Bendectin And Birth Defects (Page 28)

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.

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I fully understand normal congenital defects. But how do you explain interenal malformations from head to toe. My spine has been fusing together since i was 14 im am now 35 and told by 2 drs that i would b2in a wheelchair by the time i was 30 im not in it yet and i refuse to be in one, this garbage will not beat me there is no explanation for my many health problems and gestational defects and malformations, i have useless little finger that stopped growing at the age of 4, fertility drama and countless operations for things and i am it, me no known family history of anything am i just to believe i am a one off mutated female that has not let this beat me, who has a career and is happily married and is fiercely independent. When you have no explanation and your doctors havent either dont you think that there is a connection, im not out to blame or sue but i would like a reason thats all

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Emtridoc, the mind doesn't only block itself from seeing things that 'logically' shouldn't be there. The mind 'sees' only that which 'it' wants to, and entirely of its own volition at that particular moment [a bit later the 'mind' may change its 'mind' completely which might be too late to do any good] in time, and sometimes of course with a little bit of help from a clever magician on stage etc.

If we are to go down the path of logic, then logic will tell us that it's far more likely that many congenital abnormalities were completely missed rather than every congenital abnormality [caused by a teratogen or not] was fully accounted for in fine detail. Perhaps like every poster on medschat, every doctor/nurse needs be continually reminded to "Please be detailed"?

It's quite possible too that many pregnant women who were prescribed [and even supplied with] Bendectin/Denedox/Diclectin didn't take any of it at all and were then errantly listed with those women who did take the drug, and many women who said that they didn't take any may well have done so too, if they "borrowed" some from a pregnant friend just to try it out etc. Just think of how many times people are prescribed antibiotics and they don't finish the course [even though they may say they did finish 'the course' to avoid any rebuke] simply because they start feeling better [or they don't take any at all for some rea$on], and if you remember, kathy g [whom I replied to in my #524 post] didn't know what it was she took [the mint/peppermint liquid?] when she was feeling nauseous.

Whether or not Bendectin will one day be found conclusively to have caused congenital abnormalities everywhere I don't know, but I'm fully confident in saying that the 'show' [at this stage] ain't anywhere near over yet what with all the curtain calls from folk still wanting to someone in authority to say: It's curtain$ for Merrell Dow*.

There's always a chance too that someone who worked for Merrell Dow may one day blow the whistle on a cover-up, just like Peter Buxtun did in the early 1970s when he finally blew the whistle on what the CDC was up to with its *Tuskegee syphilis experiment* which lasted for forty years. Buxtun had raised concerns in 1966 but the CDC didn't want its study [cited as "arguably the most infamous biomedical research study in US history"] halted until all of the subjects had died and been autopsied.

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was also characterized as being: "The longest non-therapeutic experiment on human beings in medical history." Whom to trust? Can anyone ever again place complete [or any] trust on anything resulting from a review [Kutcher et al] of what the CDC did or didn't do back then or now? Forty years is a heck of a long time to keep something like the sordid syphilis experiment under wraps, but like they say: "Time and the course of events [or drugs...did I forget to mention whistleblowers?] may reveal all."

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Kristy, You sound like a remarkable person and little will get in the way of you getting everything you can out of life. I certainly don't have an explination for what you've gone through/are going through with no basis for making a judgement. Way too many unknowns. All I'm saying is that an "N" of 1 (1 case) isn't a basis for drawing scientific conclusions. Searching for themes is a good idea, but this is one of the most studied drugs with loads of research using multiple techniques b/c people really thought there might be something. Despite ILP's imagined undiagnosed congenital abnromality that no one can see, feel, touch, the science has demonstrated no link. I'm sorry ILP, but there is really no logic in this argument, nor that somehow the missing link is all this medication that was taken unkowningly across millions of pregnancies (how could that even happen unless someone was putting it in the food or water supply across the country? Tuskegee would pale compared to that). Recall that several of the studies looked at the incidence of various problems (congenital defects, autism, etc) before and after the med came off the market with no change (or increase rates, in the case of autism, another discussion all together). It seems highly unlikely that people are breaking out their 30 year old bottles of bendictin and passing them around.

