Pregnant and on vesicare. Advice needed please

[lele1981]

Hi,

Just found out I'm 5 weeks pregnant. Normally on vescicare for frequency, amitriptyline and co-codomol for pain. My uro and gp don't seem to know much about vesicare in pregnancy, they picked the drug for me whilst Ttc based on the fact that there had been no human research.

I missed my vesicare dose the other day due to the shock of finding out I was pregnant and have only taken amitriptyline since. However now not only do I have abdo cramps which I pray are normal in pregnancy but I have bad bladder pain and frequency too!

Has anyone taken vesicare successfully during pregnancy or has any advice about here I can get info. I'm pretty sore and worried about the effects IC has in pregnancy. X

[meResque]

I don't know about vesicare, but my uro made me stop amitriptyline for the duration of my pregnancy.

Everything I've read says cramps are totally normal so don't worry about that. I'm currently suffering some bladder/urethra pain because I tried to see if a vitamin would work for me while pregnant- NO! I'll just stay on my folic acid, and hope for the best.

AND CONGRATULATIONS!!! I just read that somewhere around 80% of IC'ers go into remissions when pregnant, so I'm totally hopeful! Those are pretty good odds!

Edited to add.... I just did a quick google search and see that Vesicare is a Category C drug- it has been shown to reduce survival, cause low fetal weight, and increase the risk of cleft palate in mice. I would personally not feel comfortable taking it- my uro is ok with staying on Elmiron, and having rescue instillations, if needed.

[landangel]

You need to stop the Vesicare right away.
I was on it for the first month of pregnancy as I did not know that
I was pregnant. I stopped it the second I suspected that I may be pregnant. Our little guy is 5 month old now and has some developmental delays (hopefully not autism) and his ear had a slight defect. I am pretty sure it was from the Vesicare. I don't want to scare you, but it is not ment to be taken while pregnant.

[landangel]

Just wanted to add that you will very likely go into remission while pregnant. Pregnancy is uncomfortable at times regardless of whether you have IC or not. I just kept telling myself that this is what pregnancy would feel like anyways. You will be just fine momma!

[KatieB]

I had cramps when I was pregnant both times. With my first one I also had spotting which is a bigger problem. But I'm happy to say that even with the cramps and spotting I gave birth to a happy healthy 9 lb 7 oz baby boy. Talk with ALL your doc's about ALL your meds and be sure you ask if it's ok if you use a heating pad if it gets bad (baby doesn't need to get too hot) and hopefully you'll go into full remission!!! Congratulations!!! And TRY not to worry, it can't help anything!! good Luck!!

[lele1981]

Thank you

Hi ladies,

Thank you so much for the replies. I stopped my vesicare today and my doc is going to refer me to a obgyn incase I can't cope without it. Meantime they said I can stay on my amitriptyline as I'm only on 20mg daily but Im going to try to do without them too. I want to try to do the best I can, took us about a year to get to this point so I want it to stick.

[tanicah]

My doc said he wasn't comfortable keeping me on vesicare. I miss it, but I've been learning that monitoring my diet reallllly carefully has been helping a ton without the meds. I'm finally starting to add things back in and it's been a painful and exhausting experience. Who knew I'd get pregnant and not be able to drink orange juice? :-/

To the person who said your IC will go into remission: based on my research, this completely depends on the person (as is usual with IC). Mine has definitely not gotten better, but I'm not sure it's gotten worse (it's hard to tell since I didn't have to diet when I was on the meds). I've heard some people say theirs completely went away, others said it didn't change, and many others said they were miserable the entire pregnancy. I'm not trying to be discouraging, but I also don't think you should hold out false hope!

Good luck and congrats!

[lele1981]

hi there,

I'm coping better than expected without the vesicare my frequency is most troublesome at night. I've not quite been brave enough to try orange juice and coffee that's not decaff. Seen my midwife who has agreed to me going back on the amitriptyline I'm the 2nd trimester if needed I was only ever on 20mg nightly for the pain.

How far along are you? X

[tanicah]

I'm a little over 11 weeks now (sorry, I forget to check this board - I'd even forgotten I posted a response!). That's great that you're handling it so well! My flares are pretty extreme if I eat the wrong thing, and I'm finding I'm really sensitive to a lot of things. There's no way I could have any version of coffee or orange juice; I'm freaked out just to try yogurt.

