25 Investigates: Mass. woman’s fight to get ‘floxing’ diagnosis recognized by CDC pays off

I'm investigative reporter Ted Daniel. A medical condition that some doctors refuse to acknowledge can no longer be ignored. We're talking about fluxing, an illness linked to commonly prescribed antibiotics. The CDC just launched new diagnostic codes for fluxing. For Talia Smith of Norwood, that's huge. >> I've been more sick than usual, more pain, more neuropathy, all of that. When it comes to her health, Talia Smith says she feels the same way she did when we first met her last year. Crummy. But her mood just got a whole lot better. >> It must have been gratifying to see these codes go live. >> I mean, it's changing history, right? We've been patiently waiting month by month, month by month. Just to see them there on that page is like amazing. Talia was part of a movement that prompted the CDC to create diagnostic or ICD10 codes for fuoricquinolone poisoning, also known as fluxing. Fuoricquinolones are a class of widely prescribed antibiotics and include brandame medications like cypro and levocquin. Talia says she went from healthy to hospice after taking three cypro pills for a routine urinary tract infection. The codes overall really do two things. First is they recognize and legitimize our illness. And I guarantee you we are going to see it's not as rare as people think. >> The new codes are designed to improve patient care, data collection, billing, and research. Talia says there's still a long way to go. >> It was the floricquinolone toxicity study foundation, patient advocate Audrey Reynolds, Dr. Stefan people that presented and the entire flocks community. This is just the beginning. Don't don't lose hope. >> Talia works with the Floricquinolone Toxicity Foundation. She tells me the foundation has published advice for patients on how they can speak with medical providers about the new codes. We have a link to that on our website, boston25news.com. I'm investigative reporter Ted Daniel for your local station, Boston 25 News.