Associated Disability, also called FQAD, which includes symptoms of profound fatigue. If you are new to the problem of the Fluoroquinolone Drugs, please read the page on Introduction to Fluoroquinolones here, and see the full List of Fluoroquinolone and Quinolone drugs here. Even if you have never heard of mitochondrial disorder before, that doesn’t make the problem any less serious to you and others who are experiencing serious and even disabling symptoms after taking antibiotics such as Levaquin, Cipro, or Avelox. See a full List of Quinolone drugs that could be causing problems for you.
What are Mitochondria and Why You Should Care
The mitochondria are located inside every cell in the body, except for mature red blood cells. Interesting, the mitochondria actually have their own DNA that is separate and distinct from the DNA is our bodies. This ‘mitochondrial DNA’, also called mDNA is best known in relationship to Mitochondrial Eve, where scientists have traced maternal mDNA back to the area of the world where the first humans might have lived. MDNA, despite it comprising only 1% of the DNA in our bodies performs various specific functions that humans can’t live without, and the DNA damage that occurs from the Fluoroquinolones, causing mitochondrial disorder, can be devastating, and may be the responsible factor in side effects such as Neuropathies and even Fluoroquinolone Induced Arthritis because of the inhibition of DNA replication in the mitochondria 1.
Notably, the mitochondria are the energy centers of the cells and are so important that they can be likened to the batteries in an electronic device. When mitochondrial disorder occurs, the cells have no energy and you’ll feel fatigued and exhausted, as one of the many symptoms you could experience from Fluoroquinolone induced mitochondrial disorder. This can often get diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome, or a ‘psychosomatic illness’ that gets people put on anti-depressants instead of getting proper treatment.
This process of mitochondrial disorder is one of the reasons why it’s ineffective to Detoxify from Levaquin and Cipro, and why Fluoroquinolone Toxicity is not something that you can go on a water fast or eat cleanly to heal from. When damage to the mitochondria and DNA occurs, you cannot do a ‘detox’ to remove the damage, you must HEAL the damage.
Fluoroquinolones and Mitochondria
There is little argument that the Fluoroquinolone antibiotics damage the mitochondria, and in fact a recent study outlined the mechanisms by which the mitochondria are damaged by these antibiotics, and another peer-reviewed paper hypothesizes that this mitochondrial damage is responsible for the devastating side effects of these drugs that is being termed ‘Fluoroquinolone Associated Disability’ or ‘FQAD’ 2.
Analysis of mtDNA from ciprofloxacin-treated cells
revealed the presence of site-specific,
double-stranded DNA breaks. 3Fluoroquinolones damage mitochondria because these antibiotics, along with large numbers of other drugs, create a substance called ‘Reactive oxygen species’ or ROS. Another term for this is called ‘oxidative stress’ and it’s what causes aging and is the reason why we are encouraged to get plenty of anti-oxidants which, in more complexity than can be outlined here, can help to counter the effects of oxidative stress. On the other hand, problems such as Exposure to Heavy Metals, such as mercury, may be a risk factor for worsening problems upon exposure to the Fluoroquinolone antibiotics.
…mitochondria represent the major site for the generation
of cellular oxidative,stress and play a key role in mediating
programmed cell death (apoptosis). Damage to mtDNA is
therefore an important contributor to human ageing,
cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. 4The mitochondria are particularly sensitive to the effects of oxidative stress, and even produce an intracellular anti-oxidant called glutathione that is critical to countering the effects of oxidative stress in the mitochondria. In order to produce glutathione, however, one must have sufficient amounts of nutrients that make the glutathione and that help to repair mitochondrial damage 5 , such as:
- Vitamin C
- Zinc
- Copper
- Vitamin B12
- Magnesium
- Calcium
- Other nutrients
Additionally, being anemic or Taking Iron with the Fluoroquinolones is also a risk factor for worsening damage. How ironic that someone who is already tired from lack of nutrients can be put at worse risk of fatigue from these drugs.