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My baby in 1979 was born with a cleft lip from this drug

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My daughter and I talked a bit about bendectine this past week. As I've noted in previous posts, I took Bendectine with her in 1979 and the year before she was born, my first son died at five months gestation. At the beginning of the fifth month I'd started taking Bendectin and by the end of the month he had died in utero. All of my daughter's children have been born with tongue tie -- which is a very mild version of cleft palate. What we are thinking about is the amount of B6 in Bendectine which pregnant women were exposed to. B6 is a naturally occurring vitamin but in high doses it can have negative effects. We are trying to figure out the possible genetic mutation that could have taken place.

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I took benedectin in 1971. My first child, Stephanie was born ok, we thought. At 5 years of age she was having kidney problems. We took her to a doctor and he diagnosed her as having duplicated ureters on the right side. He said there should be no problem with it. She did have reoccurring kidney infections through adulthood. When she was about 22 she had a miscarriage. She got pregnant again and Dr's thought she had a tubal pregnancy. She was referred to a specialist in Houston. He ran many diagnostics and found that she had a birth defect. She was born with a bicornate uterus. (It too was duplicated with a wall between). I would like to hear from someone on this. My second pregnancy was also a girl. She was born with deformed ears. I lost my 3rd and 4th babies to miscarriage. My 5th child was a girl and she had a stroke at 2 months old. Please get in touch with me as I only gave the short version. My daughter's are now 43, 39 and 34 years old. Thanks for your time.

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Did you take bendectin with all of them?

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My son was born with a malformed brain lobar holoprosencephaly. My wife took bendectin for all four children. My oldest son died at 47 from a heart attack. doctors said something unusual about heart. My oldest daughter died at 48 cancer. My youngest son brain malformation is quadriplegic deaf on the right side. Animal tests on bendectin included cancer and heart malformations. For more info contact 'Birth Defect Research for Children'.

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Do you recall the year they sold to the German company? With Insurance no less. My daughter was born with "by lateral radius hand defect". Bone missing in both the lower arm and only four fingers...very sad to watch your child go though life this way and no one is held accountable. It's madness. I took Benedictine in 1977-78 prescribed by my family doctor for morning sickness. We reside in Canada. I was seventeen and told it was a vitamin and so I felt very confident about taking it all the way through as prescribed. No blame for the family doctors as they are just doing their job with drugs that have to their knowledge passed the evaluation requirements. Went back to get my medical records and they have all been destroyed. This is common practice back when records were paper files. This drug needs to be reevaluated with an objective agency. My son was born completely normal because I did not ingest Benedictine.

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Hi Rebecca & Rebekkah. Rebecca, your second daughter with deformed ears, does she also have 'aural atresia' like I have? Only my right ear ['pinna'] is deformed, which is called 'microtia' [and is also called 'phocomelia' which is what thalidomide caused], and I have no opening through to my inner ear as well, which is called 'aural atresia'. My right side inner ear does function inside, but because there's no opening I'm as deaf as a post on that side except for bone conduction etc., and my right inner ear is only 3/4 the size what it should be. My left ear works normally and has no deformity.

In several of my earlier posts I spoke about 'microchimerism', and because researchers have discovered male fetal cells still in a mother's blood many years after she had given birth, I'm wondering that if when these fetal cells from her boy baby crossed into her bloodstream and remained there for many years, and if she had taken Bendectin [she may not have of course] with the pregnancy of this boy baby who swapped with her some of his fetal cells, and she some of her cells in turn with him, then his cells remaining in her body, if they had been unnaturally altered in some way before being given to her for the last time where they remained, may have in some way caused some deformities in some [or all] of her subsequent pregnancies. The mother that the 'microchimerism' researchers studied may not have had any such problems, but that doesn't necessarily rule out every other mother's pregnancies not ever having any such problems.

