I have a cold - the Doctors want me to take antibiotics

Hi,

I need to ask you guys for your opinions. I am 23 weeks pregnant with twins. I have a horrible cold, I can bearly speak and I am coughing very badly. I didn't go to work today, and I usually am not the type to take off work for being sick, but it is bad. I called my OBGYN today and they called in a prescription for me, they want me to take Zpax, which is an antibiotic and also they want me to take cough syrup - Delsym or Robotossin. I am really reluctant to take the antibiotics while pregnant. I also called the prenatal medicine clinic where I go to have the babies checked and I asked that doctor if I should take Zpax and he said yes, I should.

I am confused, I want to see what you guys think or if you had this while pregnant.

Thanks,

Monica

 

If your OB and prenatal clinic said it's okay, then I think you should be alright taking them. When I was pregnant I had to take antibiotics for UTI that the OB recommended. I hope you feel better soon!

 

Why would you be hesitant to take antibiotics and not the cough syrup?

I would definitely take the antibiotics, that will kill the bacterial infection that you have.

 

if you're concerned, i would ask your doc the specific question you're concerned about rather than just a general should i take it? hopefully, that will put your mind at ease.

 

I'm not a doctor, and don't play one on TV. But from my experience and research (and this great site: http://www.safefetus.com/) antibiotics are often class B drugs (same as tylenol), where-as lots of cough meds are class C, which are a little more iffy. I think the antibiotics are probably more important to kill the infection, too. When I was pregnant the last time, I got bronchitis that I just coulnd't kick. I didn't want to take the cough meds and read that dark chocolate (the darker the better), is actually better than even cough syrup w/ codeine for a cough suppressant. I would nibble on it and eat a couple of oz/day. It didn't totally take the cough away, but it really helped a LOT! And it helped me get some much needed rest.

That site lists medicines and tells you what their classification is and why.

Hope you feel better!

 

Thank you for your help, everyone. I took the antibiotic last night and I feel better, not well yet, but hopefully I will get well soon. I decided that I should listen to my doctors, because they know better than me, that's for sure. I was just scared of the idea of taking prescription antibiotics while pregnant. I didn't realize that cough syroup was worse than antibiotics, I just noticed it on safefetus.com. I was thinking, since you get it OTC that it's not a big deal. Thank you for the Link Dielle, I will use it again if I need to. I am so annoyed with myself for getting such a bad cold in 80 degrees weather, I really didn't need this while pregnant. Thank you again!

 

Glad you are listening to your doc and feeling a little better. Quick recovery!

 

Hope you start feeling better real soon!! :hug:

 

Make sure you take all 6 pills, (Z-pack, right?) you'll feel better in no time, but it's very important to finish off the antibiotics.