The human body is a complex machine. Many intricate details about the working of specific body components are still unknown to the best of minds in science. Technological advancements in medicine and healthcare have empowered your bodies to fight off dreadful health scares.
But the medicines prescribed by your doctor will always come with side effects. The complexity of the human body assures that a drug specific to one part of the body will affect some other part. Moreover, it is impossible for pharmaceutical companies to manufacture drugs that will work identically in two humans in any given situation.
The side effects, in most cases, get overshadowed by the benefits offered by prescription drugs. Prolonged or severe side effects that can prove fatal are there but not very common.
The most common side effects triggered by medicines involve the gastrointestinal system. Any drug can cause nausea and/or upset stomach. Skin allergies are common in the case of medicines applied to the skin.
In this article, we’ll look at some of the drugs and their severe side effects and what you can do if you have been dealing with the side effects.
Basic Types Of Side Effects
Any dosage can cause simple side effects, like allergic reactions. The level of discomfort varies from person to person. Some may complain of itching, whereas some may have fatal anaphylactic reactions.
Certain medications’ chemical properties produce negative effects by default. For example, Benadryl (technically known as diphenhydramine) is a common allergy medication that works by blocking the functioning of acetylcholine. This causes the patient to battle dry mouth and sleeplessness.
When administered in proper dosages, most medications barely result in perceptible adverse effects. Warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven), a blood thinner, typically works well without side effects. But, under specific circumstances, it can cause significant internal bleeding.
Drug interactions can result in fatal side effects. A drug interaction occurs when a drug is consumed along with other things like alcohol or nicotine. Narcotic painkillers, for example, when consumed with alcohol, can create havoc in the body and prove fatal. Another example of unfavorable mixtures is grapefruit juice consumed with blood pressure and cholesterol medicines.
Symptom And Side Effects: 2 Sides Of The Same Coin
Side effects from using certain prescription drugs are symptoms of adverse drug reactions. Clearly, then, side effects are a warning sign that the drug consumed has not been completely accepted by the body.
Proper knowledge or information about the potential adverse effect of a drug is important to not confuse side effects with symptoms. Sometimes, side effects go unrecognized by doctors.
Reasons can include:
– A decreasing amount of time doctors spend with patients.
– The fact that doctors generally receive information on the advantages of medications but less on their proposed risks;
– Denial and cognitive dissonance of the detrimental effects that drugs may have.
Can You Sue Manufacturers For The Side Effects?
Yes. You can file a lawsuit against a drug manufacturer if the consumption of the prescribed drug has caused severe adverse reactions.
Evidence is of prime importance in such cases. It can make or break your case.
Certain pieces of evidence that can come in handy while claiming compensation for adverse drug reactions are:
- Medical costs
- Prescription information
- Proof of cost related to the injuries
- Testimonies.
Drug lawsuits get filed under the following categories:
Defective Marketed Lawsuits:
Medication packaging, including pill boxes, bottles, and prescriptions, must list potential negative effects. Doctors should discuss potential adverse effects or drug interactions with patients before prescribing medication.
Consider the drug Tepezza (Teprotumumab), used to treat Thyroid Eye Disease (TED). It is an autoimmune condition characterized by muscle inflammation in the eye.
Although its efficacy for treating TED has been high, it has been associated with severe side effects in a lot of patients. Recent scientific studies have connected Tepezza to the possibility of long-term hearing loss or tinnitus and many other hearing problems like:
- Sensorineural hearing loss
- Patulous Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
- Increased sensitivity to sound
- A constant sensation of ears being plugged
Lawyers from Tor Hoerman Law, LLC, have been helping people take legal action through the Tepezza Hearing Loss Lawsuit. The lawsuit is against Horizon Therapeutics, which has failed to inform patients of the possible side effect of hearing loss associated with the drug.
The patients who had been prescribed the drug soon after the FDA approved the medical use of Tepezza started complaining about persistent hearing issues. Studies were conducted soon after the uproar.
Most of them found that Horizon had significantly underestimated the likelihood of hearing damage connected with Tepezza. The company also gravely misrepresented how severe the damage might be.
Defective Manufacturing Lawsuits:
These legal actions contend that adverse effects were brought on by manufacturing process flaws or contamination as a result of manufacturing conditions. For instance, it’s possible that a manufacturing error led to the drug’s contamination, which in turn led to the side effects.
Defective Design Lawsuits:
You could file this claim if the drug’s inherent formula was flawed, making the medication dangerous for you. If you or anyone whom you know has been a victim of severe drug side effect(s), encourage them to file a claim.
Conclusion
The agony of physical pain cannot be compensated. The most you can do is use the product with the proper know-how and only after it has been prescribed. Be cautious to recognize any warning indications and act on them without wasting time.
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