Laura: Can women take cold medicine or asprin for headaches? I know some who have suffered through migraines and week-long flu symptoms without taking anything for fear of hurting their baby. Is that the course to take, or should a woman immediately consult her doctor and go from there?
Dr. Maddison: Tylenol and Benadryl are fine, but I would not take aspirin or Motrin-like medicines. Some doctors are iffy about Sudafed. It works by causing vascular constriction and could theoretically cause ischemia (lack of blood flow) to developing structures, so you could wait until after the first trimester. There are tons of people who take Sudafed even early in pregnancy and are fine, so people shouldn’t worry. Some birth defects are so rare, we don’t know exactly what caused them so it is hard to rule some things out. For severe headaches that don’t respond to Tylenol, we use the lowest amount of narcotics needed, but migraine medications such as Imitrex should be avoided.
Laura: When is the final cut off for flying?
Dr. Maddison: Most airlines say thirty-seven weeks. We restrict travel for our patients at thirty-five weeks. Flying doesn’t hurt anything assuming you are in a pressurized cabin, but it sure is an inconvenient place to have an obstetrical emergency!
