Bendectin And Birth Defects (Page 23)

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I took this drug in the 1970's while pregnant. Am looking for the side effects to the babies. Drug has been off the market for many years. Not sure on correct spelling. Used for nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Thank you for any help you can send me. Sincerely, Dana.

701 Replies (36 Pages)

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441

The article "Doctors fall behind nurses in hospital hand hygiene" [23 August 2013] courtesy of the University of New South Wales[Australia], citing the World Health Organization et al., shows that a marked level of apathy and/or ignorance still prevails amongst those who should know better by now and should therefore act accordingly but decidely don't. Just like the many doctors long ago who were totally ignorant of the infection they carried and subsequent deaths they caused the myriad pregnant women they internally examined immediately after their having dissected cadavers and neglected to first thoroughly "scrub-up" with disinfectant.

Given the fact that nurses far outnumber doctors, yet it is the doctors who were found to have a markedly higher percentage of not properly attending to proper hand-washing practices, one wonders just how much longer it'll be until something as simple as getting into the habit of always washing one's hands first prevails amongst these "professionals". The most important part of the Hippocatic Oath is "Primum non nocere", meaning, "First do no harm". It's not only many doctors and nurses who've been detected not properly following stringent hygiene guidelines but also folk making vaccines etc., like those persons working for CSL in Australia who were caught-out by visting FDA representatives. Apparently, they weren't wearing face masks, something that's easier to do than having to wash your hands all the time, but appears to be a practice just too troubling for some. I'm hoping that now that we have cameras and software enabling facial recognition, people who are well aware that they should maintain wearing something as simplistic as a face mask during the entire course of their work, but don't, will be immediately detected should they for whatever reason remove that mask whilst at their work station. It ain't rocket science!

Emtridoc, I know you've mentioned several times before that further research attempting to link Bendectin/Debendox/Diclectin with teratogenicity is now likely unwarranted, given that Bendectin is supposed to have been studied more than any other drug, and it's always nice to have closure on extremely important matters, but had you ever considered that it's quite possible that some of those researchers who've diligently and painstakingly searched for any likelihood of teratogenicity in Bendectin over many years may well have been unwittingly contaminating findings as they went. Many researchers of myrid mysteries have blindly taken up the cudgels of those who've gone before them without properly checking to see for themselves if anything's been contaminated/corrupted. It's a very difficult thing to eschew everything you've been told/shown and then start over from scratch to run the whole whole gamut entirely on your lonesome. If you don't, then just the smallest of errors anywhere in the mix has the capability of both being missed and therefore accepted as something upon which to furthermore build upon that putative "firm" foundation of knowledge. Universities are now starting to look at their "disciplines" in a whole new light which I find most encouraging to say the least. I lack tertiary education but time and again I've found many of those who've had extensive university education have missed some of the basics in their travels. They may have "of course" missed out on a lot of sleep too but that goes with the territory unfortunately.

And last but not lea_st'irring..."Ours is not to reason w_hy'steron proteron".

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442

An very important article online explains the dangers to fetuses from the epilepsy drug Valproate, particularly from high dosages which increases the risk of having a baby with spina bifida or hypospadias.

*Epilepsy drug dosage linked to specific birth defects.* [25 August 2013.]

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443

Given that a team of international scientists, including University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado researchers, have now discovered a new disease related to an inability to process Vitamin B12, I'm wondering if many pregnant women, past and present, were/are unable to process the Vitamin B6 in Bendectin/Debendox/Diclectin and the now newly-marketed Diclegis.

Vitamin B12 is also called cobalamin, and the new disease is called cobalamin X, or cbIX.

I have said several times before that I hold suspicions that many pregnant women may have been unable to properly metabolize certain drugs prescribed them, and whether a person has a genetic abnormality or not doesn't alter the fact that certain drugs should perhaps not be prescribed them, particularly if the strengths of certain combinations are not properly tailored to suit. I also made mention of enzymes' complexity too, and from my undertanding medical science still has a very long way to go in gaining a complete understanding of enzymes, inter alia.. Bendectin, like many another drug, was made as a one size fits all, but it's highly likely that it didn't suit every pregnant woman and her fetus[es] to perfection at all.

The article features in *EurekAlert* as: "Peering into genetic defects, CU scientists discover a new metabolic disease".

