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Asthma and Pregnancy
December 2, 2008 |
Many mothers-to-be may be nervous about taking medication during their pregnancy.
But if a mother suffers from or develops asthma, it’s important to treat the condition
early on.
Dr. Gaston Turnier is an allergist and immunologist with Lee Physician Group. He
often treats pregnant women suffering from asthma. He
says, “I have a lot of patients
that are pregnant and they have asthma. You want to treat them. You want to have
them controlled so the child does not suffer.”
About one-third of patients' asthma symptoms will improve during pregnancy. However
for most other patients symptoms will either stay the same or get worse. If they
are not treated the asthma could put their baby at risk. “You may have a problem
to get the oxygen to your baby and the other problem is whenever you have an exacerbation
they need to give you more and more medication. It’s very important that if you’re
pregnant and you have asthma to talk to your doctor about that so he can try to
really prevent the exacerbation of the asthma and keep you asthma controlled safely,”
says Dr. Turnier.
If you’re concerned about taking asthma medications during pregnancy talk with your
physician. Asthma specialists say there are many medications on the market right now that are safe for pregnant women. Troublesome asthma during labor and delivery
is extremely rare in women whose asthma has been adequately controlled during pregnancy.
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