Bendectin And Birth Defects (Page 20)

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 also took Bendictine during my entire pregnancy in 1978. I was so thankful for it since I couldn't keep anything down and suffered with nausea for 8 months. My daughter is perfectly normal and has since had 2 beautiful, perfect children of her own. I feel badly for all the people posting on this site, but I have to wonder if Bendictine is the cause of all these problems.

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That's good news Linda and hopefully all concerned continue to have a happy and healthy life.

I don't think that Bendectin or its cousins[Debendox/Diclectin] would be the cause of "all" the problems cited but by the same token I don't think these antiemetics are altogether innocuous either. As emtridoc correctly iterates, it's not yet been proven that Bendectin is teratogenic to any degree, but that goes for many suspect things[including humans*] still yet to be found out, and of course there's many things presently in use that are not yet even suspected as being detrimental to mankind, but it's just a matter of time before myriad they too will be put under the microscope.

Given that the drug constituting Bendectin was sold under very different names around the world, we don't know whether the drug manufacturers -- especially after having been given a licence to market the drug -- deliberately altered certain batches of the drug along the way to see if they could improve its effect and then surreptitiously interpret what might result from having done so, if only to benefit financially where sales of it were concerned. It's well-known that medical scientists have more than once used mankind as their guinea pigs, and this guinea pigging has not always only been carried out in third world countries, and I cite The Tuskegee[Alabama] Syphilis Experiment as being a prime example where 600 Americans were not told that they had syphilis, and they weren't treated for it either, only studied and demonstrably deceived. Many of them died, leaving wives who'd contracted the disease and children born with congenital syphilis. The U.S. Public Health Service conducted this veritably deplorable clinical study from 1932 to 1972 and it only stopped because of a leak to the press of what was going on. Maybe the medical scientists involved had impudent intention of conducting this horrendous clinical study in perpetuity. 1972 is not that long ago. It's only 6 years before your acquaintance with Bendectin, and I can well remember what was going on in my life back then. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is cited as "arguably the most infamous biomedical research study in U.S. history."

It's said that life begins at 40, and never forgetting for a moment the extent of the known suffering endured by these Tuskegee folk, how many lives were lost, totally unnecessarily, in those 40 years between 1932-1972?

I wonder which part of the Hippocratic Oath those persons said to be physicians* who were involved with the Tuskegee Syphilis Study weren't able to fathom and abide by.

We live in hope...and harm.

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I wonder to how many generations will be affected. We have been through so much due to the that drug. My oldest daughter is flat footed and all of her children are flat footed too. She couldn't walk good as because she was so flat footed, knock kneed, and pidgon toed, she kept stepping on her own toes. She wore Forest Gump braces during the day and at night for three years. Even had to sleep in her shoes. She's suffered from 5 miscarriages, and it was hard on us all too. She probably had other things that are caused from this that before I discovered the many birth defects of a vast amount of people online I didn't realize was from Bendectin. I suspected it but deep inside I didn't want to face it. Even when I was taking it had a fear that it would cause something, after seeing as a child all the babies that suffered from Thalidomide and how the doctors claimed it was safe. I even recall as soon as I woke up after she was born I asked the doctor and nun if she had all her fingers and toes. I took the medication nearly the entire time I was preg. He assured me it was safe. Now I too wonder how long this will go on with my children and how many generations it will effect. I am an only child of an only child and my generation is one of few and now this plagues it and us. My dear Lord do they not realize how much it pains me to see what my decision not to puke did to them. I was dehydrated and desperate to survive to carry my baby full term, is why I did take it. I am so guilt ridden from it and the depression from it hurts so bad. I am so sorry for them. And there is nothing I can do to change it.

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With my second child I took it only a few weeks, only one of her children are flat footed. She had no miscarriages, and she walked early and has not difficulties with her feet or legs as my other daughter did. I consider us fortunate and lucky that the defects were not as bad as some. May God bless all the children and families that has suffered from this drug.

