Actos Patient Suffers Swelling, Weight Gain While On Medication

Elizabeth City, NCAs many people who are diabetic will say, when you are on a variety of drugs it can be difficult to determine whether you are suffering Actos side effects or side effects from a different medication. Actos has been linked to an increased risk of congestive heart failure and an increased risk of fractures. It is the increased risk of side effects that concerns patients like Jackie C. (real name withheld).

"I started taking Actos in February of 2010, along with two kinds of insulin: Lantus and Novolog," Jackie says. "My doctor put me on it mainly because I was having problems with metformin and it didn't seem to do anything for me.

"My doctor put me on the lowest dosage of Actos possible. I had no major problems with it except for over a year's time I've gained more than 10 pounds. I've had to do away with my clothing. I've also had problems with swelling. In my legs and my ankles from morning to night my leg swells by at least an inch—I've measured it so I knew for sure.

"If I'm wearing socks, I just have to lower my sock and you can see the indent in my leg from the socks. My hands swell and my face is very puffy. I've always had a puffy face, but this is much more than normal. My ankles—I say ankles, but it's really from the knee down—swell up a lot during the day.

"I've had problems with swelling before, but they weren't to this extent before I took Actos. It was just occasional swelling but nothing drastic. Now it's every single day. Sometimes in the morning, the swelling from the day before isn't completely gone.

"I discussed it with my doctor [about 10 days ago] and I was complaining about the weight gain. I'm uncomfortable. My blood sugars are great but I don't like the added weight. He agreed that I should stop taking Actos for a while and see what happens. If my blood sugars are stable then maybe I don't have to take it again.

"That night, I saw the add on television for a possible class action lawsuit.

"I haven't changed anything other than my medication and yet I've gained more than 10 pounds. Other than the weight gain, Actos worked well and worked quickly. Within two days, I noticed a considerable difference in my blood sugars. On a couple of occasions I've had shortness of breath, but I attributed that to another medication I was taking. When you're diabetic, you take so many medications it's hard to know which is causing what problem."