Several Birth Defects Including Neural Tube Defects, Cleft Palate Defects, Cleft Lip Defects, and Spina Bifida Defects Have Been Linked to The Use of Prescribed Antidepressants and Other Medications: Pregnant Women and Women that May Get Pregnant Should Be Aware of These Potential Health Risks by Neural Tube Birth Defect Lawyer, Cleft Palate Birth Defect Lawyer, Cleft Palate Birth Defect Lawyer, and Spina Bifida Birth Defect Lawyer Jason S. Coomer

Several Birth Defects Including Neural Tube Defects, Cleft Palate Defects, Cleft Lip Defects, Heart Defects, and Spina Bifida Defects Have Been Linked to The Use of Prescribed Antidepressants and Other Medications: Pregnant Women and Women that May Get Pregnant Should Be Aware of These Potential Health Risks by Neural Tube Birth Defect Lawyer, Cleft Palate Birth Defect Lawyer, Cleft Palate Birth Defect Lawyer, and Spina Bifida Birth Defect Lawyer Jason S. Coomer

Several medications, products, and drugs have been linked to birth defects including neural tube defects, cleft palate, cleft lips, and spina bifida.  Unfortunately, through strong marketing pressure some drug companies have been continuing to push doctors to prescribe drugs that may cause severe birth defects to pregnant women and women that may become pregnant for FDA approved uses and off-label uses.  These birth defects can result in death or injury to an infant including malformation, permanent paralysis, disabilities, and severe health problems.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) May Cause Neural Tube Birth Defects, Cleft Palate Birth Defects, Cleft Lip Birth Defects, Clubbed Foot Birth Defects, Heart Birth Defects,  and Spina Bifida Birth Defects by SSRI Neural Tube Birth Defect Lawyer, Primary Pulmonary Hypertension (PPHN) Lawyer, Prozac Birth Defect Lawyer, Zoloft Birth Defect Lawyer, Zoloft Birth Defect Lawyer and Paxil Birth Defect Lawyer Jason S. Coomer

A growing body of evidence indicates that several drugs and medications, if used during pregnancy may cause serious birth defects.  These drugs include selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitor SSRI antidepressants.  Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly used as antidepressants. Drugs included in the SSRI class are Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Symbyax, Celexa, Cymbalta, Effexor and Lexapro.

These SSRI antidepressants may cause birth defects and developmental problems if taken during pregnancy.  Some potential birth defects and developmental problems include neural tube birth defects, heart defects, cleft palates, cleft lips, clubbed feet, as well as other malformations and developmental problems.  These selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs have been strongly marketed by the drug companies and are commonly used to treat depression and other disorders.  Some of the most popular SSRI antidepressants are: Paxil (paroxetine hydrochloride), Prozac (fluoxetine), Zoloft (sertraline), Lexapro (escitalopram), Celexa (citalopram), and Effexor (venlafaxine).

The Anticonvulsant Drug Topamax May Cause an Increased Risk of Birth Defects Including Cleft Lip Birth Defects and Cleft Palate Birth Defects by Topamax Birth Defect Lawyer, Topiramate Birth Defect Lawyer, Topamax Heart Defect Lawyer, Topamax Cleft Palate Lawyer, Topamax Cleft Lip Lawyer, and Antiepileptic Drug (APD) Birth Defect Lawyer 

 

Topiramate (brand name Topamax) is a anticonvulsant drug. It has been approved for the treatment of epilepsy and migraines, but has been aggressively marketed for many off-label uses including bipolar disorder, cluster headaches, eating disorders, obesity, fibromyalgia, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcoholism, sleep disorders, sleep-eating disorders, infantile spasms, autism, periventricular leukomalacia in preterm infants after an hypoxic-ischemic injury, essential tremor, bulimia nervosa, obsessive-compulsive disorder, smoking cessation, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, neuropathic pain, and cocaine dependence.  If you or a loved one have been taking Topamax during pregnancy and had a child with a birth defect, it is important to seek medical assistance.

