Allergy management during pregnancy

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Rhinitis during pregnancy can cause allergic rhinitis, sinusitis and allergic rhinitis is not. If the woman had allergic rhinitis prior to pregnancy may worsen, remain the same or even better. This change of symptoms may depend on many factors, including the presence of seasonal allergens and an increase in pregnancy hormones.

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Allergic rhinitis during pregnancy can not be due to increased hormones of pregnancy, leading to nasal congestion, nasal discharge and post runny nose. This is called "rhinitis of pregnancy". The symptoms can mimic allergies, but since they are not allergic in nature, do not respond to antihistamines.

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Pregnant women who suffer from rhinitis may be concerned about the safety of drugs during pregnancy, so avoid taking medications.

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If you avoid allergy triggers is not possible or fails, you may need medications to control symptoms.

The allergic rhinitis during pregnancy

Allergy testing> include skin tests or blood tests, called RAST. In general, allergy testing is not done on the skin during pregnancy, given the low likelihood of anaphylaxis, can occur. Anaphylaxis in pregnancy, it could seriously lead to a decrease in the supply of blood and oxygen to the uterus, can cause fetal harm. Therefore, allergy testing is usually deferred during pregnancy, although a RAST is a safe alternative, if the results are needed toPregnancy.

Safety-allergy medications during pregnancy

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as no drugs are completely safe during pregnancy. This is because no pregnant woman wants to register for a study of drug safety, while she is pregnant. Therefore, the FDA has assigned risk categories for drug use during pregnancy.

Pregnancy Category "A" drugs are prescription drugs, where they show good studies in pregnant womendrug safety, the child in the first three months. There are very few drugs in this class, and no medication for asthma.

Class "B" show a good drug safety studies in animals during pregnancy, but there are no human studies available.

Pregnancy category "C" drugs may have adverse effects on the fetus during pregnancy, when he studied the results of the animals, but the benefits of these medications can pose risks to humans.

"D" medications showclear risk to the fetus, but there may be cases where the benefits outweigh the risks to humans. And, finally, show signs category "X" clear birth defects in animal drugs and / or human studies and should not be used during pregnancy.

Before any medication taken during pregnancy, the doctor and the patient have a risk / benefit discussion. This means that the benefits of the drug must be weighed against the risks - and the drug should only be taken if theBenefits outweigh the risks.

The treatment of pregnancy rhinitis

Nasal saline. Rhinitis of pregnancy tends to not respond to antihistamines or nasal sprays. This statement seems at times to respond to nasal saline (salt water), which is certainly in use during pregnancy (actually not a drug). Nasal saline is available over the counter, is inexpensive and can be used as often as necessary. 3-6 sprays are generally placed in each nostril, so that the saline in the nose30 seconds, then fly.

Antihistamines. Older antihistamines such as chlorpheniramine and tripelennamine, are the preferred agents for the treatment of allergic rhinitis during pregnancy, and are both new antihistamine drug class BI, as over-the-counter loratadine (Claritin ® / Alavert ®, generic forms) and prescription cetirizine (Zyrtec ®) are also a Class B drug for pregnancy.

Decongestants. Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed ®, many genericModules) is the preferred oral decongestant to treat allergic rhinitis and nonallergic during pregnancy, although it should be avoided during the entire first quarter, as the child is related gastroschisis. This medication is pregnancy category C.

Medical nasal spray. Cromolyn nasal spray (NasalCrom ®, generics) is useful in the treatment of allergic rhinitis if used before allergen exposure and before symptoms appear. This drug is a pregnancyClass B is available over the counter. If this drug is not useful to have a nasal steroid budesonide (Rhinocort Aqua ®), recently received a rating of pregnancy category B (all others are Class C), and would be the nasal steroid of choice during pregnancy.

Immunotherapy. Allergy shots can be continued during pregnancy, but it is not advisable to start treatment during pregnancy. Typically, the dose of allergy shots is not increased, and manyAllergists cuts the dose of allergy shot 50 percent during pregnancy. Some allergists feel that allergy shots should be discontinued during pregnancy because the risk of anaphylaxis and risk to the fetus as a result. Unlike anaphylaxis, there is no data that show that allergy shots are actually dangerous to the fetus.

Allergy management during pregnancy

Baby Allergies