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.
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.
