Now comes word that in response to this intense level of scrutiny brought about by the public at large, Meridia side effects lawyers and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), changes to the labels of packages of Meridia have been approved that contain clear warning language regarding the specific risks of Meridia side effects.

Meridia Side Effects Warnings on Labels:

According to the FDA’s Web site, the label now states the following:

CONTRAINDICATIONS

• with a history of coronary artery disease (e.g., angina, history of myocardial infarction), congestive heart failure, tachycardia, peripheral arterial occlusive disease, arrhythmia or cerebrovascular disease (stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA))
• with inadequately controlled hypertension > 145/90 mm Hg
• over 65 years of age

WARNINGS

Concomitant Cardiovascular Disease

• Due to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in patients with cardiovascular disease, Meridia…

PRECAUTIONS

Geriatric Use section

• Clinical studies of sibutramine did not include sufficient numbers of patients over 65 years of age. Sibutramine is contraindicated in this group of patients

If you or someone you love has been harmed by Meridia side effects, you need to contact the Meridia side effects lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.  The firm has decades of collective experience in holding manufacturers of defective drugs accountable for the harm they have caused, so contact the firm today to get the process of protecting and enforcing your legal rights started.

Byetta side effects have included reports of:

• Severe abdominal pains
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Acute Necrotizing Pancreatitis (ANP)

Now comes word from the FDA that changes have been made to the prescription information that comes with Byetta to include the drug’s link to yet another set of dangerous side effects – altered kidney function, acute renal failure and renal insufficiency.  The FDA has received a total of 78 reports of patients who were using Byetta and had developed these kidney problems, prompting the change to the information provided for patients who currently use the drug.

Byetta is used as part of an overall approach to manage type 2 diabetes, and it’s administered with guidelines for a strict and healthy diet and a managed exercise routine for those who need this sort of help.  Its function internally is basically to increase the amount of insulin produced in response to meals that are eaten by patients.  This function not only helps prevent problems from a lack of insulin, but it also tends to decrease the amount of glucose that the liver produces.

Byetta also helps patients manage their caloric intake by slowing the process by which food empties from the stomach and into the intestines.  Not only does this lead to a lower volume of food intake for patients, but also reduces the risks involved with a dangerous imbalance existing between the amounts of glucose and insulin in the system.

Byetta Side Effect Lawyer

If you are using Byetta to help you with your diabetes, you need to seek medical advice to make sure you’re minimizing your risks.  If you or someone you love has been harmed as a result of using Byetta, you need to contact the defective drugs lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

The reason for these lawsuits is because the side effects that have been linked to Levaquin are quite serious in nature, and the recovery from these problems can be excruciating, long in duration and extremely costly.  Based on several reports, the most common side effects linked to Levaquin include:

• Hand injuries
• Thumb injuries
• Biceps injuries
• Rotator cuff injuries
• Achilles tendon inflammation
• Achilles tendon ruptures

No one has yet been able to identify a specific reason or ingredient that is causing these injuries, but each of those listed above can significantly limit a person’s ability to move through a typical day.

The most serious side effect that’s been linked to Levaquin use is the Achilles tendon rupture.  When this large and important tendon located in the heel explodes, it is not only extremely painful, but it renders that foot utterly useless.  Those who suffer this injury need to undergo invasive surgery to correct the problem and must endure months of grueling physical rehabilitation before he or she can regain the full use of that area of the body.

As a result, Levaquin lawsuits are being filed in an effort by injured consumers and their attorneys to obtain compensation for their losses which can include immediate medical costs, the costs of physical rehabilitation, lost income and pain and suffering, among other losses.  These lawsuits all tend to claim the same thing, namely that by using this medication, patients suffered unexpected injuries and find themselves in a state of misery.

If you or someone you love has used this drug and suffered from the side effects listed above or from any others, you need to contact the Levaquin lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

First, the similarities between the two drugs should be briefly discussed.  Basically, Yaz and Yasmin are the same type of product, and they are both manufactured by Bayer Healthcare, one of the true giants of the pharmaceutical industry.  Bayer Healthcare initially released Yasmin in 2001 and Yaz in 2006, and their functions are also similar in terms of how they help to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Even their active ingredients are largely similar, but there is a reason that Bayer Healthcare decided to incur the expense of formulating and marketing two separate drugs under two separate but similar brand names.  This reason involves the biggest difference between Yaz and Yasmin, which involves the number of active pills that tend to come in a typical batch used by a woman.

Yasmin comes in batches of 28 pills, and of those 28, seven pills are inactive, meaning they have no active ingredients.  This has been the ‘traditional’ ratio of active versus inactive pills, and the reason for this approach is to avoid overloading the woman’s system with the estrogen and progestin ingredients while keeping the user of the pills on a daily routine so that doses are not missed.

