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Re: Glucophage and pregnancy
From: Dyan (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Sun, 26 May 2002 01:01:05 -0500 (CDT)
Many doctors now say that Glucophage is not only safe during the first
trimester of pregnancy, it decreases the miscarriage rate in women with
PCOS dramatically (from 50-70 percent, down to around 9-12%!!, depending
on the study).
At Sun, 28 May 2000, Vikki wrote:
>
>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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