Taking Cipro during 1st trimester

Saige&John · November 2011

Hi Ladies... I found out last week that I am pregnant with baby #3 and had an u-sound yesterday to determine I am 13 weeks along. I didn't find out until now because I had an IUD (which BTW was perfectly in place yesterday when they did the u-sound) and I assumed my missed periods were something to do w/ the IUD. It has been in place about a year and I had one between my two children as well with no problem.

Anyway, my question is this: I took Cipro a couple weeks ago for three days. When I told my dr about this yesterday she was concerned. Anyone here take cipro during their 1st trimester? What did YOUR doctor think? We have our genetic testing next week, but they are unlikely to determine our risk potential because there are limited studies of cipro during pregnancy. My doctor seemed worried, but am wondering what other doctors have said/thought, etc.

Anything you can share would be GREAT !!!

DrRx · November 2011

I'm a pharmacist, and according to one of my references, you should not be too terribly concerned. It is classified as category C, and it does cross the placenta. Category C means that there have been adverse effects in animal reproduction studies, but there are no adequate studies available in humans.

An expert review of published data found that usual doses of cipro during pregnancy are not likely to cause birth defects. However, there was not sufficient data to conclude that there is no risk. Also, a couple of prospective studies followed women who had been exposed to this class of antibiotics during the first trimester vs. those who did not and it was found that there was not an increased risk of major malformations, and the rates of miscarriage, prematurity, and low birth weight did not differ among the groups.

The fact that you only took it for 3 days (I'm assuming to treat UTI, correct?) means that you didn't really take a very high dose. Did you use the 250mg or 500mg twice a day? Either way, I think that you are more than likely ok.

Hope this helps!

Saige&John · November 2011

First of all, congratulations! I just read your signature and that is SO great that you are 16wks pg!

Thank you for this information. I am not certain of the dosage (need to call and find out what it was before next week) but I took it because I had traveled to China for work and got food poisoning right at the end of the trip. A week after getting home, I still had pretty bad symptoms so I took the Cipro. It was prescribed by the travel doctor before my trip to keep just in case. At the time of me taking it I had no reason to think I was pg so I didn't even consider the risks. I took a total of 5 pills over a 3 day period....I'm guessing 500mg.

Thanks again so much for your reply!

DrRx · December 2011

No problem! If you were taking it for that reason, it was more than likely the 500mg tablets. I wouldn't worry about taking it for 5 doses.

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