This Really Blows Me Away...

wow what a dumb doctor. I hope she was not crazy enough to take it thats for sure! Well I know that a lot of doctors give out bad prescriptions. I mean you can get an antibiotic now-a-days for almost anything... and what they really are for is life threatening breathing problems... not including bronchitis which is what its usually prescribed for and abused with.. Doctors must get paid a commission for selling certain products its all business grawls

If the doctor gave her Ambien and it clearly states that you DO NO TAKE WHILE PREGNANT this doctor obviously does not care. She should be throwing the bottle in his face and saying are you crazy. Another thing is she should be finding a new doctor. I don't care how pregnant I am I will not take medication at all. Only if it is absolutely necessary but in this case I would just bare with the lack of sleep and since she is very pregnant is she overdue or just approaching her due date? I would also be wondering why the doctor is not starting to induce labour. This doctor sounds like a tool. Find another doctor. Your stupid to stay with a doctor who would give such medication and has no lack of concern for the unborn child.

A friend of mine took regular Ambien when she was pregnant, that was 3 years or so ago now. Her OB/GYN said it was perfectly safe (it was a very low dosage though). Apparently they prescribe it kids too. If I really couldn't sleep and was pretty far along, I may chance it. Depends on how badly I needed sleep.

I have been pregnant twice (and have two great sons now) and I refused to take anything but my prenatal vitamins. I am a non smoker and a non drinker so that wasn't an issue. I did get sick when pregnant with my second and was told to take antibiotics. I looked them up and they were category B which is safe-ish during pregnancy. I chose to wait a bit to see if my body would fight off my respiratory infection and it did and I never did take those antibiotics. So, for both kids, I took nothing and never would consider a sleeping pill. I am sure my doctor would never allow that anyway. As you said, there are issues with taking Ambien while pregnant and you are sedating the baby. I would rather just deal with insomnia than risk any possible effects to the baby. Your friend's doctor seems to be the type who believes that mothers come first and babies second. I believe, in general, it's the other way around unless the mother's life is in danger. I hope all will be well with that baby and your friend!

I think it is a pretty "normal" (for lack of a better word) occurrance for OB/GYNs to prescribe Ambien to pregnant women. I had 3 different OB's ask me if I wanted it for my insomnia when I was pregnant. I didn't take it for a couple of reasons. First, I try not to take too many meds when I am pregnant. And second, Ambien just plain doesn't work for me. I can take the highest dose (not pregnant of course) and absolutely nothing happens to me. My husband on the other hand took half a dose, got loopy and passed out cold.

Hey pye, I know exactly what you're saying and I was thinking the same thing when said that her doctor gave her the Ambien so that she could sleep but I didn't want to alarm or upset her since she was already so upset about being unable to deliver the baby. I knew that you would be thinking the same thing that I was thinking, in fact I was wondering what you would say when you saw that part of the discussion. I couldn't believe that her doctor actually gave her Ambien. It is already a very controversial medication. My doctor wouldn't even give it to me and I begged him to! What if she sees this discussion? What will you say to her then? I know she is going to take it. She probably already has and is in dreamland and it's too late. I can't imagine what that doctor was thinking. What effect does it have on the baby? She already doesn't want to come out, will this make it worse? I feel really bad for our little mom to be. It's not like there was anything that we could have done to stop her from taking it, but I do wish we could have. Were we wrong pye?

I know how irresponsible doctors (especially in India) can be...and I don't trust anyone else except my husband (who is a pharmacologist). Even when a doctor prescribes a medicine, I always speak to my husband first even before I buy it. My husband has proved many times how a single dose of his will work where doctors have failed for days. I would stay away from medicines (unless I couldn't help it)when I was pregnant...even when my husband would ask me to take something for my headache, I would refuse....I'd rather sleep it out than pop something that would affect the baby. During my second pregnancy, I would have lost my baby...if my husband didn't insist on the scan in the middle of the night (my regular doctor wasn't well...and the doctor on call thought it was okay to wait a day or two even after I told her that I THINK my water had broke....and she thought it was my inability to hold my urine due to a cough I had...she wanted to give me something for the cough and wait for when the baby was ready to come out......after the scan we realized that my fluid had leaked out and the cord was tightened around baby's neck and we would have lost him if I didn't have a caesarean in a few hours.....my sick doctor came immediately and did the C-section...she didn't want to risk letting the other doctor handle it). I know the mylotter you are talking about and I hope her baby is safe....and this one dose of Ambien hasn't affected the baby.