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444

Hi ILP, Can't find the article on B12 metabolic disorder, but of course disorders of uptake and metabolism are nothing new (PKU, Galactosemia, etc.), but it's a mighty stretch to link bendectin. For starters the kind of disorder you're describing (inborn error of metabolism) is something you're born with, not induced. And of course if it were true that it could be induced by bendectin, then why not induced by orange juice, milk, coffee, sunlight, etc? Not to say those are in anyway connected with bendectin, just that if you're going to pick one thing without any basis then why not any myriad of factors that could be just as likely (or unlikely) candidates. Remember that most of the diseases/issues attributed to bendectin on this site occur as frequently (and often more frequently) today, long after bendectin was pulled from the market. One could argue (I'm not) based on the increased frequency of autism (ascribed by more than one poster here to use of bendectin) that in fact the medication was protective against autism!

On other topics: Hand washing is one part of a number of steps related to preventable harm and even death in hospitals. For interesting reading I recommend Atul Guwande who has written several books (the check list manifesto, Complications) on the topic, or Don Berwick who fathered the "100,000 lives" campaign on preventing harm in hospitals.

And as for anti-epileptic drugs in pregnancy, I'm not sure what to say? Are there physicians unaware of safety issues with these meds? I imagine there are, though hard to believe a neurologist truly unaware. Pretty much all these meds are known teratogens and must always be given with a risk/benefit analysis. But electronic medical records and medication ordering systems help add a layer of safety, often adding warnings, and a pharmacist should also check before dispensing. Imperfect world, that is for sure.

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445

Hi emtridoc, it was a surprise indeed to see your post as I was starting to think you'd gone to ground. Re your being unable to find the cited article one could so easily think that if you can't dig said article out from the ether, given you're in the States, and I'm way Down Under here on steam-driven computer, what chance have we of medical scientists ever attributing any teratogenicity to Bendectin, if indeed any does in fact exist? Just now, I sought the B12 article from "documents" only to find that I'd somehow forgotten to "save" it, which is very much a rarity, but I now recall that my laptop screen locked-up on me that night, as is its wont, so I've just this very moment downloaded the B12 article once again and it took all of about 10 seconds from the very beginning of typing in the title, and I don't touchtype.

Do try again searching again for the Vitamin B12 article as mentioned at the very bottom of my #445 post below.

My initial focus re the B12 disorder was on some of the pregnant women perhaps having it themselves, then upon their taking anything, even Bendictin or its cousins, some type of malformation of fetuses would follow in some cases, not all. If a child is unable to ever metabolize B12 properly, as was the little boy mentioned in the article, then it's not entirely beyond belief that some pregnant women may not be able to handle the B6 in Bendectin inter alia. If the mother has the disorder herself then it could, in some way, cause deformities if it joins forces with, say, microchimerism or something suchlike? Who knows, not medical science because they're still making breakthroughs on just about everything on a daily basis?

We must remember too that there's no evidence to prove that, just because Bendectin was officially pulled from the market, no woman anywhere didn't continue to get a supply of it from somewhere, or something similar, and of course it's now back in vogue as Diclegis apparently. A rose by any other "word" would smell as swe_et'ymologically. Yes, Shakespeare said "word" here and not "name" as is so often errantly promulgated, and he did so because he used the word "name" so many times throughout R&J that he chose not to overdo it.

I often think regarding thalidomide, whether it was secretly trialled somewhere, even here in OZ, well before it was officially released/sold generally in 1957. We know that many dangerous practices have been carried out in past times by BigPharma and myriad others, usually in third world countries, but if one wanted to trial a different kind of population with something then who would know[or care], especially when such trials were carried out many, many years ago. The Brits were exploding atomic bombs down here at Maralinga and elsewhere without worrying too much about the local population. There's nothing like doing such things and having human guinea pigs handy.

Re the neurologist not knowing, he probably well knew all about it but was just totally apathetic to any likely dangers, and he'd be no orphan on that score as I'm sure you'd be well aware, not that I'm suggesting that you're apathetic. We recently had a very senior heart surgeon[hubby of a politician] here seriously hauled over the coals for some very lax practises on his part. I couldn't believe it at first when I read it but he now has to be fully supervised on just about everything more complex than tying his shoelaces together.