However, many of these nutrients are deficient in the standard American diet of today, making those with these nutrient deficiencies particularly vulnerable to the devastating effects of these antibiotics, or unable to heal after they receive such damage, leading to problems such as the Peripheral Neuropathy that is a common problem with the Fluorquinolone antibiotics.
I have long suspected that one of the risk factors for those that get damaged by the Fluoroquinolone antibiotics is the presence of a genetic quirk call the MTHFR gene that prevents the proper absorption of Vitamins B12, B6, and folic acid. The lack of these nutrients would disrupt the creation of the extra glutathione needed for counteracting the oxidative stress of the Fluoroquinolone antibiotics, and allowing significant damage to the mitochondria, leading to the above mentioned Fluoroquinolone Associated Disability.
Even worse is that these ROS can damage the sensitive mitochondrial DNA, leading to DNA Damage, and without the proper nutrients to engage the highly sophisticated DNA repair processes in the cells, the next generation of mitochondria remain afflicted with the damage that was caused by the Fluoroquinolones, thus preventing any potential healing. This is one of the reasons why this FQAD can last for years or even be permanent.
Another Reason for Mitochondrial Disorder
Another extremely serious reason for Fluoroquinolone damage to the mitochondria is that it’s hypothesized that the mitochondria, in a quirk of evolutionary fate, are actually single celled organisms that became so closely linked with humans, they they actually merged into humans, becoming indistinguishable from them except for the small pieces of mitochondrial DNA that are entirely distinct from the rest of the human genome.
Because antibiotics are targeted to kill bacteria and other single-celled organisms, the former single-celled organisms that are the mitochondria are particularly vulnerable to the onslaught of damage caused by the Fluoroquinolone drugs. Take that into serious consideration the next time you take any antibiotics. You just may be targeting your own mitochondria for destruction!
How Do You Know if You have Mitochondrial Disorder?
Unfortunately, there is almost no possible way, in our current state of technology, to diagnose mitochondrial damage unless one has one of the several genetic markers that indicate a genetic preponderance towards having mitochondrial disease. Unfortunately, there are many sufferers that experience the symptoms of mitochondrial disorder, but that do not test positive for the known mitochondrial diseases.
There are no absolute diagnostic criteria for
mitochondrial cytopathies, and most screening
tests are neither specific nor sensitive. 6
So this leaves us with mitochondrial disorder being presumed when one has developed serious problems after taking the Fluoroquinolone antibiotics, particularly those involving neurologic problems, weakness, fatigue, or brain fog. While FQAD may seem insurmountable, there are many ways to overcome the damaging effects of the Fluoroquinolone antibiotics.
We recommend the book The Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Solution that provides a step-by-step protocol that outlines everything that you need to do in order to recover from Fluoroquinolone Toxicity and associated disability. In our opinion, it will give you the absolute best chance to overcome these problems and live as normal a life as possible. The staff here at FQ Research have all used the protocol found in the Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Solution and all agree that it gave us the most improvements of anything else that we had done prior. Get the Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Solution and get the help that you need to overcome your suffering.
Research Used For This Page
- Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics ↩
- Fluoroquinolone-related neuropsychiatric and mitochondrial toxicity ↩
- Delayed cytotoxicity and cleavage of mitochondrial
DNA in ciprofloxacin-treated mammalian cells ↩ - The Role of Mitochondria in Aging and Carcinogenesis ↩
- Low micronutrient intake may accelerate the degenerative diseases of aging through allocation of scarce micronutrients by triage ↩
- Mitochondrial cytopathy in adults: What we know so far ↩
Just wondering why I am prescribed CIPRO when it should be off market? Seems the bad out weighs the good. I don’t need any other problems than I already have.
Hi Phyllis,
It depends upon what you got it for and under what circumstances. I don’t even think that the most hard core people who are activists against Cipro think it should be ‘off market’, because we need all the antibiotics we can for life-threatening conditions that are resistant to other drugs, it’s just that Cipro should be used judiciously and only in the proper circumstances. As much as we warn about Cipro, even we don’t think it should be off the market, it should just be treated as the powerful drug that it is and only given under very particular circumstances.
