One of the worst parts of being pregnant is when YOU get sick. Knowing which medicines to take can be confusing! One thing I hate even more is when you are trying to conceive and get sick. You aren’t sure if you are pregnant or not in the first week or two, and you think, “Should I? or Shouldn’t I?” I always err on the side of caution. I don’t want to risk anything!!
But, once you know you are pregnant, why does it have to be so confusing? Some doctors are more conservative than others on advising you on medication. So, this can add to the frustration. Maybe your doc said it was fine to take a medication, and then a friend told you that their doc said it wasn’t OK. When I was pregnant with my first, I was taking a nasal spray regularly for my allergies. My doc said it was OK to continue with this medication, but I did my own research. There was not conclusive evidence that it was OK. At least not enough for my liking, so I chose not to take it and just suffered through allergy season!!
But, why is it so different between docs? I asked my husband this question, because he is a Physician Assistant, and he explained that there are different classes of medication. I did some research and found that the FDA classifies medications as A, B, C, D, or X. The rating system is determined by studies done on the medication during pregnancy.
Class A- This is the safest because it is the only one that has sufficient evidence behind it through studies to deem it safe.
Class B- Means, that there are not enough studies done on humans to deem it safe yet. OR, there have been problems with animal studies, but not with human studies.
Class C- This means that again, there aren’t enough human studies to deem it safe.
Class D- This category indicates serious risk.
Class X- This category is the worst indicating it can cause serious birth defects or complications.
So, a doctor may look at this scale, and have a different opinion from a doctor down the street. You may ask your doctor about a Class B medication, and she will say something like, “It’s probably OK”, while another doctor will play it safe and advise you against all medications other than Class A.
My way of thinking on the matter with both pregnancies was that if there were not enough studies done, I wasn’t touching it. There are ethical reasons that more studies aren’t done on humans. An unborn fetus is the test subject. That hardly seems fair. So many companies rely just on animal studies for their testing. The hard part is that there are probably just not enough women out there that want to participate in a study while pregnant. I know I wouldn’t want to. So, there may be some medications that are safe, but we may never know due to the lack of studies out there to prove them safe and place them in the Class A category.
I always play it safe during pregnancy, but as always, consult your physician before starting any medication.
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