Case Evaluation

Meridia: Meridia Side Effects

Meridia Side Effects

Potentially fatal and serious Meridia side effects have been associated with these weight loss pills. Abbott Laboratories’ patient information warns Meridia patients of primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), which has no known cause but is a rare and sometimes fatal disease. PPH causes high blood pressure in the lungs that leads to a feeling of constant breathlessness with minimal exertion, fatigue, dizzy spells, fainting, and chest pain, and there is no known cause of PPH. Instances of PPH are still surfacing despite the 1997 ban of fen phen due to the latency period between the weight loss pill intake and disease symptoms.

Another potential Meridia side effect can include, cardiac valve dysfunction, or heart valve disease. Heart valve disease causes the valves in the heart to allow blood flow backwards through them.

Typically, the most common Meridia weight loss pill adverse effects include:

  • headache
  • dry mouth
  • anorexia
  • constipation
  • insomnia.

More side effects include:

  • Stroke
  • Seizures
  • Increase in blood pressure
  • Heart disease
  • Increase in heart rate
  • Mental impairments
  • Increased sweating

The adverse side effects that are being linked to the use of Meridia are serious and life threatening. There have been 29 U.S. Meridia causing deaths and hundreds of serious Meridia side effects. The director of Public Citizen, Sidney Wolfe, says FDA documents link Meridia weight loss pill to almost 400 serious and bad reactions from February 1998- September 2001. Public Citizen is the consumer advocacy group that filed the petition asking the FDA to immediately ban Meridia.

The use of Meridia is widespread, sold in 70 countries and has been used by 8.5 million people worldwide. Abbott Laboratories, the manufacturer of sibutramine, marketed as Meridia, has admitted that at least 32 Meridia patients have died while taking the diet drug. Italy was the first country to act on the adverse sibutramine side effects after two cardiovascular deaths and 50 reports of health related problems were made. The suspension in the sale of sibutramine led to a Europe wide safety review of the diet drug. In Britain two deaths were attributed to the use of sibutramine and 103 total serious adverse Meridia side effect reports were made in France and in Great Britain.

Last December it was published in Britain’s Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin that is published by the Consumers’ Association warning of the limited benefits Meridia can provide along with unwanted side effects that can endanger lives by raising heart rates and blood pressure. Any patients with existing coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, or high blood pressure should not take sibutramine because they have a high risk of developing further complications that could endanger their lives. As of the very end of March, Health Canada began an investigation of Meridia because of the 28 adverse Meridia side effects reported.

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