Help! Just found out I'm pregnant but on lots of medication?

[27Harper]

I'm having a little anxiety attack right now. I literally discovered that I'm pregnant today and I'm freaking out! I'm absolutely thrilled of course but I have a problem. I'm currently on a lot of medication for various health problems and when I had my DS i had weaned off all medications before conceiving. This wasn't necessarily unplanned but we didn't think it would happen so soon! And now I'm panicking that I'm poisoning my baby! But at the same time I don't want to just stop all of them at once. Would this warrant an emergency gp appointment? I obviously can't get to them until they open on Monday and I don't know what to do!

I'm sorry I'm just a bit panicked. I was not expecting this. It made me so happy until I realised I might be poisoning my baby.

I currently am on - Ivabradine, Pregabalin, Omeprazole, Tramadol, Diazepam, Midodrine, Duloxetine, MST Continus, Methocarbamol, Fludrocortisone and Promethazine. And Cerazette, which clearly failed me.

Does anyone know if there are any of these medications that will really harm the baby? Because if so I will stop them right away, unless stopping them will harm the baby omg I'm panicking. Can anyone offer any suggestions on what to do?

Already mentioned above but just to also confirm, I know Omeprazole and Promthezine are definitely fine (because I'm on them!)

Eech I've just read that ivabradine is pregnancy category D. The nurse didn't mention this

But remember this is probably because it's new and they don't know as much about it. I have only recently started taking ivabradine. If it's just for a fast heart rate I have survived pregnancies without it (although was a useless blob for 9 month :-). I imagine if you go and see an emergency doc they will have no idea what it is. Try calling 111 for advice??

@27Harper
You got fobbed off with a nurse. Even if they're a prescriber, they won't know about all the drugs.
Ring back and speak to a GP.

I rang back And the nurse just seemed really pissed and that I was just making a big fuss over nothing! She said that she'll get a doctor to ring me back because they're busy and have more urgent cases to attend to. I asked how long should it take because I would like to talk to a doctor sooner rather than later and she says she doesn't know, it could be a few hours.

Do you have a early pregnancy unit nearby? Or are you brave enough to call the maternity ward??? Might be worth a try.

Hi Op im 36 weeks pregnant and also have fibro. You will have to deffo come off the pregablin, diazepam, tramadol and duoloxetine. Mst..is thaf the morphine patch? Ive had to come off everything BUT i crashed with pain 5 weeks ago so am allowed 20mls of oramorph per day. Not exactly great but it keeps the edge off just ever so slightly. Will have to stay in flr obs when i do give birth for withdrawal symptoms in baby but they have asked that i breastfeed so that baby can withdraw slowly. I dont know about your other drugs but coming off everything is horrendous! Good luck!!

I take tramadol and Dr's werent kean on me being on it whilst pregnant, but I don't think I came off until about 12 weeks (best to wean off slowly).

Cocodamol is considered safe in pregnancy, just mentioning it in case you are in need of alternative painkillers later on.

I figured that @PancakesAndMapleSyrup. Fibro and pregnancy sucks! I take a slow release morphine pill every 12 hours with tramadol for breakthrough pain. My baby is what is important so if I have to come off of them I will. They're worth it in the end though aren't they

So just got off the phone with the maternity ward in my nearest hospital, they just asked if I had called NHS 24, which I did, and I told them that a doctor is supposed to call me back, so they just said wait until they do and if I have any concerns I should come up but they have a 5 hour waiting time as of now. Ugh this is so frustrating!

This wasn't necessarily unplanned but we didn't think it would happen so soon!

That was pretty irresponsible. Why wouldn't you check out your meds before stopping contraception, when you clearly have no idea if they are safe are not?
Get a GP appt for Monday, nothing is going to change between now and then, and don't take medical advice from the internet.

Best of luck with sorting all this and hope the doctor isn't rubbish when he calls back. Can't imagine the stress of it all helps.

??? One of the drugs she listed was birth control

The Breastfeeding Network have a pharmacist who specialises in drugs in breast milk just thinking she may be able to help you with drugs in pregnancy. Her email address is [email protected]

@AndTakeYourHorseWithYou

If you check my OP, I did mention that I was still taking Cerazette. I didn't stop it. The NHS nurse that I phoned suggested that one of my medications may have interacted with my contraception, I was going to wean off slowly like with my D'S but we weren't planning on TTC for a few months. That's what I meant by not exactly unplanned.

@Swatsup

Thanks hun xx

Ah, so the vomiting you were worried about in your thread this morning was actually morning sickness! Congrats on the pregnancy OP. Hope all goes well.

@DramaAlpaca

Thank you! What an eventful day lol xx

Doctor eventually phoned me back. I have a medication review on Monday, and he told me to keep taking my medication as I regularly would minus the Ivabradine and diazepam, and to limit the tramadol unless necessary. I have to be weaned off of most of my medication however, but he said that my gp will do it slowly over a few weeks and I'll be given alternative painkillers in place of the tramadol and morphine. Anyways thank you so so much everyone for the advice and calming me down over this whole cafuffle! xx

Don't wean off the promethazine. You won't know if any sickness and nausea is due to the pregnancy or to weaning of drugs.

I took it throughout my entire pregnancy on advice from my gp and my obstetric consultant.

Good luck.

@ItsLikeRainOnYourWeddingDay

Thanks for the advice. My doc did say I can stay on the promethazine as it helps with nausea, also the Omeprazole xx

You can't just stop them which you know. GP on Monday and I hope they are familiar with sensible weaning regimes. Maybe an obstetrician would be more helpful. Do you have an EPU that you can self refer to?

@KeepFuckingGoing

Not that I know of. I'm not really sure what to do at this point because I know he's a doctor and must know what he's doing, it seems a bit alarming that he wants be to stop Ivabradine and Diazepam straight away. He explained that they carried the highest risks out of all if my medication. I guess all I can really do at this point is see my gp on Monday xx

You will need to stop pregablin morphine is fine. The GP are not great with pregnancy meds they told me stop fentanyl straight away which was very dangerous advice.
I would go to the early pregnancy emergency room at your nearest women's hospital .
Also congratulations.