Yes, I know about Atul *Gawande* as I've mentioned him in this forum several times before, and I'm sure that I never misspelt his surname either :o). Even he admitted to initially being quite skeptical/apathetic/negative about his needing to follow any checklist given that he, in his own words, "was at Harvard and therefore bulletproof."

Don't go placing too much faith in any level of safety where the ordering of medical supplies comes into it either, and I speak here of what happened in the UK back in Feb 1987. I know, you'll say that it's now 2013 and things have changed, but Murphy would argue with you on that point tooth and nail. As a result of a complaint from a police surgeon in the UK that the skin cleaning swabs in Home Office kits were drying out, all such kits dated prior to 1 Jan 1984 were returned to the police force supplies dept., and whilst there, the swabs, called medical cleansing towelettes, were removed from the kits and replaced with Medi-prep swabs and then re-issued for use. Where the original towelettes contained no ethanol at all, guess what?...these Medi-prep swabs contained 3.435% weight/volume of ethanol, approx the same amount as that in normal bitter beer. As a result of this very serious error, more than 2,000 blood tests were taken of drivers suspected of DUI, and most, if not all, pleaded guilty in court because all the tests proved positive and so they were convicted. All short and sweet, until someone much later thought that something was amiss here, because of such consistency, and of course it was, big time. Because they'd pleaded guilty and were convicted, this set a very strong legal precedent. The prosecution admitted that, on a point of law which must be seen to not be unfair, the evidence for convictions was greatly unsound, but they couldn't undo the damage themselves because the precedent had been set, and the law is the law, not something to be fiddled about with willy-nilly. The only way out of this comedy of errors was to apply to the Home Secretary to grant a pardon to most if not all of these drivers. And these pardons were very slow indeed getting out the door. It is things exactly like this that will ever enthuse Murphy to soldier onward.

Many folk both willingly -- many times errantly -- and totally accept that what is written on the box or packet is exactly what they'll have when they so-naively extricate the contents and use/consume them. If some pharmacists ran out of certain drugs back in the 1950s they may have chosen to try something else -- what they thought similar -- off label, not only to get a sale but to quell severe discomfort in a patient. That road to hell, as ever, is still paved with the very same good intentions last I heard, yet Murphy, strange as it may seem, detests all roadwork.

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446

emtridoc, I did answer your #446 post promptly but for some reason it's not yet featured, perhaps due to something I said or refrained from mentioning. Another article you may be interested in is also on EurekAlert as follows:

"1 baby in every 46 born with a congenital anomaly says new report". This article per se, plus from one's reading between the lines, shows that there are still vast gaps that need be plugged before anyone can veritably state, sans a shadow of doubt, that a drug/procedure was or wasn't the cause of something going awry. And all of the statistics of course are only ever recorded post the event, never before, also not forgetting that "all" of the evidence in just about any matter whatsoever never comes to light, or if it does, it's usually a very long time coming, to the extent that it may be too late to do any good for anybody at all, especially those who've waited for so long and may need prompt benefit from it, and this why medical science, or just science in general, is obliged to continually revise and amend that which has gone before, because those involved can never really trust the putative "facts" of the matter concerned. Professor Morris, in the article, quite clearly stated: ..."meaning large regional increases in congenital anomalies could go unnoticed and their causes not investigated." All of this makes one wonder just how much data was never recorded in the past, and it's very hard indeed to investigate something even minutely if one has no knowledge whatsoever of its having occurred. Sherlock Holmes should have had it so easy?! :o)

In reference to your having several times leant somewhat towards accepting that perhaps most deformities' etiology is due to genetics, and we know that genes are passed on to offspring, had you ever considered that the alchemists of yore might have been knocking out potions that would make something like thalidomide, in comparison, look as innocuous as a candy bar, and if they had given some of their "customers" something pernicious on a rather regular basis then that could well explain why some folk nowadays are genetically different and/or have a marked sensitivity to some drugs/foods/vitamins or whatever.

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447

I forgot to mention that, in relation to the aforementioned "alchemists of yore", today's evidence of widespread teratogenicity may not be entirely down to BigPharma alone, but also inclusive of FigPharma, meaning some of those who wore fig leaves when pounding away with the very first mortars and pestles known to man. Perhaps they too didn't really seem to care a fig_uratively...just like 'Grunen_thal'idomide.