Some things in the body can lie dormant for a long time before reappearing, like the cold sore virus etc. With all of this 'microchimeric' cell-swapping going on repeatedly during pregnancies, even if there is no Bendectin involved, it's possible for the cells to alter abnormally just on their own, but if the cells are additionally altered in some indeterminable way via an unnatural substance, like Bendectin/Diclectin/Debendox, or even an excess of a natural substance, like B6/B12 etc., then extra abnormalities can easily come in to effect, and in fact probably do and have done, many times. This is similar to when you have an A4 sheet of text that you wish to copy many times, say 20 times. If you only copy from the original A4 sheet once at a time then the 20 copies copied from it will be an almost exact replica, but if you make each copy from the previous copy each time, like for example, if after you have made your first copy from the original, you then use your first copy to make the second copy, then the second copy to make the third copy, and the third copy to make the fourth etc., and continue thusly to the finish then the final copy will likely be quite unlike the original copy, and probably completely illegible. Try it on an el cheapo photocopier and you'll see what I mean. Now if when you're doing all this copying someone sprinkles a bit of dust on say the third copy, or even the 10th copy, and then a bit more dust on the 15 the copy etc., then this will quickly hasten the deformities produced on the 20th copy all the more, just like the addition of something to a pregnant mother's diet that could alter the 'microchimeric' cells unnaturally when they are being swapped back and forth countless times, and no-one yet knows just how many times this 'microchimeric' cell-swapping takes place, and I'll bet that not every expectant mother has exactly the same amount of cell-swapping as every other expectant mother, or even just the same expectant mother having the same amount of cell-swaps with every pregnancy of hers, even when all of them have never taken any Bendectin at any time. But if they HAVE taken something like Bendectin during any of their pregnancies, then doing so could have drastically altered the amount of 'microchimeric' cell-swaps needed to have babies without any deformities. So, not only could Bendectin have unnaturally altered the cells themselves that are being repeatedly swapped in some pregnancies but it could have decreased or increased the amount of vitally required cell-swaps as well. There are so many possible pernicious permutations involved here that no-one at all would be able to say with absolute certainty what actually occurs, or has occurred, with each and every pregnancy.

It's good to see that people are still posting their concerns about Bendectin per se and other very important 'issues' [also known as 'children'] in their life. Bravo.

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I took Bendictine when pregnant with with my 1st child, 1971. She is legally blind in one eye. The doctor told me "the brain does not send a message for the eye to see" She was patched for one year and I had to take her to the eye doctor for eye exercises for 1 year, every week. She has a learning disability and Adhd. When she had her first child, the pregnancy caused peripartum cardiomyopathy. She is also bi-polar. I have been supporting my grandchild and her for 5 years and has been in the disability process for that long. Hopefully, she will get it at her next hearing. I am single and close to retirement. I can deal with everything, except the financial. I now have health issues and I am tired. But they are a blessing in my life. Just thought I should document this for others.

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Bravo Vicki. Thanks for posting your concerns and I hope all goes well for you at the hearing. I know what it's like to lose sight in one eye [in my case for several months] because I was struck in the eye with a sharp rock as a toddler when my elder brothers were having a rock fight with the boys next door. I'm presuming that you are not in Australia because your daughter would have no difficulty obtaining disability assistance here in OZ given the challenges in life that she has to contend with. She is very lucky indeed to have a Mum like you, and I know exactly what you mean when you say that your daughter and grandchild are a blessing to you. Best of luck and good health to you always Vicki from 'Down Under'.

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I took bendictine in 1979 when I had terrible morning sickness while carrying twins. My doctor told me it would have no side effects. One of my twins developed thyroid cancer at age 16 and melanoma in her 20's. the other one had a problem with her kidney as her ureter was deformed and had 4 or 5 surgeries. She now suffers with bipolar and multiple health problems and has a hard time socially. I wonder if this horrible drug that was taken off the market contributed to this.

