Posted on 12/17/2015 4:17:38 PM PST by Morgana
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 16, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- New research from a Midwestern hospital suggests a wide majority of teen girls and young women fail to get information about contraceptives when they take medications that could cause birth defects.
At issue are so-called "teratogenic" medications, used for conditions ranging from acne to anxiety, that boost the risk of birth defects when taken during pregnancy.
Physicians often tell sexually active women to take birth control while they're on the drugs to avoid becoming pregnant, but it's unclear whether younger females routinely get the same kind of guidance.
In the new study, researchers examined the medical records of nearly 1,700 females aged 14 to 25 who received just over 4,500 prescriptions for teratogenic medications in more than 4,100 visits from 2008-2012. All the participants had visited a large, unidentified pediatric medical center in the Midwest.
(Excerpt) Read more at consumer.healthday.com ...
Not an infectious disease, but a warning worthy of note. Always read down the side effects/interaction warnings before taking any drug, just in case.
It has been my experience that pharmacists will often catch potential problems physicians miss when prescribing medication, but YOU are your first line of defense.
“The five most commonly prescribed teratogenic drugs, in descending order, were topiramate (Topamax), which treats seizures and migraine headaches; methotrexate (Trexall, Rasuvo), a cancer drug; diazepam (Valium, Diastat), a tranquilizer for anxiety; isotretinoin (Claravis, Sotret, Myorisan), a drug for severe acne; and enalapril (Vasotec), which treats high blood pressure. “
I understand what they are saying. I know one of the drugs on the list. However what sideaffect/birth defects does contraception cause??? Do we even know them all? There has got to be another way.
“but YOU are your first line of defense.”
Life is like that.
L
Well, for starters, effective contraception means no fetus to be affected.
Down the road, that may have other implications for the mother, and for any successive pregnancy, depending on the method used.
Do we know them all? I seriously doubt that we do.
There are methods which will have no side effect aside from preventing pregnancy (condoms, rhythm method).
The chief reason I pinged the list, is that if someone is taking or about to start taking these drugs, they should be aware that there is a risk if they are pregnant; and that they should either avoid becoming pregnant or seek a different pharmacology to alleviate the condition for which the drugs were prescribed if those risks concern them.
That said, I am not a physician, and this should not be construed as medical advice.
Allan Guttmacher Institute reported a 9% method failure rate for the Pill. Would you fly on a plane with a 9% chance of ceasing?
Crashing, bashing, $ma$hing
In the instances I know of, the pill failed when those taking it were also taking antibiotics. Those two are sisters, and both became pregnant while on the pill, so the antibiotics somehow suppressed the effects of the pill, an effect which may be confined to genetic lines, or not.
No method is 100%, not even surgical intervention (vasectomy or tubal ligation), because the procedures are not always done correctly.
Until the TSA quits groping the passengers, I have no intention of flying anywhere, and I'll leave making babies to the (older) grandkids.
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