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Linda Terrell, stop beating yourself up and let go of your guilt. There is no scientific evidence linking bendictin to the birth defects you mention (nor any of the myriad of other defects/effects people have listed.) I won't go through all the evidence, but if you have time to read the many posts they are here. However one of the studies I listed did note specifically that the rate of complications from dehydration went up after bendictin was pulled from the market, though the rate of birth defects did not. So you did precisely what you needed to do since dehydration IS known to cause complications and you wanted to give your babies their best chance. I hope you can find some peace.

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Linda Terrell, I wholeheartedly concur with emtridoc that you should not blame yourself in any way whatsoever. I was born with deformities and my mother took Debendox, which is the same antiemetic drug as Bendectin and Diclectin. My dear mother has passed way now, but I have never blamed her for my deformities, and I won't ever, even should it be proved conclusively that Debendox and its cousins are teratogenic. My mother was very ill during her pregnancy and had she not taken Debendox then for all I know[which per se isn't much to write home about as I do at least understand the "Dunning-Kruger effect" Wiki] she and I may not have survived the horrible ordeal she had to contend with. She also had my three older brothers to care for as well. I have had very nauseous bouts in my life, and then some, but then I, as a mere male, only had myself to worry about and not the added concern[s] of having a baby[s] in the womb. Although I sometimes think that I'd rather not have them, my deformities are my lot in this wonderful thing we call life, and it's my belief that I was meant to have them even if I never come to understand the reason behind it all.

Charles Darwin is often slightly misquoted in that the folk who misquote him forget to include the very important word "does", for without it, the quote "does" have entirely different meaning. Charles Darwin said:

"Ignorance more often begets confidence than does knowledge."

If anything Linda, notwithstanding the fact that there's much to be said about myriad things, you are to be condignly commended for taking the time to post your concerns in respect of your daughters and their children, and your doing this is thought both a very caring and honourable act indeed. They are very fortunate to have you there in their lives.

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Thanks, I realize that as sick as I was for so long that I could have lost by baby from the complications. I was discussing that with my grandson. He helped me realize too that I was beating my self up. So thanks so much for your kind words and encouragement. I will now try to cope with it in a different way than guilt. Maybe I need to find this on the internet to actually begin to cope with it, and face it to move forward, without the horrible blame I've dealt myself all these years.

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Emtrodic, thanks to you also. I probably did the best I could do at the time. I can see now that I could have tried harder to have eaten better and more regularly. My daughter was extremely sick with her first child too, and was in the hospital, and when she got out every morning she ate a chocolate bar as soon as she woke up to coat her stomach. She was wiser than I in many ways, and kept from taking the medication. I grew up in the age that a pill would do what ignorance couldn't. Event today people eat foods that are wrong then expect the doctor to fix the obesity etc. I was young, had a moderately educated mother that I got advise from. I am thankful for my wisdom in this matter for the ability to advise my children what not to do when it came to morning sickness, and they suffered less than I. I am glad I discovered this and seen the others like you all that have had to be victims of Bendectin too. Just knowing we are not all alone with our battle, that others encountered problems from it to is a great blessing that we may share together. At least we have that. Thanks.

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hi, i also took bendectin during my entire pregnancy with my first son.(i have 3 sons but he was the only one that i needed to take the medications with) i noticed that he didnt seem to understand things as well as he should and sure enough, when he went into 3rd grade the teacher said he had a problem with comprehension so we had him tutored that summer which i think helped some. he had a hard time in school all the way through but we had him go to a community college after high school which really helped
him to prepare for college. he also always had terrible
self esteem. however, he now does very well, has a great job as a mechanical engineer. he was alway very good mechanically.like your son, he is good looking but has low confidence and has never had a serious girlfriend.
he is now 38 years old. wish i had never taken that medication!

