Paracetamol study! Kinda freaking out about it!

[laurabee66]

Hi there,

This is my first post and I hope that you are kind to me as I am feeling really very guilty right now!

Just wondered if anyone had taken paracetamol throughout their pregnancy? And how their babies were? And specifically if you've had a boy.

I am having a little boy in a few weeks time and have just discovered to my horror that taking paracetamol for longer than two weeks can cause ADHD, lowered testosterone, testicular cancer and undescended testicles!

I was told by my midwife that taking paracetamol was fine so have done so pretty much each day for bad headaches and lower back pain.

I feel awful! So angry at myself and annoyed at my midwife.

If you have any suggestions or advice I would greatly appreciate it.
L

My son is now 4 months and I took paracetamol while pregnant. I tried not to make a habit of it but I had horrendous back pain from about 6 months so had to take it most nights to be able to sleep. DS is perfect (although I am probably a little biased!) all health professionals were happy for me to take paracetamol, I hadn't heard of any of those risks.

The study is very new I think, and I'm not sure if the link is actually proven or just suggested - I read it in the Guardian in the last year or so, if I remember rightly. So health professionals may not have updated their advice yet, certainly when I was first pregnant seven years ago paracetamol was thought to be completely fine. I hope you can manage to stay calm about it - it's a horrible feeling but the chances are that your son is fine!

Ive taken some, not much (like 4 doses over a couple of months). I think its probably best to keep it to a minimum if you can but im assuming you are in a lot of pain if you are taking it every day.

I am expecting a boy in November.

The study is quite new so cant really blame your mw. Sure all will be fine

The study was done on MICE. Only male baby mice were affected by pregnant mummy mice taking paracetamol in huge doses.

Are you a mouse? Have you been fed catastrophic (but not deadly) doses of paracetamol whilst imprisoned? Are you pregnant with little boy mice? Then unfortunately your little boy mice babies might be affected. That is sad news.

If, on the other hand, you are a HUMAN, you will be completely fine.

(ALL the coverage of that study included scientists saying it wasn't possible to extrapolate anything useful from the study and that it definitely could not be used to imply there was anything wrong with human beings taking paracetamol during pregnancy.)

It is fine I am pregnant and have severely damaged discs and scoliosis previous to pregnancy was on pregabalin but obviously had to reduce to paracetamol in pregnancy and I've taking it everyday. My gp tried to put me on codeine everyday as my pain is horrendous using to crutches to walk ect but I refused and just take paracetamol everyday to ease the pain. Sometimes we scare ourselves with Google when really u should many many many women take paracetamol through out there pregnancy and I'm sure if it had possible effects it would be noted x

I had a tiny flip out about that study too having taken paracetamol for a period of a week+ to keep my temperature down while I had stomach 'flu. Then I realised that the study was done on mice and more than that, I think it was done on human testicular tissue grafted onto mice. As DidILeaveTheGas on says, the response to the study from other scientists seems to have been along the lines of 'interesting but totally inconclusive'. Medical advice on taking paracetamol certainly hasn't changed. The main concern seems to have been testicles descending late or not at all. I had a 32 week scan last week and the sonographer could already see that my son's testicles had descended so it doesn't seem to be an issue. When my mum was pregnant with me 30 years ago, she was worrying about new studies suggesting that ultrasounds weren't safe which turned out to be completely untrue.... There are always going to be studies with alarming results but we are all by-and-large following the same medical guidance and the vast majority of babies are born healthy... I take a lot of comfort from that and hope that you can too!

I'm a scientist - the way that study was reported in the mainstream media was a perfect example of how shit their coverage of science is. (Hire some fecking scientists to write your articles, guardian!)

The study was conducted on mice. Now nice are a fab model for SOME things, but if you make a mouse model of disease x or condition y you first check very thoroughly that it replicates the situation in humans.

Obviously, they can't do that here, as they can't dose pregnant women up to compare.

Anyway, this is very VERY preliminary work. It's the kind of blue skies research that is very useful, in that it makes you ask a question (hmmm, could this happen in humans?) in order to get an answer to that, you first have to replicate the research. Doing it once is no good. You have to be able to reproduce it. Statistical confidence levels (p=0.05) mean that 5% of these one off findings are just randomly incorrect anyway. If this is work replicated in several animal systems, at doses comparable to that of human use, etc, then they will take it forward.

No one should panic about this research. I had a fever recently. Did I take paracetamol for a week? You betcha.

If anyone from the guardian is reading, you really need to up the ante on your science coverage. It's been utter cack since Ben goldacre left. Stop hiring fluffy bloggers and hire some people who understand stats and science. My rates are very reasonable ... ;)

4 boys aged from 12 to 18, took paracetamol with all of them. DS4 did have undecended testes but this was directly related to the condition that he has and I don't believe paracetamol had anything to do with that!!

Hey everyone,

Thank you for your advice and kindness. I've been really beating myself up about this and have taken great comfort in all that you have said.

I still feel pretty bad but I think that it comes from believing everything that I read in the press.

Thank you!!!!
Lx

Hi Laura,

I have a DS and took paracetamol at various times while pregnant with him. He is 2 yo and absolutely perfect biased mummy brag I am now having twin boys and am taking paracetamol daily as I have severe migraines and SPD, as prescribed by mt GP. My consultant and Midwife have both also told me this is perfectly fine when I voiced my concerns to them.

I had never even heard of this study until someone on MN mentioned it a few days ago!

Try not to worry, and enjoy your pregnancy.

I took paracetamol throughout conception and my whole pregnancy with DS as I was in serious pain due to RA. He is now a healthy and robust 7yo with no health or developmental problems.
I learnt a long time ago to look at these study's without panicking, I single study doesn't give me immediate cause for concern, multiple studies with big sample groups would make me investigate more.
My consultant was fab when she pointed out that you need to take a step back and understand that being in pain is no good for you and your baby either. No drug is guaranteed to be safe in pregnancy as it's unethical to experiment on pregnant women but there are many drugs, steroids and paracetamol included that have had widespread and long term use by pregnant women without reported problems.

Hello, the evidence for all of this is very weak. Here is a leaflet that explains why
www.medicinesinpregnancy.org/Medicine--pregnancy/Paracetamol/

Hope its helpful

Thank you everyone!!
Lxx

didileavethegason exactly right.

The results from this study are to be taken with a pinch of salt. Its like one minute red wine is good, the next its bad.DON'T WORRY