Taking codeine in early pregnancy?

[Nancy282919]

I was in a car accident a while ago which caused serious injuries to my knee, I had a knee replacement operation a month ago.

Prior to that I was taking 60mg of co codamol a day (one dose) the maximum amount is 60mg every 4 hours but at this time, the pain wasn't that intense.

Since my operation, I have been in excruciating pain. I have notified the doctor who has told me it's normal at this stage. I have been taking 120mg of codamol a day (2 doses, 1 dose in the morning and one dose in the evening) I was also given oramorph but I've avoided taking this as it tends to make me vommit.

Christmas day I found out I was pregnant after being a few days late on my period. This was unplanned as I've been taking the pill and I would never have wished to have a baby whilst undergoing all of this but it's happened now.

I have to wait 2 days to see my doctor and I'm really nervous about taking the codeine and If the codeine I've been taking has harmed my baby. I'm only 5 weeks pregnant, could this have harmed my baby? I've read horror stories online about mothers taking painkillers and the babies being born addicted.

I have taken one dose since finding out and that was because I could not bare the pain at all. I've tried to cope with the pain since then, it's hard but I'm finding others ways to relieve the pain the best I can (cold compress, bath, sleep etc)

For babies to be born addicted you need to be taking it through a lot of your pregnancy, regularly. One dose would not have hurt. I also had to take codeine and tramadol pre pregnancy (I'm 15 weeks now) for chronic pain. I know I took a dose or two of tramadol before I found out I was pregnant. I found out at 3 weeks and haven't taken anything since other than a few doses of paracetamol. My midwife nor GP were concerned. That early on your baby isn't getting blood from your placenta anyway, so I don't even think it would reach it.

They actually said if needed for the pain, I could take codeine very sparingly in pregnancy. They said this wasn't uncommon for people to do if they really needed it. I'm not going to though.

Tips I can offer for pain management without codeine in my experience so far - paracetamol (not ibuprofen/nurofen), warm hot water bottles, baths, and rest.

Under medical supervision, this is not too much of a concern. Dihydracodeine is given for pain in pregnancy. If you continue taking it for the duration of your pregnancy, your baby may need to have NAS observations (neonatal abstinence/adaptation syndrome) to assess if they are undergoing withdrawal but not likely to cause any long term issues x

I was on a high dose of codeine prior to this pregnancy (no3) I am on a lower dose now, the dr told me to "take it sparingly"
I was prescribed it throughout pregnancy 2 but told to avoid taking it frequently in the 3rd trimester
DS had no side effects or symptoms from me taking it and I didn't take much and as I said at a reduced dose

Pregnancy 1 was hell. I wasn't prescribed anything and told to take nothing but paracetamol. I was miserable and in so much pain.

They gave me codeine when I was in labour the last time so I can only presume it's okay. I would try to stick to paracetamol from now on though until you clear it with your GP etc

I took 30/500 co-codamol for SPD from week 16- week 34 of pregnancy. I had the dosage tapered off towards the end. I was in total agony though and wasn't popping them lightly.
DS was born without any effect- although I did find that being given co codamol in labour was about as useful as licking the wall, my tolerance had become quite high and they didn't touch the pain...
Unless you're mainlining heroin through your pregnancy you should be fine :) just keep your GP and MW informed of what you are taking - unfortunately I don't think there are many pain relief options for pregnant ladies so CoCodamol is quite often the only option (was in my case)

I took codeine throughout pregnancy and was prescribed it by numerous consultants including the obstetrician. I wouldn’t worry too much