Pregnancy/breastfeeding & Meds

[OCsunshine]

I was wondering if anyone has personal experience with getting pregnant/having children and being on florinef and/or a beta blocker?

I am on florinef and atenolol- two of my "main meds" that have worked for me for over a decade. I have tried to wean myself off of them in the past and it's been unsuccessful (experienced heart palps and very low b/p... blacked out more often).

We are considering having children sometime in the future... don't know when exactly.. but I want to be prepared. I am going to Hopkins next month to talk to my doctor about the meds and the safety of them.

Please let me know if you have any info on these meds and how they affect pregnancy and how safe they are for the baby and breastfeeding and everything like that.

Thanks for your help!

[MomtoGiuliana]

I'll just tell you what I have been told by my POTS specialist--he wants his patients off all meds before attempting pregnancy and during a pregnancy. He said this is because he feels the risk is unknown for any of these meds and the effect on the pregnancy and fetal development. He does not feel the risk should be taken. HOWEVER, an ob-gyn might have a different perspective on this. Clearly in many cases, it is better to be well, than terribly sick during a pregnancy. I know one person on this board was trying to get pregnant and was off meds and got so sick her ob-gyn decided it was better for her to go ahead and get back on the med. She is now pregnant.

I think the bottom line is that you would need to work with your autonomic specialist and your ob-gyn to determine the best course of action--and in the end, you might be the one making the decision after getting somewhat different input from both of them. This is what happened to me with breastfeeding. My ob-gyn said it was ok to breastfeed with the meds I was put on 4 months after my daughter was born. Her pediatrician said "no way". I decided to err on the side of caution and stop breastfeeding. In retrospect, I wish I had researched it more--but I was quite sick at the time and didn't have to energy to do that, and decided to just go with the pediatrician's advice.

I know there are folks on this board who have been on these meds you list during pregnancy and breast-feeding and everything went fine. That is not a scientific study, obviously, so does not prove that there is no risk.

Good luck with your decisions.

Katherine

[Aprilmarie52]

I was on florinef the whole time I was pregnant and I also breastfed for 6 months. My daughter is fine. Her pediatrician did blood work to check some hormone levels because of the florinef, but everything was normal. I have a beautiful little girl, who I might add is having her first birthday on friday! Good luck in whatever you decide to do!