Re: Dr Sam -- about Glucophage
From: Christa (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Tue, 22 May 2001 22:30:16 -0500 (CDT)
Hi Dr. Sam-
I have started the Diane already, it's been a good three months now. I'm
sorry, I misspoke about the dosage of folic acid. My Bcomplex contains
400mcg of folic acid, not 400mg. I purchased folic acid alone (800mcg
per pill) and the bottle says not to exceed 1000mcg per day. Obviously
if I took the 800mcg pill with my Bcomplex pill I would be getting a
total of 1200mcg of folic acid. Apparently that's too high, or is it?
The gluco prevents all the folic acid from being absorbed in my body,
right?
I ask these questions because I have heard of women getting pregnant
while taking the Diane. In my case I have been taking antibiotics which
decrease the effects of contraception of BCP (not that I'm not being
careful) but still sometimes things happen. I would just like to know
in case I did get pregnant accidently, so that I wouldn't have to worry
about birth defects.
Thanks for your time.
At Tue, 22 May 2001, =?iso-8859-2?q?Zalányi wrote:
>
>Hi Christa,
>
>First of all, aren't you on Diane yet? If so why are you putting questions about pregnancy?
>Secondly, please read the bottle again. I doubt your pills contain 400 mg! of folic acid.
>Before asking for info, please provide exact info to the board
>Sam
>
>> Dr. Sam--
>>
>> But how much folic acid would suggest? I have a bottle of folic acid
>> that says not too exceed 1000mg a day. I'm currently taking a Bcomplex
>> that has 400mg of folic acid in it which is 100% of the daily
>> recommended dosage. Would that be sufficient to prevent harm to the
>> fetus? How can anyone tell how much folic acid is being absorbed or
>> depleted? I'm just afraid that if I get pregnant before I'm actually
>> trying to get pregnant, I won't have to worry about the baby getting
>> spina bifida.
>>
>> Thanks for your help.
>>
>> At Sat, 19 May 2001, =?iso-8859-2?q?Zalányi wrote:
>> >
>> >Dear DOna,
>> >
>> >Surely this is a way to decrease the risks of metformin being continued
>> during the first trimester.
>> >For your help
>> >
>> >Sam
>> >
>> >> Dr sam,
>> >> Could taking extra folic acid along with the metformin during the first
>> >> trimester of preganacy lower the risk of spina bifida?Thus making
>> >> metformin safer?
>> >> thanks,Dona
>> >>
>> >> >At Fri, 18 May 2001, =?iso-8859-2?q?Zalányi wrote:
>> >> >Hi Christa,
>> >> >
>> >> >There is a controversy about taking glucophage during pg. Drug
>> >> manufacturers tend to minimize the risk of their drugs being taken during
>> >> pg, thus they set up categories for them: A is absolutely safe, B is not
>> >> harmful, C potentially harmful and D is dangerous during pg. As there is
>> not
>> >> enough experience with metformin during pg they have put it into category
>> C.
>> >> The truth is that therer is some basis for cat. C, because metformin
>> reduces
>> >> the absorption of folic acid thus increasing the risk of neural tube
>> >> defects. But stoping it during pg increases the risk of spontaneuos
>> >> abortion. Finally you have to make a painful decision which risk is
>> greater
>> >> (I think the sp.ab. is).
>> >> >For your info
>> >> >
>> >> >Sam
>> >> >
>> >> >> Hi Dr. Sam--
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Do you know any PCOS women that have taken Glucophage during
>> pregnancy?
>> >> >> I'm not trying to get pregnant right now but I will be soon. My endo
>> >> >> says I have to stop the Gluco as soon as I do become pregnant but I
>> have
>> >> >> many women say they chose to stay on it during pregnancy as it
>> prevents
>> >> >> miscarriages.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Do you know if any harm can come to the fetus?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Can't it be harmful to the fetus to have too much insulin racing
>> around
>> >> >> your blood and elevated androgens?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Thanks for your time.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> --
>> >> >> Christa :-)
>> >>
--
Christa :-)