Anyone else taking codeine?

[kawaiiko]

I suffer from severe migraines and have been told by my consultant that codeine and paracetamol are ok for me. I have two worries - one, that it's not good for my baby (am 6+4) and two that's it's not working

I usually rely on imigran, domperidone and co-drydamol, often chased with aspirin or ibruprofen...so a heavy prescription drug user. I am really struggling!

My GP is well-meaning but a bit useless...consultant has referred my on so no help there...can I contact the EPU myself? Might they be able to help?

All advice gratefully received

Hi

I'd guess EPU won't be able to help, and will probably refer you back to your GP. I assume you won't have had your booking in appt with midwife yet, otherwise I'd suggest asking your midwife for help in the first instance.

I had to take codeine after a serious accident when I was 15 weeks. The doctors at A&E were quite uncomfortable with me taking anything, but the midwife was much more confident I'd be fine.

On the safety front there are two issues with codeine. One is that it may be dependency forming, but of all the opioid painkillers it is the form least likely to cause dependency simply because you metabolise so little of it as morphine. If you keep to the lowest possible dose and stop before the third trimester this is unlikely to be an issue for your or your baby.

Second problem is that it can make your baby drowsy. This is an issue in the third trimester, because it might lead to complications if you were to go into labour. But it isn't a problem at the stage you are at now. And I was taking codeine between about 15-18 weeks so I don't know how pronounced this risk is (i.e. it may still be a good idea for you to take codeine in the third trimester even with this slightly increased risk of birth problems, if the alternative is chronic migraines).

I looked for, and could not find, any evidence linking codeine to birth defects or causing any other problems for the foetus, which given how widely used it is I found reassuring.

The bigger issue is really that it may not work and I don't think your MW is likely to be able to help you there. I think this would be one issue you'd have to take back to the consultant who made out the original prescription, which may require you to be pushy with your GP.

Codiene is fine in pregnancy, but can link to drowsiness of baby at birth - I took it 2-3x day from 20 weeks onwards for SPD until I went into labour, when funnily enough I forgot. And needed an epidural for the SPD pain instead.
I was careful to only take it when the pain hit, so had no problem stopping by about a week after birth.

The fact that it's not working for you suggests you need to go back to the consultant, though. good luck.

I took co-codamol and co-dydramol recently for a muscle tear post pneumonia. Had a 20 weeks scan this week and all seemed well for baby

they dont prescribe stuff that will harm baby. I had very strong painkillers for fibroid degeneration first PG and all was fine

I was given codeine for SPD at 20 weeks and have been in hospital 3 times since 32 weeks with false labour....and been given codeine several times everytime i've been in.