Yaz, however, works under a different ratio.  Of the 28 pills in a batch, only four are inactive.  One of the reasons that many experts think that this was done was to help alleviate some of the common but less severe side effects that women encountered while using the drug.  Many of these relatively minor symptoms with those who were using Yasmin occurred during menstruation.

Regardless of the difference, however, both products have been linked to such side effects as kidney damage, heart attacks, strokes and even death in some cases.  If you or someone you love has been harmed as a result of using these products, you need to contact the Yaz lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

Getting right to the point, researchers have not yet figured out exactly why Yaz has led to strokes in so many women who were otherwise completely healthy and who did not pose any sort of medical risk before beginning with the use of this product.  However, statistical evidence has shown an increased likelihood of such an occurrence to take place, which has led to several warnings from the government and lawsuits being filed.

Strokes are not only extremely dangerous and potentially deadly, but in many ways they remain a mystery to the world of medical science.  The reason is that strokes attack and affect the brain, which clearly remains the most intricate and complicated area of the body.  A stroke occurs either when a blood clot forms in the brain or a blood vessel in the brain bursts, leading to brain bleeds and a deprivation of oxygen and necessary nutrients that can be difficult if not impossible to control.

What’s worse is that while there are some common symptoms related to strokes, the specific symptoms and resulting damage to a patient will largely depend on the area of the brain that was damaged by the original episode.  Therefore, different patients have different consequences to deal with after a stroke occurs.  Some are paralyzed to differing degrees of severity.  Others are unable to communicate and still others lose basic motor functions that were taken for granted to that point.

While the progress regarding rehabilitation from a stroke is encouraging, the fact remains that many patients who suffer from these severe episodes never completely recover if they survive at all.  Therefore, if you have taken Yaz and suffered a stroke, you need to contact a Yaz lawyer as soon as possible to schedule a free initial consultation.

The reason for this uptick in inquiries is because of a growing number of reports that the use of Yaz and Yasmin has led to the development of serious side effects in the women who have used them.  These side effects are serious in nature, and the two most serious problems are the development of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolisms.  Each of these conditions can be fatal if they are not detected early and treated properly.

DVT is a condition whereby a blood clot forms deep inside the tissue of the body, normally in the leg.  These clots tend to grow and eventually break off into the circulatory system, and many of them settle in the lungs.  When blood clots form in the lungs, they are known as pulmonary embolisms, and like DVT, they can be fatal.  The problem with these conditions is that no one expects them, which gives these issues time to develop and become more dangerous than they need to be.

The federal government has gotten involved at this point, and the FDA has not only required Bayer to affix a ‘Black Box’ warning to all labels of Yaz and Yasmin, but has also warned Bayer about potentially misleading advertisements that were being run that involved off-label uses of the medication.  Since then, Bayer has pulled the ads and agreed to spend $20 million in an effort to correct the previous misinformation.

Additionally, the FDA has cited Bayer for its manufacturing conditions, and competing studies are now being used to bolster each side’s position.  It should be noted, however, that the study Bayer is using was funded by the company itself.  In the meantime, the overall product line generated an estimated $1.8 billion in revenue during the past year.  All of this has led to at least 74 lawsuits being served on Bayer, and that number is expected to continue to rise.

If you or someone you love has been harmed as a result of using Yaz or Yasmin, you need to contact a defective drugs lawyer as soon as possible to schedule a free initial consultation.  You can start by contacting the Phillips National Injury Group today to get this process started.

Yaz enjoyed a large share of the market after it was introduced to consumers in the United States in 2001 after being approved by the FDA.  It was made available via prescription, and it was also used for certain off-label uses that included treatment of the symptoms of acne and the symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD.  These symptoms included anxiety, lack of sleep, irritability and dizziness.

Unfortunately, Yaz eventually began to be linked to the development of serious side effects in many women who were using it, and some of these Yaz side effects included:

• Heart attacks
• Kidney damage
• Pulmonary embolisms
• Strokes
• Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)

Of those side effects listed above, DVT generated a high level of concern given the difficulty in diagnosing the problem.  DVT is basically a blood clot that forms deep inside the leg, and in some rare cases the arm, but they do not always present outward symptoms that are easy for a doctor to spot.  However, when symptoms do present themselves, they can include:

• Swelling of the leg
• Pain in the affected leg
• Redness in the affected area
• Hot spots on the skin

If DVT is not treated, it can become extremely dangerous and even be fatal in some cases.  Enough of these reports were generated that the FDA ultimately required the manufacturer to place a “Black Box Warning” on all packages of Yaz that clearly warned users of the dangers involved with using it.

Many of those harmed as a result of using this medication also moved forward with Yaz lawsuits against the manufacturer.  If you have suffered as a result of using this medication, you too may have legal rights and options that need to be explored.  You’ll need to contact a defective drugs attorney to schedule an initial consultation, and during that consultation your attorney will look at the information you have regarding the situation and provide you with a recommendation.  Contact an attorney today.

