Bendectin And Birth Defects (Page 25)

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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My daughter was born with floating ribs.....the CONNECTIVE TISSUES later seemed to "bind" them but she is always conscious of rib cage being abnormally high up. Interestingly, I was diagnosed with lupus when I was 50 . The connective tissues and nerve pain are very hard to cope with. A few years ago, my daughter started developing SAME symptoms and I had never told her about mine or the lupus. I continually think about the drug Bendictine and what it perhaps has done to us. Perhaps we will never know.

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II ALSO TOOK THIS DRUG IN 1979 WHEN I WAS PREGNANT WITH MY FIRST DAUGHTER. SHE NOW HAS SO MANY FEMALE PROBLEMS. ULTIMATELY SHE HAD TO HAVE HER UTERUS REMOVED. I WAS TOLD IT WAS CAUSED BY THE DRUG. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THERE IS ANY KIND OF LEGAL ACTION I CAN TAKE. THANK YOU.

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I'm curious who told you it was due to the drug. My daughter was also born in 1979 and she has had hormonal issues all her life.

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No one "told" me but I do remember being at Shands Teaching Hospital ?/1974 with baby (born 5/13/74) and hearing on the radio that the first legal suit re Bendictine was taking place in Orlando. Months later when I could really think about it, I tried research as best I could, asking pharmacists and a couple of doctors and they said they never even heard of the drug! (no computers then) I started research again in 1999? when I heard that an acquaintance's daughter the same age as mine had same medical challenges as my daughter and both of us as mothers! I still encountered a wall of silence. Also, I would like to state that I was so sick that the dr was doing his best to help me with my pregnancy.

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None of the legal suits against bendictine were ever settled in favor of the plaintiffs. The body of scientific research (and it's been studied in many ways) does not demonstrate any association with untoward outcomes. The American College of Gynecology/Obstetrics and the Candadian counter part both support the use of bendictine as a safe and effective treatment for nausea/vomiting in pregnancy.

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I can't remember whether I already posted this, but in 1978 I was four months pregnant and the nausea was horrendous. I didn't want to take anything but the doctor pointed out that throwing up while I was driving to work wasn't very safe. So I started bendectine. At the end of the month my womb had swollen so much that I looked like I was 8 months pregnant. Long story short, the baby died in utero of heart failure. His head had filled with fluid and that's why I was so large.

it didn't occur to us that bendectine was suspect (we did not question modern medicine at that time) so a year later I took bendectine again when I was nauseous. This time I gave birth to a healthy baby, but as I said she has had serious hormonal issues, one of her children is on the spectrum and all of her children have had mysterious health issues.

I know they are still prescribing bendectin -- I'm not convinced that any serious study has been done about it.

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I'm sorry for the troubles your family has suffered, but there has been A LOT of research into the safety of bendectine. If you think about the mechanism postulated that the medication causes harm to the fetus then how would it cause harm to future generations (your daughter's children, for instance) when they're not taking it?

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I would like to think that bendectin is innocuous, but the truth is that no drug is innocuous. I would be interested to know details about the research that has been done into bendectin. If a drug interferes with a person's ability to absorb nutrients, that could affect the next generation

As long as doctors are depending on drugs to deal with nausea, there will be no research into less invasive (as in dietary) approaches. But in reality there is no money in a dietary approach.

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I have often thought about the nutrient in those few months of Benedictine inj. The only thing I could keep down was Chinese clear broth. My daughter and husband have two daughters, one with ADHD and one that is autistic. We do not think about the past and are dealing with their future. Both granddaughters are healthy and sweet.

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My doctor at the time (and I've heard this in other places) told me that nausea was a good sign -- it meant my hormones were working. At the time I accepted it but now I think that is ridiculous. if I wasn't being nourished then neither was my baby.

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Of course there's no denying that all medications/drugs may have some side effects. This is true of herbals, "nutrients", and foods, too. And there's pleny of research that's been done on diet and hyper-emesis (for example see Epidemiology Nov 1998 "Saturated Fat Intake and the Risk of Severe Hyperemesis Gravidarum") so your comment that no research will be done so long as doctors depend on medications has no basis in reality. Typical recommendations for management of n/v include things like diet modification, timing of meals, and herbals like ginger (see ACOG position statement from 2009) And there's loads of research demonstrating the safety of the medications contained in bendectine. A Medline search will reveal dozens of peer reviewed studies and meta analysis done in a myriad of ways that failed to demonstrate harmful outcomes. It's important to recognize the difference between anecdote (my child was born with some problem - deformity, autisim, heart problem, etc - and I took bendictine, so it must have been the bendictine) and research (hundreds or thousands of births studied, half exposed to the medication, half not, no difference in the rate defects, heart disease, autism, etc).

As for the suggestion that "nutrient deficiencies" occurring during the pregnancy that will subsequently harm the grandchildren, please direct me to that placebo controlled, peer reviewed study. I don't believe it exists.

