PROFILES

Shirley Ford
BiDil® Patient
Lake Sinclair and Lake Oconee, in the heart of Georgia’s Piedmont region, teem with bass and jackfish.  On the best of days, fifty-three year old Shirley Ford and her husband, David, rise before daybreak and drive for more than five hours from Atlanta to catch bucketsful of fish, returning home in the dark, to fry them up and feed their big extended family. “It’s a long, happy day when we get to do that,” she says. “I get tired, but it’s from doing things all day long. Just like everyone else.”

Just two years ago, Mrs. Ford’s symptoms from the heart failure diagnosis she’d received in her mid-thirties had progressed to the point where she slept with four pillows because breathing was so difficult. Despite being on routine heart failure medications, she was fatigued all day and unable to do the smallest household activity.

She remembers four trips to the emergency room over the years.  Eventually, breathing meant relying on a portable oxygen tank. “It was a big one,” she recalled recently. “It was embarrassing and it was hard to get from the bedroom to the bathroom with it.” Going out, cooking, making the beds and singing in the church choir weren’t part of any of her days.  David Ford was uncomfortable leaving his wife of thirty-two years with no one to look after her when he left every day to manage his courier business.  They moved in with Shirley Ford’s mother.  “Imagine sitting in a chair all day and being terribly tired just from sitting? The breathing became so difficult that I felt as though I was being strangled. I’ve been a Sunday school teacher at the United Mission Church in Atlanta for twenty-five years. I wasn’t able to help out volunteering there the way I would have  liked to.”

Mrs. Ford was one of the 420 women enrolled in the African American Heart Failure Trial, the largest number of women ever studied in a heart failure trial.  After several weeks on BiDil therapy in the trial, in addition to medicines for other cardiovascular disorders, eventually she found she was able to walk as many as four blocks through her neighborhood without the oxygen tank. When the trial ended, she briefly discontinued BiDil. Her symptoms of breathlessness and fatigue returned.  Mrs. Ford’s doctor re-started her on BiDil which was launched nationally in July 2005.  “I’m doing well, in fact, I hosted the Thanksgiving meal for twenty people in my family.  I did every bit of the cooking and I enjoyed every moment of it.  Remember how I said I’d get really tired just from sitting all day? Imagine me doing yoga every day:  I do! And I’m enjoying life every day.”

* Patient experiences may vary.   BiDil is available only by prescription.  Only a healthcare professional can decide whether BiDil is right for you.   

Information for Patients about BiDil®

BiDil is approved for use in addition to routine heart medicines to treat heart failure in black patients, to extend life, improve heart failure symptoms, and help patients stay out of the hospital longer.  There is little experience in patients with heart failure who experience significant symptoms while at rest.  Most patients in the clinical study of BiDil received routine heart failure medicines.

Important Safety Information

Tell your doctor about any allergies you have, especially if you’re sensitive to nitrates, such as nitroglycerin tablets or isosorbide dinitrate (Sorbitrate® or Isordil®).  BiDil has a nitrate component, so you need to let your doctor know.

Tell your doctor if you’re taking any erectile dysfunction or pulmonary hypertension drugs, like Viagra®/Revatio™ (sildenafil), Levitra® (vardenafil) or Cialis® (tadalafil).  Mixing these with BiDil may cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, fainting, chest pain, or heart attack.

Also tell your doctor if you are taking any medication to decrease blood pressure because when taken with BiDil, blood pressure may become too low.

Drinking alcohol when taking BiDil could make you feel very lightheaded.  We recommend that you try to avoid drinking alcohol while taking BiDil.

It is possible you’ll get headaches, especially at first.  For some patients, Tylenol® (acetaminophen) helps ease the discomfort.  Keep your doctor posted on your headache progress and Tylenol use; he or she may want to adjust your dosage.

If you experience dizziness, call your doctor.  Please make sure to tell your doctor about any of the signs or symptoms mentioned below or about any unusual events that worry you.

Drinking less fluids than your doctor recommends or losing fluid due to diarrhea, sweating, or vomiting may cause low blood pressure, lightheadedness, or fainting.  If fainting occurs, stop taking BiDil and contact your doctor immediately.

Lightheadedness may occur when standing, especially after sitting or lying down.

If you experience any achy and/or swollen joints, unexplained fever for more than a few days, skin rashes, chest pain, prolonged weakness or fatigue (even after a good night’s sleep), or any other unexplained signs or symptoms, make sure to tell your doctor as they may be signs of a serious medical condition.

You may also experience rapid heartbeat that could lead to chest pain or aggravate chest pain, or numbness or tingling in the hands or feet.

Sorbitrate is a registered trademark of AstraZeneca LP; Isordil is a registered trademark of Bioavail Corporation; Viagra is a registered trademark and Revatio is a trademark of Pfizer Inc.; Levitra is a registered trademark of Bayer Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline, and Schering-Plough; Cialis is a registered trademark of Lilly ICOS LLC.  Tylenol is a registered trademark of McNeil Pharmaceuticals, a Division of McNeil PPC, Inc.

Please see full Prescribing Information for BiDil.

BiDil is a registered trademark of NitroMed, Inc