Drugs that affect the functioning of the heart are incredibly important to get right. You don’t want any sudden changes in your medications if you’re taking a heart drug, and you certainly don’t want to spontaneously double the dose (or halve the dose) without the advice of your doctor. Unfortunately for individuals that take the heart medication Spironolactone from BRP Pharmaceuticals, they may have ended up with a bottle of medication that isn’t what they were prescribed.
In a new recall bulletin posted by the FDA, BRP Pharmaceuticals reveals that it shipped several lots of Spironolactone tablets in both 25mg and 50mg strengths in the wrong bottles. The bottles are actually swapped, so tablets of the 25mg strength ended up in bottles labeled 50mg and vice versa. That’s an incredibly serious mixup and an issue that anyone that takes these medications needs to know about immediately.
Spironolactone is a drug that is used as a diuretic, which means it purges your body of water at a faster rate than normal. This is useful in cases of high blood pressure, heart failure, and other heart-related conditions, but you should only take the dosage that your doctor prescribes. The recall bulletin makes it abundantly clear why taking a different dose than what your doctor decided upon can be dangerous or even deadly:
A patient who consumes spironolactone 25 mg instead of the prescribed spironolactone 50 mg may experience an elevation in blood pressure or increased swelling caused by excess fluid (edema) if taking the product chronically. It is possible that patients could experience a decrease in potassium if taking half of the expected dose which could lead to Hypokalemia, a condition associated with cardiac arrhythmias. Furthermore, patients who consume spironolactone 50 mg instead of the prescribed spironolactone 25 mg could experience an increase in potassium which could be life-threatening.
Yeah, that’s not good. If you take Spironolactone it’s a good idea to check the bottle and see who the manufacturer is. You can identify the recalled pills based on the lot numbers and codes listed on the recall bulletin. The company says it has not received any reports of adverse reactions as of yet, but with something as serious as this, that’s no reason to be lazy about checking your meds to see if they’re included in the recall.
The company is notifying all of the locations where the mixed-up drugs were shipped, but that news might not reach consumers before they begin taking it. If you confirmed that you were given the recalled drugs during a refill or new prescription, contact your doctor immediately and explain the situation. You’ll likely be given a new prescription so that you can be sure you’re taking the correct strength. Additional company contact information is available on the recall page.