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Just because a dr recommends a med and says we should take it, doesn't mean it is safe. All the drs know is what they are told by the pharmaceutical companies and other patients. I also took Bendectin with my first two pregnancies. I stopped it after a few month with the second pregnancy due to the extreme fatigue it caused. The dr or pharmacist never mentioned the fatigue or any other side effects, my husband read it in the PDR. Both children were born and remain normal and healthly, they are in their early 40's and have healthy children of their own.

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Unfortunately, we still don't know enough about *Microchimerism*. If cells do in fact pass back and forth across the placenta between a pregnant mother (9 months is plenty of time for more than perhaps just a few cell-swaps. Just think of the alterations that occur with Chinese Whispers in just a matter of a few moments!) and her baby, and these cells are altered in some way, and perhaps altered during each and every subsequent transition across the placenta, then myriad pernicious mutations in these cells may be quite possible with some (not necessarily all, but just some!) pregnancies. People have different tolerance levels to many things. If peanuts can kill some people yet not seemingly affect others in the least bit then surely we must not entirely discount the possibility that something in Bendectin on its own, or in concert with something else (even something quite innocuous on its own), can cause malformations. We've known for a long time now that peanuts do in fact kill some folk, and although warnings are printed on packets of food that the contents of the packet *may* contain some amount (even just a slight trace) of peanuts, peanuts are still marketed and sold worldwide, as is Bendectin and many other medications, which may affect some people to varying degrees but not so others to any noticeable degree.

In 1996, Diana Bianchi, a geneticist at Tufts Medical Center, found male fetal cells in a mother's blood 27 years after she had given birth. Evidence is building that those fetal cells aren't just lounging around in Mom; in fact they might be active participants in a mother's health. But as research in this new field accumulates, so too do the perplexing contradictions about these rare alien elements. As I've already said, we still don't know enough about *Microchimerism*.

Even should it ever be proven and accepted by everyone that Bendectin/Denedox/Diclectin entirely on its own, didn't, and can't, cause malformations in any fetus, there's still a chance that one day it will be proven that Bendectin shouldn't be taken with some other substance[s]. Grapefruit should never be taken with some drugs. Bendectin may be good for pregnant Moms who are nauseous but the jury's still out as to whether Bendectin is in fact good for *every* single fetus. For all anyone knows, when these microchimeric cell transitions take place across the placenta, the fetus may be trying to signal the mother to stop taking certain things, like Bendectin for example, and instead, strongly signal to the mother that she should start taking other substances, like parsley for example (which is what my dear ol' Mum's 'craving' was). If not from her forming fetus, then from exactly where does each and every pregnant woman with a 'craving' get the signal that she should start consuming [with great gusto] certain 'things' that she normally wouldn't touch with a bar_ge'statory pole? ;^)

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The doctor who initially gave the drug to my mother when pregnant with me was the one that told me all my health isuues very well maybe from this drug and to do more research. Alot of the material i had once read in 2003 is now nolonger available for some reason but i did read one that said there was a massive legal suit in the state because of high doses given that it actually caused physical deformities in the children

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There were lots of legal cases and none found in favor of the plaintiffs. The research shows no association with deformities: deformities occur as frequently for mothers who did not take the drug as the do for mothers who did take the drug. Hope that helps.

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kirsty, Was your mother given high doses ? You would need copies of her medical records for proof. If the dr could have still been sued for prescribing the drug, you can bet he would have kept his mouth shut. If the research was legit, you can go to a medical library or you can try the library in your town. Hard copies don't disappear they way things can on the internet.

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No she didnt receive the high doses we are not from america that was just in the article i had come across years ago. I dont have physical deformities just internal mismatches ( i have malformations internally ) which causes health issues. Im not out to sue anyone.they are my issues and i deal with them.i am the only one she was perscribed the drug with out of 3 children and i am the only one with issues. Its not her fault and at no point do i blame my mum, it happens, i have been looking for a link to my health problems and this drug seems to fit according to my family dr. Apart from being 35 im happily married have 3 children of my own and work 2 jobs, im just thankful that my employers are so understanding when i have to take 3 months off at a time when i have surgery

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my wife took bendectin for 4 children between 1963 and 1978. youngest son born with lobar holoprosencephaly quadiplegic incontinent. daughter died age 48 cancer cervix son died 47 unknown heart condition. in depth chomasone scan ruled out any genetic problem with youngest son. the version of bendectin taken dicyclomine doxylamine vitamin b6. animal lab diagnostics resulted in internal malformations external malformations cancer and heart defects.

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i also took bendictine in 1978,my son was born with one testicle,had very bad nerve trouble,was intelligent but couldnt grasp simple comprehension of things,was so troubled and always felt out of place,i lost him in 2000 in a traffic accident,our lives will never be the same.

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Check out bendectin.com for an excellent summary of the research history, litigation, history, and current scientific standing on bendictin.

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