I’m not saying whether or not YOU got it appropriately, that’s not my point. I wouldn’t have any idea, and since I’m not your doctor, I couldn’t possibly make such a statement. I’m only saying that to say that it should be off the market is a far more drastic solution than any Cipro toxicity activists are advocating for.
Heel has some remedies for Mitochondrial Health:
Coenzyme compositum Heel
Ubichinon compositum Heel
Zitronensäurezyklus Heel
Can the staff say if there is any study or person that has taken these remedies for the Quinolone Toxicity?
We do not use or promote the use of homeopathic medicine’, as we only use evidence-based science. Do you have any evidence-based studies that show these homeopathic medicines do something, anything, to mitochondria? If so, I’d be happy to see your studies that pit these ‘remedies’ against placebo, as every trial that I am aware of using homeopathic medicine vs placebo has failed.
The only likely reason some people feel better taking homeopathics is due to the very strong placebo effect that all real medicines and nutrients are pitted against in trials so that the placebo effect can be ruled out as a reason for improvement. Since placebos DEFINITELY make a lot of people feel better, there is no reason to believe that homeopathics work, since they have close to 200 years of failed scientific studies. Unless you can provide me a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial showing a measurable improvement in mitochondrial function from THESE compositions, then we’ll call the case closed on homeopathics for Fluoroquinolone Toxicity.
@FQToxicity Research Staff: I beg to differ. Ever since I developed severe tedinopathy (and other damage) from a course of Cipro more than 3 years ago, taking a wide variety of herbal and nutritional supplements and antioxidants has helped to lessen the pain and improve my symptoms immensely. These supplements provide many micro-nutrients that help facilitate healing — micro-nutrients which are difficult if not impossible to obtain from an average, daily diet. It is certainly NOT just a placebo effect. Just because few studies exist that demonstrate the healing power of nutraceuticals (which is common sense that it would be the case, since Big Pharma cannot patent “natural” supplements, so there is no research money being invested into initiating such studies), does not mean that it is therefore evidence that nutraceuticals don’t work. Absence of studies for X is not evidence that X doesn’t work.
I think you read that wrong. I said HOMEOPATHY has no basis in science, not that NEUTRACEUTICAL supplements providing nutrients have no basis in science. We are HUGE promoters of neutraceuticals, just not homeopathy, which are entirely different entities. One having actual nutrients; the other, by definition, having none. There are PLENTY of studies showing nutrient supplements work, and plenty that show homeopathy does not work!
for someone saying they only use evidence based science you spill a lot of BS about ROS being a substance and the onee to cause aging lmao. heavy metals, mthfr..
Perhaps you’d like to describe a specific inaccuracy that can be addressed, rather than just ‘laughing your a** off’ without any specific statements of something being incorrect. Would you like to have a dialogue, or just make accusations? I’m happy to have a scientific dialogue about what is on the site, but I’m uninterested in accusations. So, do you have a SPECIFIC statement of incorrectness you’d like to discuss first?
You did say, “you spill a lot of BS about ROS being a substance and the onee to cause aging”
So, are you saying that Reactive Oxygen Species, for instance Hydrogen Peroxide, are not ‘substances’? If not, then what would you call them? And are you trying to say that ROS do not contribute to aging? So, you are disputing the entire mitochondrial theory of aging?
Certainly, ROS are not the ONLY reason for aging, however, they play a large part, and this has been established in hundreds of studies on the subject. And the fact that hormesis (introducing high amounts of oxidative stress, which paradoxically lowers oxidative stress by ‘teaching’ the body how to deal with this stress) does not throw out the mitochondrial theory of aging, but contributes to it. As it is, that theory seems to be the most accepted, and the one with the most supporting evidence. Are you claiming that decades of research and a theory in place for many years and backed by hundreds of studies is so incredibly wrong and silly and outdated that you are ‘laughing your a** off’ over my citing of it?
