Anyone use Class C medications through pregnancy?

[LouLou]

to name a few:

Advair
Flonase

My CF doctors advise is to attempt to get off C's before pregnancy and only use them if I seem to really need them. Class D's they want me off of. Not sure if I'm even on a D.

Thoughts?

Also, I have to decide if I want IV's during pregnancy or wait until after pregnancy. I seem to be leaning towards during pregnancy so that I can breastfeed. My understanding is there are some IV med's okay for pregnancy but none that are okay for a breastfeeding mother.

Thoughts?

 

[JazzysMom]

My understanding is that breastfeeding makes it much more difficult because EVERYTHING goes into the breast milk. When I was pregannt & had to do IV they did have to switch some meds that would be safe. Dont recall what they were, but I was on a few iv's & oral during my pregnancy. I couldnt or chose not to breastfeed because of the calories burned plus I take epilepsy meds that we didnt want to mess with!

 

[Scarlett81]

Lauren,

I'm going through this right now. I've gone off all my class C and D meds, even trying to go off my class B meds.( We're trying right now to get pregnant)
My doc explained the whole risk/benefit ratio with CF pregnancy. Take a little risk with class B meds, to assure more benefit for the mother's health. I totally agree with that.

My issue is, if my health is good, even ok, they why treat? If I start to slip, then I'll consider the meds. I just don't want anything to happen to the baby! I'm trying to decide right now if I want to discontinue my Protonix-my reflux med-and switch to something else. It's in the B class.

My doc said she won't do automatic IV meds unless I need them during the pregnancy. I think she will want me to do them right after delivery, but we already agreed that if my lungs are ok, I won't do any IVs at all. Meaning, she won't make me do them without just cause.

I'm trying to approach this pregnancy with an open mind. I'm not closing my mind to anything. I will try to go as natural as possible. And if problems arise, I'll do what I have to in the way of meds to stay healthy.

 

[ladybug]

My prior clinic told me to stay on ALL my meds... I wasn't on any D, but WAS on C meds. They said to stay on the C drugs and obviously the B drugs are ok. There are meds IV you can take during pregnancy. I haven't become prego (its been 3 years trying), but have discussed it exhaustively with my clinics.

Good luck!

 

[ladybug]

Here is a link to a GREAT website on all the classes of drugs and pregnancy:

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.perinatology.com/exposures/druglist.htm">http://www.perinatology.com/exposures/druglist.htm</a>

 

[Scarlett81]

FYI-

I just got off the phone with my cf doc about the Protonix/pregnancy issue. Protonix and many other antacid meds can cause a Vit B 12 deficiency-and of course that's needed for preggin moms. Not to mention that many of the B class meds haven't been tested on humans for pregnancy. This IS NOT to say that they are unsafe however. -They urged that. -Its still better to take meds to stay healthy than not!
However, their strategy is to stay off meds if no urgent need is present. So, they suggested that I try to go with over the counter Pepcid for the pregnancy if I can. At least till I get over the 1st trimester. They also said you don't want to have the reflux during the pregnancy either-its bad, so meds may be neccesary.
I'm going to take it one day at a time with this situation.
Hope it goes well with you too!

 

[ladybug]

TUMS actually is very safe (even helpful cause of the calcium), so I would try that OTC first. The smooth disolve are actually really really nummy! Like candy!

 

[becca23]

I took all my meds during pregnancy, I even did tobramycin and fortaz IV towards the end and both of my nanies were fine. I was on zantac for antacid for both.

 

[lovingBenandCambree]

I know that I couldnt be on Tobramyacin through IV due to it causing deafness in the fetus. I did however do inhaled Tobi because it is transmitted directly into the lungs it was less likely to cross over into the fetus. I was on IV antibiotics at 3 months for 3 weeks and at 7 months for 2 weeks and then had my baby. I also had to be on some pretty high doses fo pain meds at this time. My baby was fine. I think that I was on some class C drugs. I don't remember what and I don't know what class the C drugs were. My docs were really great with everything and let me know what I was up against. Good luck! Always remember that you have to take care of you first in order to be able to take care of a baby. I just read that Albuterol is a Class C and I was on that at least 3 times a day.

