Asthma and Pregnancy

MrsAdventure

I am 7 weeks pregnant, give or take a few days. I have asthma that is controlled well by my rescue inhaler. Except that I have a bad chest cold at the moment. I have been having issues with asthma flare ups all day, using my rescue inhaler way more that recommend but it helps for maybe an hour tops. When I was a kid, and my asthma got this bad, my mom would end up taking me to the ER for a Nebulizer treatment (because it always seems to happen at night). I do have an appointment tomorrow with my doctor for my first ultrasound. But here's my fear, if I am not getting enough oxygen, is my baby? Any thoughts?

Mizoo

You may want to talk to your doctor about starting a controller medication, pregnancy can make asthma worse for some women.  It is really important to make sure you are getting enough oxygen for baby's sake!

MrsMac613

I also have asthma. I have a rescue inhaler and advair that I take as needed. My doctor told me to continue to take them because as the PP said pregnancy can make asthma worse and it's very important that you and your baby get oxygen. Definitely talk to your doctor about your options.

Drmommy84

I have asthma too and just finished getting over cold that triggered an asthma flare up.  I think the best thing to do is take albuterol as much as needed to get asthma under control; otherwise you can find yourself a crap load other meds along with the albuterol and nobody wants that. Since albuterol inhaled only a very very very small % reaches baby and there hasn't been any studies really saying albuterol can cause harm to baby.  I had to use albuterol all during last pregnancy and DD turned out fine  :-)

Mizoo

Drmommy84 said:

I have asthma too and just finished getting over cold that triggered an asthma flare up.  I think the best thing to do is take albuterol as much as needed to get asthma under control; otherwise you can find yourself a crap load other meds along with the albuterol and nobody wants that. Since albuterol inhaled only a very very very small % reaches baby and there hasn't been any studies really saying albuterol can cause harm to baby.  I had to use albuterol all during last pregnancy and DD turned out fine  :-)

Albuterol inhalers are called rescue inhalers for a reason.  They are meant to "rescue" you after an attack has already begun.  Controller medicines prevent asthma attacks from happening in the first place.  Telling someone to not seek out a controller medicine when they need one is terrible advice and it is downright dangerous!  If you are able to keep your asthma at a manageable level without a controller, good for you.  If you are using your albuterol more a few times a week that is too often and any doctor worth a penny would tell you to get on a controller.

Albuterol doesn't always work sufficiently, especially in a pregnant woman who is sick, and then what happens?  Oh, mom's SOL.  Hope you can make it to an emergency room before you or your baby die!

Asthma is a very serious affliction that you shouldn't be so flippant about.  A very close friend of mine (a fit, healthy, young man with no other health issues) died two years ago from an asthma attack.  He thought he could "control" his asthma with just a rescue inhaler too.  All it takes is a few minutes without oxygen before your tissues start dying, which is less time than it takes most people to get to an ER... Food for thought. 

Please think twice before giving out dangerous advice.

MrsAdventure

Thank you everyone for your input. I actually did end up at the ER late last night. I started using my rescue inhaler every 45 minutes, it was just getting ridiculous. Three Nebulizer treatments and 5 prescriptions later and I'm feeling kinda, sorta, almost human-ish again. It has been around 15 years or more since I have had the need for any sort of controller meds, but anything to keep from a repeat of last night is okay with me. Thank you again everyone.

dana2die4

Mizoo said:

Drmommy84 said:

I have asthma too and just finished getting over cold that triggered an asthma flare up.  I think the best thing to do is take albuterol as much as needed to get asthma under control; otherwise you can find yourself a crap load other meds along with the albuterol and nobody wants that. Since albuterol inhaled only a very very very small % reaches baby and there hasn't been any studies really saying albuterol can cause harm to baby.  I had to use albuterol all during last pregnancy and DD turned out fine  :-)

Albuterol inhalers are called rescue inhalers for a reason.  They are meant to "rescue" you after an attack has already begun.  Controller medicines prevent asthma attacks from happening in the first place.  Telling someone to not seek out a controller medicine when they need one is terrible advice and it is downright dangerous!  If you are able to keep your asthma at a manageable level without a controller, good for you.  If you are using your albuterol more a few times a week that is too often and any doctor worth a penny would tell you to get on a controller.

Albuterol doesn't always work sufficiently, especially in a pregnant woman who is sick, and then what happens?  Oh, mom's SOL.  Hope you can make it to an emergency room before you or your baby die!

Asthma is a very serious affliction that you shouldn't be so flippant about.  A very close friend of mine (a fit, healthy, young man with no other health issues) died two years ago from an asthma attack.  He thought he could "control" his asthma with just a rescue inhaler too.  All it takes is a few minutes without oxygen before your tissues start dying, which is less time than it takes most people to get to an ER... Food for thought. 

Please think twice before giving out dangerous advice.

THIS!!!!! I have had severe asthma my entire life, and ALBUTEROL is just that "a rescue inhaler" its not meant for daily use, not to mention it speeds up the heart which could be SERIOUSLY dangerous, especially in pregnant women. 

sunflwr81

Definitely talk to your doctor. I have had asthma my whole life so I understand your concern. The most important thing is that you take care of yourself. If you can't breath than your baby isn't getting enough oxygen. It does sound like you are using the rescue inhaler more than you should be and that you may need to talk to your doctor about other options to control your asthma. Talk to your doctor about what he/she recommends.

Drmommy84

To clarify:
1. I Did not recommend the poster not to seek medical consult....let that be clear @Mizoo‌
2. Secondly to clarify albuterol usage- I should have been more specific and noted that albuterol can be taken at an increased frequency during asthma exacerbation ..... (but it should be noted during asthma flares people commonly take albuterol on daily basis until symptoms resolved). Not recommending her to take albuterol 50times a day but that's common sense right?
3. The latest research has not shown any significant correlation to adverse affects to baby albuterol use during pregnancy. Yes too much albuterol can cause mother to have temporary increased heart rate ....and eventually lungs will become unresponsive to albuterol if you take too much in short period.
4. The poster described an asthma flare secondary to upper respiratory infection but otherwise well controlled thus albuterol use at a higher frequency during this time would be okay since the person will more likely have more symptoms requiring more medication to control symptoms. If the poster described herself as someone with extreme limitations to her daily activities, such as needing albuterol everyday day to control asthma symptoms triggered by walking up stairs or simple physical activity then NO I would not have told her it's okay to use albuterol everyday.
5. And if the persons symptoms doesn't improve then of course they should seek treatment from a doctor or emergency room -this is common sense.

Sorry for any confusion -it was not my intent to cause harm and will be more specific next time. We can now return to the regularly scheduled program and move past this. Glad @MrsAdventure‌ is feeling better :-)

anoush23

Definitley speak to your doctor.  I'm asthmatic too and my doctor told me that the asthma is the first priority...treat the asthma first and then the pregnancy.  Seems like you're taking your inhaler way too often and may need some other medication to get it under control.

Manada

At almost 11 weeks now I've noticed that my asthma has definitely worsened a bit throughout pregnancy.   Part of that is because I recently had a cold and couldn't take all the normal meds for it, the other part is that I'm just consistently so TIRED and staying on top of my general wellness routines is hard.

I'm on the Symbicourt Turbohalor (sp?) now.  My doc just switched me up from the regular pair of steroid inhalers + the rescue inhaler.   I'm not sure the symbicourt is better necessarily, but the Turbohaler is nice because I know the meds are hitting my lungs instead of my throat or tongue.