Levaquin, Cipro, Avelox - now linked to aortic defect - even past users

[Aristus]

11. Stop continuing to ask for antibiotics even after we tell you you don't need them.

I have a patient who insists he has a chronic sinus infection and demands antibiotics every time he comes in. I tell him to stop smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, and the problem may improve. He says: "That's not gonna happen. Can't you just give me antibiotics?" I'm guessing he'll eventually give up and go find an order-taking mediocrity with a medical license who will prescribe him what he wants.

I know there are unscrupulous quack providers out there who will throw pills at their patients just to get them to go away, and they are contributing to the rise of antimicrobial resistance. The greater the resistance in a pathogen, the fewer antibiotics there are that can treat them; usually the more powerful ones like those mentioned above, with worse potential side effects. Listen to us when we tell you that your cold virus is not going to get better with antibiotic treatment.