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Home › Articles › Complications in Pregnancy › Pill Popping?

Pill Popping?

Safe Medications During Pregnancy

By Teri Brown

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Modern medicine has given us many amazing miracles, including medication for almost everything that ails us. Unfortunately, that also places moms-to-be in the predicament of having to choose which medications they should continue taking while pregnant.

Susan* of Gilbertsville, Pa., had been taking Prozac fairly regularly for several years before deciding to go off her medications to get pregnant.

"I had already discussed it with my doctor much earlier," Susan says. "Since we had trouble getting pregnant and wound up doing fertility treatments, I ended up being off the [medication] for a number of years. It was extremely difficult, especially with the stress of infertility added to the mix. My husband was a huge help. He knew how difficult it was for me and made every effort to support me, talk to me and ease my stress when he could."

Six months after having twins, Susan went back on her medication. "Since I think I was experiencing some postpartum depression as well, adding the meds back into my routine really helped," she says.

Working with Your Doctor
No matter what kind of medication you happen to be on, it is important to discuss the issue with your doctor.

Dr. Susan Klugman, assistant professor of OB/GYN and Women's Health for the Division of Reproductive Genetics at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., says it is imperative that doctors and their patients discuss this before pregnancy.

"Many medications can be taken safely in pregnancy, but there are others that can have serious side effects," Dr. Klugman says. "It is also important to know at which point in the pregnancy the medications are taken."

In Light of New Findings
There are several medications that the medical establishment once labeled as safe that are now known to cause problems. "There has been recent evidence that some blood pressure medications, originally thought to be safe, are now contraindicated early on in pregnancy because of an increased risk of heart malformations," Dr. Klugman says. "They are called angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. This may be a problem for women who have high blood pressure before pregnancy."

According to Dr. Klugman, there have also been some recent reports about exposure to antidepressants during the third trimester of pregnancy that have been associated with an increased risk for adverse birth outcomes, including preterm birth, respiratory distress and hypoglycemia.


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