[mrsD]

It is really critical to understand that care/and concern about drugs, to be
used properly and safely, is not to be interpreted as anti-drug.
I have been accused of this frequently, and it illustrates to me how emotional
the subject can be. Often doctors do not know much about how drugs work, and which ones are better than others. Today reliance is only on the drug salespeople, and this is very unfortunate.

I have been in this venue for 38 years now, and have seen many many changes.
It can be very alarming.

You know we need to be informed about many things. It is best to know something about cars, when obtaining service (esp if you are female), about
home repair, food safety, etc. We all can be affected by these complex
industries, negatively.

[ConsiderThis]

I have some bad memories related to being refused vitamins and forcefully administered FDA approved drugs.

I have some bad memories related to people taking control of me by saying I was a danger to myself when I wasn't.

In 1997 the bankruptcy court clerks couldn't find something I'd filed, and I said that if things that were supposed to protect me kept failing me that there was going to come a time when I'd kill myself... so the police were called; there were very wide hallways in the old bankruptcy court building in Albuquerque and they totally filled up with armed police. I was taken away to a mental hospital and in the course of events shot up with Haldol against my will. (My roommate was having electroshock therapy against her will, and to my surprise when I told the techs that she was not wanting a man who had come to visit touch her, they said, oh... she didn't speak much English and so it was hard for them to know what she was saying, but the man was her husband and he brought her in for shock therapy every so often... They told me, also, that she was catatonic without it... but she had helped me rearrange my bed and had smiled and communicated with me without words from the time she had been brought in.)

Later, when I read the hospital papers when I was going to try to sue, it said I had barricaded myself in at the IRS building... I wasn't even at the IRS building, much less had I barricaded myself in to anything.

(I was living in the home with hydrogen sulfide by the time I tried to sue, pro se, so there was little chance I could have succeeded, especially given that the judge would not allow me to read and I couldn't keep things straight when I tried to just say them.)

The mental hospital experience was extremely traumatic. It was after that that I first was unable to get my mind to work properly -- Gosh, I just feel like crying.

By "work properly" I'm not referring to memory alone, but to working memory, where you have more than one thing in mind at one time and then compare or contrast, etc.

So now it is extremely scary to me when someone "knows" what was best for me and makes it clear that if I don't agree then I am a danger to myself and can be forced to do as they think is best...

I think I feel so strongly because it was just horrible. They used to throw me to the floor, people I had trusted would surround me and throw me to the floor. (The man who I lived with was supposed to get a lawyer, but he was really a fraud and was looking for a way to get my property. He's in jail now because another woman was more clever than me and had evidence to have him prosecuted.)

I have felt scared a lot of the time ever since that experience.

Haldol is very scary because it can cause shaking for which there is no cure. But, it also as far as I can tell, does brain damage ... It might not do that if someone is not B12 deficient. I don't know. But I was B12 deficient. Only they said that if I had a level of 181, I think it was, that it was normal. They refused to give me a B12 shot or vitamin A which I used to control nasal drainage and without which I couldn't sleep. They said vitamin B12 and vitamin A were too dangerous.

But the Haldol... fine, despite the fact that it sometimes causes "unexplained" death. Haldol is, of course, FDA approved.

I find the established beliefs of people who profit and don't really care about the effects to be devastating.

Therefore, I think it is important that people pay attention to their own health, keep notes on what symptoms they have and how those symptoms are affected by things they take... then, do more for themselves of the things that help them.

[mrsD]

To the new OTC warnings about OTC pain relievers:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2006/12...otc-pain-meds/

For Products Containing Acetaminophen

• To require new warnings which would highlight the potential for liver toxicity, particularly when using acetaminophen in high doses, when taking more than one product with acetaminophen, and when taken with moderate amounts of alcohol;
• To require that the ingredient acetaminophen be prominently identified on the product’s principal display panel (PDP) of the immediate container, and the outer carton (if applicable).
For Products Containing NSAIDs
• To require new warnings for products that contain an NSAID which would highlight the potential for stomach bleeding in persons over age 60, in persons who have had prior ulcers or bleeding, in persons who take a blood thinner, when taking more than one product containing an NSAID, when taken with moderate amounts of alcohol, and when taking for longer time than directed; and
• To require that the name of the NSAID ingredient and the term “NSAID” be prominently identified on the product’s PDP of the immediate container and the outer carton (if applicable).

[mrsD]

The FDA in USA is strengthening warnings for both of these anemia drugs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...031100339.html

Increased potential for death is being reported with them.

They are also used in doping during the winter olympics increasingly.

[Chemar]

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01587.html

FDA Requests Label Change for All Sleep Disorder Drug Products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested that all manufacturers of sedative-hypnotic drug products, a class of drugs used to induce and/or maintain sleep, strengthen their product labeling to include stronger language concerning potential risks. These risks include severe allergic reactions and complex sleep-related behaviors, which may include sleep-driving. Sleep driving is defined as driving while not fully awake after ingestion of a sedative-hypnotic product, with no memory of the event................................

