Help - I used decongestant whilst pregnant because I didn't know it wasn't safe!

[Sophie475]

I am 11 weeks pregnant, I had covid this week with a really blocked nose. I did a quick google search and read that nasal sprays are safe to use so for the past 5 days I have been using oxymetazoline hydrochloride a few times a day. Then a friend happened to tell me I shouldn't be using nasal spray whilst pregnant so of course another check of the official nhs guidance confirmed this!!! Now I feel absolutely sick with worry, I suffer from anxiety anyway and this has triggered a bit of a panic attack. I won't be able to speak to my midwife about it until Monday, is anyone able to offer any reassurance in the meantime? I feel like such in irresponsible idiot, I am so worried I have done harm to the baby!

I had the exact same thing happen to me! Please don’t worry - my DC is a teenager now and absolutely perfect 😊

I had a quick google and seems ok according to babycentre.com

Can you talk to a pharmacist tomorrow?

The PPs idea to speak with a pharmacist tomorrow is excellent advice.

But, in the meantime -- with the caveat that I am not medically trained, I have picked up a little bit of knowledge over the years, and I would tend to think it highly unlikely for any sort of nasal spray that is designed to have a local effect to get in to your system in enough concentration to have any effect on your baby.

One thing I do know is that a lot of medications are not recommended for pregnant women, simply because they have not been tested in pregnant women. They are not known to be unsafe, it is simply that they also have not been proven safe. That is just because testing in pregnant women is risky and expensive so many pharma companies just do not do it.

That is a long-winded way of saying, the nasal spray you used might well turn out not be dangerous at all in pregnant women, even if it is has not been proven safe in pregnant women.

You've used it for a few days and it's localised.
Everything will be fine.

It's fine. Most decongestants are safe in pregnancy. The NHS advice is just very, very cautious. Don't give it another thought OP.

I did the same thing in my pregnancy and stressed about for ages. DD is absolutely fine. I did find that the advice in America is less strict so think of all the millions of people who use them, we would have heard about problems

Only the tiniest trace amounts from nasal sprays make it to the placenta so you won’t have done any damage. Don’t worry, just avoid going forward.

I used the same spray multiple times in both pregnancies as I get pregnancy rhinitis. I was comfortable the risks weren't worth worrying about. Two healthy babies!

Take a breath. If nasal sprays caused birth defects then there would be MASSIVE warnings all over the packets telling pregnant women not to use them.

As others have said, it’s just that they have not been tested in pregnant women enough to allow them to be declared 100% safe. This happens a lot because, unsurprisingly, no pregnant women are ever going to volunteer for a drug trial are they?

Thank you everyone for the reassurance it's made me feel much better!