DRUGS THAT HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH HEART PROBLEMS
Zelnorm
Zelnorm, a
medication that was prescribed to women that were being treated for
irritable bowel syndrome accompanied with constipation, as well as,
patients that were under the age of 65 years old and had chronic
constipation, has been attributed to the increased risk of heart attack,
stroke, and worsening chest pains than patients that did not take
Zelnorm.
Bextra
Bextra has been
prescribed to patients that have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis,
rheumatoid arthritis, or painful menstrual cycles and is classified as a
COX-2 selective NSAID that has been linked to have an increased risk of
heart attacks and strokes.
Ortho evra
Unlike a common form of birth control that is taken orally,
Ortho Evra
is a form of
birth control patch that introduces and removes the hormones into and
out of the blood stream a different manner exposing women to about 60
percent more estrogen which has been found to lead to an increase in the
risk of blood clots, strokes, and more seriously, death.
Phen fen
Phentermine and Fenfluramine, or Phen-Fen, are two separate drugs that
were combined together into one single medication used to decrease
appetite and help give the feeling of increased satiety and taken by
people that suffer from obesity to help effectively aid in weight loss,
yet, was pulled from the market after the drugs were linked to cause
primary pulmonary hypertension and valvular heart disease.
Ephedra
Ephedra(r) is a dietary supplement that is marketed as a natural product
that claims to help with such things as weight loss, increased energy,
and enhanced athletic performance, but has since been found to actually
be the cause heart attacks, strokes, eizures, rapid and irregular heart
rhythms, increased blood pressure, chest pain, psychosis, tremors, and
death.
Adderall
Adderall is a
prescribe medication for the treatment of attention deficit disorder, or
ADD, but has also been known to cause psychological side effects, and
with any misuse of the drug, can even lead to sudden death due to the
onset of heart attacks and strokes.
Paxil (heart birth defects)
Paxil is a selective
serotonin reuptake inhibitor, or SSRI, type of antidepressant
that has been discovered to cause birth defects when prescribe to pregnant women,
and even been associated with increased suicidal tendencies in adults
and children.
DEVICES THAT HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH HEART PROBLEMS
Many medical devices that were manufactured for the intent to help
patients suffering from heart problems have recently been linked to more
counter-productive problems in patients that have used them. Two of the
nation's top manufacturers, Medtronic with its defibrillators, and
Guidant with pacemakers, as well as, defibrillators, have had to recall
some of the medical devices that were implanted in patients due to
faultiness and malfunction.
Along with these medical devices that are being pulled from use in
patients with heart problems, drug eluting stents that are placed within
the coronary artery to help keep a continuous blood flow to the heart,
have also been recalled due to the arterial wall damage
that is done by the placement of the stent.
Medtronic models
Medtronic is the nation's leading maker of heart implant devices that are used in people who are at risk of going into cardiac arrest, and
whose most recent defibrillator models have been prone to have a defect
in the lead wires that connect to the defibrillator, and which carry
electric impulses to the heart, causing the defibrillator to deliver
unnecessary shocks or to not even operate at all.
Guidant models
Guidant Corporation who manufactures pacemakers that send electrical
impulses to help accelerate a slow heart beat, and defibrillators that
are small implanted devices placed in the body for the function of
regulating the heartbeat in patients with a risk of heart problems, has
recalled both the pacemakers and the defibrillators due to short
circuiting of the devices resulting in death of some the patients using
the faulty devices.
Sprint Fidelis models
The
Sprint Fidelis
model of defibrillators that are manufactured by Medtronic and are implanted in
over 250,000 patients, have been recalled due to faulty electrodes that
have been found to malfunction leading to an unnecessary electrical jolt
to the heart, or for the life saving device to completely fail
altogether.
Drug eluting stents
A drug eluting stent is a latticed metal scaffold placed within the
coronary artery for the purpose of keeping the vessel open and aiding in
the adequate flow of blood to the heart, but unfortunately, actually has
an adverse effect by causing blood clots that lead to the arterial wall
being damaged.
