asthma/respiratory problems and pregnancy

For those with these problems are any of you still taking inhalers or nasal sprays that are corticosteroids? I was prescribed the generic of Flonase for my really bad night-time post-nasal drip that kept making me sick. I took the full prescribed dose of 2 sprays a day for only a day or 2, but then would just take it at night for about the last 3 weeks (so half the prescribed dose). I couldn't sleep and read on-line that the drug CAN be harmful to the fetus. I called my insurance company's 24 nurse line and they weren't able to find much else other than what I found. She said not to worry and that some asthmatics have to stay on such drugs throughout pregnancy and others don't know they are pg for like 8 weeks and are taking all sorts of drugs, although they don't recommend pg women taking ANYTHING, but that even included my Lovenox and baby aspirin, which my doctor would beat me up if I didn't take. My doctor is probably tired of my phone calls, but I was wondering if anyone is taking these types of meds or did during their pregnancy and were there any adverse affects. The Web sites say that studies in human's were inconclusive. I'm going to stop taking the stuff, but was just curious to know if I've done any damage to the baby by taking half the dose once a day for 3 weeks?

I must be the most paranoid preggo in the world... I'm not going to sleep until the child is 18 and healthy

Re: asthma/respiratory problems and pregnancy

I am not PG now.. just lurking But my MD said of course you would use your inhalers if you were PG. It is a risk benifit ratio. If I didn't... Well That would be very bad.
SHe told me that there are no allergy eye drops for PG. Inhalers are to be used and Claritin is Okay. I think she told me that there is one nose spary but I don't remember which one it was. Try calling your regular MD or if you have an asthma specialist.

Re: asthma/respiratory problems and pregnancy

I had a bad allergic reaction to something this past week and was put on steroids to control the swelling in my lips and tongue. I was (and still am) scared about possible side effects. But my doctor (ENT and OB) said I had no choice, if my throat closed up and I needed some type of surgery that would be worse for the baby. You have to take care of yourself or you can't take care of your baby.

Re: asthma/respiratory problems and pregnancy

Thank you so much. Mine was just a bad post nasal drip that kept making me sick and my sinuses were hurting. I'm stopping the flonase for now... but I am doing the saline spray several times a day especially when I wake up and right before bed. We are putting our humidifier on soon too. I of course wouldn't die if I had a cold, but it was uncomfortable enough to miss work and it happened 2 months in a row... my boss didn't seem to thrilled the second time I missed 2 days of work for a cold only 3 or 4 weeks after the first cold I missed 3 days for, so I wanted something to prevent future flare ups and I was choking on the mucus that would end up in my throat in the middle of the night. We'll see how the saline spray does and only take the flonase for severe flare ups.

Re: asthma/respiratory problems and pregnancy

Sorry I didn't see your post until now.

I went through a very similar thing. I have asthma from allergies. As long as I stay on Rhinocort (similar to flonase) and clariton - I can breathe and don't need an inhaler or anything. Once I go off- whole other story- basically I'm miserable.

Well- back when I first got pg I went thru the same thing you did- looked it up online saw the inconclusive results etc.... I asked my doc and she said that its fine - but I didn't believe her for whatever reason and stopped taking the rhinocort, and took just the clariton. I was really miserable throughout this time- couldn't sleep becuase of the allergies- sneezing and coughing constantly.

Fast forward to about 10 weeks - I'm reading through the mayo clinic's guide to pregnancy and it said that the steroids like rhinocort are fine and better than not being able to breathe. That its better for the baby that you are comfortable and even more important that your lungs get oxygen so that it gets passed along to the baby (something like that)
I know when I was diagnosed with asthma before they put me on rhinocort -my lungs were only using 40% of what they could. this made me think that I was depriving my baby of much needed oxygen

So I've been taking the rhinocort ever since - I feel a lot better. All my test results and sonos have been great.

Its a rough decision to make - I hope my post helps you...