My wife has (well, had) a primary care doctor who told her the only antibiotic a pregnant woman can take is amoxicillin. My wife had taken azithromycin for an illness similar to what she had most recently contracted, it worked very well, and floated the idea of taking it again. She was told azithromycin was “unsafe”, and precribed the afore-mentioned amoxicillin.
This is, quite simply, incorrect. Tetracycline derivatives (particularly doxycycline) should be avoided when possible, but most of the other ab’s, including amoxycillin, are class B drugs (meaning the’ve been tested extensively in animals, but not humans). Even the class D (tetracycline family, pretty much) antibiotics have, as their most troubling teratogenic side-effect, permanent discoloration of the teeth, which isn’t exactly life-threatening.
Her old doctor was a UPenn grad.
I’ve taken it upon myself to learn as much about prenatal care as possible these days, so I can check up on these things. Maybe I’m not a doctor, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to educate myself and voice my oppinion when appropriate.
Even once the baby’s born, the “advice” won’t stop. And some of the worst advice does come from doctors - and is even more dangerous, because we all want to trust our doctors. To echo Loopydude, there are hundreds of medications which even doctors will tell you not to take while breastfeeding, when in reality there are only a few dozen which are worth interrupting breastfeeding for. Get a good, trusted book and/or doctor, don’t be afraid to ask questions about current research or ask to see the studies the doctor’s basing her recomendations on. A good doctor won’t hesitate to do this, and will in fact be glad you’re taking your health care seriously. My doctor always asks me to give her a written list of my “demands”, as she (tongue-in-cheek) calls them, at each visit. If she can’t provide a source or answer my question immediately, she will fax me the info I’ve requested within two days.
Yes, I ask even my doctor for “cites”! Just because she went to school for a long time doesn’t mean she knows everything, and she doesn’t always know what’s most important to me. It’s all a risk/benefit analysis, and I’d rather be the one to make the final decision, although I rely on her heavily for advice and information.
I have no problem telling idiots to fuck off, albeit usually not audibly. I’m due in a couple of weeks and I don’t care if people are offended anymore. I’m certainly not going to smile and nod - why encourage them? I will roll my eyes, raise my eyebrows, sigh and announce that I have to go vomit again.
If I wanted advice (assvice), I would ask for it. I most certainly can have a cup of coffee. I don’t want to hear about horrendous outcomes and tragic complications. And any “friend” who knows how difficult this pregnancy has been for me and then feels they need to tell me to savour this time or how lovely pregnancy is can get bent.
Loopydude-Tetracyclines are taken up by bones too. That is NOT good. Discolouration of the teeth is one thing, messing about with the structure and content of bones is on a whole other level of not good.
Azithromycin is in the same class as Erythromycin, Clarithromycin and along with Cephalosporins and the Penicillens is considered safe in pregnancy. If the risks outweigh the benefits you treat, but you treat with the safest, mildest antibiotic which the organism is sensitive to, if that fails you then move up a step. not only is that sound advice in pregnancy it also prevents the spread of resistant organisms.
Perhaps your doctor thought Azithromycin was overkill as a first line drug but would have used it if the Amox had failed?
It is not ethical to test drugs in pregnant humans, but rodents are not good test subjects for teratogenicity…IIRC Aspirin causes birth defects in mice (it might not be Aspirin, but it’s definitely a safe drug for humans that is unsafe in mice). Animal studies are not a particularly great indicator of safety in human pregnancy unless the animals concerned are monkeys and apes, and very few of the animal teratogenicity studies are done that way.
Since 20% of all diagnosed pregnancies miscarry before 12 weeks, it’s hard to find something that hasn’t been temporally associated with miscarriage.
e.g.
Rosie had her hair cut, and the next day she lost the baby…thus all pregnant women mustn’t cut their hair.
Temporal association doesn’t equal causal association, but most old wives aren’t statisticians and you can’t convince them otherwise.
In the vast majority of miscarriages there’s something wrong with the baby or the placenta and it just wasn’t going to work out, no matter what the mother did or didn’t do, and that includes lifting heavy things, having sex, watching scary movies, experiencing severe emotional trauma, running a marathon and lifting her arms above her head!
