Nifedipine/Procardia not working...

Last week at my NST I was having regular contrax and when I was checked I had dilated to 2-3 cms. After another hour went by they checked again and I had not dilated anymore. Same thing after another hour so they let me go home on Nifedipine. I have been contracting for some time now and they don't know when I dilated but I obviously wasn't dilating at the time. I am still contracting on the Nifedipine though. Did anyone else have this problem? It makes me feel terrible-nauseous, flushed and hot, and headache, but I still am having the contrax. My uterus has been very irritable this whole pregnancy though and I had the same issues with my last pregnancy-lots of contrax and I was dilated to 4 cms for weeks before I gave birth and even then I had to be induced at 39+. They told me that if I dilate anymore the next step would be the mag and I really don't want that. I still have several weeks to go!!

 

When I was in L&D last weekend they gave me nifedipine, terb, & stadol and none of that worked. Only the mag worked and I have to say it was not fun! Maybe they can try something else before moving on to the mag. Good luck to you!

 

I'm sorry to hear you are still having contractions; I've had to take the procardia off and on but my doctor told me recently that I'm almost to the point where I can't take it anymore. She said it would do more harm than good to the babies. I hope they can do something else for you first before using the mag.

 

QUOTE(JLF518 @ Sep 1 2008, 08:40 AM) [snapback]957040[/snapback]
I'm sorry to hear you are still having contractions; I've had to take the procardia off and on but my doctor told me recently that I'm almost to the point where I can't take it anymore. She said it would do more harm than good to the babies. I hope they can do something else for you first before using the mag.



That is interesting to know. Can you give me the reasoning behind that? I figured that if it isn't working than why continue taking it? I will have to ask my OB on Wednesday about stopping the meds. They make me feel horrible and just the idea of taking cardiac meds makes me a bit uneasy.

 

I took a high dose of Nifipine up until my c-section, but luckily it worked for me.
I just wanted to say good luck & hope your contractions stop - let us know what your Dr. says :hug:

 

QUOTE(mstofko21 @ Sep 1 2008, 10:10 AM) [snapback]957140[/snapback]
That is interesting to know. Can you give me the reasoning behind that? I figured that if it isn't working than why continue taking it? I will have to ask my OB on Wednesday about stopping the meds. They make me feel horrible and just the idea of taking cardiac meds makes me a bit uneasy.


I'm not sure as to why its harmful at a certain point in pregnancy but over the last 2 weeks, I've had to take one a day at least 5 out of 7 days a week. My doctor told me that I believe at 35 weeks (?) you shouldn't take it anymore because it really won't benefit you anymore and could potentially harm the babies. I'm sorry you feel horrible when taking them, that must be an awful feeling.

 

Even the highest dosage eventually stopped working as effectively for me. I was also on oral terbutaline which worked better, but it usually did not last long. Ultimately, it was a combo of the procardia, terbutaline, and **gasp** percocet (yes, the narcotic pain killer), that worked. The percocet not only relaxed my body of every ache and pain, it relaxed my uterus and kept the contractions to a minimum.

 

They put me on Nifedipine last week, too, for an irritable uterus and some dilating. How much are you still contracting? I'm still having occasional cramping, and lots of contractions when I get up, but no more than 2-3 max when I'm sitting or lying down. They told me that as long as it calms the uterus down enough to bring you back to the normal range, then it's probably keeping you from dilating farther. If I remember right.

I'm sorry you're not reacting well to it. I had some side effects, too, so they ended up lowering the dosage a little and having me take it more often. Sucks having to constantly be popping the pills, but it's more bearable and still working. Did you talk to the doctor about the side effects it's giving you, just in case there's some option?