The FDA recommends that "before starting topiramate, pregnant women and women of childbearing potential should discuss other treatment options with their health care professional. Women taking topiramate should tell their health care professional immediately if they are planning to or become pregnant. Patients taking topiramate should not stop taking it unless told to do so by their health care professional. Women who become pregnant while taking topiramate should talk to their health care professional about registering with the North American Antiepileptic Drug Pregnancy Registry, a group that collects information about outcomes in infants born to women treated with antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy."

 

The FDA has recently announced that Topiramate (brand name Topamax) causes an increased risk of development of cleft lip and/or cleft palate (oral clefts) in infants born to women treated with Topamax (topiramate) during pregnancy. If you or a loved one have been taking Topamax during pregnancy and had a child with a birth defect, it is important to seek medical assistance. 

The Anticonvulsant Drug Depakote May Cause Birth Defects Including Spina Bifida and Neural Tube Defects by Depakote Birth Defect Lawyer, Depakote Spina Bifida Lawyer, Depakote Neural Tube Defect Lawyer, and Depakote Birth Defect Lawsuit Information

The drug, Depakote, aka Depakote ER, Depakene, Depacon, Epival, Dépakine Chrono,Valance, and divalproex sodium (USAN) is a drug prescribed to treat seizures, migraine headaches, manic episodes of bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, prevention of both manic and depressive phases of bipolar disorder, epilepsy, chronic pain associated with neuropathy, and migraine headaches. Further, with the increase in pharmaceutical marketing off-label use of the drug has become more prevalent including treatment of mild depression, the depressive stage of bi-polar disorder, and chronic pain such as migraine headaches.

Depakote has been linked to major birth defects in children of women that were taking this drug.  According to a recent medical scientific study, women taking Depakote had four times the risk of delivering a child with major birth defects, compared to women taking other, similar drugs.  The range of birth defects associated with Depakote is broad, however the report specifically cited neural tube defects such as spina bifida. Neural tube defects are birth defects that affect the brain and spinal cord; spinal bifida is a defect affecting the spinal cord that causes paralysis of the legs. There is no known cure.

Women that take Depakote, Depakote ER, Depakene, Depacon, Dépakine Chrono, and other forms of divalproex sodium, while they are pregnant may be at higher risk to have children with serious birth defects including spina bifida, cleft palate, cleft lip, and malformations.  If you believe that you or someone in your family is on Depakote or Depakote ER while pregnant, please contact a doctor immediately. 

Adverse Reactions to Medications Including Birth Defects Need to Be Reported to Health Care Providers and the FDA by Texas Pharmaceutical Birth Defect Lawyer, Antidepressant Birth Defect Lawyer, and Birth Injury Lawyer Jason S. Coomer

 

Avoidable birth defects are one of the most devastating problems that can occur to a family and a new baby.  Parents who should be celebrating the birth of a new child, are often caught off guard when their child is born with severe disabilities and often  do not realize that someone may be responsible for the birth defect including drug manufacturers that hid information about medications that can cause birth defects.  The family is typically busy taking care of the child with the serious health problems and often does not know that the birth defect was preventable.  When they discover the probable cause of the preventable birth defect they are often filled with anger and rage.  It can be horrifying to find out that a child will have permanent health problems because a drug company hid research and did not provide an adequate warning of a product's safety. 

Several antidepressant drugs and other medications prescribed for off label and FDA approved uses have been linked to birth defects including neural tube defects, cleft palate, cleft lips, and spina bifida.  Unfortunately, some drug companies have been able to push doctors to prescribe drugs to pregnant women that may cause severe birth defects.  These birth defects can result in serious and permanent to a child including malformation, permanent paralysis, disabilities, and severe health problems.  It is important to communicate with your doctor to make sure that you both understand these potential health hazards.

If you have a child with a birth defect and have taken the above mentioned medications or another type of medication that may be the cause of a birth defect, it is important that the adverse health results be reported to provide information to both doctors and the FDA of adverse events that need to be prevented in the future.