A Teenager Suffered 7 Heart Attacks after a Contraceptive Pill caused her to develop hundreds of blood clots.

AFRIK UPDATE

HEALTH

       

Alyce Clark had been taking a daily dose of Microgynon for just one month when she suddenly collapsed at home with a cardiac arrest. 

By the time the 19-year-old was admitted to hospital she had been resuscitated by paramedics seven times in the ambulance. Her condition was so severe that her parents Roger, 61, and Freda, 60, were invited to 'say goodbye' to their daughter in hospital. 

A CT scan revealed 'hundreds' of blood clots had travelled from her leg to her heart and then to both her lungs. But after emergency injections of an anti-blood clotting drug and two days in intensive care, Alyce eventually started to recover. 

She said: 'Doctors told me if I'd been over 25 I would have been brain damaged for life, but I was young and able to recover.' 

Studies have shown that around 15 to 30 women in every 100,000 using the Pill will develop a potentially dangerous blood clot each year.

Alyce responded to treatment  at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham and has recovered but she has been told she will never be able to return to showjumping. 

She said: They warned that my lungs would be damaged for the rest of my life and I knew it would be foolish to pursue an athletic career.' 

A spokesman from Bayer, which produces Microgynon, said: 'Every report about side effects on any of our products is reported to our drug safety department and thoroughly investigated by our medical experts. 

'The use of any combined oral contraceptive carries a small increased risk of venous and arterial blood clots. 

'At Bayer, patient safety comes first and Bayer regularly reviews safety related information of its products, including Microgynon. 

'Based on the currently available information, the benefit-risk profile of Microgynon is favourable.'

Culled from Dailymail