Unwittingly drank something not suitable for pregnancy.

[Gintonic]

I was waiting ages for a blood test in hospital so DH popped to get me a drink. It looked like fruit juice. After drinking it I felt a bit strange so checked the label and it said "consult your GP before drinking if pregnant". Help!

It had herbal extracts in it so I googled some of those, one - schizandra - can cause miscarriage. Some of the others are also to be avoided because the risks are not known.

I know there is nothing I can do now, but I am just angry that stuff like this is even on sale, and in a hospital! I didn't think I needed to check the labels on juice drinks but now I know.

how annoying and stressful for you. i am sure you will be fine - when i was panicking about eating pesto after reading that basil can cause miscarriage, someone made the very valid point that if it were that easy to cause miscarriage, women would have been eating/drinking these things for hundreds of years throughout history rather than risking their lives with backstreet operations etc - as you'd probably need to ingest a huge amount of it to cause a problem. but still, annoying that you've now had to be worried by it.

Why shouldn't it be on sale in hospital?! A very small minority of people in a hospital will be pregnant.

I suspect that is a legal thing that they have to put on there, as it has herbal extracts. I wouldn't worry about it.

If the herbs were in the drink in such large quantities to cause a miscarriage, it wouldn't be legal to sell it (or drinkable, I suspect!)

Hello yes the point about why would anyone need backstreet abortions if you could just down a few soft drinks is a good one and reassuring.

I checked the dosages though, the dose given by herbalists seems to range from 20mg to 500mg, and this can contained 400mg!

Fair enough if people want to take these medicines and they understand the risks but it shouldn't be in "normal" soft drinks at that sort of level. It is not just about pregnancy it can be bad for people with other conditions too. Though admittedly this is based on a quick google and you would hope whoever approves these things has done something more thorough. But who knows?

Should be fine. I inadvertently started drinking a 'V'/RedBull type drink when I was pregnant long ago and then read the label.

No reason why it shouldn't be on sale in a hospital, though.