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Joyce, Henry David Thoreau may very well have been thinking about men like your son when he penned these very famous and wonderful lines over 150 years ago:
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

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Joyce, I related my daughters physical problems with her legs to the medication of bendectin, but I didn't relate her school problems till now. My daughter has an IQ of over 110, which is pretty average. But she had so much trouble in school in the first grades. She passed each year and I know she's smart too, but strange that you mention it she is a fast learner in electronics. Everything with electronics comes so easy for her, as does my other daughter but not as much as my oldest, which is the one I took the medication with more than the second child. They both are smart, but did have trouble in school. I've cried and cried, over taking the medication. And I hate to think of exactly how many people are suffering from that medication, and some that may not even realize what caused it as I did for so long. I think always deep down in I did realize it, but blamed it on other things cause I was in denial. I think that when the law suit came up years ago, they all realized it did in fact cause problems with those that took it and their children, but I think the judge ruled as he did because had he not it could have bankrupt the pharmisutical company that produced it. It would have put hundreds of people out of work if it went belly up over a law suit on bendectin. There is now way not that it can be remedied, but deep down in well all know what really happened, and how we were brushed under the rug so to speak when they ruled that it didn't cause birth defects. There is a Facebook site that is called;
'Victims of Bendectin & Debendox',
I hope you all will visit it, there are photos of some victims on it too.

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I took the drug bendectine also. Both my children now 30 and 32 have high blood pressure. Another side effect? I want to talk to an attorney. I like the idea of a class action lawsuit. I was reading that in 1962 the FDA knew Bendectine was dangerous. My kids were born in 1980. What was the physician thinking? We need to unite. Solidify our information. Gather. Consult. Make a plan. Get our children compensation. How do we do it. Is anyone out there an attorney? What do we do? It is so sad to read about the children who are now grown up with so many problems.

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I am so unhappy that this happened to you as I am for myself as well. I took benedictine all 9 months of my pregnancy in 78 from probably 8wks of pregnancy onward. When my child was born by Cesarean they asked me what drugs I was taking. I told them benou still taking that?bedictine and vitamins. They looked surprised and said are y ou still taking that. I said yes I never stopped being sick, whats wrong. They said oh nothing you just might have a sleepy baby for a few weeks. Well no, but at 1 or 2 I realized while changing her diaper she had a sealed labia. It was not finally resolved until she was 8 with surgery. She was diagnosed with a processing problem at school in third grade and has mild dyslexia. Now at 34 she was just diagnosed with spinal arteriovenus malformation they think, but they know it is congential because of the way it is infuse within her spine and artery and veins and is already started to comprise her right leg nerve sensation and because they don't know it it radiates out of her spinal cord or not they are sure 95% that at some point she will experience some form of lower body paralysis if not full paralysis. I feel so bad and so responsible for trusting my life and my childs's at 23 years old. If this had happened and I had never taken any thing it would be better, but I did. Now I had fibromyalgia, ICS and a whole list of muskelo skeltal issues and she has 4 kids ranging 13,8,7,and 2, with very little help. She is a STNA and Vet Tech student we run a small dog business. This will be our greatest challange, but with Jehovah's help will will see this through and he will someday put an end to greedy big businesses once and all.

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Oh my goodness, I really didn't know this. I really didnot know. It just came up into my brain when my daughter came home a few days ago and said she had a congenital defect, a light bulb went off and everything she suffered thru the years in school and with her genitals came back to hit me full force . I really didn't know there is a facebook page lawsuits, I always felt deep inside responsible but know I am crushed.

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I've posted here before. I took this drug in 1977 when I was pregant with my son. He was born in 1978. He was born with situs inversus (all his organs are backwards like looking in a mirror - heart on right etc.) AND he has kartagnas syndrome which means he has no cilia cells in his lungs. He's 34 and has difficulty breathing asthma etc. They said when he became 40 he would need a lung transplant. If there is a class action suit I want in. I can be reached via email at {edited for privacy}. Thanks and good luck everyone.

