Main description:

Will Synthroid harm my unborn baby? Does Accutane cause birth defects? Is it okay for my pregnant wife to be taking Lithium? Are you pregnant or planning a pregnancy? If so, the concise, up-to-date information in this book will help you answer questions like these for more than 300 drugs that may be prescribed during pregnancy. Clinicians also need up-to-date information about which drugs are safe and appropriate for their patients during pregnancy. This book will help those doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and trainees satisfy their needs. Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) assigns a pregnancy risk category: A, B, C, D or X to each prescription drug. Moreover, some 12 per cent of prescription drugs have two pregnancy risk categories, depending on which trimester of pregnancy the drug is used. This book lists alphabetically, by generic name, each drug's pregnancy risk category, an explanation of that category, the drug's brand name and use, results of studies using the drug in pregnant animals and pregnant women, and helpful hints.
In addition, the book lists alphabetically, by generic name, the pregnancy risk categories for hundreds more less-commonly prescribed drugs. Lastly, the book contains six must-read articles: ACE Inhibitor Drugs in Pregnancy; Antidepressants in Pregnancy; Folic Acid Antagonist Drugs in Pregnancy; Grapefruit Juice-Drug Interactions Can Make You Sick; Non-Steroidal, Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) in Pregnancy; and, Taking Acetaminophen: The Good and the Ugly.

Contents:

D Gary Benfield, M.D. practised neonatology "taking care of sick newborns" at Akron Children's Hospital in Akron, Ohio for 35 years. He is Professor Emeritus of Clinical Pediatrics at the North-eastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy in Rootstown, Ohio and has had research articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, Paediatrics, and other medical journals. Dr Benfield received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1959; his M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1965; and his MA in Philosophy from Kent State University in 1988.