12 principles for safe medication use during pregnancy

Introduction: What should I do if I get sick during pregnancy? For the health of the baby, many pregnant mothers will do this without taking medicine. In fact, this is not necessary. As long as the principles of medication are clearly understood, many medicines are safe for pregnant women and fetuses. Generally, pregnancy medication is divided into safety levels. Pregnant mothers can only be safe if they understand these...

Pregnant mothers are often either too fearful or too careless when taking medication during pregnancy. In fact, as long as the principles of drug use are clearly understood, drugs can be safe and secure for pregnant mothers and fetuses. We need to know the safety classification of medication during pregnancy.

Medication safety during pregnancy is divided into five levels: A, B, C, D, and X. Drugs that have been proven to have an impact on embryos include anti-epileptic drugs, certain psychiatric drugs, certain types of antibiotics, etc. These drugs have been proven to directly affect embryos, while other drugs have less obvious effects, but Still use caution.

Most doctors have a "drug manual", which records the classification of various medications and their effects on the fetus. The classifications are as follows.

Level A: Current clinical experiments have proven that it is not harmful to the fetus.

Level B: Animal experiments have confirmed no lethal or adverse effects on the fetus, and there are no reports on human experiments.

Level C: Animal experiments have confirmed adverse reactions to the fetus. Human experiments have not been reported, but they can be used if necessary.

Level D: Current clinical experiments have confirmed that it has adverse effects on the fetus, but it can be used in situations that endanger the mother's life.

Class X: Current clinical experiments have confirmed that it has adverse effects on the fetus, and its use is absolutely prohibited.

Try to choose Category A and Category B drugs during pregnancy.

There are relatively few drugs in Category A, including levothyroxine, folic acid, multivitamins during pregnancy, etc.;

Category B drugs include penicillins and cephalosporin antibiotics;

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Drugs above 60% are classified into Category C, which cannot rule out harm, but at the same time the potential benefits outweigh the potential harm.

However, for serious diseases, the pros and cons should be weighed whether to use Class D drugs during pregnancy, such as phenytoin used to treat epilepsy;

The use of Class X drugs during pregnancy should be absolutely prohibited. For example, isotretinoin, used to treat acne, falls into category X. It can cause fetal central nervous system, facial, cardiovascular and other organ abnormalities.

12 principles for safe medication during pregnancy:

Principle 1: Any medication should be taken under the guidance of a doctor. Do not buy and take it by yourself.

Principle 2: If you take medicine, you should develop the habit of recording the medicine (name of the medicine) so that you can clearly provide the name of the medicine you take when necessary to evaluate whether and the extent of the impact of the medicine on the fetus. . It is even more important to develop the habit of collecting and keeping the packaging boxes and drug instructions of the medicines you take during pregnancy.

Principle 3: If you need to take medicine for a long time due to special diseases such as thyroid dysfunction, epilepsy, systemic lupus erythematosus, etc., you should inform and consult your doctor first. Do not take medicine because you are planning to become pregnant or are already pregnant. Stop taking the medication on your own to avoid affecting the original disease and worsening the condition.

Principle 4: Have regular prenatal check-ups to understand the condition of the fetus.

Principle 5: When taking medicines, you should pay attention to the words "Use with caution, avoid use, prohibited by pregnant women" on the packaging.

Principle 6: Do not abuse drugs by relying on folk remedies or secret recipes.

Principle 7: Never use more of a drug that can be used sparingly; do not use a drug that can be used or not. Unavoidable medicines must be used under the guidance of a doctor.

Principle 8: When two or more drugs have the same or similar efficacy, consider choosing the drug that is less harmful to the fetus.

Principle 9: Avoid combined use of drugs if they can be used alone, and avoid newer drugs if you can use drugs with more certain conclusions.

Principle 10: It is prohibited to use experimental drugs during pregnancy, including pregnancy test drugs.

Principle 11: When taking medication, you must pay attention to the gestational age and strictly control the dosage and duration. Adhere to rational use of medication and stop medication promptly after the condition is controlled.

Principle 12: Before or during pregnancy, if you have any questions about medication, you should consult a professional doctor or pharmacist.

All or no reaction to medication in early pregnancy

Many mothers who did not know they were pregnant posted on forums that they took medicine for some minor illnesses, or their workplace organized a physical examination, and they or their husbands took it. X-ray, it took a while to find out that you were pregnant unexpectedly. This is really news that makes people happy and scared at the same time!

Go to the hospital and ask, the unreliable doctor will advise you to have an abortion without even thinking about it. Baby; Reliable people usually think of checking the drug instructions, but Chinese drug instructions only indicate "forbidden" or "use with caution". These warnings do not mean that pregnant mothers will definitely have deformities in their fetuses after taking these drugs. Sometimes, in order to protect themselves, doctors may directly advise pregnant mothers who have taken such warning drugs to abort them. Is this really right?

In fact, a large amount of clinical evidence abroad shows that early pregnancy (here specifically refers to before 4 weeks of pregnancy, that is, 28 days from the first day of the last menstrual period to the right) (within the period of time), there are only two consequences for the baby in the belly after taking medicine or receiving Go down.

This is the currently internationally recognized "all or none effect" theory in early pregnancy.

All or no effect: In the very early stages of pregnancy, if you accidentally take medication or be exposed to X-rays, the impact of medication or exposure to radiation within 4 weeks from the first day of the last menstrual period on the unborn baby It is an #all-or-none effect, that is, if it affects the embryo, the child will be aborted and unable to survive, but those who can survive will be fine. If there is a threat of miscarriage, do not protect the fetus and let the embryo abort on its own; if the baby grows healthily, you can continue the pregnancy. For those parents who take emergency contraceptive pills but still get pregnant, these children do not have to be aborted

——The consensus of many experts such as Peierwu Pediatrician, Peking Union Medical College’s Zhang Rongya, Dr. Gong Xiaoming, etc. Viewpoint

Of course, I would like to emphasize that even if the pre-pregnancy examinations are normal, the malformation rate of children born now is still around 2. We can only rule out the factors of initial medication, but we cannot avoid other unpredictable factors. . ————Dr. Gong Xiaoming

But even so, for couples who are planning to become pregnant or preparing for pregnancy, in order to avoid spontaneous abortion caused by taking medicine or being exposed to X-rays, they should take medicine or take a photo every time Do a pregnancy test before the X-ray to confirm that you are not pregnant before taking the X-ray. Also, to be on the safe side, pregnancy should be avoided within 3 months after X-ray exposure, including for both men and women.

————Excerpted from "Only Doctors Know" by Ji Lianmei