Six Years of Avandia and Two Heart Attacks Later

-Lawyers and Settlements

05/30/2008- March 1st, 2007 was a day Larry remembers well because he walked into hospital while having a heart attack--his second within 24 hours. He didn’t know he was having a heart attack, and it was the last thing he expected, because he had been taking Avandia for six years, and as far as he knew did not have heart disease.

“I was expecting the classic heart attack symptoms, but I didn’t have them. I had a little pinch in my armpit and then the dry heaves,” Larry said.

But Larry did have some small warning signs to indicate something was wrong. “The day before my heart attack my wife and I walked the dogs, as we do every day,” Larry said. “But that day we were halfway through our walk when I told my wife I had to rest for about 20 minutes before continuing. When got home, I didn’t feel right, I didn’t feel normal. I felt tired, sick to my stomach, I had the dry heaves--all for no apparent reason. I thought maybe it was something I did that day. So I went to bed, thinking I would be alright in the morning. And I was, initially. I fed the dogs then the ill feeling started all over again. I didn’t know whether to go to the doctor or go to work. So I decided to go to the doctor. My wife had already left for work and I didn’t want to drive, so I called my father in-law. In emergency they told me I was having a heart attack right now. They took me upstairs immediately and put a stent in.”

Larry had two blocked arteries. “The doctors said that one of them was about 85 percent to 90 percent blocked.” Larry was 61 years old when this happened, with no family history of heart disease.

“A week later I went back to the hospital because I was really short of breath,” Larry said. “They kept me in for about three days. They thought I might have some fluid in my lungs and gave me an atomizer, but it didn’t make any difference.

The funny thing was, I saw my doctor every three months to have my blood tests done and a check-up, because I am diabetic. But nothing came up. I saw my doctor two or three days before this happened, they checked my blood sugar, and everything was fine. I’ve been a diabetic for 18 years. I started treatment with pills, then I was put on insulin--about 10 or 12 years ago, then on Avandia. Then I had two heart attacks.”

Larry found out that Avandia may have been part of the problem when he saw some information on television about other people who suffered heart attacks while on the drug. “I took myself off the drug,” he said. And he changed doctors.

Larry did a little more investigation on the Internet and saw that people were taking legal action against the manufacturers of Avandia. “If the opportunity came up I would pursue legal action. My life is not the same as it was before the heart attacks. I can’t go the gym because I get winded. We do a lot of gardening in the back yard, but I can’t use the wheelbarrow anymore -- I get pooped. And I can’t go out and walk at a good pace around the neighborhood with my dogs like I did before. I wasn’t expecting this. I would like some answers.”