"This drug made me so sick I wonder why I took it for two years, it just wasn't worth losing all that weight," says Margaret. "And after I stopped taking it, the pounds came back, fast. The only reason I stopped taking Fen-phen was because it was taken off the market; god knows what could have happened if I (and countless others) kept taking it.
"I was in good shape except for my excess weight; I certainly never had any breathing problems or any issues with my heart. I was a nursing assistant and we had mandatory physical check-ups every year and every year I had a clean bill of health. But around the end of 1997, I started feeling really bad.
I couldn't breathe and felt drawn out, exhausted all the time. And I was retaining a lot of fluid. I saw my doctor and he ordered several tests: first I had an echo-cardiogram and blood tests but nothing showed up. I continued working but felt so uncomfortable and lousy all the time. Finally I had to quit work in 2000—I was at my wit's end.
I went back to the doctor and he sent me to a specialist. This time I had the same tests as before but also a cardiac catheterization, apparently the 'gold standard' for diagnosing PPH. Sure enough, I was diagnosed with the disease.
I finally got on disability after I was diagnosed with PPH. My financial problems were bad but my health was worse and rapidly going downhill. I went to a heart specialist and he said I was in such bad shape that I may not live long enough to draw social security. He wrote a note and sent it into the social security office—I didn't have to wait.
I had to go on a low-sodium diet and a cocktail of drugs, including Lasix. I gradually started to feel better but not well enough to go back to work. Now I just stay at home.
I used to work for hospice and it was very rewarding, mentally and physically. Even though the patients were going to die, they gave me something to live for, I was helping people. Now I can't do anything, I can't even help myself, and it just isn't fair. How can a drug company put something on the market and do this much damage?
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Anyway, we both joined a class action lawsuit against Wyeth and American Home Products, the drug makers, but I was never called back because I didn't qualify at that time. But I qualify now, and I am worse than my sister. I am 11 years older than her. When I turned 52 everything started going downhill; it got to the point that I didn't care if I lived or died. I was in a wheelchair and couldn't even go outside because my legs would swell so bad. I used to work like a horse, more than 40 hours a week, and now I can't do anything, it is so depressing and it has just about ruined me financially.
I can get out now with a rolling walker but I get tired easily, usually after about 15 minutes and have to sit down. What quality of life is that? If only I had known…"