Phytolysin in pregnancy: what you need to know about this drug?

According to widely disseminated information, if you use the diuretic drug phytolysin in full compliance with the doctor's instructions and in the prescribed dosage, then the question "can you use phytolysin during pregnancy?" should not arise. Moreover, many people claim that phytolysin is harmless during pregnancy for both the expectant mother and the fetus - after all, this drug is of plant origin.

However, the use of this drug by women during pregnancy causes quite controversial opinions...

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Is it possible to use phytolysin during pregnancy?

Phytolysin (Phytolysinum) is a combination drug based on medicinal plants - it is used as a diuretic (water pill). It is also claimed to have anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic effects. This drug is intended for patients with a urological diagnosis of nephrolithiasis, urolithiasis, and urinary tract infections associated with the presence of urinary stones. However, there is no indication "for the treatment of cystitis" in the instructions. But pregnant women are recommended to take it specifically for inflammation of the bladder.

By the way, the instructions for phytolysin during pregnancy describe the use of this drug as follows: "There is no data regarding the safety of the drug during pregnancy and lactation. If it is necessary to use the drug by nursing women, breastfeeding should be discontinued." Among the side effects of the drug are possible aversion to its taste with the occurrence of nausea, as well as allergic reactions to individual ingredients.

Phytolysin paste during pregnancy: composition of the drug

If you are recommended to use phytolysin to solve problems with your bladder, then before you find out the price of phytolysin during pregnancy, you should still find out what it contains.

And it includes extracts of the following plants: parsley (root), couch grass (rhizomes), horsetail (herb), birch (leaves), knotweed (herb), onion peel, fenugreek (seeds), goldenrod (herb), lovage (root). And also essential oils - sage, mint, pine and orange.

So, let's start with our usual parsley. Both the greens and its root contain a lot of substances useful for the body, which improve digestion, lower blood pressure, and reduce heart rate. Parsley is also famous for its diuretic and laxative effects. However, its root is also used to normalize the menstrual cycle, since the essential oils of this plant stimulate uterine contractions. Therefore, it is contraindicated to use parsley root during pregnancy. However, you may still be told that phytolysin is not dangerous in the early stages of pregnancy.

Phytolysin contains a wonderful medicinal plant, knotweed. Due to its high silicon content, this herb is used for uterine bleeding and uterine fibroids, and also helps contract the uterine muscles after childbirth. In parallel with this, knotweed has diuretic and anti-inflammatory properties and can reduce the deposition of salts in the urinary tract. But it cannot be used if a person has varicose veins, thrombophlebitis or acute kidney and urinary tract disease, not to mention pregnant women. Are you still wondering how to take phytolysin during pregnancy?

A powerful plant diuretic, horsetail herb, also contains many substances valuable for health. It is especially rich in saponins and sitosterol. Sitosterol suppresses the absorption of cholesterol from the digestive tract. In addition, this hormone-like substance acts on the principle of estrogen and can increase the production of female hormones. And since the issue of the effect of sitosterol on the embryo and fetus has not been sufficiently studied, its ingestion during pregnancy and breastfeeding should be avoided.

Phytolysin or Kanefron during pregnancy: which is better?

The drug phytolysin has a "close relative" - canephron, in the production of which medicinal plants are also used: lovage, centaury, rose hips and rosemary. According to some information, canephron is used in case of infectious and inflammatory processes in the urinary system (with cystitis and pyelonephritis), and treatment with this drug must be accompanied by the consumption of large amounts of fluid. Other sources claim that canephron can be prescribed for edema, as it promotes the removal of fluid from the body due to the diuretic effect (but does not disturb the water-salt balance). It can also be prescribed to pregnant women who suffer from edema in the late stages of pregnancy...

Let's try to decide what is better - phytolysin or canephron during pregnancy. Information about lovage was given above. The main value of rosemary is its essential oil, but the manufacturer uses powder from its dry leaves. Although they also contain camphene, L-camphor and borneol, which is close to ordinary camphor. And, as is known, camphor penetrates well into breast milk and through the placental barrier, therefore, "the use of camphor during lactation and pregnancy should be carried out with caution, strictly according to the indications when prescribed by a doctor."

