Flixonase nasal spray in pregnancy

[Saffra]

Does anyone use Flixonase daily in pregnancy?

After battling on with hayfever symptoms, I went back to the doctors and she prescribed Flixonase - albeit slightly reluctantly. (This was my second visit to ask for something after the last few weeks have driven me quietly insane).

However, she said only to use it when symptoms were bad and only 1 spray (rather than the usual 2).

Is she being over-cautious, do you think?

I don't know about this particular spray but have been taking a different decongestant one. I read that nasal sprays only deliver about 5% of the amount of drug into your bloodstream that pills do so they are definately the way forward. I would say as a general rule during pregnancy only take things when you really need them and take as little as possible. I was going mad with lack of sleep before I took mine so felt it was ok to take.

You should ask a pharmacist.dh is one and he always says drug companies say not doe use in pregnancy to be cautious.obviously don't ignore the 'don't use in Pregnancy' advice but a pharmacist who knows more about drugs than doctors do can advise you better if it's actually ok or if there is a risk

I'm newly pregnant and have a doctor's appointment on Monday to discuss hayfever. Mine is horrendous without medication. I called nhs direct the other day and was told that loratadine (clarytin) is safe to take during pregnancy if necessary, as is cetirizine. Same info here
Has anyone else been told the same? As everything else I've read says that these are not recommended.

I used flixonase through both my pregnancies and I didn't seem to have any side effects!

I went to Drs yesterday just for this very thing, he went through the BNF with me, looking at all the different antihistamines, and was not happy to prescribe me anything other than saline. My MW had suggested putting vaseline around my nose to try & stop pollen from getting in there (which frankly sounds like BS to me), but last week was fearing for my pelvic floor with the amount of sneezing, so off I went, hopes high that there must be something that is OK (the pharmacist had already told me to go away and talk to my GP as they wouldn't risk selling me OTC antihistamines).
According to the BNF pregnancy appendix, loratidine is potentially teratogenic in high doses. This is my usual med of choice, but will err on side of caution with my GP and see if the saline spray helps at all. I think I recall cetirizine being on the same list, but was so shocked by the potential of loratidine to cause harm that I wasn't paying much attention to the other drugs so much.
He did say he'd speak to an O&G cons for me and let me know if there was anything that was considered safe, but I don't hold out strong hopes.

GP wouldn't give me ANYTHING :(
Using breathe right nasal strips at night and days I'm not leaving the house.
Vaseline around the nose does not work, I have the hay max from holland & barret & it has to be reapplied after every time you sneeze or blow your nose. Ha ha. A teaspoon of honey every day doesn't work either.
I'm miserable with it.
A pharmacist friend told me flixonase IS safe to use but if GP won't prescribe it to me what good is that?!?

This one is a steroid spray, emoo777 and can be considered for use in pregnancy, according to the BNF book that the GP referred to. I think I might check with the pharmacist to get a second opinion (like you suggest, missingmyflatbelly, thanks) to see what he or she says.

The GP said to only really use it when my symptoms are bad. Which is fine, except, my symptoms are pretty bad if I go outside full stop. So, to try and avoid it, I've been staying indoors....turning down social invitations, stopping walking the dog.... etc..... which is pretty rubbish TBH.

BUT - I don't want to feel guilty about having a dose of the Flixonase spray. In theory, I can do without it - um, mostly by staying inside (i.e. putting life on hold!).

Sigh

It's the if necessary thing that gets me. That's the thing - it's not exactly 'life or death', but it can make life a total misery if you're suffering!

Anyway, I have used the spray today and it seems to have helped a lot actually. If it helps in any way, here is a list of things that I'm using at the moment to try and manage hayfever symptoms - might seem OTT, but I have been feeling rubbish!:

• Hayfever Max
• Local honey (actually, now finished the jar and won't be buying more as not convinced about this one!)
• Lloyds Allergy Reliever (the battery operated thing with probes that you stick up the nose)
• Air purifier (I put this on when feeling extra desperate)
• Sinus rinse (like a neti pot - using saline solution to rinse out sinuses)
• Water spray (to increase air moisture at home, which is supposed to help)

But, apart from the nasal spray, I think the things that work the most are staying indoors, esp during times of day when polllen levels are at peak. But, TBH, this is hardly practical.

My GP said Flixonase was ok, since I have allergies and asthma, and they would not take an asthmatic off the meds. She feels steroids are ok, since they are frequently used in pregnancy anyway. So I stick with it...