I have a study right here entitled Reactive oxygen species, aging, and neutraceuticals stating, ” The main causes of the aging process seem to be related to reactive oxygen species and free radicals, such as superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radicals, and singlet oxygen.”
Another study entitled The Mitochondrial Production of Reactive Oxygen Species in Relation to Aging and Pathology states, “Mitochondria are known to be strong producers of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and, at the same time, particularly susceptible to the oxidative damage produced by their action on lipids, proteins, and DNA. In particular, damage to mtDNA induces alterations to the polypeptides encoded by mtDNA in the respiratory complexes, with consequent decrease of electron transfer, leading to further production of ROS and thus establishing a vicious circle of oxidative stress and energetic decline. This deficiency in mitochondrial energetic capacity is considered the cause of aging and age-related degenerative diseases.”
And other studies that also state this:
Oxidative stress and the mitochondrial theory of aging in human skeletal muscle
Mitochondrial Oxygen Consumption and Reactive Oxygen Species Production are Independently Modulated: Implications for Aging Studies
There are many more studies.
Care to comment and provide opposing evidence? Do you disagree with this? Which part?
There is actually a test to measure mitochondrial damage. It’s run by Acumen labs in the UK and measures things like ADp uptake and translocator protein studies.
That doesn’t test for mitochondrial damage or mitochondrial function, but indirect markers of mitochondrial function, such as carnitine sufficiency. There are many tests that test for similar things, including the Organic Acids Test. I’m not saying these tests can’t be helpful, however, they do not test for mitochondrial disorder. One can have poor mitochondrial health and just simply need to take carnitine, for instance, and not have a mitochondrial disorder.
This is not just semantics, because a true mitochondrial disorder does not respond to just resupplying missing nutrients, for instance. Again, not saying these tests are not useful, or that resupplying missing nutrients cannot help mitochondrial dysfunction. These tests can be extremely useful, and resupplying missing nutrients is critical to mitochondrial health, but they are still indirect markers of mitochondrial HEALTH, but do not necessarily indicate a mitochondrial dysfunction.
http://www.dr-forsyth.com/Dr_Charles_Forsyth/Downloads_files/MITOCHONDRIAL%20TESTS.pdf
So FQ Toxicity Research Staff — Who sponsors you? There is not one word you could utter that would convince the hundreds of thousands (like myself) that have been injured permanently by a Fluoroquinolone! And what about the dead people that cannot speak out?
We are trying to prevent and help those who have been damaged by the Fluoroquinolones. So, I’m not sure what you are trying to say.
Who Sponsors you?
No one. We are entirely independent and have no affiliations, pharmaceutical or otherwise. We are just a few people who are trying to stem the tide of disability this drug is causing. If you are suggesting we are affiliated with the drug companies, why would we be exposing the side effects caused by these drugs? That would not make any sense.
No one. We are entirely independent and have no affiliations, pharmaceutical or otherwise. We are just a few people who are trying to stem the tide of disability this drug is causing. If you are suggesting we are affiliated with the drug companies, why would we be exposing the side effects caused by these drugs? That would not make any sense considering the content of the site.
Hi there
Thank you for all the info on this site. I have one key question (from my perspective). I have been experiencing an increasing but gradual decline over many years and have only just discovered that I had Cipro a few months prior to my first reporting symptoms. I don’t recall having an obvious reaction to the Cipro at the time. But it is clear now that the onset of my gradual decline began within months if not weeks of that. So my question is, can the effects of FQ be subtle and gradual and insidious (as opposed to acute, immediate and marked.)?
Thanks in advance!
Yep, absolutely. That is absolutely a very common occurrence, and one of the reasons why science has not connected the antibiotics and the disability yet.
https://youtu.be/nuIhjlFYYZY?list=PLZPlb2-Xf5TzYhS2h-bXD4q8TBWRjub-D
Good info about B1 thiamine that might help sufferers. He mentions flouroquinolones in the interview.