Literally a few words should be said about the excipients in the composition of Canephron. Colloidal silicon dioxide (or pyrogenic silicon dioxide) can cause dyspepsia, lactose monohydrate (milk sugar) - allergies. There remains the adsorbent povidone (aka polyvinylpyrrolidone or food additive E-1201), which increases the solubility of drugs and is considered harmless. But this substance has side effects in the form of increased heart rate (tachycardia), decreased blood pressure and allergic reactions.

According to the official instructions for Canephron, "use of the drug during pregnancy and breastfeeding is possible only as prescribed by a doctor, in strict accordance with the recommendations for use and after the attending physician has assessed the risk-benefit ratio." And this wording is interpreted as permission to use this drug in the treatment of pregnant women.

Risk/benefit ratio

The paste Phytolysin, recommended during pregnancy, also contains medicinal lovage. An infusion of the roots of this well-known plant is recommended for the treatment of impotence and painful periods. Medicines containing lovage extract promote blood flow to the pelvic organs, and this is a contraindication for its use in the treatment of expectant mothers.

Fenugreek seeds are also used in the described preparation. These seeds contain steroidal saponins and phytosterols, which stimulate appetite, have an anabolic effect (accelerate protein synthesis, promoting muscle growth), and also a sedative (calming) effect on the central nervous system... And why should you disrupt the process of protein metabolism, if all metabolic processes in the body of a pregnant woman are regulated naturally and are aimed at the formation of the future child?

The presence of goldenrod extract among the components of phytolysin is entirely justified. All parts of this ubiquitous perennial are used as a diuretic, astringent, diaphoretic and antiseptic from China to Britain. It is especially widely used by urologists in European countries. And domestic herbalists consider this plant "moderately poisonous", requiring careful dosage. Therefore, it is not recommended to take it during exacerbations of kidney pathologies and during pregnancy.

In addition, goldenrod contains coumarins, which are indirect anticoagulants, that is, they disrupt the formation of prothrombin in the liver, which is involved in the blood clotting process.

The only plant that has no contraindications is the rhizomes of couch grass (yes, that same weed!). Couch grass contains essential oil, inositol, mucus, inulin, saponin, carotene and even ascorbic acid. Decoctions of couch grass rhizomes are used as a diuretic, expectorant, anti-inflammatory, choleretic and wound-healing agent. For example, French doctors recommend their patients to take juice from the stems and leaves of couch grass for cholelithiasis.

And finally, regarding the essential oil of mint, which is contained in phytolysin. Almost three quarters of the composition of mint oil is menthol, which has vasodilatory, antispasmodic and sedative effects. Therefore, its use during pregnancy is not recommended.

Reviews of phytolysin during pregnancy

On websites with relevant topics, you can find reviews of phytolysin during pregnancy: supposedly, a package lasts for a week - and everything goes away. Or "Thank you to the doctor who prescribed this paste to me." Some articles casually mention that "women who used them note a high therapeutic effect, although many of them also complain that this medicine does not help with edema."

But it was not possible to find reviews from doctors themselves who recommend phytolysin during pregnancy because it removes excess fluid from the body (i.e. it should reduce swelling). As well as information about the pharmacodynamics of the drug phytolysin. But it is precisely the data on the biochemical effects and physiological action of the drug that could give a clear and distinct answer to the question: is phytolysin possible during pregnancy?

Do not forget that you need to be careful when using any medications prescribed during pregnancy, carefully weighing the benefit-risk ratio. And to get rid of swelling, all pregnant women suffering from swelling can be advised a very effective, safe and tasty method. And this method is cranberries! This vitamin-rich berry can be consumed (80-100 g per day) with sugar or honey. Or you can make cranberry juice: mix a tablespoon of cranberries with a dessert spoon of granulated sugar, crush and pour a glass of warm boiled water. A couple of cups of cranberry juice a day - and no phytolysin will be needed during pregnancy.