Medications During Pregnancy

Pharmacists are often asked questions about the safety of taking medications during pregnancy.  The fact is that most medications have an unknown risk of being seriously harmful to the fetus.  The main reason for this, is that is unethical to perform the necessary studies on this particular population, and animal studies do not always correlate with the human situation.  Only a handful of drugs have well described serious effects to the fetus.  In addition, exposure of drugs during the first three months of pregnancy may cause physical malformations while exposure during the latter stages of pregnancy are associated more often with behavioral and functional problems.

It is known, however, that virtually all drugs do pass from the mother to the fetus beginning at about 5 weeks gestation.  This means that the fetus is exposed, to varying degrees, to the clinical effects of all medications.  Despite the lack of knowledge, medications are sometimes necessary and vital for the pregnant patient and her unborn child.  For most situations however, the best advice is to avoid all prescription, over-the-counter (OTC) medications (excluding pre-natal vitamins), and herbal remedies throughout pregnancy.  Ask your Pharmacist for more information on this very important subject.

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ASK YOUR PHARMACIST FOR MORE ADVICE ON THIS TOPIC