Phen-Fen Diet Please Help

Hi I know there is a lady on this site is part of the Phen-Fen lawsuit, I just need a little help and info. Today I went to see a Respiratory Specialist a test ordered by Dr. M, he comes into the room and said my tests were great they were at a 120 whatever that means, then he proceeds to tap on my back and chest then listens with that stethoscope thing, he then stops asks me to lie down starts listening again, then he casually asks if I have ever used diet pills, I say yes I used phen-fen about 10 yrs ago, all of a sudden he starts taking about my breathing problems are probably related to some heart thing raising above normal levels to my lungs, I am only 29 pretty active and never had any heart problems, but know he ordered me to have a emergency ECG to rule out PAH or PPH, he tells me not to worry yet and let him do the worrying for now, so he books me for a appointment for this ECG and sends me home. So I am home now researching this PAH & PPH and totally freaking out, please any help on this or that there doctors have ordered these tests for emergency to get you all freaking out please respond! Thanks, Nikki

Dear Nikki, I took those pills about 10 years ago too and lost a lot of weight. Then one day there was a front page article on Times/or Newsweek saying that it was linked to heart valve complications and a small % of persons were diagnosed with heart problems- I think it was heart murmurs or something. At the time I was seeing Dr. Mar*****oquitlam and then all of a sudden the pills were pulled from the market and you were not able to get them anymore. Have you seen a cardiologist yet? When I saw Dr. Mizgala I told him about the pills and he said that he was part of the team of doctors who is testifying about the pills in court when they go to trial and he wanted to make sure my heart was okay so he ordered an ultrasound on my heart as he felt this was the best way to determine if my heart was healthy. He was not panicking or ordering any emergency tests. I think this doctor is jumping the gun a little and assuming the worse. Do you have problems breathing generally.. do you have asthma....... or smoke? Also I know since I have been overweight I generally breathe a lot harder now and am out of breath, etc. And now I get infections in my lungs a lot faster now than I used too. But everything came out clear with my ultrasound and you will be okay too. Try not to worry, especially since you said you have no breathing problems before. Take care, Sim

Hi, Sim It is me Nikki again, I met you at Dr. M office, I was diagnosed with asthma about 3 yrs ago, this all came about as Dr.M referred me to a Dr. Ostrow he is in the lung center at the same place Dr.M is at, I was there doing a pulmonary lung test, the dr sd that my lungs sounded great the test results were a 125 whatever that means, he then was listening to my heart and asked if I ever took diet pills, I sd yes, he then started taking about how this artery that pumps blood from your heart to your lungs sounded weird and asked if I have ever seen a cardiologist I sd know but I had a appointment that morning with one and it had been cxld and res in Dec, he then sd that he was booking me in for a emergency echo and he wanted to see me right after it was done, he sd to me don't worry for now let me do the worrying, he also sd that he will be sending me my gp & Dr.M some info about this. I am just freaking out because how would he know I took those stupid diet pills by just listening to my heart. On the referral thing for the cardiologist it says to rule out PPH. Now I have done a little research and the pills can cause 2 different things heart valve disease & PPH which the doctor wants to rule out, people with PPH most likely don't know it because it takes about 10 yrs for the first symptoms, shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pains irregular heart beat and some others I have all of those symptoms but always associated it with being over weight, It sd it affects mostly women between 20 & 40 and it is not curable, most people will die within 4 yrs of finally being diagnosed, they can do a heart and lung transplant but even with that most people do not survive more than 5 yrs, 1 in 25,000 people that took fen-phen are diagnosed with this condition. The other thing that fen-phen caused is heart valve disease it is much more common with phen-fen but not that dangerous and most people can live normal lives. So this doctor is totally freaking me out by suggesting that I may have this PPH, do you ever have heart pain is that normal? Sorry to ramble I am just freaking out and my hubby says quite smoking then he blames everything on smoking. Thank-you for responding your response was very encouraging. Oh-ya this dr is a professor of medicine @ UBC Dr. Ostrow. Take care, Nikki

I went through all the testing for the phen-fen stuff as well and everything was normal. Don't worry too much, just have the tests done. It's a pretty small percentage of people that suffered the problems. I had severe asthma prior to my RNY and since, I have lost so much weight, I have had very few attacks. I was told by my respirologist (sp?) that it would improve with weight loss and it did!! Leanen LAP RNY - Dec 16/05 Dr Joya - PV Mexico 274/131/140