PCOS-MEDICATION Messages for May, 2000: Re: Glucophage and pregnancy

Re: Glucophage and pregnancy

From: Vikki (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Sun, 28 May 2000 22:47:19 -0500 (CDT)

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It definitely sounds like he was getting the two confused. Like I said I quit taking it months ago, and I haven't been back to the Dr. since. I will have to look up specific info on the two classes of drugs so that I can have it in hand next time I go. At Sun, 14 May 2000, Christine Gray De Zarn wrote: >
>Hi Vikki,
>
>Glucophage has been used for 30 years to treat diabetes, with no known
>teratogenic effects (teratogenic = produces birth defects). In fact,
>Glucophage (metformin) is specifically the drug described by Dr. Ehrmann
>yesterday at the University of Chicago, as being a safe and effective drug
>for those trying to conceive. Some doctors even believe that discontinuing
>this drug during pregnancy is more risky than continuing to take it, so some
>women continue to take it all the way through pregnancy and beyond. It
>reportedly can help to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes. Even so, I
>don't pretend to be a doctor, so please don't take my comments as a
>replacement for doctors' advice.
>
>That being said, any of the "glitazone" drugs, like Avandia or Actos, have
>not been demonstrated as safe during pregnancy, and are therefore not
>recommended. I would not take any chances with these.
>
>The drugs that you must be really careful of, because of the effects on the
>male fetus, are the androgen-suppression drugs, such as aldactone
>(spironolactone) or flutamide. The problem with this kind of drug is that
>it "feminizes" a male fetus if it is in your system at the time that the
>genitalia are being formed (at about the 7th week of gestation and for a
>while beyond). This would mean that if you had a male child, he might be
>born with a small, underdeveloped penis and testicles, and might never be
>able to have children of his own when he grows up. For the same reason, I
>wouldn't recommend androgen-suppressing herbs like Saw Palmetto during
>pregnancy, either, unless you know for sure that the baby is female.
>
>It's always difficult to know what to believe and what not to believe when
>doctors disagree. Do you think that it's possible that your doctor was
>confusing these two classes of drugs used to treat PCOS when you were having
>this discussion?
>
>Christine D.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: anonymous@obgyn.net [mailto:anonymous@obgyn.net Behalf
>Of Vikki
>Sent: Friday, May 12, 2000 11:13 AM
>To: Multiple recipients of list PCOS-MEDICATION
>Subject: Glucophage and pregnancy
>
>About 6 months ago I finally found a Dr that was familiar with PCOS (I
>was diagnosed in '94 just before I got out of the military, and have
>been searching for a Dr ever since). My Dr perscribed Glucophage and I
>took it for appx 3 months. My Dr told me that I absolutely COULD NOT
>get pregnant while taking this drug. He said that it WOULD cause a male
>child to be deformed. After three months, I quit taking it because my
>husband and I slipped and did not use protection. I haven't gone back
>to taking it because we want to have a child and I couldn't bear the
>thought of causing a child to be born with a birth defect due to a
>medication that I was taking. I have read over many of the messages
>here and was wondering if the possibility of birth defects was really as
>severe as my Dr made me think it was? Thanks in advance for any
>information you can give me. Vikki

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