15-Aug-2009 22:33 <H4 class=ForumPostTitle>Re: Taking co-codamol in pregnancy help really worried now
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Becca
- Joined on 28-May-2006
- United Kingdom
- Posts 3,888
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I am a Doctor and would also prescribe co-codamol for someone in your position, you are on the lowest strength tablets (the next up is 30/500, and I have still seen that prescribed four times a day when required when I worked in obstetrics so 240mg coedine per day compared to your 48mg), and you are also being conservative by taking max 3 times a day when you can in fact take them 4 times a day.
The BNF is the UK drug resource for doctors that we refer to when considering prescribing medications. The section for pregnancy and BFing for coedine advises caution in 3rd trimester (but doesn't say do not prescribe) from the point of view that coedine is a morphine-like drug which if taken in large doses shortly before delivery could sedate mum or cause baby to be a little slow to get breathing on their own, but then we give pethidine as pain relief in labour which has a much more potent effect, so it is not really an issue in the doses you are taking and the fact that LO is nto expected to be born any time soon.
In larger doses (well over what you are taking i.e in coedine dependant mothers), the infant could also be born dependant on the drug, but again, we prescribe much more potent opioid (morphine-like) drugs to mums in pregnancy when necessary as it is all about weighing the risks and benefits, and having a mummy persistently in pain is far worse for baby, esp in such low dose as you are having. There are also no concerns about paracetamol in the prescribed doses.
(N.B I am sure you know already, but Ibruprofen would NOT be a good substitute / addition to paracetamol instead of the co-codamol, as it does have risk in 3rd trimester of prematurely closing an important blood vessel)
I had to have morphine and a general anaesthetic during my pregnancy - it wasn't something I would have chosen to do in pregnancy had I any choice, and neither are recommended to take in pregnancy just for fun, but since I needed an op and pain control afterwards they were absolutely the right things to be having. My little girl Kerenza is now 17mths and showing no ill effects as far as I can see.
Its a big responsibility this motherhood lark isn't it!
ETA - Just re-reading your original post, I don't know of any concern regarding coedine and baby's heart, particularly not in the 2nd/3rd trimester. The heart is fully formed before the end of the 1st trimester.
Bex xXx
Kerenza (13/03/08)
Number 2 - a boy according to the 20wk scan! - due mid October
This is why i made the decision to take the tablets. there's a lot of crap on the internet.
