In a recent Benicar lawsuit, an Illinois woman says her Benicar caused splenic flexure syndrome.

Plaintiff Lillie M. claims she started taking Benicar HCT and Azor, two drugs that both use the active ingredient olmesartan, sometime around January 2004.

She claims that medication caused her to develop “[s]ymptoms and problems associated with Splenic Flexure Syndrome.”

Plaintiff: Benicar Caused Splenic Flexure Syndrome

Among the symptoms she says she suffered are abdominal pain, diarrhea and nausea. She also alleges her condition led to psychological damage.

She claims she has incurred past and present medical expenses getting treatment for her Benicar caused splenic flexure syndrome, and her need for ongoing medical monitoring will incur further expenses.

She also alleges lost earnings and lost earning capacity, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Symptoms of Splenic Flexure Syndrome

Lillie’s Benicar caused splenic flexure syndrome is a condition characterized by pain and discomfort in the upper abdomen that results from muscle spasms in the splenic flexure, a part of the colon found between the transverse colon and the descending colon.

Gas can get trapped within the splenic flexure, causing further pain and discomfort.

Symptoms of splenic flexure syndrome can include abdominal distention, spasm in the abdomen, discomfort in the left upper abdomen, flatulence, and either constipation or diarrhea.

This condition is sometimes identified as irritable bowel syndrome and can be considered a sub-type of that condition.

Plaintiffs Attribute Gastrointestinal Symptoms to Benicar

These symptoms and those reported by Lillie are similar to those that many other Benicar lawsuit plaintiffs have been blaming on the anti-hypertensive drug.

Enough of these clams have been filed that the federal court system has consolidated them into a single multidistrict litigation, or MDL, in a court in New Jersey.

According to the master long form complaint for the Benicar MDL, medications containing Benicar’s active ingredient olmesartan have a tendency to cause a condition known as sprue-like enteropathy.

The characteristic symptoms of sprue-like enteropathy are severe and chronic diarrhea with accompanying weight gain. The diarrhea can be severe enough to cause dehydration and significant weight loss.

Patients with sprue-like enteropathy also develop a condition called villous atrophy, in which the villi – tiny fingerlike projections on the interior lining of the small intestine – degrade.

This degradation leaves the inner surface of the intestines smooth and significantly less able to absorb nutrients from food, putting the patient at risk for malnutrition.

Olmesartan is an active component of medications branded Benicar, Benicar HCT, Azor and Tribenzor.

The latter three combine olmesartan in varying ways with amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide, two other types of cardiovascular drugs.

In her own Benicar lawsuit, Lillie raises claims for defective design, failure to warn, negligence, gross negligence, negligence per se, negligent design, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, fraud, constructive fraud, breaches of express and implied warranties, unjust enrichment, and violation of Illinois consumer protection law.

Lillie’s Benicar Lawsuit is Case No. 1:33-av-02606. It’s part of the Benicar MDL In re: Benicar (Olmesartan) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2606, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.