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448

ILP, Not sure where you intend to go with this argument, but you're making my point precisely; the occurrence of congenital anomalies is not rare (2-3% has been the going rate in industrialized countries, and the article you site adds nothing new) and it's been relatively stable. Certainly we do not know all causes, but we know some (folic acid deficiency and neural tube defects, for instance). If Big Pharma has replaced Fig Pharma with causative agents it's managed to do so at the same rate (and, in fact a lower rate). Develpment from oocyte to embryo to fetus to child is a remarkable process. That it happens perfectly 97% of the time is pretty remarkable and that 2-3% of the time it doesn't isn't surprising. It's not simply genetics. But the vast majority of these cases are in women who weren't taking any pharma. So it's well to search for causes (nutrition, pollution, too much TV, cell phone radiation, pharma, etc.), but seek evidence

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449

But is it "perfect" 97% of the time? There may have been[and be] many congenital anomalies that weren't reported or detected. Some[perhaps many] may not be as obvious as severe phocomelia. Think of how many times we read about surgeons having inadvertently left one of their instruments inside a patient where it's remained for many years and was only discovered when said patient needed to have an x-ray for some new ailment totally unrelated to their previous need of a surgical operation. Or they simply walked through a metal detector somewhere. Or where a surgeon[s] who incorrectly removed/altered some internal bodily part, leaving intact the part that should have been removed/altered[but wasn't], the patient then came good of their own accord, died of natural causes, donated their body to medical science where it was found that their previous medical history didn't correlate with what was found inside them by medical students and their mentor. Are all of these anomalies properly recorded and shown to those whom it should concern? Probably not, considering that the patient is now deceased and it's thought that no good would come of it's being disclosed to the public. Governments/Institutions have their own reasons/hidden agendas for not wanting certain things ever made public, or at least not until 30/50 years later etc. They look at things on a grand scale, and if relatively few folk have to suffer/die for the benefit of many then so be it, but it still doesn't alter the fact that some procedure/medication was the direct cause of something untoward having happened to the fobbed-off and failed few.

Looking at those 97/3%[let's assume they're exactly that] statistics logically, if there is no doubt whatsoever that the 3% do indeed have a congenital anomaly, this then[n.b. logically] leaves the door wide open for there being more[perhaps many] congenital anomalies, be they very subtle ones. One can still have a congenital anomaly without anyone's being aware of it. Look at how many newborn's deafness[total or partial] is not detected until well after their birth. And where lies the threshhold between that which constitutes a congenital anomaly and that which does not? Is there any mortal who's perfect? Sometimes I wonder if I have something else besides aural atresia, microtia, and an inner ear that's three quarters the size of the other, even though I'm told it still functions internally. Logically, I can't have any less, but I could have more, and there's no evidence to prove that I don't. Lack of evidence works[shirks?] both ways.

It's also possible that every[or many, some even?] child born to a mother who took Bendectin, shares some common congential anomaly[be it but a very subtle one]. Nothing seems to overshadow a common denominator's crucial credibility on an evidence sheet. I note that Accutane[Isotretinoin] is related to vitamin A, and that Isotretinoin is reported as being known teratogen. Bendectin has vitamin B6[pyridoxine] as a constituent. Perhaps that which looks benign on the surface may well be the culprit. I also note that, from a webpage about Bendectin: " An FDA investigation in 1986 concluded that existing data did not show an association between Bendectin and birth defects." If the FDA is only able to make its conclusions from "existing data", then this more than merely suggests that further research could very well be warranted regarding Bendectin, inter alia.

Lack of evidence doesn't prove that something isn't in some way at fault, and just because one is as yet unable to prove that Bendectin is a teratogenic to any degree doesn't necessarily or sufficiently prove that all the myriad reported congential anomalies only resulted through genetics. Whilst it's still likely that genetics wholly/partially may be the cause in these cases, and even accepted by many as being the cause, it's but an assumption, and not sufficiently proven. Look at what a great cat was put among the pigeons when Nobel Prize laureates Professor Barry Marshall and Dr Robin Warren, 1985/6 proved the cause of many stomach ulcers, and it required that Marshall go to the extremes of putting himself in danger by swallowing a Petri dish concoction. The establishment scientists and doctors ridiculed the belief that any bacteria could live in the acidic environment of the stomach. It was merely an asinine assumption on their part. If you'll pardon the pun, Professor Marshall just went with his gut feeling to prove a pathological po_int'ernal. In early March of this year, a 30-year old criminal conviction was overturned due to Professor Marshall's expert evidence about ulcers. One wonders why it took so long for the conviction to be overturned given what has for so long now been known about the cause of many ulcers.

