Doctors, Patients Should Discuss Diet Pill Dangers

Sat., March 8, 1997

Dianne Stradling Denenny Special To Opinion

In August I received a phone call from my very favorite cousin, Christine. She informed me of the new diet pill, fen/phen. She explained at length how it helped her lose 60 pounds in eight months. She promised to send me printed information that weekend because I sounded interested.

Instead, four days later, her daughter called to inform me that Christine was found dead in her home. The autopsy showed a heart condition that, combined with pulmonary hypertension (a possible side effect of fen/phen), may have killed her. We will never know for sure.

Fen/phen is the latest fad in diet drugs. They suppress the appetite and increase a person’s feelings of well-being.

I tell people who are on fen/phen about my cousin and they say, “But I don’t have a heart condition.” But how do they know for sure? They haven’t had an EKG or echocardiogram done before the drug was prescribed. During a recent outpatient minor procedure I had done, I again told people Christine’s story. I was informed by a few of the registered nurses at the hospital that they had seen complications with the combination of anesthesia and fen/phen.

They recommend going off fen/phen for a week or more before surgery. With the stigma of being overweight, women in particular don’t often want to discuss their weight. And maybe this would stop some of them from mentioning before surgery that they take fen/phen. This could be dangerous. Also, I have heard of women on fen/phen having heart palpitations. One woman I know had such a rapid heartbeat that she was sent home to rest for two days and has undergone extensive heart tests.

I worry about all of the use of fen/phen going on right now in our culture. I worry because it might be hurting women and killing them. I believe it killed my cousin, Christine. She will be missed by so many. At age 46, she was a nurse and mother to three wonderful children, all students at Washington State University.

I hope doctors, and their patients, are communicating and sharing statistics about fen/phen’s dangerous side. I’m sure Christine would want to educate people about the dangers of fen/phen. I’m writing this today so her death will not be completely in vain.

MEMO: “Your turn” is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a “Your turn” column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write “Your turn,” The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane 99210-1615.

“Your turn” is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a “Your turn” column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write “Your turn,” The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane 99210-1615.