The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that Spiriva HandiHaler patients may face an increased risk of heart attacks or strokes and other cardiac problems.
The Spiriva HandiHaler (generic: tiotropium bromide inhalation powder) is an inhaler for long-term treatment of bronchospasm linked with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This disease is commonly described as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
There has been an increased concern over the use of Topamax – a treatment for migraine headaches and for epilepsy – during pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk of birth defects. There have been reports of birth defects like cleft palates, cleft lips, genital defects.
Besides the anecdotal reports, the respected medical journal Neurology published an article—albeit with a small cohort—that found that women who used Topamax to prevent seizures associated with epilepsy had a much higher incidence of delivering babies with birth defects.
While the study included only 203 pregnancies (178 children), the data found that women who used Topamax while pregnant had babies born with cleft lips or palates 11 times more frequently than you would otherwise expect. These children had genital defects at a rate 14 times higher than would be expected. Of the 178 babies, 16 had major birth defects.
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