When the Round Robin of Pregnancy Mythology and My Pregnancy/Labor& Delivery were the worst on record comes my way, I always say, " I have no complaints. I enjoyed it overall. Two thumbs up."
You should see the looks I get from the Horror Hannah’s and Labourous Lola’s …
When I was pregnant with my oldest, I was reaching to the top shelf of the pantry for something, and my mother told me I shouldn’t do that (raise my arms above my head) because I’d “wrap the cord around the baby’s neck”. I gave her a big ol’ :rolleyes: and told her if that was the case, I would never be able to take off my tee-shirt!
She looked befuddled for a moment, and then shut up (thank Og).
Yeah, I heard that one too, along with others that were, if you could believe it, even more idiotic.
But I have news for Jet Jaguar, bad news that is, it’s going to get worse. Once the kid is born everybody in your village will have a say about how to handle things. But you know what is worse? When you tell these people how you think you should do things they will tell you that “what’s wrong with my idea? It’s been done like that for centuries”.
I am 6 1/2 months pregnant and have been wondering the same thing - not so much the myths and old wives’ tales - but why SO MANY PEOPLE INSIST ON FOCUSING ON THE NEGATIVE / SCARY aspects of pregnancy?!?
It’s so weird - it’s such a happy time in one’s life, and it’s just beyond my comprehension why so many people (women AND men) appear to want to ruin it all?!?!
When a coworker was pregnant a few months ago, I could not believe how many people in the office told her she would have the baby early. I would tell her, in front of these a-holes, not to listen to them, that only her doctor could tell her if the baby would come early, and until he or she did, she should assume her baby would be full-term. I am completely baffled by the number of people that said it to her, with no justification. She was induced on her due date.
Also, the number of people who believe you can tell the sex by how the mother is carrying is indeed astonishing. I’ve been trying to fight that ignorance for many years, but it doesn’t seem to be working.
When I was pregnant with my second baby, the doctor listened to the heart beat, and then said to me “You know I can tell what you’re having by listening to the heart beat, don’t you?” I told her I had heard such things, but didn’t believe them. She said “Oh, yes, it’s clear to me, just by listening, that you’re having a baby!”
Here is a real risk for you. Toxoplasmosis is a disease carried by cats and can cause a miscarriage. It is usually transmitted by changing the litterbox. My mother miscarried my younger sibling because of our cats,
I *just * remembered that last night my girlfriend told me that she heard that drinking Guinness during pregnancy and especially while breastfeeding is not only not harmful…but healthy. :rolleyes:
Yeah, but there’s a BIG difference between having a miscarriage because you didn’t get hubby to change the litter box and the cat sucking the breath out of the little one.
My mother is convinced that my sister is lactose intolerant because she had cravings for milk and that my ADHD is the result of her craving ice tea. She said the caffeine must’ve done it. (More likely, genetics-three of my cousins are also ADD).
During breastfeeding, anyway, that IS true. Beer (in extreme moderation!) seems to be related to increasing milk supply. Some theorize that it’s the hops that actually help which, I am told, are most present in Guinness.
That study deals with pure alcohol, which the site I cited (ha!) agrees has no effect on lactation. In fact, they suggest non-alcoholic beer, as the compound which increases prolactin is most likely related to the barley/hops rather than the alcohol.
Italics mine. It sounds more like groping in the dark to confirm this old wives tale rather than rigorous scientific study. While one study shows increased prolactin levels in sheep and rats, there is nothing to indicate this one component has an increased effect on the actual amount of milk produced. Of course, non-alcoholic beer seems unlikely to cause harm, so fill yer boots.
Well, it seems like it was one of the first studies on the topic (which PubMed confirms), of course they’re not going to be making any sweeping statements on the effects on humans. That’s no reason to cast aspersion on their rigour - it was published in a peer-reviewed journal, after all.
Although yes, they certainly don’t suggest that Guinness, per se, is a good idea.
