Man suffers permanent disability from heartburn drug
When 57-year-old August Macaluso, a former nuclear-plant maintenance worker in Charlotte, N.C., began shaking violently, blinking incessantly and slurring his speech, he and his wife Sharon were both puzzled. Desperate for answers, Sharon Googled his symptoms and learned that the drug her husband had been taking for just three months was linked to the involuntary movement disorder Tardive Dyskinesia with frighteningly similar symptoms. He stopped taking the drug and after a battery of medical tests, doctors confirmed the Macalusoes’ worst fears. August had suffered permanent damage.