A herbal sleeping pill pulled off store shelves last year, is coming back to haunt some people.
Brenda Connell has had trouble sleeping for several years. Rather than prescription drugs she began taking a herbal supplement called Sleepees, over a year ago.
“When I took the product I felt really good because I was getting a full nights sleep. My mood seemed elevated so obviously I enjoyed that. It seemed I was lovin’ life more than I am definitely feeling now.”
She says the “now” started when she stopped taking Sleepees 4 months ago. Traces of the prescription drug Estazolam were found in the capsules and it was recalled. Estazolam relaxes the body and helps you sleep but it’s also addictive and there are withdrawal symptoms if you stop taking it.
Get breaking National news
“I’ve had incredible loss of memory. So that’s part of it. Lack of concentration, incredible anxiety. I’ve been fighting depression”, says Connell.
And she may not be alone. Lawyer Clint Docken says he’s heard from others with similar problems and filed a class action law suit against the distributor. He says Our World Network, should have known the drug was in their product. “The major issue is the fact that the product simply wasn’t as advertised. It wasn’t all herbal and it wasn’t all natural”, says Docken.
The Chief Operating Officer for Our World Network, the Canadian distributor in Vancouver B.C., says they were misled by the manufacturer. “When you’re selling a natural food product, you’re assuming through the proper tests that are provided to you that the manufacturer that they provide you a certificate of analysis etcetera that the product doesn’t have a drug in it”, says Renato Cavaliere.
He says they have found another supplier and a new clean batch of Sleepees was released in March. Health Canada has allowed the company to sell the new Sleepees while it goes through the approval process for Natural Health Products. Brenda Connell says she’s been told her withdrawal symptoms could last 6 months. She’s worried anyone who didn’t hear the original recall may still be taking the contaminated capsules.
You can find information about the recall on the Health Canada website at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca Look under Advisories, Warnings and Recalls and February 23, 2007. To contact Clint Docken regarding the law suit call (403) 269-3612 or log onto http://www.docken.com
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.