I've been pregnant A LOT and I would of never taken anything like that! I did have one doc try to put me on Zoloft but I did not take it and it's a good thing I didn't. After I had my daughter (which was my hardest, most complicated pregnancy out of 5. And she only weighed 5 lbs.) I seen on CNN that Zoloft causes severe respitory problems for newborns. I really hope that the person you are referring to won't take that medicine. And she might as well get used to not sleeping!!! You NEVER sleep with kids, lol.

That's crazy and irresponsible. I would never take any medications while I was pregnant, nor would I drink or do anything potentially harmful to the developing baby! That's just horrible.

hmmm... is she heavily preganent? does the doctor know? did she tell the doctor? if she did, and the doctor knows the situation, so maybe the case is really extreme. like no sleep AT ALL qoute from your discussion, "only if the potential benefit outweighs the potential risk to the fetus." so maybe this is one of them? have never had a child, so i cant answer your question... sorry...

omg there is no way in HELL i would do that!! i would turn him in to who ever he needs to be turned into.. if he has done it this time who knows how many others and other people might not question it!! i cant believe he would even think that would work.. im like totally in shock

No, not at all. I was very careful when i was pregnant with my girls'. Taking medication will not only put you on risk but also the baby in your womb. So, i think you that you should get a second opinion before taking those meds. Just to be dareful for both you and your baby.

Hi pye, What kind of doctor is he or she, don't they waht harm it can do to a baby? I should change the doctor, the poor woman and no I would not take any medication while I am pregnant. Bright Blessings Tamara

No, the only type of medicine I ever took when I was pregnant was Regular Strength Tylenol for my migraines and only if I felt that I needed it. Sometimes all I needed was sleep and my migraines would go away. I tried my best to avoid any type of medicine and I even gave up caffein. No cokes, coffee, etc. I would have some chocolate every once in awhile though but, that's about it.

Ummmm... I took medications when I was pregnant for bladder infection and I have never heard of any doctor saying absolutely no medication while pregnant. You can take certain medications and if a doctor prescribes it then is can't have much of an impact to the baby. When it comes to bladder infections it is better to take the meds than to risk a miscarriage or pre-term birth don't you think?

When I was pregnant with both my kids, my doctor always told me I should never take anything but a low dose aspirin, and that was only if I absolutely had to and very, very occasionally. I do understand about the sleepless nights, had many when pregnant, but would never take a sleeping aide, whether prescribed by a doctor or not. Then again, I also never liked sleeping aides to begin with, since so many of them come with the risk of developing a dependency to them. My doctor would have had a heart attack, if I even mentioned the phrase, "sleeping pill" during any of my pregnancies. I would have gotten a very stern talking to, if I had. But though it seems many doctors these days have our best intentions in mind, it seems more often than not they will tell just about anything to prescribe one pill or another. "oh you have this, you need to go on this or this" ...write..write.."take two times a day" blah blah..it's annoying, considering in most cases what is prescribed causes more problems, than actually healing a patient.

Yeah this doctor obviously does not know anything or maybe just wasn't thinking about it when he prescribed it. Sometimes I wonder if doctors actually know anything about the side effects of the medication they prescribe to their patients. I consider my child being born with withdrawl symptoms a terrible side effect and would not want to take it if pregnant.

Does the doctor still has his license? If he does someone needs to take it away from him. I was twice pregnant but I never took any medications except for vitamins. I was afraid that it may affect my child. Even if my doctor would tell me that it's ok to drink it I still wouldn't just to be on the safe side.

It's pretty scary to hear something like that. You rely on your doctor to know what they are doing. Not everyone can take the time to get 8 years of medical education or whatever is that they go through. Hopefully you told your friend about this before they can start taking the pills.

NO I refused to take any meds all through both pregnancies, and couldn't even take the vitamins or iron they recommend. The vitamins made me violently ill and I already retain too much iron. What is truly scary for me was after I had my first, there were severe complications with the birth and I ended up with bronchial pneumonia and a severe infection of the incision while I was in the hospital, DESPITE the bright dayglo orange sticker the ob/gyn prescribed penicillin; fortunately the nurse caught the mistake before they injected me! I think the doctors need to do like teachers and be re certified periodically to make sure they can still do their job accurately and with caring and compassion.