There's always ethical issues involved when testing humans with medication/procedures, but Professor Marshall was able to swiftly and adeptly circumvent any such issues by using the very personal method which he did.

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450

my wife took bendectin in 1977-78 for morning sickness. my youngest son was born with a brain malformation lobar holoprosencephaly. in 2011 my daughter died of cancer age 48 in 2012 my son died of an unusual heart condition age 47
all coincidence!!

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451

I took Bendectin in 1978 during my entire pregnancy. My son was born with a heart arythmia and died at age 31. I was young and thought that if a doctor told me something was okay I could believe them.

If you are pregnant and thinking about taking medication I urge you to find another way to get through the pregnancy. The loss of my son is too hard to bear and I would not wish this on any other mother.

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452

I took bendictine in 1981 for morning sickness. I took about 7 pills. My son now 31 has no children but I don't think he is trying for children either. He is smart and good and healthly. Bendictine helped me when I really needed it. I'm very concerned that I risked so much though.

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453

I too took Bendictine in the 1970's. One son born 1972 and another son 1975. Youngest has major problems. Very Slow (physically too) like Angela wrote. Has trouble holding jobs. Obbessive compulsive. Can't read or write very well. . Now starting to try to find help for him as far as drugs and health benefit coverage through government, housing. Possible CPP. He has a wife and 2 kids to support.

Oldest didn't talk at 3 either

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454

Here's an article for the parents of children born with 'aniridia'. I wonder if a formulation of this drug called Ataluren would be able to also cure those children born with coloboma?

eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-12/uobc-usu121613.php

A very Merry Xmas from the land 'neath the Southern Cross to everyone!

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455

Wow I have a 36 year old son. I was prescribed something for morning sickness in 1977. He didnt walk until 15months he repeated kindergarden and when he was repeating second grade he was tested as learning disabled and put in special ed. By the time he got to High School he was mainstreamed and failed miserably. He has never held a job, never got his GED, he has suffered from depression and drug addiction. We are trying to get Social Security Disability for him now.

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456

i took bendectin in 1978 and my baby died in utero at five months gestation -- I looked like I was ready to deliver, they did an ultrasound, discovered the baby was dead and they did a cesarean to remove our dead baby. When they drained the fluid from the baby's head, he was perfectly normal -- they said it was heart failure. We never linked the bendectin to the baby's death and in 1979 I took it again. Our daughter was born seemingly healthy. She suffered from ear infections and to this day can't go swimming and submerge her head. But the real problem is the mood swings that definitely seem to be linked to hormonal changes. Terrible terrible PMS. No infertility -- she has 3 children, but she has tried just about every holistic approach to the PMS -- is now working on gut flora -- to no avail. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this.

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457

My son born in 1990 also has the same problems. I took Bendectin while pregnant with him. I have always wondered if the medication was the issue.

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458

I took Bendictin and my daughter was born with arm deformities....it is the only thing I ever took. Read and learn. Just because not every mom gets affected doesn't mean it is safe.....time is coming for Merrill. We as a society are more powerful than before and next time they go to court things will be different. here's a link and this women not heads a web site on deformities research from Florida.

Bendectin and Birth Defects - Dr. Mekdeci

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459

Hi there, My name is Kerry I am 51 years of age. I was born in 1962 and my mother was prescribed Debendox for morning sickness. I was born with a double womb, malformation of the bladder and scoliosis of the spine, malformed gallbladder, the list goes on! I am incontinent as a result of bladder malformation. I have had a lifetime of operations and illness, I live in the united kingdom. My brother who was born 2years later was perfectly healthy (my mother did not take Debendox during her pregnancy with him) I am trying to contact people and find out as much as I can so that we can start something going, my whole life has been affected in every area. It has been a constant battle for me and my mother as I am sure it is for you and your daughter. Please get in touch so that we can talk further, kindeswt regards, kerry

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460

Ignorant comments. Easier to take the road less traveled.....remember to have respect for folks who are trying against all odds to uncover a truth. Your not very objective or helpful. You may eat your words one day so leave a little room for desert. Don't bother to reply to me as this is not a question.

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