Allergies

A huge concern for many women is whether or not it is safe for them to take allergy medication while breastfeeding or pregnant. In fact, many women find that their allergies become increasingly hard to control and manage during pregnancy. This, coupled with their reluctance to medicate, can cause quite a bit of stress on both the mother and the child. There are many factors involved in determining why your allergies improved, worsened or stayed the same. These conditions can range from time of year to increase in pregnancy hormones.

Many of the symptoms of allergies are very like symptoms many women experience during pregnancy. These can include nasal congestion, shortness of breath and nasal drip. These symptoms can be caused by pregnancy hormones, as well as allergy. The one difference between the two, is that since the “rhinitis of pregnancy” is non allergic in nature, antihistamines will have no affect on the symptoms.

Although using medications is a huge concern for women who are pregnant, they may become necessary if the symptoms become severe enough. Your best bet would be to avoid the allergens that trigger the reactions altogether. Identify what may be causing the symptoms, and try to eliminate it from your life until you’ve had your baby, or are comfortable taking medication while pregnant. Always remember to consult your doctor before taking any form of medication during pregnancy. Only your doctor will be able to effectively determine what’s safe and what isn’t based on your situation.

According to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), no medicine is completely safe for any mother to ingest while pregnant. This is partly due to the lack of data involving pregnant women and drug interactions. There have been no formal pregnancy-medication studies performed, due to the fact that no pregnant women would actually want to be part of such a study. Instead, the medications are ranked into classes based on risk.

• Category “A” is those medications in which there actually has been a limited amount of study on the interaction, and no adverse effects have been observed.

• Category “B” is medications that have performed well in animal studies, but have no history of study in pregnant human females.

• Category “C” is medications that have been shown to result in adverse effects in testing done on pregnant animals.

• Category “D” is medications that have consistently shown adverse effects in animal testing, but still may be found of use to pregnant human females.

• Category “X” is medications that have consistently shown adverse effects, and should always be avoided by women who are pregnant or nursing.

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