Avandia Side Effect Lawyer: Diabetes Drug Damages Liver

Avandia, a compound of rosiglitazone maleate, is an oral antidiabetic agent. Avandia pills increase insulin sensitivity for patients with type 2 diabetes, or non-insulin-dependent diabetes. Avandia also improves glycemic control as it reduces circulation of insulin levels. If diet, exercise, and a single drug are not enough to control blood sugar levels, Avandia can be used in conjunction with another drug.

Avandia is not to be used for type 1 diabetes (juvenile onset diabetes) or diabetic ketoacidosis. It is questionable whether people with heart failure, fluid retention, or active liver disease should take Avandia at all. Since Avandia became available there have been reports of development of hepatitis (the inflammation of liver) due to elevated liver enzymes. Patients taking Avandia should have their liver enzymes monitored regularly.

Additionally, Avandia is in same class of drugs as Rezulin, a very dangerous drug that has been associated with devastating liver injury including liver failure that can only be cured with transplant. Without immediate transplant, many Rezulin liver failures have resulted in death. Because of this close association with a dangerous drug, users of Avandia should be in close contact with a doctor if they notice any symptoms of liver problems such as nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, fatigue, dark urine, or jaundice. Avandia is also very dangerous for pregnant women and their unborn children.

Health And The Economy

We normally do not think that health is related to economics other than with regard to costs of medical care. But there is another more fundamental way money impacts our wellbeing. If you could not pay your bills or had to worry about where next meal would come from, would you be thinking about health, or survival? When we are trying to stay alive moment-to-moment we don’t think about food choices, supplements, organic farming, animal welfare or environmental issues. Those considerations are a “luxury” dependent upon economic capability. But they are a luxury we must have if we are to live a reflective life and survive on planet Earth. Without a robust economy, you can pretty much forget about people being environmental, health conscious, or even civil to one another. In starving nations, war is endemic, disease rampant and environment is only a raw material to be ravaged to hopefully live to next day. The emerging world economy will ultimately place great economic stress on United States. It already has. Thousands of jobs are being lost to overseas companies employing workers requiring a fraction of wages demanded here. People in America increasingly try to maintain a standard of living through debt. This is great for all banks popping up on almost every street corner, but bad for people. Just in past year there have been almost two million personal bankruptcies declared. To compete in marketplace, companies must keep their costs down. If that means shifting manufacturing elsewhere, that’s what will be done. India, China and other Eastern rim countries are beneficiaries of this shift in manufacturing and labor pool. While American workers are clamoring for things to return to way they were with high wages and generous benefits, workers in developing countries are happy as can be having a job for five dollars a day. This trend will not go away with “buy American” banners or political rhetoric about treaties, minimum wages and outsourcing. The global economy is here to stay and that will mean American standard of living will retract and developing world’s will improve. Expect a decline in standard of living, falling wages and investment insecurity.