is it a feminist issue that the average woman will spend years of her life being pregnant

[PumpkinGuts]

and that none of the pharmacy companies seem to to care if we can take their sodding medicine?

Thread "inspired" by another thread. Some poor woman in chat can't take a lemsip because you can't find anything that says "yes, go ahead and take it" and doesn't pass the buck on to someone else.

I remember having a raging raging ear infection. Couldn't sleep couldn't lay my head down, and could not for the life of me get a doctor to prescribe something for the pain. Was left in a crying heap every night for days.

I realise there are ethical reasons for why they don't want to do studies..but the truth is there are woman taking them anyway can they not ask women who are going to take it anyway to give their info?

I recently have been researching cannabis for pain relief in labor and have found contrary to my previous belief that it must be fucking dangerous that it's actually had no real studies done on it to say it is dangerous for pregnant women and that case studies of women in areas where it is the life style... there is no real issue against it and the babies don't have a worse outcome than the babies who's mothers don't use it. Not to mention the coctail of real drugs and narcotics they give to laboring women that we actually know are unsafe!

AND it can be great for natural remedy for morning sickness!

then when i had meds for pnd and suffered lack of libido and coukdnt reach orgasm the same dr just dismissed it as not a big deal... i mean who cares if a woman isnt enjoying sex?!!

nice.

If you're thinking drugs and feminist issues, look into the politics of the menopause, where many GPs refuse to consider HRT for women who are really suffering (ignoring the latest research) and many women can't even get treatment for debilitating and painful vaginal symptoms with local, ultra low dose preparations which can improve their quality of life. We're talking here being unable to have sex, or sit, or walk. But nobody talks about it because women in their 50s and above are meant to be invisible.

paracetamol will do fuck all for a bad ear infection and the resulting pain.

thete are stronger meds you can take but somwtimes it depends how preg you are ie coproxamol codydromol etc. i had some prescribed due to awful spd, pain so bad i was admitted at one point.

also ant depressants in pregnancy and whilst bfeeding. so many times women are told to stop taking them or to stop bfeeding when that is not necessary.

hell.i had a dr that wouldnt even prescribe me a mild steroid cream for eczema when oreg as it might get absorbed into skin then blood stream and coukd then cross into the placenta! fffs.

i know drs want to be cautious but there is evidence out there, particularly re meds and bfeeding and maybe let women make an informed choice. its a case of balancing the health of mum and hwalth of the fetus, its not black and white and all situations vary but blanket refusals to give any medication to preg women are not helpful.

some pharmasists will refuse to sell products to obviously pregnant women!

I think you might be better off in terms of safety information if you stick to 'official' medicines rather than natural remedies. Natural remedies come with a lot of anecdotal evidence from a wide variety of sources with different agendas. Drug companies have agendas too, but they are also TERRIFIED of getting sued. Therefore they tend to test their drugs fairly stringently before letting them go on the market.

What I am trying to say is that there is probably a lot more reliable safety info out there for marketed drugs than there is for natural remedies.

Well, actually there is some fairly good information on aspirin in pregnancy. Gathered in the same way as alcohol information one would assume. This is from NHS Direct:

"Can I take aspirin if I’m pregnant?
Paracetamol is the first choice of painkiller if you are pregnant.
Do not take aspirin for pain if you’re pregnant. In particular, you shouldn’t take aspirin at a painkiller dose (300mg - 900mg) in the last 13 weeks of pregnancy because of the risk of heart problems and jaundice in the baby. There is also a greater risk of you getting severe bleeding in labour.
However, a doctor may prescribe low dose aspirin (usually 75mg a day) to prevent pre-eclampsia (pregnancy induced hypertension) if you are at risk of this condition. Pre-eclampsia (pregnancy induced hypertension) is a serious condition in pregnancy causing very high blood pressure and fits. Do not take low dose aspirin unless advised to by a doctor."

Now admittedly I do rant about women being treated like they lose all critical faculties when they become pregnant. But doctors are in a very difficult situation with new drugs. Can't tell women to use it because it is gambling with the health of the foetus. So your pool would be 'women who didn't know that they were pregnant or ignore medical advice'. Which is a difficult pool because it is small and may give unreliable recollection (which is a problem anyway, e.g re alcohol).

