If you are pregnant and have Wolff Parkinsons White Syndrome the very first thing you should do, is stay calm. If you don’t have a doctor or cardiologist it’s crucial that you find one, either through your state health department or your insurance. You will want to set this up ASAP. Your pregnancy depends on it.
I was twenty two when I had my son. And I was taking 15mg of atenolol a day. It was barely enough to cover my regular dosage, as a matter of fact it was even less the a third of what I should have been taking to control my WPW. I was lucky enough to have family to stay with, and four months into my pregnancy I was finally able to see a doctor.
The doctors scared me. They told me that my condition and being pregnant with WPW was so dangerous that would I need to be on full bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy. I was told that if my heart was to start racing, because of the stress I was already under plus my low dosage I was in danger of losing the baby and possibly my life!
This is not the rule, this is the exception. Just because this situation and medical advice was told to me, doesn’t mean it will be told to you. I am not telling you this to scare you, but to inform you. To tell you and share what happened to me and how I made it through to the end.
It was a very scary time, and I’m sure you are feeling afraid now. Even if you have been seeing a doctor for the entire time, there are things you want to hear from someone else who has gone through it too. I am happy to share my experience with you in hopes that it will help with your own journey in being pregnant while suffering with WPW, also known as Wolff Parkinsons white Syndrome.
The doctor’s never told me to decrease/increase my medications, nor did they change it. Since I was already taking it, and seemingly doing alright they decided that not taking it or switching medicines would outweigh the benefits.
Even though antenolol is listed as a medication that is dangerous for pregnant women to use and is currently ranked “D” for pregnancy, your doctor may keep you on if you have been on for a long time prior, like I was. It may also have been due in part by the states free healthcare system for pregnant mothers… but that is off topic.
The reason antenolol is ranked by the FDA as “D” is because any drug with thank ranking is proven to show birth defects in fetus’s. Some of the dangers of taking Antenolol during pregnancy are as follows.
· Low heart rate · Low birth weight · Low blood sugar
And those are from studies of women who took antenolol during the late stages of pregnancy. I took it the entire time, and as it says along with my doctor at the time… the longer the drug is taken during pregnancy the more harm it does. Studies have shown in rats that the longer it’s being used, from start to finish the higher the rate of miscarriage. I was lucky.
I was going to stress tests two times a week from four months to 34 weeks along. A stress test is simply sitting in a chair while they track and monitor your unborn baby’s heart rate, they check with ultra sound every time as well. These stress tests were easy and comfortable. I was happy that they were taking my case seriously.
At my 34th week I was induced. My ultra sound showed that my baby wasn’t growing anymore and my fluids were severely low. I had so many doctors in the room I couldn’t see around any of them. They had emergency cardiac teams in place along with several others. I made it… I did it, without any trouble from my heart condition.
They told me that due to taking antenolol while pregnant, even in small doses that it caused my son to be born at a very tiny 4 pounds. Although he was small in size, he was not premature and was completely healthy otherwise.
Four days later and we were going home. I never once, during my entire pregnancy suffered with an attack from my Wolff Parkinsons White syndrome. It was almost as if my symptoms went away. I am not saying this will be the case with you, but for me… I made it through a pregnancy and came out alive and well, with a beautiful child.
I hope that my article was helpful in your search for information on taking antenolol while pregnant. Good luck and make sure you tell your doctor everything, never hide your condition or try to change your own dosage of medication. It’s very dangerous, for you and your baby.
Once again I am not a medical doctor, this article is purely my own experience with being pregnant, and going through child birth with the heart condition Wolff Parkinson white syndrome, or WPW while taking antenolol.
(Photo pictured is of antenolol pills, 25mg. This photo was taken by me Alyssa Nichols. I own full copyrights and this picture is to not be used, stolen or otherwise taken.)