Avandia – A Slow Killer

-LawyersandSettlements

09/30/2008- Cottage Grove, OR: Robert has lived his whole life without any serious illnesses. And until recently, he considered himself to be a pretty healthy man. Unfortunately, Avandia took that away from him, made him sick, and likely caused the need for triple by-pass surgery.

Robert was prescribed Avandia about 8 years ago, and he has been taking it faithfully since then. He had no reason to think the drug could cause serious heart problems, at least up until last year. He started to notice swelling in his legs, and shortness of breath. Over a period of about 2 months both symptoms became very serious. "I couldn't walk 10 feet, I felt so tired," he said." I thought I might have the flu, because I never get sick. Even my daughter jokes about how well I am. But I also started retaining water. I couldn't get my shoes on, I had to wear my slippers all the time. I had water on my stomach and on my back, which made sleeping very difficult, because I could never get comfortable, so I would often end up sleeping in my lounge chair. It got to the point where I couldn't even take the garbage out. I never knew you could retain water or gain weight like that."

Around that same time information on the serious health effects of Avandia were making the mainstream news. Side effects that were just what Robert was experiencing- shortness of breath, water retention, chest pains. People were suffering sudden heart attacks and congestive heart failure while they were on the drug, and many of those people did not have a history of heart disease. "I read about it in our local paper, and Readers' digest – it was well publicized," he said. "From what I read, I was concerned, it seemed like a bad drug to me."

Armed with the information he had read, and a concern for his health, especially about the water retention, Robert went to see his doctor. "In two months I had gained 35lbs," Robert said. It took them 5 days to drain it off when I was in the hospital." Robert's doctors monitored him for several months, and eventually diagnosed him with cardiomyopathy. "On August 13th I had triple bypass surgery, " Robert said."It was probably just in the nick of time, my wife said I looked as if I had jaundice just before I went in. I think I was slowly dying, I didn't realize how sick I was. I asked the cardiologist about Avandia when I was in the hospital, and he said he didn't like it because it makes you retain water.

I think the Avandia must have triggered my heart problems. It happened out of the blue. I'm only 67 years old. From all I've read about the drug, it can't be that good. There are class action suits against the company that makes it, and there's information about the problems associated with it everywhere on the internet."

Overall, Robert feels he's very lucky that the problems were caught in time. If he hadn't done his homework, he could have died.

If you or a loved one have experienced an Avandia heart attack, or Avandia stroke, Avandia congestive heart failure, Avandia cardiovascular disease or if you have lost a loved one to an Avandia death you may be entitled to compensation. Contact the Avandia attorneys of Ennis & Ennis today for a free confidential case evaluation. Our on staff nurse and lawyers are standing by to answer any questions you may have regarding Avandia's side effects, a possible Avandia class action lawsuit, or any other type of Avandia litigation.