Help from ex Phen Fen users? - Weight Loss Message Board

kristinah · 01-28-2004, 03:14 PM

The saga continues with this whole AHP Diet Drug settlement madness... I submitted my completed forms 4 years ago and just got a letter today telling me that they couldn't locate my prescription records to prove I took the drug. I called their settlement hotline and the person I spoke with said she couldn't guarantee that they even tried to find the records because they are so busy and that it was up to me to produce these documents (even though the original forms said they would get the records if I gave them the info to find them). And the letter says I have 30 days to do this! I am so ****ed...

Anyway, I am just wondering if any of you have had this issue and/or have been able to get your prescription records? Now that it has been 4 years since I filed the claim, the three places that I know I got my prescriptions filled (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Texas Drug Warehouse) are all bankrupt, closed, or moved! Argh! I am in need of some advice here.. How do I get my records from a place that is no longer there?

On a related topic, I did get the echo done and was diagnosed with Mild Mitral Valve regurgitation in my heart. From what I can tell, this means nothing except that I am eligible for compensation if I develop a worse condition in the next year and a half? No, I don't have a lawyer...no money for that, you know?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice/ideas!

Kristina

kissycoo · 01-29-2004, 06:38 AM

HI,
I too was a phen fen user. I did receive a check last year for taking the drugs. Did you get copies of your dr. appointments and your prescriptions from him? That is how I did it. I received my appointments, presciptions, and diagnosis all. I received a check for $600. (I think) I had a echo done also, and the technician said my heart sounded really good. So thank God I had no problem. I still am trying to lose weight. Been taking the phentermine once in awhile, but that doesn't seem to help like the phen fen did. Still looking around for somethin. What about you? Are you still trying to lose? Let me know what you did about your records, ok.
Elaine

kissycoo · 01-29-2004, 06:44 AM

HI,
I too was a phen fen user. I received a check last year, I think it was for $600. Did you get all your records from your doctor, including your appointments, prescriptions, and diagnosis? I got all of this and sent it in to the diet company. I still am trying to lose the weight I gained back from stopping the phen fen. The phentermine just doesn't help me the way the 2 of them did. Are you still trying to lose weight? Let me know what you decide and do about the diet settlement.

kristinah · 01-29-2004, 09:26 AM

Hi Elaine,

Thanks for the reply and for sharing your story. I wrote both of my doctors yesterday but it is tricky because one worked for Kaiser Permanente and another for Nutrisystems. Neither work there anymore (Kaiser doesn't exist!) and I am out of state now. Hopefully they will get the letter at their new offices and sign the affadavit that I sent saying that they prescribed the drug for me. I doubt my records are still around? Where do those suckers go? Are they in some deep dark part of the universe somewhere?

No, I have never found anything that works as well as the phen fen.

I did do Atkins and lost 60lbs back in 1999 but I missed carbs too much and as we all know when you give up the low carb lifestyle, the weight comes back. So I gained again (I'm a perpetual yo-yo-er with a 60lb yo-yo, haha) and I am back to 20 lbs below my record highest weight. I just got diagnosed with a thyroid disorder, and keeping my calories to 1500 a day plus having my thyroid under control has helped me to lose the 20lbs. I slacked off during the holidays and need to get back to healthier eating. Before I got my thyroid in check, I was gaining weight at 1500 calories a day. That tipped me off that something was very wrong! So hopefully if I get my nose back to the grindstone I will be able to slowly lose this weight!

I'm so glad your heart is healthy and I wish you luck on your weight loss! Thanks again for responding to my post.

Kristina

PeggyHarmon · 03-26-2004, 09:24 AM

I too had the problem of obtaining prescription records. They were all archived and then the next time I had to hunt them, HEB, Walmart, and Eckerds had purged them for the 7 yrs. Legally they were able to do this. Walmart was able to locate 12-2-97 and then I found the Dr. who also went out of business/retired and he sent me his notes which I attached to the one and only proof of prescription use I could obtain. I sent a letter telling them they were now purged. Ironic in the Dr.'s notes the 2nd month of my visit I was reporting tired feeling and he documented. The 3rd month and last month I took them---he noted sick, had flu like symptoms had to get off meds for 1 month. Lucky me, I hope. My mitral valve showed mild--and AHP said not good enough, but my cardiologist said I had mild and a 60% ejection rate, and signed off on my green form Matrix level. That was a year ago, and the echo was 2 yrs ago and I am still waiting. I finally got a defiency letter of a missing part of the green form not completed and a waiver not to seu wyeth. I went back to the cradiologist who was in their screening program, and he signed off again--free to complete that form. I guess it'll be another year before I hear anything again.