Ortho Evra Patch - Ortho Evra Side Effects - Birth Control Information

Since the Ortho Evra patch, was approved in 2001 there has been some concern over a serious Ortho Evra birth control patch side effect. The Ortho Evra patch has been prescribed to over four million women since 2002 The most serious Ortho Evra side effects of concern is news that the Ortho Evra patch increases a woman’s risk of developing a blood clot. The first fatality publicly blamed on the Ortho Evra patch came in April 2005, when a Manhattan fashion student collapsed in a city subway station. An autopsy found a blood clot had moved into the victim's lung, and the medical examiner ruled that the clot was a side effect of the Ortho Evra patch.

FDA records show that seventeen patch users between the ages of 17 and 30 have suffered fatal heart attacks, blood clots, and strokes since August 2002.

In 2005, the conclusions of an Evra Ortho side effects study conducted by an independent panel of medical experts concluded that the Ortho Evra Patch triples a woman's risk of developing a fatal blood clot or deep vein thrombosis (DVT). It is estimated that the risk of death from Ortho Evra side effects resulting in blood clots or deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was three in every 200,000 women using the Ortho Patch. The risk of fatal blood clot from the oral birth control pill comparatively is one death in 200,000 women using an oral contraceptive.

Concern about this potentially deadly Ortho Evra patch side effect continues to be fueled by recent reports of deaths linked to use of the birth control patch. Ortho Evra birth control patches have been blamed for the deaths of 23 women, including 17 women who died as a result of blood clot complications. Many of these alleged victims of fatal birth control patch side effects were young and healthy women with no history of blood clots or other cardiovascular conditions such as arrhythmia, heart attack, or stroke.

In these young healthy women who died as a result of a serious Ortho Evra side effects, many developed a rapid onset of symptoms before falling deathly ill. These Ortho Evra Patch side effects included severe headache, vision problems, vomiting, and nausea.

The Ortho Evra prescribing information (patient package insert) for the Ortho Evra birth control patch states that a number of Ortho Evra birth control patch side effects can occur with use of this medication. Many of these Ortho Evra side effects are shared by all hormonal birth control methods. The possible Ortho Evra birth control patch side effect risks include: breast changes, headaches, nausea, menstrual changes (which could include heavy clotting during menstruation - this differs from the serious clotting side effects such as deep vein thrombosis), vaginal discharge, and abdominal cramps and bloating.

Ortho-Mc Neil has claimed that the Ortho Evra birth control patch side effects study which leads experts to believe that the Ortho Evra patch may cause blood clots, heart attacks, or strokes distorts the facts and misleads the public into believing unproven statements. However information gathered by the Associated Press concludes that both the FDA and Ortho-Mc Neil of Ortho Evra side effect that can lead to life-threatening blood clots and other cardiovascular injury such as: arrhythmia, heart attack or stroke.