Someone Listened to my Research!

First, thanks to whoever submitted my news to LFCA! You all are so incredibly good to me – I feel so lucky to have you as my friends!!!

Things are still good – going in for another beta tomorrow. I wonder what that number will be…

So you know how us infertiles LOVE to do our own research, and can spend hours doing research on good old Dr. Google??? I have to admit, I am guilty. Well it finally paid off. You see, I’ve had asthma most of my adult life. And for the last 8-10 years, I’ve had it relatively under control with a fabulous medication called Advair. When I started TTC, I did a little research, and found out that Advair is a Category C drug. For those of you that are not familiar with the categories, here is a pretty good explanation.

I always knew that if I got pregnant, I should try to not continue to take Advair, since it was a Category C. I also take an albuterol inhaler as a rescue inhaler, which is also a Category C, but I knew that if I needed to take a rescue inhaler, that meant that I wasn’t breathing appropriately, and therefore was not getting enough oxygen, which is never good for baby. So the benefits for taking a rescue inhaler definitely outweigh the risks. Everything I read about asthma is adamant that asthma must be very well controlled in pregnancy, so I knew it was important.

So as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I stopped taking the Advair. I hadn’t had a bad episode in a long time, so I figured I would be ok. Plus I had tapered off a bit, taking it only once per day instead of the prescribed twice. I was good for about 4 days… Then it got bad. I have been taking my albuterol inhaler 5-6 times per day! This prompted me to do more research, and call my regular doctor for an appointment.

Just went today and saw my regular doctor (no undressing, no female parts discussed, what a relief!) and told him I’d like to change my medication to a Category B preventive medication. He proceeded to give me a long spiel about benefits outweighing risks, and Category C isn’t that bad, and there aren’t any asthma meds that do the same thing in Category B, and Advair is a good medication, and he would advise his own wife to continue taking it… And then I pulled out my internet research! I asked him about Pulmicort, which a Category B. He did his own research in his database while I waited, and he concluded that I did very good research on my own, and I made a good choice, and he would prescribe Pulmicort! It’s not as good as a drug as Advair, which has both a steroid and a broncho-dilator, and Pulmicort is only an inhaled steroid, but we’re going to try it out and see. The doctor thinks that I should do fine, considering what triggers my asthma.

Just goes to show you – sometimes it helps to ask Dr. Google!