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Q: Tocolytic therapy
asked by: DoctorQuestion on May 12th, 2008
Is it possible that the medication prescribed for premature labour can cause brain damage in the unborn baby? My baby was born at 35,5 weeks and I was given high blood pressure madication to keep him back longer. I was given a dosage of 2 Nifedipine 10mg tablets every 15 minutes the night I went into labour and again the night after. The contractions didn't stop, only got worse. I was also given pain medication (not usually prescribed to pregnant women) and sleeping tablets. He was born a couple of hours later through c-section. Barely a pulse, no crying, blue, no movement. They didn't tell me at first, had to find out slowly. The neurologist said his brain looked like someone who had a massive stroke and his calcium was high. I can't remember everything, was very drugged the first two days. I just want an explanation. Could it have been the drugs or is it definetely not?


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Dr. Nikola Gjuzelov , MD
replied on May 23rd, 2008
Miscarriage and Stillbirth Answer A4171
Nifedipine is used for treating high blood pressure but also for preventing pre-term labor (tocolytic therapy). If you had high blood pressure you might have had pre-eclampsia. I don't know which medicines for pain and sleeping they gave you. Those medicines are basically given not to sleep but to relax your muscles. All these medicines are given to delay delivery for 2 more days – time necessary to stimulate lung maturation with corticosteroids. Although a trial of acute tocolysis may be initiated, aggressive tocolytic therapy is generally not recommended after 34th week of pregnancy because of potential maternal (not baby’s) complications.
Your baby probably had intraventricular hemorrhage. There is no data that medicines they gave you can cause bleeding in the brain.


You may want to consult a neonatologist about this case.





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