A severe side effect of Safyral is an ischemic stroke. This serious medical condition occurs when a blood clot travels to the brain and gets trapped inside a major blood vessel. This cuts off the blood supply to the brain. Safyral strokes have a high risk of causing brain damage, but the severity of the condition varies from person to person.
Do I Have a Safyral Lawsuit? Collen A. Clark is a true advocate for his clients and is passionate about helping Texans that have been injured or wronged. If you or a loved one has been injured by blood clots, you should contact our lawyers immediately. You may be entitled to compensation by filing a lawsuit.
Overview
Safyral is a birth control pill, essentially Yasmin birth control plus a folate B-vitamin. Safyral is manufactured by Bayer. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December of 2010. Safyral and Yasmin are both once-daily combination hormonal birth control pills, and each active pill contains 3-mg of drospirenone and 0.03-mg of ethinyl estradiol. Additionally, Safyral contains 0.451-mg levomefolate calcium, which is a metabolite of folic acid.
The additional folate B-vitamin is intended to reduce the risk of certain birth defects. Though it is unlikely, some women who take Safyral accidentally get pregnant. If a woman takes Safyral at exactly the same time every single day, around 1 women per 100 will get pregnant. However, most women don’t take birth control pills exactly as directed. Among these women, approximately 9 per 100 will get pregnant.
Neural tube birth defects (anencephaly, spina bifida, etc.) are strongly associated with low levels of folate in the mother. Fetuses develop these severe, life-threatening defects in the first four weeks of pregnancy. It is vital that women have normal folate levels before pregnancy occurs. Combining a birth control pill with folate reduces the risk of severe birth defects for women who accidentally get pregnant on Safyral.
Safyral and Strokes
A major ingredient in Safyral is a new type of synthetic progestin called drospirenone. In 2009, the first major studies were published that linked drospirenone to a higher risk of blood clots compared to older generations of synthetic progestin (levonorgestrel, for example). Public backlash against drospirenone has grown steadily in the last several years, and the number of women who use a birth control pill containing drospirenone has dropped significantly. The FDA recently warned that women who take Safyral may be up to three times more likely to develop a blood clot, and the labels will be updated to include this information.
Blood clots are designed to clog blood vessels. They are sticky, semi-solid masses of blood platelets that are not easily dissolved by the body. They are ideally suited to prevent bleeding to death after an injury.
Safyral increases the risk that blood clots will form spontaneously, when there is no injury. Blood clots grow along the walls of veins and arteries. If the blood clot breaks away from the wall of the artery, it may be carried in the bloodstream to the major organ ahead.
An ischemic stroke occurs when this blood clot is too large to pass through a blood vessel inside the brain. The brain tissue ahead of the clot is deprived of oxygen, and begins dying within minutes. Unless normal circulation to the brain is restored soon, the dying parts of the brain can set off the ischemic cascade. This is a series of biochemical reactions that causes swelling and inflammation of otherwise healthy parts of the brain.
An ischemic stroke in one part of the brain can cause massive, permanent brain damage. A women who suffers a Safyral stroke has a high chance of becoming permanently disabled intellectually and/or physically. Victims may become permanently comatose. There is also a risk of death.
Symptoms of a Safyral Stroke
The symptoms of a Safyral stroke usually appear suddenly. The exact symptoms will vary depending on the part of the brain that is deprived of oxygen, and how much brain tissue is involved. Because all combination hormonal birth control pills increase a woman’s risk of blood clots and stroke, knowing the symptoms of a stroke is a good idea.
Symptoms of an ischemic stroke may include:
- Sudden, severe headache: This headache may awaken the person from sleep
- Changes in consciousness: Fainting, dizziness, sudden drowsiness
- Cognitive changes: Confusion, sudden personality changes, memory loss, problems reading, writing, understanding speech, or speaking
- Sudden poor motor coordination: This may involve problems walking, maintaining balance, writing, swallowing, etc.
- Changes in senses: Loss or changes in senses, which may include vision loss, abnormal temperature sensation, strange taste, sudden hearing loss,etc.
- Tingling and/or numbness: Usually on just one side of the body, or one body part
- Muscle weakness: Usually on just one side of the body. Muscles in the face may appear to droop. One arm or leg may suddenly be very weak or lose function
Do I have a Safyral Lawsuit?
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