The MSE Pregnancy Club

purplepatch

Dormouse wrote:

However, she did mention I could in theory have something with paracetamol and codeine in it (can't remember what it's called) if the pain gets really bad.

I get migraines and was not allowed to take ibuprofen (although I'm sure having taken a couple won't hurt, so don't worry about it). The thing Dormouse is talking about is cocodamol and it is fine to take, although not in the very last few weeks as apparently baby can get addicted to codeine. I found it quite good - paracetemol doesn't touch my headaches.

Justie

purplepatch wrote:

I get migraines and was not allowed to take ibuprofen (although I'm sure having taken a couple won't hurt, so don't worry about it). The thing Dormouse is talking about is cocodamol and it is fine to take, although not in the very last few weeks as apparently baby can get addicted to codeine. I found it quite good - paracetemol doesn't touch my headaches.

yes my regular gp has said codeine is ok but I don't get on very well with it and don't have any in the house. The on call GP who we think was Dutch said it's fine to take the odd ibuprofen if it's needed but not with anything else and websites I've looked at today suggest that in the second trimester very occasional use is ok but it should be avoided in the third trimester. I'm taking as few as possible and hopefully the chiro will sort my neck out tomorrow and if not I'm getting some cocodomol but as the pain has been bad enough to make me sick I figure using what works is best for me and baby in the mean time.

The problem with all drugs is that tests aren't done on pregnant women they just work on a 'hasn't seemed to have any illeffects' principle so older drugs are always recommended in favour of newer ones as they've had longer to look at the data.

purplepatch

My very laid back doctor started saying that he couldn't see the harm in taking ibuprofen but then looked it up in his book where it said that it had specific risks in pregnancy, so we decided to try something else which thankfully worked for me. But if you can't get on with codeine, then you might well be described as one of the patients where the benefit outweighs the risk.

In my first pregnancy I had a different gp who said absolutely nothing but paracetemol, which I listened to and spent a week with a migraine from hell - she told me to try tying something around my head as apparently that can help - yeah right... it didn't! :mad::rolleyes:

Becles

I got told you can't take coedine in the first trimester but I forget why. I think it was something to do with causing development problems, but I'm not 100% sure. You can't take it in the third trimester as it can cause breathing problems for baby. I was told an occastional dose in the second trimester should be ok, but not to use it regular.

I've been told ibuprofen is a complete no, right through the pregnancy, but paracetamol is fine at any time.

I find it odd that we all get told completely different things about these over the counter drugs. How are we supposed to know what is safe and what is not, when we're all told different things

I've had back ache, just because my bump is so big, but I've found heat helps. Either soak in a warm bath or use a hot water bottle or a heat pad for relief. Don't put the hot water bottle/head pad on your tummy though, as that can overheat baby!

jenpoptab

Hello there

Can I join you?

I'm 23 weeks pregnant with my third child. EDD 29.06.07. Had my scan couple of weeks ago and despite everyone asking me to find out the sex I haven't again.

I've been suffering wityh terrible lower back pain which I am sure is a trapped nerve. Today it is really so bad that my OH has had to help me stand up out of bed so I have a dining room chair to sit on today as it's about the right height to easily get up and down. Does anyone have any suggestions for ease of this pain? I saw GP Fri, who is running a urine test to ensure it's not a water infection as well but I'm pretty sure it's trapped nerve! Is it best to speak to MW re:this or hassle GP again?

Any advice greatfully received.

Justie

Becles wrote:

I find it odd that we all get told completely different things about these over the counter drugs. How are we supposed to know what is safe and what is not, when we're all told different things

it's so frustrating! I know it's because they can't test on pregnant women so the decision can only be made by looking at long term data of usage and problems but it doesn't help when you get told different things by different doctors and I supsect that the advice changes from country to country too.

I'm kind of taking the pragmatic approach that there are lots of women who still smoke, take drugs etc and still produce babies who are alive and well (yes I know they have problems and there's an increased risk of low birth weight etc but they don't seem to angst about it like we do) so the very occasional use of a couple of ibuprofen while not ideal is probably low risk. I'm just hoping that the chiro can sort it out today and doesn't make it more painful. I look like someone's put my head on wrong at the moment...

Justie

jenpoptab wrote:

Hello there

Can I join you?

I'm 23 weeks pregnant with my third child. EDD 29.06.07. Had my scan couple of weeks ago and despite everyone asking me to find out the sex I haven't again.

I've been suffering wityh terrible lower back pain which I am sure is a trapped nerve. Today it is really so bad that my OH has had to help me stand up out of bed so I have a dining room chair to sit on today as it's about the right height to easily get up and down. Does anyone have any suggestions for ease of this pain? I saw GP Fri, who is running a urine test to ensure it's not a water infection as well but I'm pretty sure it's trapped nerve! Is it best to speak to MW re:this or hassle GP again?

Any advice greatfully received.

welcome!

Is it definitely your back and not your pelvis? There are various women on here with SPD who can give specific advice if it's that. Otherwise I'm afraid it's paracetamol, heat and finding positions that ease it. I'd also recommend the people who stick needles in you (pregnancy brain means I can't think of the word... :rolleyes: ) or a chiropractor. Neither cheap but very effective and both suitable for pregnancy. You may be able to take codeine too but check with your GP or midwife first... as you can see from our current discussions it's not easy to tell what you can and can't take...

SusanCarter

I think there's not really a lot of information on the effects of all these drugs so each doctor/pharmacist just has to make a judgement as to whether it is worth the risk depending on the information about that drug and the symptoms each individual has. I guess it's just a case of whether they think there is greater risk of harm to you and/or the baby from the medication or from the ailment.

Personally, I've found the best thing is to either see the doctor or go and ask the pharmacist as that way the decision is based on your current symptoms and stage of pregnancy.

Js_Other_Half

SusanCarter wrote:

Personally, I've found the best thing is to either see the doctor or go and ask the pharmacist as that way the decision is based on your current symptoms and stage of pregnancy.

I was trying to get fish oils capsules suitable for the last trimester of pregnancy late last year, and the pharmacist in Boots tried to sell me multivitamins with fish oils added - but which also contained Vitamin A. He knew I was already taking pregnacare, and Vitamin A is now contraindicated in pregnancy. Needless to say I didn't buy the ones he was suggesting, but it worried me that a qualified pharmacist didn't know that. (And he was a pharmacist, not an ordinary staff member)

SusanCarter

I suppose there is no guarantee that the doctor/pharmacist will get it right as everyone can make mistakes although that does sound like quite an obvious mistake. There's one pharmacist I don't go to because twice running I was given the wrong number of antibiotic tablets and I figured if he couldn't get that right (they have special triangular things for counting tablets) then I didn't trust him to get other things right. Was the pharmacist older? My husband's mum retired from pharmacy a couple of years ago and one of the reasons was that when she trained they didn't have to give advice and she never felt very happy about the increasing amount of advice she was supposed to be able to give to people.