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I agree that there should still be a class action suit. But there was on in about 1981. I don't have the links but you all can research in through "Google". It is not fair for all of us to go through this as victims of such a drug with no compensation. Not to mention the huge amount of compensation the children of such circumstances involve. I did while I was searching the internet that one doctor did relate it to being (club footed) with the rounded toes and legs slightly bent. The problem we are all having is finding out if other research could be done to determine since 1980 what side effects it caused. But as far as I can see from searching much talking to attornies ect. There is nothing to be done, unless someone has proof through lots of studies that it does show side effects. There cannot be (from what the attorney said) another class action because there was already one. It appears they swept it under the rug long before people realized what was happening. I blamed my husband for it because he did a few drugs when he was over seas in the service. And in reality I finally came to the facts that it had nothing to do with him it was me and my benedictin. Being on this site and the Facebook site I realize by reading every other victims story ..... I too have been one without even realizing it and my kids have suffered too. If only (one) attorney would take an interest in it. Or one group of scientific studies that linked to it would take it and run with it, maybe then we all would have the proof we need to compare it to each of our own circumstances, defects, ect. I sincerely pray that there is justice for us all in this. If only that Pharisaical company realized what it was like to wake up and realize that because you trusted them and a doctor your child is deformed, and a victim. Only because you didn't want to loose them because of dehydration through pregnancy. But most companies are greedy and would not own up to it themselves. Unless they do our chances are slim. God help us all!

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Linda Terrell, you have hit on the key point: research has been done, and pretty much every study done in every kind of way has demonstrated no link to the medication bendictin and the myriad of complications and diseases listed here. The fact that virtually everything under the sun (abnormal limbs, heart defects, depression, antisocial behavior, vision problems, developmental delay, ADHD, polydactyly and on and on), many without any developmental/embryolic connection should point to the fact that there is no pattern. Underlying causes may some day be found for some of these problems, but the fact is that most occur at the same rate (or even higher) today long after bendictin was taken off the market as they did in the days when it was widely prescribed. What studies did show is that in the period after bendictin was pulled from the market is that pregnancy related dehydration rates and hospitilization increased. Don't blame yourself for taking bendictin and any unfortunate outcome because no link has been demonstrated (and don't blame your husband, either, because it doesn't help and it's highly unlikely that drugs he took in the past had anything to with it, either).

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My son has same issues as yours, also OCD and weightprob. I took Benedictine for 4 months in 1983. I thought his problems genetic until I read this forum......still unsure as mental illness is in our families......son is now getting treatment for OCD which has to do with anxiety.

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If you are on Facebook there is quit a bit of information on it. I don't think other then chatting on this site the send out any info. You can Google Benedictin or look on the facebook site and it has quit a bit of informing info. I took it the entire pregnancy with my first and only a few weeks with my second.

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emtridoc; they didn't have lengthy studies on the mental effects, they did have studies that did prove that it caused club feet, which is partly what my oldest daughter has. I read one of the cases in detail that I discovered through a Google search. A woman one a case because her child was clubfooted. But it stated that no other lengthy studies were done. The doctor in the case was put on the stand and he said 'YES' it did cause club feet. So she won, but it was imediately took off the market and thus they bailed before others became aware that they could get money through suffering. The class action was a farce, they did little studies and tossed it out, and the pharmacy took it off the market. To me by them taking it off the market is enough to say (they was afraid of paying further cases and stopped producing it for that reason, and not other. For if it had been studied in detail they might have linked it to other things, and had to have maid out millions in claims. Pretty obvious to me. And because it was not studied they have no way of knowing what will show up in the future generations of these children. That would cost more than an arm a leg for them to pay for many generations of problems if in fact it was proven. But they stopped that and any possible future claims. I do blame my self at times, and I'm sure what their dad did with drugs during his enlistment was a bad choice for sure. There is no proof of that either. The longer the time goes on without studies the less chance people will find out if it was or not.

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