Drugs and Medical Devices Associated with Heart Problems

DRUGS THAT HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH HEART PROBLEMS

Zelnorm

Zelnorm, a medication that was prescribed to women that were being treated for irritable bowel syndrome accompanied with constipation, as well as, patients that were under the age of 65 years old and had chronic constipation, has been attributed to the increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and worsening chest pains than patients that did not take Zelnorm.

Bextra

Bextra has been prescribed to patients that have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or painful menstrual cycles and is classified as a COX-2 selective NSAID that has been linked to have an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Ortho evra

Unlike a common form of birth control that is taken orally, Ortho Evra is a form of birth control patch that introduces and removes the hormones into and out of the blood stream a different manner exposing women to about 60 percent more estrogen which has been found to lead to an increase in the risk of blood clots, strokes, and more seriously, death.

Phen fen

Phentermine and Fenfluramine, or Phen-Fen, are two separate drugs that were combined together into one single medication used to decrease appetite and help give the feeling of increased satiety and taken by people that suffer from obesity to help effectively aid in weight loss, yet, was pulled from the market after the drugs were linked to cause primary pulmonary hypertension and valvular heart disease.

Ephedra

Ephedra(r) is a dietary supplement that is marketed as a natural product that claims to help with such things as weight loss, increased energy, and enhanced athletic performance, but has since been found to actually be the cause heart attacks, strokes, eizures, rapid and irregular heart rhythms, increased blood pressure, chest pain, psychosis, tremors, and death.

Adderall

Adderall is a prescribe medication for the treatment of attention deficit disorder, or ADD, but has also been known to cause psychological side effects, and with any misuse of the drug, can even lead to sudden death due to the onset of heart attacks and strokes.

Paxil (heart birth defects)

Paxil is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, or SSRI, type of antidepressant that has been discovered to cause birth defects when prescribe to pregnant women, and even been associated with increased suicidal tendencies in adults and children.

DEVICES THAT HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH HEART PROBLEMS

Many medical devices that were manufactured for the intent to help patients suffering from heart problems have recently been linked to more counter-productive problems in patients that have used them. Two of the nation's top manufacturers, Medtronic with its defibrillators, and Guidant with pacemakers, as well as, defibrillators, have had to recall some of the medical devices that were implanted in patients due to faultiness and malfunction.

Along with these medical devices that are being pulled from use in patients with heart problems, drug eluting stents that are placed within the coronary artery to help keep a continuous blood flow to the heart, have also been recalled due to the arterial wall damage that is done by the placement of the stent.

Medtronic models

Medtronic is the nation's leading maker of heart implant devices that are used in people who are at risk of going into cardiac arrest, and whose most recent defibrillator models have been prone to have a defect in the lead wires that connect to the defibrillator, and which carry electric impulses to the heart, causing the defibrillator to deliver unnecessary shocks or to not even operate at all.

Guidant models

Guidant Corporation who manufactures pacemakers that send electrical impulses to help accelerate a slow heart beat, and defibrillators that are small implanted devices placed in the body for the function of regulating the heartbeat in patients with a risk of heart problems, has recalled both the pacemakers and the defibrillators due to short circuiting of the devices resulting in death of some the patients using the faulty devices.

Sprint Fidelis models

The Sprint Fidelis model of defibrillators that are manufactured by Medtronic and are implanted in over 250,000 patients, have been recalled due to faulty electrodes that have been found to malfunction leading to an unnecessary electrical jolt to the heart, or for the life saving device to completely fail altogether.

Drug eluting stents

A drug eluting stent is a latticed metal scaffold placed within the coronary artery for the purpose of keeping the vessel open and aiding in the adequate flow of blood to the heart, but unfortunately, actually has an adverse effect by causing blood clots that lead to the arterial wall being damaged.