What should I do if I find out I’m pregnant after taking cold medicine?

Colds can occur in any season. A mild cold may be cured by drinking more hot water, but a more serious cold may need to be treated with medication. However, many women inadvertently find out that they are pregnant after taking medicine. It is said that taking medicine during pregnancy may endanger the health of the baby in the belly, such as causing disability or intellectual problems. So, what should you do if you find out you are pregnant after taking cold medicine?

Precautions for use of medication during pregnancy

1. Pregnant women should not use over-the-counter drugs casually. All medication should be taken under the guidance of a doctor to ensure that the drugs are less harmful to the embryo and fetus.

2. The drug should be used at the minimum effective dose and for the shortest effective course of treatment. Avoid blindly using large doses or for long periods of time. Avoid combined medication. Unless necessary for the condition, try to avoid using the drug in early pregnancy.

3. Before taking any medicine, you should read the "Drug Instructions" in detail, and try not to use medicines that are "contraindicated for pregnant women". If local medication is effective, systemic medication should be avoided.

4. If the mother's disease infects the fetus, safe drugs should be selected whose drug concentrations in the fetus and amniotic fluid are close to those in the mother's body, so that both mother and child can be treated.

5. Drugs that have been widely used for many years in pregnant women should be used, and drugs for which it is difficult to determine whether they have adverse effects on the embryo, fetus, or newborn should be avoided as much as possible. Drugs that have only been theoretically evaluated should be used with caution.

6. When taking medication near labor or delivery, consider the effect of the medication crossing the placenta on the fetus during delivery and the newborn after birth.

7. DNA testing technology can be used to distinguish and understand which drugs can be safely used during this period.

The period of effect of the drug

1. 1 to 2 weeks: Conception has not yet begun.

2. 2 to 4 weeks: Generally nothing to worry about.

3,4 weeks to 8 weeks: This is the period when the fetus is most sensitive to drugs.

4. 8 weeks to 16 weeks: The level of worry can be reduced, but it is a period that must be paid attention to.

After 5 and 16 weeks: There is no need to worry about the fetus having morphological abnormalities, but there are also drugs that affect the functions of the fetus's organs. It is generally considered okay to use medication before 3 weeks of pregnancy. If the pregnancy is affected by medication during this period, the fertilized egg may not implant, leading to an early miscarriage.

6. Every 4 to 7 weeks is a critical period for the formation of the fetus's central nervous system, heart, digestive organs, limbs, etc. If teratogenic drugs (those that can cause congenital disorders such as morphological abnormalities) are taken at this time, the possibility of affecting the fetus is much higher than at other times. You should also be careful in the second half of pregnancy, as the effects of medication may affect the function and development of the fetus.

7. Very obvious stimulation in the first 8 weeks of pregnancy can lead to miscarriage. This is a natural selection process. The development of the embryo has an all-or-nothing window period, which is all-or-nothing. All of them are kept and preserved, and there are no health issues. Nothing means it has flowed away.

Kind tips:

From experience, as long as the medication is not taken for a long time or in large quantities, the impact will not be significant; many drugs that are prohibited during pregnancy are not absolutely unacceptable to use, and many pregnant women who have to use such drugs should do so under the guidance of a doctor; the medication should be single, in small doses, and for a short time.