What's funny is that just the past couple of weeks, I've thought of that drug. I was pregnant shortly after it was discontinued. I had a cold and had asked for something for it. My dr wouldn't let me have anything, not even aspirin. All due to the thalidomide disaster. Thanks for the link.

Shirley

I remember it well. it was a terrible, terrible thing.

Wow!

what a heartbreaking story, & what a deeply insightful & wise person she is!

Thanks for posting this.

Remember DES? Oh, probably not, but this was also prescribed for pregnant women -- and resulted in many of their daughters being infertile.

Diethylstilbestrol--I remember it well because when I had trouble conceiving I wondered if it had been prescribed to my mother. (I had no way of knowing because she died when I was a child.) Apparently not, because I eventually gave birth to three children.

DES sons had problems too: testicular cancer, and an absence of one or both testes. Plus other issues I don't recall.

Women are probably never more trusting of their doctors than when we are pregnant. I remember reading an article in Life magazine in the 1950s stating that doctors recommend cigarette smoking for pregnant women because it can be relaxing.

Back in the early 1980s, I worked with a young woman whose mother had taken DES.

Adele had to have pap tests every 3 or 4 months & thought she never would be able to have children.

One day recently, I googled a bunch of my old co-workers (the ones whose last names I remembered!), & found that she had married & had 2 daughters, & had died from ovarian cancer at 59.

Although I hadn't seen her in years, it broke my heart.

I remember thalidomide and the story as it broke. Our country was spared from this poorly tested drug because the US Food and Drug Administration would not approve of its use here. They did not feel it had been tested enough, but had no specific reason to bar its acceptance other than a researcher's gut feeling that it needed to be rejected. The few thalidomide babies born in the USA were born to women who had been visiting in Europe early in their pregnancies where the drug was prescribed to them. The drug company had failed to test the drug sufficiently during various stages of pregnancy to assure its safety. There was one short period early in pregnancy when the damage was done. If pregnant women happened to take thalidomide late in their pregnancy, the damage to their babies did not occur. We were spared by a suspicious researcher in the FDA.

I thought of it recently because of the Big Brother show. Donny one of the contestants was showing pictures of his brother who had a "little bitty arm" on one side and no arm on the other as he described it and it made me remember the thalidomide horror.
He didn't say that was the reason but it made me wonder...

That was an interesting article.

I remember that too! It was a very sad situation, very sad.

I remember also that it was not available in the US...I wonder how many babies have survived all these years.

Thalidomide was a tragedy indeed, and worse tragedy was avoided, as pointed out, because the U.S. FDA wouldn't approve its use. The non-approval is an amazing story, because the person who refused the green-light was just newly hired and was a woman. Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey was born in Canada in 1914, obtained a MasterâÂÂs degree in Pharmacology from McGill University and PhD in Pharmacology from University of Chicago. She only got accepted into the program at McGill because she concealed her gender in her application. As a newly hired person, she was given the "easy" task of approving this drug by the FDA, seen as an automatic approval since it was already in widespread use. But she refused and was put under enormous pressure for her stance. A link to a research paper on Dr. Kelsey and her work is below.

Sadly, Canada was one of the countries that approved the drug.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Frances Kelsey: Turning the Thalidomide Tragedy into Food and Drug Administration Reform

I lived in Germany and the UK as this tragedy unfolded and had two young children, so I remember it well. I am in awe of how many parents (mothers especially) stood by their stricken infants and rose to the occasion by doing what they could to help them survive. And then continue to overcome some herculean disabilities.

I am thankful too, that our FDA continues to keep tabs on our drug industry.... and the 'near-miss tragedies' they have prevented.

Stacey, that's a terrific article. Dr. Kelsey was a remarkable woman. We could use more like her--a lot more like her--in today's FDA.

I was surprised to read that 20,000 Americans unknowingly ingested thalidomide in a marketing ploy. Merrell, the American distributor of thalidomide, was just as greedy as Grunenthal, the German pharmaceutical company that came up with the drug in the first place.

One passage from the article particularly caught my eye:

In the 1950s, Americans were enthralled with pharmaceuticals, not just to cure diseases, but to soothe the stress of coping with the arms race, space race, and everyday rat race. Drugmakers enticed doctors to prescribe their latest products and reaped the rewards.

Based on the number of prescriptions currently written in the U.S., Americans are still enthralled.

Remember estrogen prescribed for post-menopausal women "to protect their hearts"?

I went through 'the change' with no problems, then was prescribed this. Fortunately, I started bleeding early on -- and THEN I had terrible hot flashes when taken off it. A year later this was decried as a cancer risk...with no benefit to the heart.

Oh, yes! I had a battle with a cardiologist about estrogen (HRT). She insisted that I take it in my late forties, and I adamantly refused. It got nasty. I ended up dropping her--or maybe she dropped me; I don't remember. But I do remember when it was announced that the once praised-to-the-skies HRT was risky and had zero heart benefits.

remember when doctors swore that women didn't have heart attacks?

Stan and I were talking about this the other night. He worked with Dr. Kelsey in FDA at the time she disapproved thalidomide. He said she was an impressive woman. The world owes her a debt of gratitude. She recently celebrated her 100th birthday.

Wanda, I'm glad to know she's still with us. I wish I'd known about her long before this.

remember when doctors swore that women didn't have heart attacks?