They can't give you odds because the stats are so unreliable. Only clinical trials could give you that kind of data. What they can say, with older medicines like paracetamol and aspirin is a general view from historical use.

You're right 5madthings. I had to put on my biggest hoodie and lie to the hospital pharmacist in order to buy some Canesten whilst pregnant. The doctor had already precribed me some and told me to come back if it recurred and I could have more of the same. Since that would have necessitated a half day off work, I chose to cut out the middleman. I got the same product that the doctor would have given me.

5Mad - I totally agree in the realms of prescription drugs BTW. I was commenting specifically on OTC drugs.

yes its outrageous you had to lie to buy caneston ffs!

and it happens with lots of otc drugs.

even when getting prescriptions that have been okayed by the consultant i have had pharmasist try to not let me have them and question if the dr knew i was pregnant...well if you can see the fuck off great bump i am pretty sure the dr that prescribed to me did..

i get they are scared of lawsuits etc but please dont treat me like i am incapable.

I was given some lovely bath things and soap from Space NK and when I looked there was a warning on them saying not safe for use by pregnant women.
They may have had essential oils in or something. All very strange.

That's ridiculous, and how would they know an OTC drug is even for you

There's a good reason that pharmaceutical companies are wary with drugs for pregnant women and it's because of what happened with thalidomide.

To me, "years of her life" suggests several years rather than a couple, and I can see the reasons why it must be hard to run proper ethical drug trials with women who are pregnant or breastfeeding - but I know where you're coming from. The thing about this that I do feel is a feminist issue is the way that expectant mothers' well-being seems to weigh nothing in the balance against hypothetical well-being of the foetus, as if our personhood is reduced by pregnancy.

You might be interested in http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/19/expecting-more-emily-oster-review this book Expecting Better by an economist analysing a lot of the anecdotal "ooh better not" type of thinking women are expected to accept when pregnant.

probably to do with essential oils some are not recomended in pregnancy due to preterm labor

What I find interesting is that I (and many others) suffer from hyperemesis, and as far as I can find most studies done into HG study the effect on the foetus/baby and not on finding the reasons (and possibly a cure) for HG.

Got to wonder how many illnesses that can result in regular hospitalisation get that little research into causes.

i was reading about that recently puddock. I assumed it was more to do with food items, but I'll check it out.

in some countries women on average have 5+ pregnancies, but I suppose in many of them the likely hood is any medication would be hard to come by tbh

This book!

"(A) friend with the terrible nausea was told that she could take a prescription drug 'if she really felt like she needed it' … she came away thinking it was dangerous for her baby, but if she cared only about herself, she could take it. Who would be comfortable taking anything at that point?" This is key – the sense so often conveyed by medicine that merely by seeking a solution for a pain or ailment, you are failing to put your baby first; that some fundamental part of motherhood is embracing a problem rather than trying to solve it.

MOB, I was reading loads online about cannabis for HG, it can be a wonder drug for some women. It can help them with the nausea but also increase appetite.

Fuck taking cannabis. Sorry.

Ooh, thanks for the link Puddock!

No-one's asking them not to be wary, noblegiraffe - however, it would be nice to see doctors/pharmacists/consultants all on the same (permissive) page when it comes to medication in pregnancy.

Did you know that thalidomide is now in use again, to treat leprosy? Sadly it is still causing birth deformities - this time knowingly so.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23418102

Sorry for the digression.

Murder - yes. I had hyperemesis. The number of times I got the thalidomide lecture....

No, I was genuely the same and have never taken it during pG myself. But the studies they have done on women in countries where it is a social norm (jamaica etc) dont seem to show any difference in the child between women who do or dont. Also I think its important to say that you shouldnt smoke anything during PG. But it can be prescribed with out the THC

And can be taken via vaporiser I should have said.

I'm not advocating getting stoned while pregannt at all, the THC is the bit that gets you high and cannabis can be bred as low thc or no thc

well i have carried five pregnanciex to term, to plus 42wks actually and bfed for over nine years. thats a long time and it has made it difficult at times with my eczema, asthma and hayfever and allergies plus getting pnd after no 4.

totally agree with puddock the woman is sidelinef in favour of the fetus and you are made to feel like you are failing if you want to put your own health first.

I didn't have HG but had morning sickness and lost 2 stone during first trimester in my first pg, if I had known that about cannabis I would have definitely tried it.