Novartis symptoms and conditions

My 1 year old son got into my box of chocolate Ex-Lax and ate about 3 or 4 pieces. Called Poison Control and they didn't have any suggestions except to keep him hydrated. I put him to bed that night, he was still in a diaper, and he had a bowel movement during the night. In the morning his butt had huge blisters where his stool had laid. The senna in the Ex-Lax caused severe chemical burns. He had to be admitted to the burn center at Akron Children's hospital. Most people aren't aware of how dangerous this product is because adults wipe after using the bathroom, but imagine what this chemical in Ex-Lax is doing to the inside of your stomach, intestines, and colon. I would like to make people aware of the seriousness of this drug, especially parents whose kids, like mine, will eat anything chocolate. I always assumed Ex-Lax was so safe, as they even claim on their box and that it would just cause you to use the bathroom without harm(as obviously even the Poison Control Center doesn't know the dangers), but Ex-Lax is very dangerous!

In 1999, Ex-Lax company changed the main ingredient to senna because the old main ingredient caused cancer. Ex-Lax and other senna-containing product companies don't want people to know about this. It's not even labeled on their box or website! They definitely know about it because I have called the Novartis Company and they have also had many other similar incidences. Please pass on.

V. Donaldson

49 years old. I took diovan 80mg for about 2 years. Never thought to associate dry eyes and throat, low back and muscle aches, and weight gain to this drug. I lost 10# by doing 1 hour of fast walking and 30 minutes of weights 3x week and my b/p went to 110/70, so I stopped the drug to see what would happen. In 2 days my head was aching and my b/p was 170/102!! Beware of rebound, which Novartis does not list in its warning section. Back on the diovan to prevent a stroke, but I will talk to my doctor about a low dose beta blocker, and will keep exercising and eating light, with the goal to get off all meds with a healthy lifestyle. Does anyone else ever feel fullness in the throat? that is another weird symptom I get sometimes.

I just started taking Diovan (one dose) after taking another blood pressure medication which had horrible side effects. I feel fine, except for extremely painful soles of my feet. In fact it's so painful, I can't stand or walk on them. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but after reading all of the posts, I now know. It was my first and last dosage of Diovan, Thank you.

After approximately six months of Vivelle-Dot - .05 mg experienced increasingly severe back, calf, ankle and foot pain to the point where I could barely walk or stand. Vivelle-Dot only medication.
• Numerous orthopedic appointments for back and feet;
• X-rays;
• MRIs
• Treated for Achilles tendinitis;
• wore light boot at night for several weeks;
• wore lydocaine patches;
• wore heavy boot during the day for six weeks;
• Physical Therapy;
• PAIN, pain and more pain

Researched Vivelle-Dot on internet. GYN suggested going off patch for a month. Stopped using Novartis VIVELLE-DOT (.05 mg) patches (Estradiol transdermal system) May 11, 2008. All symptoms related to my legs vanished within several days.

Good God! What does all of this mean?! Is ANYBODY paying any attention to this, or do we all need to get together and petition the FDA?

Just the fact that presumably all of these folk writing in were in enough pain and turmoil to seek answers through the internet speaks volumes, doesn't it?

Anyhow, let me add my two cents' worth: I'm living in Greece so taking a European version of synthetic T4 (called, creatively enough, "T4"!) (Novartis is the manufacturer) and I'm finally so screwed up and concerned that I'm looking here there and everywhere else for answers. I was a pretty damned healthy 40-ish woman and suddenly I feel, as so many others have said, 100 years old ...

FYI, I'm on the lowest dose available, i.e. 50 mg/day. In the beginning I felt better because my periodic feelings of extreme fatigue went away, but the heart problems are making me a nervous, frightened wreck! I begin to prefer just plain ol' Hashimoto's thyroiditis with a slow dip toward hypothyroidism rather than this nonsense. At least then I didn't feel like I was on death's door!

The mail from the woman who woke up with pounding, racing heart struck me the most, as it's the pulsating and skipped beats and the rest that are driving me to distraction. I've worn a holter monitor for 24 hours and discovered that I "only" now have tachycardia, but suddenly I'm on TWO meds for the rest of my life (when I was never on any previously, short of a tylenol for an occasional headache ... quite a change, and not a very welcome one!) one for HEART problems! AND I'm still relatively young AND I now officially feel like s**t?!

Amazing, all of this. Drug companies pleasing their stockholders while a huge number of us go slowly crazy?

Would appreciate it if people who've succesfully gone off synthetic T4 would write and tell me their stories, particularly their experience with the Armour alternative (not that I know if it's available over here, but at this point, I'd happily fly over to the States a couple times a year to get it if it would end this misery!!)

Thanks to all and COURAGE!