Don't stop asthma meds while pregnant

Q: Can I continue to take my prescribed asthma medication if I'm pregnant?

A: It is important to keep your asthma under control during pregnancy, even if it means taking multiple medications.

Most asthma medicines are thought to be safe to use. It is safer to take your

asthma medicines than to have asthma symptoms during pregnancy.

Untreated asthma can put you and your baby at risk.

If you have bad asthma symptoms, the baby might not get enough oxygen.

You could also have a smaller baby or deliver prematurely.

Taking your medication can protect you and your baby.

Which medicines are safe during pregnancy?

Most doctors think that inhaled asthma medicines are safer than pills because they have fewer side effects.

If you use an inhaler, most of the medicine goes directly to your lungs.

It is not likely to harm your baby.

Quick-relief inhaled medicines like albuterol (Ventolin, Proventil) are considered safe. The inhaled long-acting bronchodilators such as salmeterol (Serevent) appear to be safe as well.

And cromolyn (Intal) is a very safe maintenance medicine for chronic asthma.

Inhaled corticosteroids are very effective for long-term control.

Studies suggest these are safe to use during pregnancy.

If a bad asthma flare occurs, you may need to take corticosteroid pills such as prednisone. Taken for a short period of time, corticosteroid pills are almost as safe for the baby as inhaled steroids.

Not controlling the asthma puts the baby at much more risk.

There has not been much experience with Singulair and Accolate.

For now, they probably should be avoided during pregnancy.

Theophylline should not be used, as there are safer and better medicines available.

Don't stop your asthma medicines when you're pregnant. This could be much more harmful to the baby than taking the medications.

The best thing to do is to talk with your doctor about all the medicines you take to make sure you're on the best and safest ones during your pregnancy.

The information for this week's Medicine Cabinet was provided by Diana Post, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass.

The Medicine Cabine is distributed by Tribune Media Services and published Tuesdays in the TimesDaily. For additional consumer health information or to submit questions, visit health.harvard.edu.