Is it okay to take medication during pregnancy?

When a woman discovers that her period is late (and this is usually two or three weeks into pregnancy), she understands that she is pregnant. That is when she begins to worry about whether she has harmed her future child by drinking alcohol, smoking, or taking any medications. It is safe to say that if the pregnancy continues and has not miscarried, then all your concerns are groundless. After all, if something could harm the egg, and then the resulting egg, then the pregnancy would either not have occurred or would have miscarried. But starting from the second month, when the egg is implanted in the uterus and the embryo begins to receive all substances from the mother (including alcohol, nicotine, drugs, and medications), you need to be extremely careful. These substances can seriously harm the new life. In general, the placenta is a kind of barrier on the way from the mother to the fetus and "tries" not to let harmful substances through. But the fact is that most medications can penetrate through it and have a negative effect on the fetus.

Today, most medications have been studied well enough and the annotation indicates whether pregnant women can take them or not. But even those medications that pregnant women can take, under certain conditions, can disrupt the development of the fetus. Before taking this or that medication, consult your doctor! Perhaps he will prescribe you another medication that is safer for the embryo and works just as well as the one you wanted to take on your own.

If you are bothered by a cough, try not to use ready-made medications that are sold in pharmacies, since they may contain substances that suppress the fetus. The same applies to nasal drops. Moreover, they must be used scrupulously following the instructions - if it says no more than two drops, then no more than two drops, and if it says no more than 4 times a day, then you cannot pour them into your nose every two hours. We all know that aspirin and paracetamol are good at reducing fever. But if you are pregnant, then first you need to find out why it rose, what caused it to increase (maybe it is the beginning of rubella), and only then use antipyretics. In addition, if paracetamol is relatively harmless, then aspirin significantly affects the coagulation function of the blood and its use should be allowed (or prohibited) by your doctor.

Some medications are not only not contraindicated during pregnancy, but are even beneficial. But only your doctor can tell you which medications can, and sometimes should, be taken during pregnancy.

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Medicines that are absolutely contraindicated during pregnancy

• Aminopterin
• Androgens
• Diethylstilbestrol
• Streptomycin
• Disulfiram
• Ergotamine
• Estrogens
• Halothane
• Iodine 131
• Cretinism, hypothyroidism
• Methyltestosterone
• Progestins
• Quinine
• Thalidomide
• Trimetadine
• Retinoids (isotretinoin, roancutane, etretinate, tigazone, acitretin)