I know one difference. The procardia didn't make me feel as crappy as the terb. God I hated that stuff. I felt like I was going to crawl out of my own skin! Yuck.
I didn't have any SE's with Procardia (on it from 28w until 36w). I know terb's supposed to make you super jittery. Procardia's actually a blood pressure medication.
I have been on procardia for a little over a week now, and since we uped the dose to 20mg every 4hr I have stopped having contractions altogether so far. I have heard people say that after a little while it stops working so I am just crossing my fingers that it holds up. I have also heard that procardia is a lot less harsh of a drug as far as side effects. Sorry I couldn't help more.
Procardia is a blood pressure/heart medication, like pp said, but the way it works also relaxes the uterus.
I was only able to stay on it for a few days before I "failed" it and had to go on terbutaline. Procardia gave me a headache and made me flushed. Somewhat unpleasant, but tolerable. One of my L&D nurses said it wears off rather quickly for a lot of people.
Terbutaline is used for people with asthma, and its effects also relax the uterus. It can be given via tablet, subcutaneous injection, and via pump (needle goes into your leg, needle comes out leaving a catheter in place, has soft tubing attached to a small pump device.)
I got SQ injections in the hospital to start with, then they tried to manage my contractions on the tablets which didn't work. I'm on a pump now, which gives you a continuous dose all the time, scheduled boluses every 4 hours (or however often they want you to have it, but that's pretty standard) and then I can give myself 2 additional extra doses in 24 hours if I need to (which I do under medical advice from a contraction monitoring center...I hook up to a monitor twice daily for an hour and then send the strip via phone for interpretation.)
Terb makes you feel really shaky/jittery and increases your heart rate. I've been on it for about a week now and some of those effects have calmed down. I don't really notice it except for after a bolus now.
Procardia is a calcium channel blocker. Terbutaline is a beta mimetic. Terb has serious side effects including pulmonary edema (fluid in lungs). Procardia does not have a similar side effect profile.
Re: terbutaline versus procardia..
I have no experience with terbutaline but did find this link that might help a little. https://www.twinslist.org/terbquestions.html
I have been on procardia for a little over a week now, and since we uped the dose to 20mg every 4hr I have stopped having contractions altogether so far. I have heard people say that after a little while it stops working so I am just crossing my fingers that it holds up. I have also heard that procardia is a lot less harsh of a drug as far as side effects. Sorry I couldn't help more.
https://barnettjourney.blogspot.com/The Triplet Life Store
I have now taken both of them.
Procardia is a blood pressure/heart medication, like pp said, but the way it works also relaxes the uterus.
I was only able to stay on it for a few days before I "failed" it and had to go on terbutaline. Procardia gave me a headache and made me flushed. Somewhat unpleasant, but tolerable. One of my L&D nurses said it wears off rather quickly for a lot of people.
Terbutaline is used for people with asthma, and its effects also relax the uterus. It can be given via tablet, subcutaneous injection, and via pump (needle goes into your leg, needle comes out leaving a catheter in place, has soft tubing attached to a small pump device.)
I got SQ injections in the hospital to start with, then they tried to manage my contractions on the tablets which didn't work. I'm on a pump now, which gives you a continuous dose all the time, scheduled boluses every 4 hours (or however often they want you to have it, but that's pretty standard) and then I can give myself 2 additional extra doses in 24 hours if I need to (which I do under medical advice from a contraction monitoring center...I hook up to a monitor twice daily for an hour and then send the strip via phone for interpretation.)
Terb makes you feel really shaky/jittery and increases your heart rate. I've been on it for about a week now and some of those effects have calmed down. I don't really notice it except for after a bolus now.
They have different mechanisms of action.
Procardia is a calcium channel blocker. Terbutaline is a beta mimetic. Terb has serious side effects including pulmonary edema (fluid in lungs). Procardia does not have a similar side effect profile.
HTH. Good luck.