Steroids at 11 weeks: No choice

jbealer

I need some moms to help ease my mind!! I have something called panuveitis, an inflammation of all three major parts of my eye, and without controlling it I can lose my eyesight. I have been forced to use steroid eye drops, durezol, every one hr! I am doing it every two...i told them I was already concerned switching to the stronger steroid. I'm 11 weeks, almost there! But also have a hematoma...dr says he's not concerned and it should resolve on its own. Needless to say though I am having a hard time not worrying about my baby. I know these are just eye drop steroids, and I've been instructed to put pressure on my tear duct to minimize the amount that gets into the rest of my system (I can usually taste the drainage through my sinuses). Anyone have no choice but to use steroids and the baby turn out fine??

normandyn7

I would ask your doctor for sure. I know when I went into preterm labor with my son at 26 weeks I got shots of steroids to help his lungs develop faster in case he was born early. I'm assuming it's pretty harmless but for sure ask your doctor anyways.

mangomimosa

This is your VISION. Changing the dosing schedule on my own is not a risk I would be comfortable taking. It's a topical medication & the amount that gets into your bloodstream will be minimal. If you don't treat it as directed now, you might have to use even higher doses for a longer time, or have to take oral medications... or who knows what else. I would use the drops as directed and put in a call to the OB for reassurance. This is a risk/benefit thing. The medication is category C -- it just hasn't been studied, but it's not known to be harmful. 

jbealer

I have a rare eye disease...im pretty sure I'm already under the care of physicians. And my lovely OB said be careful because of cleft pallet. My ophthalmologist said to plug the tear duct. I simply wanted advice or to hear from others that had to use it. Last time I had this I was instructed every 2 hrs so I know its fine. Do you know how hard it is to drop and plug your tear duct for a cpl minutes every hour??

HeyStVincent

I echo other posters and think you should contact your OB. Steroids are considered a Category C pregnancy drug - it means we can't fully say if there is/is not a risk in taking. A Cat C drug means that animal studies show an adverse risk to the fetus, but that human studies have not really been done. If it makes you feel any better, I work in a primary care office that also does obstetric care and we prescribe steroids to pregnant patients who need them - its all about risk vs benefit with Cat C drugs. Here is a list of what the different categories of drugs mean: https://depts.washington.edu/druginfo/Formulary/Pregnancy.pdf Sorry that you're having to go through this! I hope your symptoms resolve soon. Edit: Bad cut and paste on mobile changed the meaning of a sentence!