[mrsD]

Here is an FDA report on the discontinuance of Zelnorm:

FDA: Zelnorm Being Pulled From Market

ROCKVILLE, MD -- March 30, 2007 -- FDA is issuing this public health advisory to inform patients and health care professionals that the sponsor of Zelnorm (tegaserod maleate), Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, has agreed to stop selling Zelnorm. Zelnorm is being taken off the market because a new safety analysis has found a higher chance of heart attack, stroke, and worsening heart chest pain that can become a heart attack in patients treated with Zelnorm compared to those treated with a sugar pill they thought was Zelnorm.

FDA announces the following, effective immediately:

· At FDA's request, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation has agreed to stop selling Zelnorm.
· Patients being treated with Zelnorm should contact their physician to discuss alternative treatments for their condition.
· Patients who are taking Zelnorm should seek emergency medical care right away if they experience severe chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, sudden onset of weakness or difficulty walking or talking or other symptoms of a heart attack or stroke.
· Physicians who prescribe Zelnorm should work with their patients and transition them to other therapies as appropriate to their symptoms and need.

Zelnorm is a prescription medication approved for short term treatment of women with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation and for patients younger than 65 years with chronic constipation. In late February and early March 2007, Novartis Pharmaceuticals gave FDA the results of new analyses of 29 clinical studies of Zelnorm for treatment of a variety of gastrointestinal tract conditions; the data from all the studies were combined to assess the chance of side effects on the heart and blood vessels. In each study, patients were assigned at random to either Zelnorm or a sugar pill they thought was Zelnorm. These 29 studies included 11,614 patients treated with Zelnorm and 7,031 treated with a sugar pill. The average age of patients in these studies was 43 years and most patients -- 88% -- were women.

The number of patients who suffered a heart attack, stroke or severe heart chest pain that can turn into a heart attack was small. However, patients treated with Zelnorm had a higher chance of having any of these serious and life-threatening side effects than did those who were treated with a sugar pill. Thirteen patients treated with Zelnorm (0.1%) had serious and life-threatening cardiovascular side effects; among these, four patients had a heart attack (one died), six had a type of severe heart chest pain which can quickly turn into a heart attack, and three had a stroke. Among the patients taking the sugar pill, only one (or 0.01%) had symptoms suggesting the beginning of a stroke that went away without complication.

There may be patients for whom no other treatment options are available and in whom the benefits of Zelnorm treatment outweigh the chance of serious side effects. FDA will work with Novartis to allow access to Zelnorm for those patients through a special program.

FDA has also indicated to Novartis a willingness to consider limited re-introduction of Zelnorm at a later date if a population of patients can be identified in whom the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks. However, before FDA makes a decision about limited re-introduction, any proposed plan would be discussed at a public advisory committee meeting.


SOURCE: FDA

This is how Zelnorm works... and its affects on serotonin seem to be what is
causing the cardiovascular incidents:

Tegaserod is a 5-HT4 receptor partial agonist that binds with high affinity at human 5-HT4 receptors, whereas it has no appreciable affinity for 5-HT3 or dopamine receptors. It has moderate affinity for 5-HT1 receptors. Tegaserod, by acting as an agonist at neuronal 5-HT4 receptors, triggers the release of further neurotransmitters such as calcitonin gene-related peptide from sensory neurons. The activation of 5-HT4 receptors in the gastrointestinal tract stimulates the peristaltic reflex and intestinal secretion, as well as inhibits visceral sensitivity. In vivo studies showed that tegaserod enhanced basal motor activity and normalized impaired motility throughout the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, studies demonstrated that tegaserod moderated visceral sensitivity during colorectal distension in animals.

Zelnorm was used for irritable bowel syndrome, for selected patients with chronic constipation, and for those who use chronic opioid therapy for pain (which results in constipation).

[mrsD]

This is a good reference for identifying drugs:

http://www.pharmer.org/identification

[mmmstly]

Mrs. D.:

Thank you for this information. I am one of those women whose whole life has been micromanaged by IBS.

I was literally loosing what life I had until Zelnorm.

And, it's not that I have a life now. However, w/Zelnorm I was/am on the road to living a normal life...

In your piece you said, "There may be patients for whom no other treatment options are available and in whom the benefits of Zelnorm treatment outweigh the chance of serious side effects. FDA will work with Novartis to allow access to Zelnorm for those patients through a special program."

How do I do this?

I am fearful that I may even loose my ability to earn a living without this product.

And, really, what life do I have if I can't work, go outside my home, develop & participate in life and relationships because of major symptoms of IBS?

My IBS is crippling. I am still on FMLA from its debilitating effects—

Thanks for any support, information or suggestions,

mmmstly

[mrsD]

This link is quite technical, but it discusses the huge problem of drug interactions.

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/Development.../ucm110632.htm

It discusses several types of serious interactions including Prolonged QT (heart arrhythmia) which is gaining more attention today.

Read it slowly and carefully. You don't need to understand every word, but the gist of it all is to be careful. Ask your doctor and pharmacist questions when you receive a new medication, and look it up if necessary.

www.rxlist.com typically gives information on pharmacology and warnings/side effects for most common drugs today.
It will even ID your tablets in your bottle, based on the code numbers. And it will list inactive ingredients on the first page of each monograph.

[estabon64]

just added 60mg once a day cymbalta..to my handful of pills. something made me wanna take a nap