Zelnorm: Thank God it didn't Work

Newport, RIBrenda W. thanks her lucky stars that Zelnorm only helped her irritable bowel syndrome for a few months. If she continued taking the drug, Brenda believes her chest pains could have led to a heart attack.

"I first heard about Zelnorm on a TV commercial and how it helps with bloating and swelling. My doctor got the drug approved by my insurance company and I started taking Zelnorm as soon as it came out, around the summer of 2002," says Brenda. "It worked for a few months but it got to the point where I had to also use stool softeners and constipation pills. I was bloated all the time and felt really uncomfortable.

But my doctor insisted that I keep taking Zelnorm. In 2006 my friend told me about a children's laxative that worked for her and I tried that. It actually worked better than Zelnorm plus I could buy it at Wal-Mart over the counter for about $5.

About this time I started to get chest pains. They were really sharp around my heart area; I had to sit down really gently and then lie down for about 10 minutes until they subsided. To be honest, I should have had my heart checked at that time. I never had any heart problems before this -- I was 33 years old at the time and in good health.

My doctor's office phoned to tell me I had to come in for an appointment. I told the nurse that I wasn't taking Zelnorm anymore. 'Who told you to stop taking it?' she said. I said nobody told me, I decided on my own. And I didn't go back to that doctor.

My chest pain is less frequent now that I stopped taking Zelnorm. Now it feels like a dull pain but it is still there. In April of this year, I went to a new doctor -- I moved to a new town -- because I was getting pains in my left arm. He did an electro-cardiogram in his office and asked if I had chest pains. He asked if I had ever been diagnosed with heart problems. He didn't say anything else but I was sent to the hospital for an echo-cardiogram. I haven't got the results back yet but I know there is something wrong so whatever they say won't surprise me.

Thank God I found out about that baby laxative and thank God it worked better than Zelnorm -- it was a miracle; I might have serious heart disease if I kept taking Zelnorm. But I still don't know how much damage this drug might have done..."