Vicky Bilaniuk wrote:
OK, I would love to know what you all think of pregnancy and asthma,
and, in particular, advair. When I talked to my doctor about
pregnancy, he never mentioned anything about the advair that I use,
but I have recently been wondering about it. I suffer from mild but
persistent side effects

Out of curiosity, what side effects? I have been using it for about 6 months
and haven't had any problems at all.

and have decided to go off of it (I've been
toying with the idea of going off of it for a long time, now, but
being pregnant is what finally did it). My asthma is actually not
all that bad. I don't suffer from classic attacks, so IOW, going off
of the medication won't be like welcoming death, or something. ;-)
Going off of the drug will just mean that I'll get a bit more, uh,
phlegmy (yeah, TMI, I know).

One thing I worry about, though: I just read that advair is a class C
drug, meaning that effects have been observed on rat fetuses, but
there are insufficient data regarding the effects on human fetuses
(i.e. there have not been enough studies done - and in fact, one page
I saw claimed that there were no studies done regarding this at all,
but I don't know what is true, and it's hard to judge fact from
fiction when the official advair site has nothing on pregnancy at all
(or maybe that should tell me something)). Now, I have already
decided to go off of this drug, so once the medication is out of my
system, I won't have to worry. ;-) However, I'm curious, and I would
like to know if anyone has any more up-to-date info about known
possible effects of advair on a fetus.

I'm an asthmatic and would not hesitate to take Advair during pregnancy.
Years before I had any children, I had an allergist who told me that inhaled
steroids (Salmeterol did not exist in those days) were FAR safer for a fetus
than having a mother who can't breathe, and I believe he's right.

That said, I never took steroids and Serevent consistently during any of my
pregnancies because my asthma is always mild during pregnancy. That said,
I'd take it now if I were ever pregnant again. Why? Because last July I
suffered a severe asthma attack that affected my large airways. I couldn't
breathe, my heart stopped, and I was resuscitated by CPR with only minutes
to spare before either death or brain damage would have been the result.
Under the circumstances, I think Advair is a LOT safer than the alternative!
--
Be well, Barbara
(Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [a quarter to 2] mom)

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