Do I ever! In my 40's I had unfamiliar chest pains (turned out to be esophageal spasms) on a Sunday and went to the ER. The doctor said, "You're not sweating, so you're not having a heart attack." I told him that was good to know, but I had been concerned partly because my maternal grandmother died of a heart attack in her early 40's. He said, "That's not possible. Women don't have heart attacks in their forties."

Sigh.

I also remember the thalidomide tragedies back then too. I remember women flying to Sweden to have abortions because they were not legal here in the US in those days. Very sad indeed.

The interesting thing about Thalidomide is that is often used for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma with some good outcome. My father had MM & that was the drug that was helping him the most after exhausting other drug options.. When receiving this form of "chemotherapy" he would have to go thru a monthly "phone survey/questioneire " to make sure the drug was being taken properly ie. Dangerous to have sex because of the possibility of a pregnancy occurring. (He & my mother were in their 80's so that was not a consideration), but I was told to use protective gloves when dispensing his medicene for him daily. The drug company went to great lengths to make sure to stress the danger of this drug to any possible pregnancy that might occur. They also showed a picture of a thalidomide baby on the blister pack of the drug.
It had to be hand delivered by the hospital pharmacist who also made sure to reiterate how it was to be handled & taken responsibly.

A old friend of mine was a DES baby & she never was able to conceive. Another friend's DH was also rendered sterile due to DES.

Interesting, Katclaws. I had no idea Thalidomide was still in use for any purpose, much less multiple myeloma. I'm glad it helped your dad.

My mom was given a prescription for thalidomide when she was pregnant with my brother in 1961, in Canada. She never got around to having it filled and decided to wait out for her symptoms to subside, and they did.

Only later did she learn about the horrible effects.

What a huge bullet your mom dodged, Mitch. Smart of her to wait out her symptoms.

I know, Alisande, we can't believe it, I'm sure she is not the only one who came close to taking it.

Initially I assumed Canadians had a terrible stroke of luck that Dr. Kelsey left Canada before completing her education, which might have saved thousands of Canadian children from the devastating side effects of Thalidomide.

But after Googling her, it's clear that Canada already had the drug on the market, (based on European approvals) prior to her starting her research. Therefore, what a pity it would have been if she had stayed in Canada to do her PhD, because she would have been studying something different. Luckily, she completed her education in the U.S., where Thalidomide was not yet on the market. Thus she was thankfully in the right place at the right time to save tens of thousands more children, from the devastating side effects of Thalidomide, due to your much larger population.

I was also living in England when the results erupted. Tragic time, hard to believe. Thank heaven the US was spared.

alisande, the drug trademark name is THALOMID is made by Celgene pharmaceuticals. It has also been used to treat leprosy besides Multiple Myeloma.

Still hard to comprehend the horrors that it caused all those survivors & their families.

I wish there were more Dr. Kelseys out there who abide by their conscious vs. greed.

I decide a long time ago that I wouldn't take HRT. I figured women didn't take it for centuries & survived without it.

One drug, that I'm concerned about now is Guardisol sp? that they are using for adolescents to prevent HPV and cervical cancer. They say it's been tested & is safe, but honestly I wouldn't feel completely comfortable until it's been around for a few decades. But, that is just me.

In the early 60's, my mother was offered a prescription for thalidomide, but declined it. I never realized how lucky I was until I saw a magazine article about thalidomide babies when I was a teenager. Even nowadays, with all the shenanigans still perpetrated by pharmaceutical companies, it is really difficult to trust their products or advice.

Katclaws, I agree om gardisal. I declined for my teens. These newer vaccines seemed to be rushed. There was one for the Rota virus my son had gotten as a baby and it was recalled a few months later. I am not anti-vaccine by any means, but I think newer things aren't always adequately tested.

I am DES daughter. My mom had had several miscarriages before me and one after me where she lost twins.

Was never able to get pregnant. Shoot, I never had periods unless it was doctor induced and even that was rare. For a very long time my GYN doc was keeping an eye on one of my ovaries and decided that it needed to be 'looked at" as it was polycystic and it just wasn't feeling right and he felt the need for a biopsy. During surgery he looked at what he called 'the other stuff'.

He didn't like what he was seeing and after talking to my husband while I was still out, it was decided that everything had to go right then and there. I ended up having a full hysterectomy and both ovaries removed. My husband said it was the hardest decision he ever had to make on his own. But it most likely saved my life. The test results came back cancerous and probably would have gone unnoticed until it was well advanced.

My doctor told me to make sure that I had regular breast exams, even tho I was still young. After moving here a little over a year and a half ago I had to go to a new doctor. I mentioned the DES and she didn't even know what it was.

My mom also took DES when she was pregnant with my younger brother. He has four grown kids now.

Jenna

Interesting conversation.

I well remember the Thalidomide babies. Such a tragedy! I'm not sure that in today's environment that it would have been halted from the market. I believe there is a ton of greed when it comes to Big Pharma. Anyone ever read John Grisham's book on the topic (I think King of Torts?). It is a novel, but I think it is very true to life.

My nursing school roommate lost her younger sister to ovarian cancer related to their mother having taken DES to preserve the pregnancy.

I had to decide about taking HRT for menopause/bone-heart health, etc. I did a lot of reading & research, then opted not to go that route. Soon after it was revealed that HRT was not all it was cracked up to be.

I agree with the statement above that Americans are still enthralled with pharmaceuticals. I am a minimalist in that regard.

'I'm not sure that in today's environment that it would have been halted from the market.'

I don't think it would have been questioned at all.