Pregnancy and asthma medication.

[YvetteY]

I wasn't too concerned about the medication I take for my asthma on a daily basis until today when I went to my PCP's office to get a new prescription.   I used to take Singulair, but had to stop as it wasn't on my old insurance formulary, but now it's on the formulary and it would be less expensive than the Accolate that I am currently taking.  The PA said they could only write prescriptions if it was a Category A.  Well the PCP's been treating my asthma for about 4 years now and I won't see the OB doc until I am further along in this pregnancy.   Currently I am just about 6 weeks.  I also take Advair diskus which is category C.   In any event a couple years ago my OB said all asthma medications are fine to take during pregnancy.  I told this to the PA and she did end up giving me a script.   So I am taking Singulair and Advair and occassionally Proair.   I realize there are risks with all medicines during pregnancy , but asthma is very common.   How dangerous are these meds during pregnancy.   Without them I just can't breathe.  I rarely take the Proair...that's rescue inhaler.

[YvetteY]

Or... does anyone else have asthma and are they taking medications for asthma during pregnancy?  

[LisaRG]

Hi Yvette,
I had a pretty severe asthma attack when I was 24 weeks.
I had to go to the emergency room at 1:00 am and they gave me oxygen and prvental as well as Prednisone ( serious steroid).  I stayed on prednisone for two weeks then I went on advair until my DD was born.  She was born very strong and healthy and she, unlike me, has no allergies so far at almost 4 year old.
I was very worried about my baby and the prednisone, but they needed to get me and keep me breathing.  These Dr's, obgyn, pulmonary and GP's seem to really have a handle on pregnancy and asthma these days ( just make sure they all consult each other on your medication.).
Remember, if moms not breathing neither is the baby.  Your lung health is as important  as your unborn baby.
It will all be Ok.
Lisa

[rambopeep]

Hi, I understand your concerns. I too am asthmatic. I was told by my MD that it is important to continue all asthma medications throughout pregnancy and that it will not harm the baby at all. It is true that you need to breath without distress. You need the extra oxygen flow since you have more blood to pump to the baby. Your distress also puts the baby in distress too. Asthma medications have been around for many years and I don't recall any reporting of a baby being harmed from it. Also my MD told me that my asthma symptoms should actually ease during pregnancy, which they did. My dd is now 6 and never had any breathing problems until last week when she developed bronchitis for the first time. The odds of her inheriting my asthma is high. The doc said it wasn't a matter of "if" but more a matter of "when", since it is hereditary.

Ironically it seems that my asthma has calmed down greatly with age. I developed it when I was 13 and had been hospitalized 6 times and once for a whole week long with 26 oxygen masks ,13 IV bags and I still walked out with a light wheeze. Now at 35, I can't remember the last time I even needed to take my meds, and haven't refilled my prescription since May of '07.

Best of luck

[Super_sally888]

Hi,

I also have asthma and had a flare up during this last 3rd trimester.  My pulmonologist told me that asthma is treated as if the woman were not pregnant.  Untreated asthma is considered higher risk for the pregnancy than any appropriate treatment.

I am now on Seretide inhaled plus an oral bronchodilator called ansimar.  They were considering oral steroids, but we avoided that particularly I have gestational diabetes...

Though the pulmonologist was prepared to use them and let my 'endo handle the blood sugar' if the other treatments had not worked in a reasonable time...

[tbeards]

Here is a great website that lists a ton of drugs and uses during pregnancy. The only problem I have found is that it doesn't list a lot of the meds by the brand name so you should type in the generic name. The link I put in below will go to Accolate but you can select a letter of the alphabet to find another drug name.

http://www.safefetus.com/DrugDetail.asp?DrugId=621&TradeName=Accolate&TradeId=3327