 

[NoExcuses]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>LouLou</b></i>

to name a few:



Advair

Flonase



My CF doctors advise is to attempt to get off C's before pregnancy and only use them if I seem to really need them. Class D's they want me off of. Not sure if I'm even on a D.



Thoughts?



Also, I have to decide if I want IV's during pregnancy or wait until after pregnancy. I seem to be leaning towards during pregnancy so that I can breastfeed. My understanding is there are some IV med's okay for pregnancy but none that are okay for a breastfeeding mother.



Thoughts?</end quote></div>

Flonase is the devil.

Just kidding, but there is nasacort AQ which doesn't have alcohol so less headache/nose bleeds associated with it. its also scent free... which flonase is not. head to head studies demonstrated that nasacort AQ works just as well as Flonase.

Rhinocort Aqua is preg cat B. not as efficacious as Flonase or Nasacort AQ and you may need 4 sprays per nostril which can make the script run out sooner. But if it's for the baby, it may be worth it.

 

[chipper28]

Flonase is the devil.  I got gross nose bleeds with it.
 I know that it was replaced by one of my other nose sprays,
but I can't remember which one (either atrovent, nasonex or
astellin).<br>
<br>
Relating to the question at hand.  My sister-in-law (non-cf)
recently gave birth and she continued using Advair daily throughout
the entire pregnancy.  She takes it for asthma.
 Basically, her obgyn said that the potential damage to the
fetus if she had an asthma episode or with health just generally
deteriorating without the drug was worse than the potential effects
of taking it.  She only takes 250/50, so I don't know if this
is true with 500/50, but my niece has so far seemed just perfect
.  (But then again, I seem to spend most of my time trying
to get off of 500/50 onto 250/50 normally, so who knows).

 

[LouLou]

Thanks for all the great advice guys.

Emilee, I'm definitely with ya. I don't want to hurt the baby but I'm willing to take a certain amount of low risk in order to take meds to keep me extra healthy. I feel if I went more 'natural' I'd likely end up sick and then I'd be more likely to have to take some hard hitting drugs that could end up more dangerous than if I just took so low risk ones to start and prevented the illness in the first place.

Amy, I see why you are so knowledgeable about Nasacort... it's an SA product!! I'll definitely ask for a script of it. Do you use it? Also, your previous advice about using Zyrtec might come in handy because the Clarinex that has worked so well for me (I have very mild allergies I guess) is a Cat. C - Allegra is Cat. B. Claritin is Cat. B but who wants to pay for that! Rx's are free for me. I have an out of pocket max of 1K that I hit in the first month and then the rest of the year - no charge! Life is too good!

Christian - I read something in the Protonix under the fertility effects that wasn't very positive as well. Might loook into that if you need some more convincing to get off of it.

Chipper - I'm on 250/50 - good to hear about your SIL. I've used 500 a few times while I was in ATX if I was having wheezing. My doctor was always very cautious about me using it - would call to make sure I was off of it after a week. He could go on and on about the damage that it can do to the body. If I remember correctly, one thing it did that really makes me cautious is it deteriorates bones. I am such a good milk drinker. My dexascan showed I have great bones. After hearing about the guy who was declined a lung transplant partially because he had weak bones really gets me scared. STRONG BONES - YEAH!!

 

[chipper28]

Lauren,

Glad to hear that life outside of Austin's air helps with the breathing. I'm sure you heard that saying that whether you had allergies when you moved there, everyone has allergies within ten years.

For me the trick to kicking the 500/50 habit was Singulair. But that doesn't help in trying to find a pregnancy approved set of drugs!

After reading your posts last night, I out of curiousity did a search of some of my drugs. Out of 11, I had 8 class c's and 3 class b's. This pregnancy drug game is a lot harder than I guessed!

But it sounds like you've really got it down and have really worked to get a cohesive set of drugs and accompanying potential risks... You definitely have to keep us all updated.