If you were taking Bextra and found out that it had been taken off the shelf, you may wonder why. Anytime medication is pulled from the market, there is usually evidence to suggest that it may do more harm than good.

About Bextra

Bextra is used to reduce pain that is associated with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, menstruation, and other medical conditions. Bextra was released in 2001 in a tablet form, available by prescription only. The main ingredient was a steroid anti-inflammatory, which works a lot like Motrin or Aleve, but in a stronger dose. With arthritis, Bextra could relieve pain in the joints for better mobility. Unlike Motrin, which is taken as needed, Bextra was prescribed as a daily dose to be taken a certain time everyday.

Risks

A pharmaceutical doctor from Penn State found a common link in those patients that took Bextra and had side effects with those who had some form of heart surgery in the past. He discovered that the cardiovascular risks of these patients were more than doubled. Although his test was the only one that was studied at the time, word soon got out and spread quickly causing the company to pull Bextra from the shelves until more information was discovered. Cardiovascular risks could be any heart related complications, such as a heart attack or stroke. With the risks more than doubled for these patients, an alternative medicine seemed more appropriate. However, since every drug acts differently in everyone, it is hard to go by one or even two situations before pulling a medication off the shelf.

Concerns

Another concern with Bextra users were the severe skin reaction that was possible. These skin reactions could sometimes be fatal. The symptoms included any kind of skin rash, swelling of the face, lips, and tongue. Other symptoms included difficulty breathing, itching, breaking out in hives, or any other skin condition noted. Patients were urged to call their doctors immediately if any of these symptoms started to appear. Other concerns over patients taking Bextra were those who had symptoms such as heartburn, unusual stomach pain or discomfort, nausea, vomiting blood, black tarry stools, yellowing of the skin and eyes, water retention, bruising or bleeding, and flu like symptoms. Patients were also urged to call their doctors if these symptoms appeared. Those who had cardiovascular risks were advised not to take this drug, especially for pain after heart surgery.

What you should do

Because Bextra left a lot of questions unanswered regarding cardiovascular risks, it was in the best interest of the consumer to take it off the market until further research could be done. This decision also left consumers wondering what their options were. First, talk to your doctor and find out if there is an alternative medicine that you can take. Also, contact a lawyer to find out what rights you have. If you have experienced any side effect from taking Bextra, be sure to mention this while talking to your lawyer. They can advise you on what to do next, if anything. Anytime a drug is pulled off the market, consumers need lawyers to advise them and fight for them if necessary. Sometimes drugs can do a lot of damage before they are pulled. In fact, it usually takes substantial evidence to pull drugs from the market. Lawyers are always on top of the latest developments in this field.