May 07, 2015
Pregnant women are often advised to stop taking medications for chronic health conditions like depression, asthma and diabetes to be on the safe side.
But as the number of women taking medications during their childbearing years continues to climb -- with 90 percent of all women on at least one prescription or over-the-counter drug, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- experts are finding this well-intended advice may actually be causing more harm than good to both mom and baby in some cases.
"You can't go through a healthy pregnancy if you're not in a healthy state of mind," Laura Wylie, a 35-year-old Illinois mom, told the Chicago Tribune.
To help doctors and patients more effectively weigh the risks and benefits of taking medications during pregnancy and to dispel the myth of mandatory medication abandonment, the Food and Drug Administration is requiring that drugmakers provide more informative labels on prescription drugs by June 30.
"You can't go through a healthy pregnancy if you're not in a healthy state of mind," Laura Wylie, a 35-year-old Illinois mom who maintained her depression medication through pregnancy, told reporter Bonnie Miller Rubin of the Chicago Tribune. "I finally realized that if I had a broken leg, I wouldn't be expected to fix it myself. ... The same thing is true with depression."
According to FDA spokesperson Sandy Walsh, the new labeling system is designed to give physicians more technical information when prescribing medications, so they are in a better position to help their patients make these decisions.
While consumers won't see new labels on pill bottles or bags, doctors will have more data to discuss with them, including information on dosing and risks to the fetus as well as the drug's impact on breast-feeding and fertility.
Read the full Chicago Tribune article here.