My GP said it was fine, so little of it passes through. Have used it as tried everything else and was suffering badly.

I am 40 weeks today and have used it throughout. A pharmacist questioned it along with my asthma medication which panicked me but when I spoke to a constant at my allergy appointment at addenbrookes she said so little of it passes through that the benefits to the mother outweigh the risks.

My obs consultant said (after looking them up in the BNF) it was ok to use cetrazine (piriton) in the second trimester when I get bitten by insects - although this is partly because if I don't, I end up with cellulitis and taking pretty strong antibiotics instead, so it's only an 'emergency' use. Lotrazine is a definite no-no, although I react badly to it anyway, so I wouldn't take it.

I've got a beconase spray now from my gp. He was very much of the "use it only when you have to" line too, but having been back this morning with excruciating sinus pain he thinks I need to have one for these occasions.

I also have a Sterimar saline spray which is more user friendly than the neti pot type things. The spray says on the side that it's safe to use in pregnancy. Dh has chronic nasal/sinus probs, so he's tried them all!! I don't know how he copes with the pain tbh......

I was lucky in that pregnancy was a great cure for hayfever for me. However if your GP is saying only use flixonase when it is needed, he doesn't know how it works. It is a preventative medicine, not a treatment for symptoms. It works by the steroid suppressing the inflammatory response in the nose, so if you are worried about taking it, don't bother if you are just using it for treatment of symptoms. It's the same type of thing as a brown unhaler for asthma, you use the blue one for treatment, the brown one to try and prevent the symptoms in the first place. I think as others have said, so little is absorbed that it's probably OK - particularly after the first 12 weeks, but I don't know.

bigscarymum this is no. 4 for me, and I've always found that in the past my hayfever has vanished or dramatically improved whilst preg and bf'ing.....but not this time!! Strange.....

Yes - pregnancy cured my hayfever last time (it returned when dd was a couple of days old which was pretty dreadful!)
No such luck this time though.
I have done some research into the loratadine thing because it seems so strange for nhs direct to recommend it when GPs aren't
It hasn't been shown to cause any issues in animal trials. There was one piece of research that indicated that it may cause hypospadias (I had to look that up - it is a malformation of the urethra) but that has been discounted now.
It seems a lot of American doctors recommend it which is also odd because they are usually way more cautious over things like that.

There's a new OTC product on the market called Prevalin which is a nose spray that is safe to use (for allergy + hayfever) when pregnant or breastfeeding. I suffer from severe dust allergy and used a prescribed steroid spray (Nasonex) but read that when this was tested on animals it caused birth defects so definitely not gonna go there.

The Prevalin spray is not as effective but definitely helps and anything is better than nothing.

Bigscarymum - lucky you!

Re your comment:

"However if your GP is saying only use flixonase when it is needed, he doesn't know how it works. It is a preventative medicine, not a treatment for symptoms. It works by the steroid suppressing the inflammatory response in the nose, so if you are worried about taking it, don't bother if you are just using it for treatment of symptoms."

Because I had taken it previously, I knew you were supposed to take it before the onset of symptoms. This is also stated in the leaflet that comes with it (think it says to take it 2-3 days before). I had questioned the GP about this, but they said it's an immediate type of treatment.... Bit conflicting. Will definitely speak to the pharmacist this afternoon to get a second professional opinion as somewhat confused!!

flixonase can take 3-4 days (and im my case up to 2 weeks) to take full effect, so is definitely not an immediate treatment. It also needs to be used regularly to get the results.

Been on flixonase for years for rhinitis, and continued to take it through pregnancy and breastfeeding. Doctor said so little would pass through to baby, and also because of how it's administered (compared to a tablet, for example).

A little update on this -

I spoke to a pharmacist yesterday, who said confirmed that taking 1 spray per day is fine. And, did reinforce that I need to take it regularly for it to work. Glad I have asked the questions as feel much better I have something 'proper' to take now.

I used Flixonase before but for some reason just stuck to Beconase most of the time. My problem though is not just hayfever as such, I have perennial allergic rhinitis so I tend to sneeze a fair bit throughout the year if I don't use anything at all and it can get really bad if I am visiting farms or during hayfever season especially! My GP told me it was fine to use Beconase when I was pg and I used it throughout the pg as well as when I was bf-ing and did this with all 3 DCs. But I did try to restrict the use to only times when it was really really needed (i.e. found it hard to cope doing normal daily activities) when I was pg and bf though I would say I tend to use about 2 to 4 sprays a day if I did use it.