In response to this need, companies began to introduce medications that were meant to help control this bleeding, and Bayer, A.G. introduced a drug that was approved in 1993 that soon penetrated the market with a high degree of depth.  The medication was known as Trasylol, and experts have estimated that millions of patients had this drug injected into their systems prior to surgery.

For several years, Trasylol appeared to work quite well.  However, the publication of a study by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in 2006 set off a chain reaction of discovery by patients and negative reports that ultimately led to the recall of the medication after much involvement by the FDA and the federal government.  The side effects included the following:

• Kidney failure
• Strokes
• Encephalopathy
• Heart attacks

Heart attacks proved to be the most prevalent of Trasylol side effects, and the study by the NEJM concluded that those who had heart surgery and had received an injection of Trasylol faced a much higher risk of heart attacks and other side effects than those who did not.  In addition, some estimates indicate that as many as 22,000 people died as a result of using this medication and another 11,000 required ongoing medical treatment.

The recall came about after the FDA requested that the manufacturer stop marketing Trasylol in 2007, and in 2008, the full recall was initiated.  While this likely saved lives, it did not help those who had already suffered.  As a result, Trasylol lawsuits were filed all over the United States, and if you have suffered as a result of using this medication, you may have that option as well.

If you’d like to explore those options, all you need to do is contact a defective drugs attorney to schedule a free initial consultation.  You’ll only need to gather whatever information relating to your injection of Trasylol that you can find, and your attorney will handle the details from there if you have a valid claim.  Contact an attorney today to get this process started.

Reglan is only available via prescription, and it works by providing a ‘boost’ to the reaction time of the muscles in the upper digestive tract, which results in food emptying into the intestines from the stomach after it’s ingested.  This speed of delivery helps patients avoid the painful symptoms of heartburn.  The active ingredient in Reglan, metoclopramide, was actually approved by the FDA in 1985, but Reglan was the highest-selling brand name that depended on metoclopramide to perform its basic functions.

Unfortunately, reports of Reglan side effects eventually began to surface, and initial examples of these side effects included:

• Depression
• High blood pressure
• Exacerbation of Parkinson’s Disease

However, one side effect began to dominate reports given its extreme severity, and that is known as Tardive Dyskinesia, or TD.  TD is a rare condition that remains somewhat of a mystery to the medical community, which only creates more problems for those who suffer from it.  Symptoms of TD include uncontrollable movements of different parts of the body that include:

• Tongue
• Mouth
• Face in general
• Limbs
• Trunk

TD is progressive in nature, which means that these movements increase in rapidity to the point where basic daily functions become impossible to complete.

In response to these reports, the FDA required Baxter to perform a ‘REMS’ study, which stands for Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Study.  The goal of a REMS study is to determine whether the benefits of a drug outweigh the risks and therefore decide whether that medication should remain on the market.

While this is occurring, defective drugs lawyers around the country are answering inquiries regarding the possibility of filing a Reglan lawsuit.  If you or someone you love has been injured as a result of using Reglan, you may have the option of pursuing a legal claim.  In order to get this process started, you simply need to contact a defective drugs attorney to review your situation.  Try to gather as much information as possible regarding when you started using Reglan, how long you used it, what side effects/symptoms developed and what medical care you needed as a result.

At that point, your attorney will be able to provide you with an opinion as to whether or not your claim would be valid, and if so, he or she will manage your situation for you so that you can focus on your recovery.  Therefore, you have only something to gain by inquiring about your rights, so get that process started today.

As MRI’s became more prominent, different companies began to formulate new products designed to provide doctors with more help in diagnosing patients on the basis of the results of MRI’s.  One such substance that was found to be of great help in MRI’s is gadolinium, which in its basic state is an element that appears on the International Periodic Table.  Gadolinium possesses properties that provide doctors with a visual contrast on MRI images that make injuries and potential problems much easier to spot.

For several years, gadolinium-containing products sold quite well and performed to their expectations.  Unfortunately, reports of serious gadolinium side effects eventually began to surface, and these reports led to scrutiny from several different sources.  Of the side effects that were reported, one condition above all others was most prevalent, and it’s a condition known as Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis, otherwise known as NSF.

NSF is an otherwise rare condition that has yet to be clearly solved because of both its rarity and its short time in existence.  Basically, those who suffer from NSF deal with symptoms that include the progressive hardening of the skin and ultimately decreased movement ability.  As NSF continues to advance, it can develop around joints and lead to broken bones in patients.

If you have had a gadolinium-containing agent injected into your system prior to an MRI and are experiencing any of the following symptoms:

• Tightening of the skin
• Bone pain
• Skin lesions
• Muscle weakness

You should seek immediate medical attention.

Additionally, if you have been injured as a result of using gadolinium, you may have the option of pursuing a gadolinium lawsuit, but you’ll need the proper guidance from a defective drugs attorney in order to properly make that decision.  If you’d like those answers, contact an attorney to schedule a free initial consultation.