Heartburn Drug Linked to Parkinsons'-like Disease

[GoLeft TV]

Run time: 07:18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4o-T1YSj_k   Posted on YouTube: June 24, 2010 By YouTube Member: golefttv Views on YouTube: 1   Posted on DU: June 24, 2010 By DU Member: GoLeft TV Views on DU: 2777

 
Mike Papantonio speaks with attorney Lea Morris about the dangers associated with the prescription drug Reglan, which is having some serious adverse effects on consumers. This is just the latest in a long line of dangerous pharmaceuticals that have made it to the market thanks to an FDA that was stuffed with political hacks for 8 years during the Bush administration.

[Overseas]

1. K&R. Another dangerous pharmaceutical. //nt

[customerserviceguy]

2. Being as the patent for this drug expired in 1982

I'd have to say that neither Bush administration had anything to do with it. Sometimes, we just find side effects years later from drugs that have been generally recognized as safe.

The link between Reyes syndrome and aspirin was proven many decades after that medication was developed.

[pattmarty]

7. Let me ask ya something, are you a "customerserviceguy" for the.........

.........drug companies? Hey, I'm "just askin".

[customerserviceguy]

18. No, I work for a utility company

In a union job.

There are loads of legitimate things to blame squarely on Bush, but we detract from our message when we blame everything on him.

[Bitwit1234]

3. I took that for a while, it was prescribed instead of

Zantac which was too expensive. I have tremors in my left hand and if I could find something on when and how long I took the drug, I would contact the lawyers handing this suit.

[Tx4obama]

4. Contact your doctor's office, they should have a record of it. n/t

[ArcticFox]

10. Don't let that stop you

Contact the lawyers. Even if you don't know how to get the information, they might. Lawyers are often good at finding information.

[Historic NY]

5. I was in field trials for a number of these drugs years ago...3 months max...

was all the Dr would prescribe them for. I had reactions to some including the shakes, could barely drink a cup of coffee. I was in my 20's. Its interesting when I hear people say they have been taking some for years because of reflux. I found that 2 pieces of 2X4's stacked under the headboard of the bed worked better. I rarely take anything now, change in lifestyle, diet and stopping smoking was the best cure.

[Hissyspit]

12. Best thing I ever did for my reflux was to give up sodas, and to stop eating

so much food at one sitting. My reflux has been gone for six months. Haven't taken my Nexium or even Tums more than once in that time.

[arikara]

13. I stopped eating bread and other flour products

that got rid of my reflux. Now I can have a bit here and there but if I eat too much its back.

[sce56]

17. The head board elevation worked for me too! No more prilosec for me..

[kma3346]

6. This is very bad stuff

Seven years ago, my dad was given Reglan when he was in the hospital with complications from a stomach resection after having a cancerous polyp removed. I was with him a lot in the hospital and I noticed that each time after they gave him Reglan, he would have trouble breathing, have weird grasping motions with his hands, and strange grimaces. He was also really out of it. I told the doctor that I thought they should stop giving it to him because he was having a bad reaction to it. She poo-pooed me and said that it was perfectly safe. I insisted and she was perturbed with me but took him off of it.

He had hiccups that wouldn't stop, so they decided to give him Thorazine, which he had a terrible reaction to. I insisted that they take him off that immediately. Then they tried Phenergan for the hiccups, which he also had a bad reaction to. All three of those drugs, Reglan, Thorazine, and Phenergan, are now known to cause Tardive Dyskinesia (TD).

My dad was in the hospital for an entire month, most of the time being fed intravenously and given all kinds of drugs, most of which none of us knew the names of or what they were for. There were times when I didn't think he would make it, but then he finally started getting better and was able to go home. He's doing very well these days, but I do see some very mild symptoms of TD every now and then. I shudder to think of what would have happened to my dad if I hadn't been by his bedside, keeping an eye on him and telling the doctors to take him off those terrible drugs.

Thank God this is finally coming to light. But I feel horrible for the poor people who are suffering so much from this.

[SemperEadem]

8. your dad was so fortunate to have you at his side

sometimes it concerns me how doctors dismiss concerns of patients and/or their families
when it comes to drugs that the bigpharma pushed on them to dispense. Makes me wonder
if the doctors are getting a cut by how many units of it are sold.

[loudsue]

9. My gawd. When is it ever going to stop?

Billions of innocent people are being fed billions of pollutants every day for some corporation's bottom line profits. This is insanity!!!

[McCamy Taylor]

11. Janssen Pharmaceuticals is probably behind this. They want domperidone to replace Reglan in the US.

But the FDA keeps rejecting its requests for a U.S. patent. Note that while domperidone has its share of problems, it does not cross the blood brain barrier so people with Parkinsons can use it. However, domperidone is also used to promote lactation, a market that could be much greater than its GI market---and in this off label use it can cause heart problems and seizures in infants. The FDA is probably afraid that if it is sold in the U.S. women will start using it to make more milk.

If Janssen could get Reglan taken off the market, then the FDA would probably have to approve its patent. And people who take low cost Reglan would be forced to pay high prices for a different drug.

Any time you see a story about a 30 or 40 year old drug that someone wants to ban, it is often because some drug company does not like the cheap competitiom.


See my old journal about this trick here:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/2/14243/36440

[BeatleBoot]

14. Parkinson's Drug Levadopa Causes Dyskinesia

Parkinson's doesn't really - though it may cause some tremors (like pin rollling tremors in the hand).

With Parkinson's there is less or slowed movement or what is termed, bradykinesia. The Levadopa increases involuntary movement and needs to be adjusted downward when too much involuntary movement occurs.

This all reminds me of when Rush Limpballs was making fun of Michael J. Fox during the 2004 presidential election saying that the actor made sure he didn't take his medication so he could wiggle and shake in order get sympathy - when actually the opposite was happening.

Link:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/parkinsons-disease/DS00295/DSECTION=symptoms

[demigoddess]

15. i used metformin(generic for glucophage) a few years ago

and I was up all night for months twitching violently, unable to sleep or even sit still. Now I am twitching if I take too much Zoloft. I think it is a combination of the chemical overload and susceptibility.

[Kermitt Gribble]

16. Wow! I wonder if other acid reflux drugs have the same side effects?

I've been taking Prilosec for about 8 years...

[customerserviceguy]

19. This one and Prilosec operate differently

There are many biological functions involved in acid reflux, there are a number of ways to break it. Not every drug works the exact same for every person, and it's good to have a variety of strategies that a doctor can try to achieve the maximum result for a patient.

At some point, we'll more fully understand how various genetic combinations react to various medicines, in the future, your doctor will be able to do a DNA scan that will tell him/her exactly what to use and what not to use in treating you.