Terrified :-( Advice Please. Trimethoprim 1st Trimester

[HayleyRose1]

Good morning

I know that nobody can give me 100% reassurance but I’m hoping someone can share any similar experiences they’ve had because I am majorly freaking out :-(

Last week I found out I’m pregnant which was a complete surprise really, an amazing surprise! but still not planned (estimating 5 weeks from last period). After it had sunk in we were super excited until I realised I was prescribed A WHOLE WEEKS course of trimethoprim on the 28th September for a UTI. I did the usual thing of putting it straight into google and I have been in a state ever since after reading all the horrifying detail. To make things worse I wasn’t taking folic acid supplements because this wasn’t planned.

I spoke with my GP this morning and I know they can’t give me a clear answer or reassurance but I don't feel any better. They even mentioned the worse case scenario being us having to make a decision whether or not to terminate:-( I do understand they have to be honest but hearing it was awful. I just can’t believe this has happened. I do suffer with UTIs but I haven’t had trimethoprim for a long long time so it’s just typical.

My GP has kindly offered to get some more info and in the meantime I can take a higher dosage of folic for the 1st 12 weeks and request an earlier anomaly scan, but can anyone offer any advice or hope from your own experiences of this?

I had a miscarriage before my little one (who is 2) so I was quite anxious during my pregnancy and I really wanted to enjoy it as much as possible this time around. I’m so gutted this has happened.

Sorry to ramble on my head is a little all over the place and any comfort would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you in advance xx

Congratulations!

It sounds like you've done the right thing in ringing your GP and starting folic acid.

If you were given the medicine on the 28th then this would have been just around the time you conceived or even before! No-one knows they are pregnant at this stage and often carry on eating and drinking as normal.

I am sure everything is going to be fine! Please do not let this steal your joy.

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

If you are five wks today from your LMP then you have only actually been pregnant for 3 wks - because of the weirdness of pregnancy dating. So you would only just have conceived when you took the trimethoprim. I can understand your worries but the fetus probably hadn’t even implanted for some of the course then would have been getting its nutrition from the yolk sac rather than from you - I think it’s very unlikely it will actually have been exposed. I know you will still worry but I think there is a very good chance that things will be ok x

Please try not to worry too much. Hundreds of thousands of women have taken trimethoprim in early pregnancy (before knowing they were pregnant) and only a tiny, tiny number had any problems. The chances that everything will be ok are tens of thousands higher than the chances of anything going wrong (I'm a GP).

I know the post was a long time ago but I just want to say a huge thank you for the replies! It meant a lot :-) and I’m sorry I haven’t replied sooner for some reason I couldn’t get back on and then gave up trying but it’s stayed on my mind.

I am so pleased and incredibly grateful to confirm that I’m Mummy to a beautiful and healthy 2 month old Baby Boy! :-)

I was lucky enough to have an amazing pregnancy and he’s just the most amazing little blessing just like his boy sister! But I was so worried at the time so I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to me and put my mind at rest a little until my scan.

Love to you all

Take care xx

Congratulations @HayleyRose1 such wonderful news ❤️

Read this evidence based information-

www.medicinesinpregnancy.org/Medicine--pregnancy/Trimethoprim/

Please don’t worry too much.
I was in the same position exactly and moreover has to take trimethoprim multiple times throughout the pregnancy due to very specific infections.
Do take folic acid from now on.

The reassuring thing is that a lot of trimethoprim possible complications can be excluded from scans as they are about limb formation. We saw all of our babies’ toes and fingers from quite early on and felt so much better. I’m nearly 32 weeks now and all scans have been normal.

The risk of complication is very small.

Edit: sorry I missed the update! Great news!