Benedictine

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I took this drug in 1979 with my second child. My son was born 15 weeks premature and suffered many complications in the few months after. His lungs ruptured eight times, he had a whole in his heart and suffered bleeding to the brain. He is now 31 and is blind, suffers from cerebral palsy, mentally delayed. His blindness is due to the detachment of his optic nerve. I was told by acquaintances that his prematurity is a side effect from this drug. Is this true?

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1

I also took Benedictine in 1966 and 1971. My son was born 4 weeks premature and at 6 weeks of age was an asthmatic. At the age of 20 months he developed the Nephrotic Syndrome. This condition effects the autoimune system and he literally drowns in his own body fluid. At the age of 15 years it stopped due to mega doses of prednisone and 2 courses of the cancer drug Cytoxin which put him in remission.

My daughter born in 1971 was fine until the age of 4 then she had lots of stomach ache's and vomiting and pain in her knees. This all contnued until she was 23 and then she had her gallbladder removed. Things got better for a few months and then the pain and nausea started again and has not stopped. She is now 40 and misses out on many functions as she does not know when this will start. We have been to many doctors and no one has the answer as to what is wrong. I have 3 other children who are perfectly healthy. Through all 5 pregnancies I was sick for the first 5 months and I thought it was great when they prescribed Benedictine for the last 2.

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2

I took this medication starting after my third month of preg. I had lost 12 pounds. And couldnt stomach anything. It helped me be able to eat and keep food down. Took this medicine everyday until the beginning of my eighth month. I had healthy twins. They are healthy 30 year olds ,both doctors in the medical field. I feel fortunate to have had no issues having taken this medicine.

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3

I used this drug in 1978 while pregnant with my son. He was full term but later it was discovered he has a heart defect: only 2 cusps on his aortic valve. He is 33 now, has aortic valve regurgitation, enlarged heart and will eventually need an aortic valve replacement.

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4

I took this drug in 1981 and my child was born 4 weeks premature. She is now 30 and suffers from a rare bone disease. She had hidden complications for many years before she was diagnosed. We were unable to find the cause of her symptoms until last year.

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5

My mother took the prescription drug Benedectine while pregnant with me. I am 32 years old and my teeth have been decaying for quite a while. I just found out from the dentist I have severe dry mouth which is causing the decay and now have to get full dentures. Im just wondering if this is maybe a side effect from the prescription or if anyone else has experienced this from the drug.

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6

We have many posts from people who's mother took this medication and have suffered the consequences, or from women who took it and their children have suffered consequences. So, it certainly does not seem to be a fluke.

However, since it is such an old medication that is not longer on the market, we have no information on it and research isn't turning up much.

Beth, I found out from my dad that my mother was also on a medication, while pregnant with me and I have a very similar dental problem, unfortunately, after all this time he has no idea what the name of it was, but I suspect it was the same one, especially with my other health issues.

Are there any other comments or questions?

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7

can you refer me to pharmacological or medical journals,studies or research on the medication Benedictine.
Thank you

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8

I am a 33 year old woman, that has been through many surgerys. I have a congenital heart block and require a pacemaker at the age of 3, and now need to replace them every seven years. my mother was sick during her pregnancy, and the doctor prescribed her Benedictine now know as Vendictine. I believe this medication is the direct result of all health issues in woman who are pregnant taking this medication. Go figure this drug is OFF the market now. I wonder why? if the new one is called vendictine we need to do more research as more cildren are sick because of this drug. I would like to do something about this as more and more people step forward with their health issues as a result of this bendictine medication. If researchers cant so call "prove it" then why is it off the market? the new one is called vendictine and we need to look into this more.

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9

I am 51 years old and took the prescription drug Benedectine while pregnant in 1980. I had severe morning sickness the first 5 months of my pregnancy. At my third month of pregnancy I could not hold down any food or liquids, not even water. I lost 12 pounds the first 3 months of my pregnancy and was severely ill. My Gynocologist prescribed Benedictine and it did help me hold down some food and water. I took this drug for 3 months then the morning sickness went away. Although I only gained 16 pounds for my entire pregnancy, my daughter was born healthy and I am so fortunate to say that she has since not suffered any health issues. I can only hope that there will not be any hidden health issues that will show up in her later years.

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10

I took this drug in 1977 for morning sickenss that lasted my whole pregnancy. My son was born in 1978. A few years after he was born we found out that he has situs inversus (his organs are all switched, heart on right etc) - it's a mirror image. Also he had no cilia cells in his lungs (Kartagnas) so he was always harboring a running nose and infected ears. He is 34 now - he has difficulty breathing sometimes but leads a fairly normal life. They thought his sperm would not be able to swim so he could not father children. Sperm cells are like cilia cells. That proved to be wrong as he has fathered two children.

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11

Please have her monitor her aorta. I am a premature born child of a mom who took benedictine. I have been diagnosed with double aortic arch with vascular issues. I was always ill as a child. Ended up having rheumatic fever, kidney issues, thyroid issues, adrenal insufficency due to abnormality with anterior pituitary. I am 55.

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12

Does anyone know of a link between Multiple Sclerosis and Benedictine? Does anyone know, why it was taken off the market, or how to fine out?

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13

In 1972 I took Benedictine very early (1st two months) of my pregnancy due to severe nausea. My daughter was born with cerebral palsy. She was spastic tetraplegia or quadriplegia (meaning that her whole body, limbs, head and spine was involved). She died at 6 years old. Her 3 younger siblings were all normal and healthy (of course I didn't take benedictine with them).

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14

I took benedictine in 1973 and 1975 for severe morning sickness. Both of my kids, now 39 and 41, are healthy without any medical problems.

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15

I took Benedictine in 1977 for nausea with my youngest. She was born with multiply heart defects, Patent Ductus, VSD ASD Ebsteins Anomoly of the tricuspid valve Wolf Parkinson White and an aneurysm by the whole in the lower chamber She had surgery when she was 11. Now I hear there may be fertility problems for her. It would be nice if we could prove these came from the drug. It may be to late now tho'

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16

I tool Benedictine for all four pregnancies. My first daughter was born at 25 weeks and only lived one day
My second a daughter developed cancer at 52
My third daughter was born 5 weeks early and has struggled all her life with stomach problems. At 40 she was diagnosed with breast cancer
My fourth daughter was 3 weeks early and has chronic pain in all her joints since she was an infant

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17

Google it, there are always new posts about it. They did studies back in the mid 80s. And a few took it to court with little success. The studies were iffy at best and the pharmaceutical company took it off the market basically before more legal suits were filed. Claiming it didn't cause issues. They did determine a possible issue from sites i googled that it only caused at most, club feet. However if it were studied now days it would most likely show many issues. I took it 1971-72 for 7 months and only for about 6 weeks in 1976-77 with my second child. There is a book written available on amazon called "Benedictine & Birth Defects The Challenges Of Mass Toxic Substances". I believe it was handled in a manner that substantiated before they willingly took it off the market. Before more was determined it was causing mass birth defects as it was with companies and thalidomide birth defects. Only 2,000 out of thousands had defects and even causing depression in the mothers.

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18

I was on this drug in 1976 for my whole pregnancy with my son and he has not had any health issues. He has very high energy and has trouble calming down at times, but other than that he is fine. I feel very blessed. I never took it again for my other children.

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