Why do some people get better and others do not?

No one gets out completely unscathed.  The level of damage caused by the FQ’s is imperceptible in some people and very perceptible in others.   If you have an adverse event response to the Fluoroquinolones (FQs) your body took a tremendous hit from a toxic perspective. It reached critical mass. Even though some people recover and go one to live a fairly normal life, there usually is some sort of permanent cellular damage. For instance a high intensity athlete may never go back to performing at the same intensity level as before.  But before you get super upset about any of these statements keep in mind that substances that are seemly innocuous, such as hair coloring, can cause permanent cellular changes and damage.  I am not trying to downplay the seriousness of any FQ adverse event, just make sure to keep a balanced perspective.

Seemingly quite novel in the syndrome that it manifests, the only remote parallels I can draw with an adverse event to FQs is it is akin to having a very large dose of anti-tumor chemotherapy.  I have had some people criticize that example saying they know people who have had systemic chemotherapy who are in better shape than many floxies.   However, conversely, I know people who had had chemotherapy who were devastated by it, and I know people who had FQ’s who had no apparent reaction to it.

If you look at those receiving systemic chemotherapy, many, if not all, will have some lingering negative effects and reduction in some aspect of functioning. This varies from person to person just like floxing varies from person to person. Again, although novel in its form of damage, FQ damage is akin, not identical, to receiving strong chemotherapy and your ability to metabolize the dose.  Some damages from systemic chemotherapy, such a neurological and ‘late effects’, are also seen in FQ damage.  However, FQ damage, for the most part, can also manifest in ways that are much worse that standard damages seen in chemotherapy.

Again, personal metabolization variables dictate how well your body can handle the onslaught that was placed upon it by the FQ’s, so they subsequently dictate recovery timelines and levels of functioning as well. Again factors such as inherited genetic traits, age, environmental variables, all come into play, with genetics being one of the biggest players.