Anyone else on Terbutaline?

[ramseyh17]

Okay so I am Terbutaline for my pre-term labor. This medicine is to keep me from contracting. I have taken it before (during my other pregnancies) but I have never had these side effects. I am having really bad headaches, I am short of breath, my heart is raceing and I feel like I have an elephant sitting on my chest. I am scared that I am getting high blood pressure or that my heart rate is getting to high. When I have a contraction I think that my heart rate is dropping becasuse my chest hurts really bad. But I was just wondering if anyone else was taking this medication and if they had any of the symptoms that I am haveing? I think I am going to call my doctor tomorrow to see what he says about it. I just don't want to have to go back into the hospital, but I guess I will do what ever it takes to make my baby girl healthy.

[Rach1717]

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well and you haven't dilated any more! I guess we are in the same boat ... hoping to hang on in there for a few more weeks :) I had a non stress test and ultrasound today and the baby looks to be fine, also I haven't dilated any which is good news. I'm on bed rest for another two weeks which is a bit of a pain ... but if it means the little guy stays where he is its worth it! Good luck & keep me posted on how you are doing!

Rx

[ramseyh17]

Sorry it took me so long to respond. I wasn't rally having a lot of contractions my stomach was actually cramping and I had a lot of pressure in my bottom and other area. I am dialated to 1 cm but I have been there for almost 4 weeks now. My doctor doesn't have me on any meds right now but he did say that if I started having contractions again then he would put me on Pulmicort which is a blood pressure med that is also used to slow down contractions. I am almost 30 weeks now and I have about 2-3 contractions an hour and sometimes have pressure but I have had my other two children early and I can tell when it is doing something and when it is not. So I haven't gone back to the hospital, but I also haven't dialted any more. I am sure that she will come early but hopefully she will stay in a few more weeks. I also had the steroids at 26 weeks so her lungs will be more developed when she is born. Good Luck to both of you!

[Rach1717]

I had the same thing happen to me, I was having contractions on and off all this week. At first I thought they were braxton hicks but my doctor told me to call if I had more than 3 in an hour and if after drinking lots of water and laying on my left side didn't stop them. I was having several contractions in an hour but they were very light ... didn't hurt at all, my belly just felt tight and hard so I called and my doctor told me to head to hospital. When I got to hospital they put me on a monitor for the baby's heartbeat and the contractions. The baby looked great but my contractions were every 2 minutes but only lasting 30 seconds ... it was very worrying as I'm only 30 weeks! They gave me fluids by IV and the contractions didn't stop so they gave me a shot of tertbutaline ... I had exactly the same symptoms ... it felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest!! The doctor told me this was a usual side effect of the medication. It took 2 more shots of the tertbutaline to slow down my contractions until they were nearly gone but the good news is that my cervix didn't change and my fibronectin test came back negative so the doctor was pretty sure that I wasn't in labor. I also got steroid shots to help mature my little boy's lungs in case I have more contractions and go into labor. I'm now on a weeks bed rest and taking another medication to make sure I don't have anymore contractions (can't remember the name of it) ... so far it seems to be working (fingers crossed). I'm just really glad that I called the doctor and didn't ignore what I was feeling as who knows what would have happened! I think its always better to be safe than sorry about these things! Ramseh17, did your doctor put you on another medicine? the one I'm taking now is much better ... I still get a bit flushed but my heart doesn't race now. Whitlack, are you still having contractions? I hope you are both doing well! :)

Rachel x

[whitlack]

I'm not taking any meds but I think I have been having a lot of contractions but they are not too intense.  It happens enough that I am gonna mention it to my doc when I go next week.  My heart has been racing too but I notice it only when my blood pressure drops which happens mainly when I am at work before I get to eat or drink anything.  The other day at work my BP drop to 88/62 and pulse was 137!!  I was feeling rough but after I ate and drank something I felt much better.  Just curious,  how often were your contractions? Were they intense? And did they do an internal exam to see if you had dilated yet??  I hope these symptom that I am having are normal.  I hope you get to feeling better! :)

[ramseyh17]

Well I jsut talked to my doctor and he has taken me off of the Terbutaline. He wanted me to stop taking the medicine as soon as possible. So my feeling of the medication, soing weird stuff to me, were right. Just wanted to give everyone the update.