Medication use in Pregnancy
Taking any medication or herbal preparations in pregnancy
could potentially
harm an unborn infant. It is important to check with you health
care
provider to see what medications are safe to be taken during
pregnancy.
The following is information from the Journal of Midwifery &
Women's Health
2007
Which drugs are safe?
The US Food and Drug Administration has a safety class system
for all
medications. Medicines are classified by category: they may be
category
A,B,C,D, or X. These categories refer to what we know about the
effect a
medicine has on a developing baby during pregnancy.
+ Category A - Studies have been done with pregnant
women. There is no
known risk to the growing baby.
+ Category B - Studies have been done with pregnant
animals and shown no
risk, but there are no studies in women; OR studies in animals
showed some
risk, but studies in pregnant women did not find any risk.
+ Category C - Studies done with pregnant animals show
some risk, but there
are no studies in women; OR no studies have been done in animals
or humans,
so the risk for a pregnant women is not known. Medicines in
this category
are often prescribed during pregnancy if you need the medicine.
Even though
studies have not been done on the medications in this class,
most of them
have been used by pregnant women for years without any problems.
+ Category D - Studies have shown this medicine can harm
a developing human
baby during pregnancy. However, there are benefits of these
drugs for
mothers who have a serious illness. This may make them worth
taking in
spite of the risk. If you need a medicine in this class, your
health care
provider will talk to you about the pros and cons for both you
and baby.
+ Category X - Studies have shown these medications can
harm developing human
beings during pregnancy. There is no benefit to the mother that
makes
taking these drugs worth the risks.
Unfortunately, most medications are category C. Not many
studies have been
done in pregnant women. We don't know very much for certain
medications in
pregnancy.