What was this capsule?

[Worried888]

Was given the wrong drug in a healthcare setting. They don’t know what they gave me.

It was a small capsule (smaller than paracetamol) one half was coloured yellow/orange and the other pink/red.

I am absolutely terrified as to what it could have been as I’m 6 weeks pregnant.

This?

Thank you, I really hope this is the case. I just want to know what it is so I can park with the stress and worry.

The yellow side was a similar yellow but the pinky red side much more vibrant not pastel pink. They got out all their oseltamivir from the cupboard and they were all yellow and white. So it couldn’t have been the correct drug they gave me.

Your stress and lack of sleep over this matter is really massively out of scale with the absolutely miniscule (honestly, totally negligible) potential risk of what you have taken. 1 tablet is neither here nor there. I have worked in maternity.

Stress and anxiety will not help. You will probably never find out. But it doesn't matter, from a safety perspective.

By all means complain, but please don't let this stress you out, honestly.

Thank you, I’m not even interested in complaining. All I care about is the health of my baby. And I’m terrified about the prospect that it could be a “harmful in pregnancy” drug that’s somehow damaged my baby’s development in this early important stage.

The orange/red pill is 10mg omeprazole. For size comparison the green/white is 10mg prozac and the plain white is 100mg of levothyroxine.

Hope that helps. I understand your worries.

Did you only take one capsule?

Yes because I was then discharged and dispensed the correct medication by my local pharmacy

Thank you, I think it was more the size of the Prozac, and more pink and yellow tone to it than the red and orange tablet

Crikey, I think it's safe to say that you and baby will be fine!

1 tablet from a "harmful in pregnancy" drug will not do anything, I promise, The vast majority of tablets are not actually harmful, but as they don't use pregnant women in clinical trials, they just say that to cover themselves. Same as you 'shouldn't' have aromatherapy in the first 12 weeks, or many other things. Not because it's dangerous, but because nobody has ever properly looked at it. And 1 tablet is such a teeny tiny amount it really doesn't matter.

I can't emphasise enough how much more risky your own stress and cortisol is, than this 1 mystery tablet.

Here is tamiflu which is the same as what you were meant to be given I believe? And it's the colours you said.

Thank you, I’m very anxious because of it and it doesn’t help that I’ve had the most amount of bleeding I’ve had this pregnancy in the last two days plus am suffering with flu. Are there any tablets which could cause birth defects from just one capsule? And is it even less likely to have caused any harm because of my early stage of pregnancy?

Someone posted this above and unfortunately it didn’t look like that in terms of shade and I also think those capsules are too large to be the one I was given. In addition the ward said they only had oseltamivir which was yellow and white on the ward so it wouldn’t have been possible to have been given a different colour of the correct medication.

I'm not a medical professional, but I will take a guess that frazzling yourself into oblivion with stress can have more detrimental effects than one tablet of anything.

Love, you need to step away from this thread and calm down x

Others have mentioned omeprazole. I have been taking it for five years and during that time it has come in every colour of the rainbow and in different size capsules. It all depends on the manufacturer.

Your stress level is not proportionate to the miniscule risk of taking a single tablet of a potentially wrong medication dispensed in a healthcare setting. I would urgently consult a GP about your anxiety and ask for a counselling referral. Your lack of emotional regulation will be the greater risk to your foetus.

Hi OP. I have no idea what you took but before I knew I was pregnant I had Pepto bismol and champagne on the same night at six weeks pregnant, I worried a lot about this too, and my very healthy now seven year old is asleep in bed with no ill effects

I absolutely get your concern about not knowing what you were given in your position

please absolutely ignore the people saying you are over reacting. Yes the potential risk is very low. You needs to formally escalate if to find out what was given to you

Have you asked the ward what tablets they have in the colours and size you said?

Honestly the only thing I can think of that has the potential of severe harm from a single dose is thalidomide, and that’s not something you are remotely likely to have been given, even in error.

The number of drugs that are genuinely harmful to a developing foetus is actually a really small number. There are loads of drugs that are not recommended or prescribed in pregnancy because there have (understandably) been no drug trials carried out on interactions with pregnant women. This does not mean those drugs are dangerous.

There are literally only about 20 medications that are definitely harmful to a developing foetus and that will be over prolonged exposure in most cases.

Here’s some published research you may find reassuring. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12783591/

Worry and stress is more likely to harm your baby, so do try to relax and think on the positive side of things.
Everything will likely be fine.

https://www.drugs.com/imprints.php?color=72

@OnTheBoardwalk

No, she absolutely shouldn't ignore us. Pandering to this is actually more harmful.