Medication that will cause defects

[Seizin]

I have to take additional arthritis medication that my Dr. says WILL cause birth defects in any baby we would conceive. Dr. recomenfs birth control. What is recomrnded here?

 

[pensmama87]

I would research the medication to see about risks. It’s unusual that a drug for dad would impact a baby so severely.

If it is truly that risky, in your shoes this is what I would do:

1. Ask about/research alternative treatments/seek a second opinion.
2. Practice a very, very conservative method of NFP (e.g. phase 3 only, after ovulation is confirmed) OR abstain completely for the time being.
3. Pray. A lot.

Aside from theology and morality, I know about way too many “Pill babies” etc to be willing to chance contraception use.

Praying for you. This is a hard situation.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

I have to take additional arthritis medication that my Dr. says WILL cause birth defects in any baby we would conceive. Dr. recomenfs birth control. What is recomrnded here?

We cannot offer medical advice here.

You can ask about alternative treatments. Or medications. There probably are some. What if the patient could not take the medicine because if a conflicting medicine or allergies?

You cannot artificially contracept. You may use Nfp.

 

[katy]

What Hoosier Daddy said. And then if a child is conceived, the advice will likely be, " Under these circumstances it might be best to get an abortion." I know this from personal experience. Fortunately didn’t get the abortion, child is now 37 and fine, BTW.

 

[Rosebud77]

What Hoosier Daddy said. And then if a child is conceived, the advice will likely be, " Under these circumstances it might be best to get an abortion." I know this from personal experience. Fortunately didn’t get the abortion, child is now 37 and fine, BTW.

Have read of similar so many times…OP always alternative meds. Always

 

[Anthony_Perlas]

I have to take additional arthritis medication that my Dr. says WILL cause birth defects in any baby we would conceive. Dr. recomenfs birth control. What is recomrnded here?

Always ask your spiritual director, ask two or three other doctors.This is a forum.

 

[nodito]

I was prescribed a drug in college that has well-documented teratogenic affects. The drug could only be prescribed if I logged on to a website and informed some regulatory agency of which birth control methods I planned to use while taking this drug. It needed to be two separate simulatenous methods and it had to “agree with” what my provider had entered that I’d be using (I suppose so that it would show that I had discussed them with her and wasn’t just picking them randomly). There were “levels of protection” and at least one method had to be a Level A method (very effective). This caused a lot of logistical problems for me because I was not married at that time and not sexually active and when I first started taking the drug, I could only chose abstinence as a Level A method if I also said I’d be using condoms or whatever at the same time.

All this to say that I do know that such drugs exist and they can be devastating for any child conceived. If there are no alternatives, then you really ought to consider practicing complete abstinence. NFP is an option if practiced conservatively. But you may not contracept.