Bendectin And Birth Defects (Page 2)

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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.

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21

What is the next step we take to find out if this is our problem? I am very frustrated.

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22

I was prescribed a white/cream medicine in 1975 for morning sickness but dont recall the name of it,my son was born and lived a week with many abnormalities any idea what the name of the medicine was?

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23

I took the drug Benedictine when I was expecting my first child in 1978. It was only for a very short time in my first trimester but my son was born profoundly deaf and there is no history of deafness in my family that I could find.Also my sister in law took it and her baby was born with a cleft palate.I have always thought my son's sensineural hearing loss was related to this drug.

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24

I couldn't help but respond to this site, I came across it by accident. My mother took this medication during the early weeks of her pregnancy (she also had 7month old twins at the time) She was taking it for severe morning sickness. I was born with a cleft palate, left limb deformity, abnormal kidney, hearing loss, etc.. (a syndrome called Klippel Feil Syndrome) I did not discover this until I was in my twenties. I was born in 1967. I am very healthy and independent today, but it has been a long road to get here. I did quite a bit of research on this topic 10 years ago when my mother gave me this information. The most notorious case was filed by Betty Mendecki (sp?) who had a case in the 80's against Merrill Dowell Pharm. Her son was born with a limb deformity as well as some other defects. I am surprised to see so many posts of this topic Just wanted to share, and thank everytone for sharing their story!

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25

I took this drug during my pregnancy in 1976-1977, my daughter, now 31 has been struggling with severe mood swings, (especially during her menstral cycle) depression, anxiety and I believe she may be manic depressive. I have always wondered if this was a side effect. Any others out there with similar concerns as those with my daughter?

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26

I took tons of Bendectin for severe morning sickness. 2 in am, 2 in afternoon, 2 b4 bed! Daughter is FINE! She is an RN.

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27

I also took Bendictine when pregnant with my sons in 1979 & 1982. They are both severely Dyslexic with moderate ADHD. The second one reads on a third grade level. School was a nightmare for both. I have always suspected that this drug might be the cause.

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28

The drug was called Bendectin and was a mixture of vitamin B6 and doxylamine. Vitamin B6 is also present in prenatal vitamins. The doxylamine is an anitihistamine that is still used in over-the counter sleep medicines, such as Unisom. Bendectin was very commonly used in the 1970's and was prescribed for most people who were pregnant. I remember as a pharmacist during that time, that newly pregnant moms would show up with prescriptions for prenatal vitamins and for Bendectin. I also remember when Bendectin was withdrawn from the market, because of lawsuits. I have done a literature search and am unable to find any evidence that this product actually did cause brith defects. I don't deny that babies were born with birth defects, but that happens even without the Bendectin, so it is hard to place the blame there. There is no description of the specific type of birth defect that was blamed on this drug. I also looked for birth defects caused by antihistamines and was unable to find any specific data.

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29

I took Bendectine for nine months with my son 1975 and seven months with my daughter 1978-I didnot take it on weekends so vomited all weekend long - the drug scared me but I couldn't function at work without. My son is good and has a son - my son born with an inverted breast bone that usually also has a heart defect (he had no heart defect) He just recently got Gullain Barre Syndrome (happens to one in one hundred thousand people-he was ill for a few months now back to normal) My daughter exhibits the traits of polcystic ovarian problems (cold hands and feet, cyst on her ovary that required surgery, hair loss, extreme flat chest, facial hair etc) So. . . are these normal life things or a result of my taking Bendectine?? I was so deathly sick I wouldn't have carried then to term without the drug. . .

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30

As a post script, what about ALL the drugs out now and what mothers and fathers have been on before and during pregnancy?? One of the drug components in Bendictine is in NyQuil. . .

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31

I had 4 children born from 1965 to 1972. I took benedictine with two of the four children for extreme morning sickness for 5 months, with each pregnancy. With the two sons i took Benedictine- they both are legally blind, and will never be able to drive a car because of their blindness. How can i get help proving Benedictine caused this.

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32

Hello All-
My Mom took benedictin while she was pregnant with me and my sister. I was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer at age 26. This type of cancer diagnosis is very rare for someone in their twenties. My sister had pre-cancerious polyps at age 25. I seriously think the drug is to blame. I am currently trying to do more research.

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33

I was born in 1978 and my mother took Benedictine. I was born with half a chest missing 3 ribs and my right pectoril muscle. It was not an easy childhood, was there ever any legal actions taken? I'm bout to contact Erin Brockovich!