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I also took this pill. My son is 35. He had cancer at the age of 13 and had his leg amputated, but also has other syptoms. He is depressed among one of the them. Is there anything that can be done about this

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In reply, I live in the USA. I never told my baby doctor I took this drug. My daughters eye problem was not discovered until she was 4, her learning disability at 15, her ADHD and bi-polar as an adult and her heart diease at 38(Which is probably genectic). I have never told any of her doctors I took this drug. So I am one person, that never got counted or should I say my child. It seems that if anything, this drug might have only caused neurological damage with my 1st child. Learning disablities were not that well known when she was little, since no one picked up on it until she was 15. Mental health is just reaching a point that has any depth to it. Example, they are just starting to understand the complex nature of addiction and mental illness, that the mentally ill self medicate which leads to addiction. So my daughter who is 43, has a lot of problems that were never included in the count. So, my question is, how many others never got counted. Also, I consider myself to be above average intelligence, but there are many women my age, that may have missed a bleap in the newspaper over 30 years ago. Many woman of maybe inferior intelligence, that don't ever get on a computer or have limited resources. Woman that never connected the dots. As a matter of fact, I never knew there was a name for my daughters eye problem , until I found this thread.
I did not have morning sickness with my second child, so I did not need any drugs and she is normal.

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That is such a good point -- that you were never counted -- neither was I. And I did miss the blip in the paper -- a neighbor mentioned it when my daughter was two years old (she's now 35) and my heart stopped beating. But now she herself has four children -- all with tongue tie, making it next to impossible to nurse them. I don't think there will ever be a way to hold the pharmaceutical companies accountable but it is very important that pregnant women in this day and age know about the dangers of this drug -- because the doctors still want to prescribe it.

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I was pregnant 3 times ... in 1963-64, 1969-70 and 1970-71. I was deathly ill with morning sickness every time and took Bendictine. I was startled to see that it has been approved for use again. After my first son was born, I got an IUD but the second pregnancy happened anyway. That son was born prematurely on Jan. 1, 1970 at 6 months, born alive but only lived a few hours. The IUD was twisted in the umblical cord. My OB told me that the child likely would have been defective had he lived. The third son was born in March 1971 and was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease in 1981. Initially it was thought to ulcerative colitis but when it flared up again and we were living in MN, he was diagnosed as having Crohn's Disease. I have no idea whether his health issues are related to Bendictine ... a tendency to autoimmune diseases is pretty common in my mother's family.

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Hi Marilyn G. Not only has Bendectin been approved for use again and sold under different brand names, but thalidomide, which is a known teratogen, is used to combat Crohn's disease strange as it may seem. It's also used for Hansen's disease (Leprosy).

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Hi Rebekkah. Regarding your saying that you think that pharmaceutical companies may not be held accountable and the dangers of Bendectin etc; another danger always exists regarding forensic evidence about drugs, and it is the ever present danger of blindly trusting scientists who work in laboratories, 'scientists?' like Annie Dookhan who may have tainted as many as 40,000 drug cases whilst working at the now-closed Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Massachusetts. Dookhan should not have been working as a scientist and providing evidence about drugs to courts because she had no qualification to do so. She had falsely claimed both on her resume and had sworn oath that she had a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts in Boston, but the university said otherwise. How she was able to get away with it for so long beggars belief because it is not that difficult to check something simple like whether or not a person actually has the proper qualifications. *The Tenure of Valerie Fabrikant* was another classic case of a very dangerous person working for a long time with false qualifications.

It has been errantly said that Dookhan's deception has shaken the integrity of the criminal justice system to the core. This is incorrect simply because the criminal justice system has no integrity at all given the fact that this but putative 'integrity?' is still so-easily corrupted by people like Dookhan, and of course those jurists/jurors who blindly trust evidence given them by pseudo-scientists and other persons whom, though perhaps 'qualified', still don't know their onions.

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I would like to rephrase something.....I did not mean to say women of inferior intelligence. What I meant was, this was a long time ago. Before personal computers. Some people our age, never needed to use a computer and do not use computers. So there could be many women who missed this altogether, but not because they were not smart. The news came out before computers.

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