Boehringer Ingleheim Pharmaceutical Company
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Has anyone out there had contact with this drug company to find out why their inhaler, Spiriva, causes weight gain. I, along with many others, have had this happen only to get no clear answer as to why this problem continues. It is a terrible side effect that won't go away even after the drug is discontinued. Thank you, Bill.

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Hello;
In your response to the Spiriva side effects that have more or less messed with my life let me tell you of the measures that I've taken in an effort to find an answer to what this stuff has done to me.
Since I discontinued using the inhaler I have had two complete physicals that included tests, not all, but pertinent tests such as testosterone, and thyroid check, edema, heart evaluation (cardiolyte) along with all the usual things that any good physician might think of.

I can tell you this: Since high scool (50+ years ago) I've worn 32 inch pants until my run in with Spiriva 3 years ago. Within 4 weeks of using this toxin I was into 36 inch pantaloons that within 2 more weeks went to 38 inch jobs, and man did I look, and still do, like a freak! I now buy my pants at K-Mart I have trouble getting a doctor to take me serious because I'm not considered obese! I'm worse because I look like some kind of disproportioned freak. Even my daughter has asked: "Dad, what's wrong with your belly?" I'm thin all over but the midsection. Please don't ask me what it did to me; how in the hell do I know.
A woman (Shelley) responded to me on 5/2/13 (listed) who claimed she gained 6 inches on her midsection and apparenty nowhere else. Quite upset she was.
Several months ago a woman contacted me about her father who used the inhaler for two full years and gained 90 lbs, all on his midsection. I can only imagine what he looked like.
In finishing here I will tell you that over the years I've gained weight from different drugs only to lose the weight after discontinuing usage. Not so with Spiriva. I have not put on dress clothes since using the stuff and have a whole expensive wardrobe hanging in my closet that I can no longer fit into (trousers.) I have starved with no results!
Don't think that our FDA is covering us. I'm blind in my left eye from a thyroid medication that also lowered my heart rate to the point that I almost had a pacemaker installed until I stopped the stuff. Too late for my eye. That was years ago and I never sued though. That poison is still available to us, to we poor souls.
I suffered from depression after my wife died several years ago, and was put on Zoloft to treat the disorder. Within a week or two I began to develope muscle pulls throughout my body until I eventually ended up in the emergency room with a femoral hernia after walking one evening. Along the way to the hospital I turned diabetic (from the stress) and barely made it into surgery. The next morning, after surgery, the surgeon asked me: "What medication are you taking?" My response was; "Zoloft!" His stern response was: "Well, you're not going to get that here!" I didn't have to ask him why, did I? What I wanted to ask him was why the stuff was still on the market. Here it is 15 years later and that toxic substance is still availlable to the innocent. Bill

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Hi, Bill!

I have looked over your other post and response where you said the weight gain is all in the abdomen.

It's hard to say how any medication will affect anyone that uses it, so I don't want to discount the possibility.

However, the chance of it being related to edema, as I originally suggested is still a possibility. A gain in that area of your body would be due to ascites.

Or it could just be age related, perhaps hormonal fluctuations, because that can also happen in men.

Some other cause would also explain why you haven't lost the weight, even after discontinuing the Spiriva.

Learn more Spiriva details here.

Do you take any other medications? Do you have high blood pressure or any other medical condition?

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