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34

I was given Bendictine in 1981 my nausea and extreme vomiting during my pregnancy. At 18 and alone I remember asking the Dr.if this was okay for me, was it safe. His reply,I wouldn't give you anything that would hurt you I took about 4 of these pills a day cause I couldn't work without them my head was always in my trash basket by my desk throwing up. NICE! My son is a healthy 28 year old SS Marine, fought in IRAQ and now is the father of a baby girl. I will be watching her health closely. Thankyou for posting your comments. And writer #16 - My heart goes out to you -really - I had a mom like that . Your comments make me want to cry. Not a day goes by......

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35

I was on Bendictine in 1981, my son is now 27. He had no enamel on his teeth when he was little and they are marauded in color. He was diagnosed with ADD at age 14, which I never agreed with. It was the new drug to hand out to kids then. He was never hyper in the least. Very laid back in nature. He is a 6th yr university student, who does amazing at it and he is starting a full time job as of today. He is brilliant when he is on meds, which the doc's hand out like candy to him. Guessing what his problems may be. Unfortunately he has no skills at all for being on time, organized, has anger issues, seems almost like 2 different people at times. I have always wondered if this had anything to do with being on the med when I was pregnant with him. Now that I have read your letters and compare my issues, it seems we may all be onto something in common. I also have had problems with muscle pain, constant issues with diarrhea. I have a very healthy life style and family health history. Now I wonder if this is all connected to being on Benedictine, and my son's problems as well. Please keep writing and letting us keep up to date on our children's issues so we can maybe help them and see if this drug is the cause of the problems. It has to have a connection to the drug if we all have kids from the same age and time frame/ us being on the medication while pregnant.

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36

I took benedectine with my first pregnancy in 1972. I had nausea for the first three months, and then pain for the remainder of the time in my sides and stomach. I delivered her at 7 1/2 months - preemie breach - after 5 days of labor. She developed slowly and was 15 months old before she walked as her legs were bent like a frog's when she was born and her foot was turned up. It took quite a bit of exercising them to get them to be normal.
My daughter gave birth to her first child in 2002. It was a daughter and the baby was premature at 8 months. My daughter had preclempsia and ran a high fever and the baby would not come. Eventually she did (the doctor insisted this could be a regular birth, when in fact it probably shouldn't have been.) give birth, sunny-side up - The baby's face was very smushed, but she recovered from the trauma of birth and a temperature that would not go down after several days in the hospital.
In 2004, my daughter was pregnant with her son He also came at 8 months - this time, the doctor recognized the difficuty of the birth and did a c-section.
That is when they discovered my daughter had a sheath of membrane down the middle of her uterus and the babies, therefore, were only developing in half of the space! When they got too big for the space, they were pushing out. The doctor told her to be checked to see if she had her kidneys and that they were in the right place(which she did).
I immediately remembered the benedectine and difficult pregnancy I had and told her about it. Her doctor said if she didn't know better she would have thought my daughter was born back inthe 50's when all the birth defects occurred. They told her not to have any more pregnancies unless she had surgery to repair the uterus.
She is noiw 36 and going through all kinds of tests as she is having menstration issues. She went through ultrasounds and blood work today and hopefully the doctor can help her. She has had a rough time with menstration since she was a teen and I wonder now if the benedectine affected anything else.

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37

I took this drug when I carried my son in 1977 for about 6 months and my daughter in 1979 for 81/2 months.He has narcolepsy and depression and a bout with alcohol.She has severe depression and a drug problem.Mydaughter born in 1971 with no drug is fine and my son born in 83 when I was on the drug a couple of monthe and it was pulled from the market ia also fine but my heart breaks for the 2 in the middle who can't seem to have a normal life I blame the drug

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38

Has any of your kids had loss of taste and lots of bloody noses? I am wondering also if this also could be from the benedectin, I have 4 children and only took it with one who has these problems. All the others are healthy.

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39

I am sorry to hear that so many children have had birth defects, etc. that may or may not be related to their mothers taking bendictin. I myself took bendictin with all five of my pregnancies (1961, 1964, 1967, 1999, and 1972). None of the children have either birth defects or reproductive issues. My understanding is that there is no current scientific evidence to support bendictin as being the cause of birth decects. It is also commonly used ih other countries for pregnancy-related nausea.

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40

Wow, I just went through all of these and am realizing I'm quite lucky.

My mother took Benedictine in 82 when she was pregnant with me. I've had three ear surgeries (I was close to deaf), two knee surgeries (my soft tissue is completely messed up), reconstructive surgery on my stermun, I'm lactose Intollerant and have to be careful with gluten in take. I've had a lot of digestive issues aside from that. I have another sister who's older who's 100% healthy whos never had any problems or issues with her health. My mom didn't take Benedictine with her.

If anyone finds out something we can do about this problem I'd love to know.

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