|
By Melissa Tennen, HealthAtoZ writer
Uncontrolled or poorly controlled asthma could spell trouble for your unborn baby.
"If the mother doesn't get enough oxygen during pregnancy, then the baby may not get enough oxygen," says Michael Schatz, M.D., president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and chief of the department of allergy at Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center in San Diego.
In severe cases, the baby might die, he says. In other cases, this reduction in oxygen might interfere with the baby's growth in the womb. Other studies show pregnant women with asthma - 7 percent of all pregnant women - have more chances of having complicated pregnancies, requiring Caesarean section deliveries or giving birth to a premature baby.
"Women want to protect their baby as much as possible. They have read they should avoid medication if they don't want to harm their babies. But this is not good for the women who have asthma," says Linda B. Ford, M.D., an allergist at the Asthma and Allergy Center in Omaha, Nebraska and past president of the American Lung Association. "Throughout the years, we have been reassured that most of the medications we have been giving are OK."
Even though most medications are generally safe to take during pregnancy, don't take any medications without talking to the doctor who is treating your asthma. Every woman is different. So work with your doctor to find the best treatment. This is your safest bet for delivering a healthy baby.
Although doctors have known for years that many asthma and allergy medications are safe during pregnancy, more research is adding to that body of knowledge. Schatz led a study appearing in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The report found if mom inhales steroids to help with her asthma, the baby's growth inside the womb is not affected.
The two most commonly used types of asthma medications are bronchodilators, used as needed for opening up the airways during flare ups of symptoms, and corticosteroids, usually taken daily to prevent symptoms.
Asthma symptoms include coughing, wheezing, chest tightness and shortness of breath. There is no cure for asthma but it can be controlled.
Another recent study in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology looked at 2,200 pregnant women. Some women had asthma, some had asthma symptoms but were not diagnosed with asthma during pregnancy and others did not have any symptoms or diagnosis during pregnancy. This study showed pregnant women with undiagnosed or undertreated asthma had a higher risk to the fetus and newborn than did those who inhaled medications used to manage asthma. Women with undiagnosed asthma and daily symptoms had a three times higher risk of delivering a low birth weight baby.
"Asthma is inadequately controlled if it is causing symptoms more than twice a week, interfering with sleep more than twice a month, or limiting your normal activity or exercise," Schatz says.
During pregnancy asthma can improve, worsen or stay the same, Schatz says. Doctors aren't sure why the condition might change during pregnancy, although it might have something to do with hormonal changes. Most often, asthma tends to worsen in the late second or early third trimesters. But some women may have fewer symptoms in the last four weeks of pregnancy.
These changes makes it all the more important to see the doctor who is treating your asthma.
To decrease the chance of asthma symptoms, pregnant women should avoid their asthma triggers, including allergens such as dust mites, cockroaches, molds, animal dander and irritants such as cigarette smoke. The doctor who is treating your asthma can help you develop strategies to avoid these triggers.
|
Related Articles
|
|
External Sources
 |
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
|
|
American Lung Association
|
|
National Asthma Education and Prevention Program
|
|
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
Return to the previous page
|
