Atenolol.
How many people were talking Atenolol when they discovered they were pregnant? I told the Doctors that we had been trying last month. I TOLD them they might have done the blood test to EARLY. I FUCKEN TOLD THEM I DIDN'T WANT TO TAKE A CLASS D MEDICATION IF THERE WAS THE POSSIBILITY I MIGHT BE PREGNANT.
I've been taking it for four or five days now and it already has a big effect on me. If I don't take it on time it makes me really jittery from the withdrawl.
I've looked all over online and all I can find is that it causes birth defects in the first trimester but that pregnant women do take it after that for blood pressure and hyperthyroidism (what I have)
I'm really really freaked right now. I lost my first child in the third trimester (five months ago) and my second child in the first..... a month ago.... apparently I'm one of those gals that has sex once a month and gets pregnant all the time.... .lucky me.
Re: Atenolol.
According to Gabbe (Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies, 5th Edition):
The use of atenolol during the first and second trimester has been associated with significantly reduced fetal growth along with decreased placental growth and weight.[284,290] On the other hand, no such effects on fetal or placental growth were reported with other ?-blockers, such as metoprolol, pindolol, and oxprenolol, but data on the use of these agents in early pregnancy are very scarce.[271]
The ?-blocking agents (atenolol and metoprolol) are concentrated in breast milk, whereas labetalol or propanolol have low concentrations.[289,296]
Antihypertensive therapy did not affect gestational age at time of delivery in any of the four trials; only the small trial by Butters et al.[284] demonstrated a significantly lower average birth weight and significantly higher rate of SGA infants in the atenolol treated group.
Studies from Scotland suggest improved outcome with the use of atenolol (Tenormin) to treat chronic hypertension during pregnancy.[102]
?-Adrenergic blocking agents (propranolol 20 to 40 mg every 6 hours or atenolol 25 to 50 mg/day) are very effective in controlling hyperdynamic symptoms and are indicated for the first few weeks in symptomatic patients.[128]
The potential adverse effects for most commonly prescribed antihypertensive agents are either poorly established or unclearly quantified.[271] Most of the evidence on harm associated with antihypertensives in pregnancy is limited to case reports. The interpretation of these reports is difficult because it is impossible to ascertain the exact number of women exposed to antihypertensive drugs during pregnancy.[271]
I took Atenolol throughout my whole pregnancy with my daughter. It's what the Army gave me and they insisted it was safe. My daughter didn't have any effects from it. She was born a few weeks early .. like all my kids. She didn't suffer any effects from the medications though.
Ironically the Army had me on Paxil too along with the Atenonol and neither one had any effect on my daughter when she was born. She was a healthy happy bouncing little girl! She just turned 13 in December.
I see now they don't recommend either in pregnancy! Crazy how things change in a matter of years!
Sorry for your losses. I suffered two second trimester losses. My water broke and my one son was born at 24 weeks and passed shortly after birth. Then my next pregnancy my water broke again and I went into labor at 20 weeks and my son passed before he could be born. It wasn't until after I lost the second child they decided to tell me I have an incompetent cervix. So I am pregnant now and they gave me a cervical cerclage at 13 weeks in hopes of saving my babies. (twins) I will be coming up on one of my loss milestones tomorrow. The other in 4 weeks. I am so nervous =( I had no warning with the other two losses at all no pains no nothing my water just broke and I went into labor .. so the fear is there in the back of my mind. Every little sign or symptom and I freak out!
I have high blood pressure too .. and my OB this time around tried me on a new med and it caused me severe depression and didn't lower my blood pressure at all so I had to go back on what I was on .. which I think is a class C med in pregnancy since its never been tested on humans. It seems to be the only thing that's keeping my blood pressure in check though so my OB and I decided its safer then having high blood pressure which we know will be bad for me and the babies. Ironically the other 'safe' blood pressure med's for pregnancy didn't work for me or I was allergic. I just keep hoping and praying all will be fine with my babies! I am taking Norvasc. i did find other who took it during pregnancy too and their babies were fine .. so here's hoping only for the best!
Good luck in your pregnancy!
Thank you for your help, I was going crazy trying to find information on it. The only thing I could find was that it caused "birth defects" not what kind exactly. I called the on call doc and we agreed that I would take metoprolol (a class C med... a heck of a lot better then a class D) until Monday when I can meet w/ the endocrinologist and discuss options.
I'm kind of hoping it's a false positive so I can get healthy before going though this.... I know it's not though, I've been though it enough to be able to tell what's happening. I've already had implantation bleeding and one positive pregnancy test. I'm not saying I'm not happy, I'm just really really scared. I don't want to screw this up...
Once again....thank you sooooo much. I'll try to relax now...
Thank you! Good luck as well! It's so scary dealing with all of this.