What OTC pills can you take for runny nose?

egankn

I know you can take Sudafed but anything else? I want to take something that's PG safe (just in case since I took other things last month before BFP and m/c) and Sudafed isn't working at all.

FirefightersBride

Are you congested too?? I take Benadryl. Also, the pharmacist i talked to said that tylenol sinus (i think) is ok...as long as it doesn't have the cough suppressant in it.

JARbaby

Benadryl.

Know that Sudafed will mess with your BP.

jetgrrrl

PLEASE call your doc about this. My understanding is that the active ingredient in sudafed is actually a Class C drug - meaning that it should not be taken during pregnancy unless the benefits really outweigh the risks.

I learned this the hard way - last year when I got a cold during a 2ww I called my doc and asked if there was anything I could take. Her office assistant got on the line and said I could take Tylenol Cold. Knowing that, I actually took my HPT last week to find out if I should take Tylenol cold or my cold medicine of choice (alka seltzer cold). I was actually quite surprised by my BFP, and then I did get Tylenol cold - but the only thing I could find was Multisymptom Cold. I took four doses over two nights and then looked it up online to discover it is NOT ok. I'm probably fine but I was completely freaking out. I emailed my doc and here's what she said, based on the ingredients:

chlorpheniramine: no problem.

dextromethorphan: should also be fine.

phenylephrine: rare malformations, less than 2%; and infact background (baseline) risk of malformations is 3-5% anyway - we could check most things during routine 18 week ultrasound.

don't worry.

there's nothing that we can change/do now.

i would hold off on any more phenylephrine, though, ok?

 

Phenlephrine is related to the psudoephrine in Sudafed.

 

Since then I've managed my cold with a vaporizer, saline nasal spray and waking up multiple times at night to blow my nose, unfortunately. But ask your doc. I really doubt I've done any permanent damage to my baby but I just don't want anybody else to go through the freakout that I went through over the last several days.