Lately my bladder seems to be flaring a lot more, so I'm not sure what's going on. I'm going out with a group this weekend and I'm nervous about eating and then bowling afterwards, since my flares kick in pretty quickly and I've found the restaurants don't like to tell me ALL the seasonings they put in their foods. :-/

Sorry for the depressing post!! I stay pretty positive most of the time but sometimes when I have a flare and I don't know why it gets me down.

How does this amitrypline work?

[Melo]

I was taking vesicare when I learned that I was pregnant with my second daughter. I stopped as soon as I knew I was pregnant. She was born with a muscular disorder (that has not been diagnosed) - she had poor muscle tone (generalised hypotonia) that affected her ability to suck and swallow as well as her ability to breath and she had reduced muscle tone in her arms and legs to some extent. She also had hip dyspasia (which was resolved with a harness at 3 months of age). She also had a high arched palate and she could not gain weight. At 3 months of age, her weight was as we might have expected it to be at 2 weeks of age. At 3 months she also died when she aspirated. There is no history of any muscular disorders or any other disorders or any other illnesses in either my family or my partner's family. I did everything right through the pregnancy except take vesicare so while I do not know the cause of the disorder or know if it had anything to do with vesicare, I will always wonder if taking vesicare in that critical early stage of pregnancy caused our beautiful little girl all her suffering and caused us all the terrible anguish of her loss.

[ICNDonna]

How does this amitrypline work?

Tanicah, our doctor told us it works by interfering with the pain receptors in the nerve system.

Donna

[ICNDonna]

I was taking vesicare when I learned that I was pregnant with my second daughter. I stopped as soon as I knew I was pregnant. She was born with a muscular disorder (that has not been diagnosed) - she had poor muscle tone (generalised hypotonia) that affected her ability to suck and swallow as well as her ability to breath and she had reduced muscle tone in her arms and legs to some extent. She also had hip dyspasia (which was resolved with a harness at 3 months of age). She also had a high arched palate and she could not gain weight. At 3 months of age, her weight was as we might have expected it to be at 2 weeks of age. At 3 months she also died when she aspirated. There is no history of any muscular disorders or any other disorders or any other illnesses in either my family or my partner's family. I did everything right through the pregnancy except take vesicare so while I do not know the cause of the disorder or know if it had anything to do with vesicare, I will always wonder if taking vesicare in that critical early stage of pregnancy caused our beautiful little girl all her suffering and caused us all the terrible anguish of her loss.

I'm so sorry about your loss.

Donna

[LauraC87]

If Vesicare is category C, not a good idea to take whilst pregnant.

Years ago I was on Ditropan whilst TTC and was told to stop it as soon as I became pregnant, so I did.

My first pregnancy I experienced total remission, and remission for a year afterwards, no bladder problems (-:

My second pregnancy was OK in the general pain department, but was a complete NIGHTMARE infection wise, with a persistent e-coli UTI which was resistant to most anti b and had to be treated eventually, after 4 "normal" anti b courses failed, with IV anti-b and then one tablet of Cefalexin a day for months and months, which left me ill due to anti-b use.

I am also sorry to hear about the loss of your child. Please don't think it was your fault, you weren't to know. Although I realise that may not be a comfort )-:

x

[krist656]

Re: Pregnant and on vesicare. Advice needed please

I have tried during years Spasmex (hydroxyzine?), Amitriptyline, Tamsulosin, Gepan and Uropol instillations, just name it, Vesicare as well and nothing of them really helped, until 1,5 yrs ago finally started with Tramadol. I visited pain doc (anesthesiolog) from good hospital (in Germany) who prescribed it to me, he also suggested Elmiron, but it has many side effects and that time also not available in Germany (now soon it will be, but too expensive to pay myself, and Uropol has same effect anyway).
So, I was on Tamsulosin and Tramadol when I accidentally got pregnant. I took them 2 weeks, when found it out, stopped Tamsulosin and talked to my pain doc. He was reading the studies and said Tramadol is much safer than anything else to take (Lyrica, gabamentin and so on, what I did not try yet). It does not make fetal defects, BUT of course child will be addicted to it and can have breathing problems shortly after birth. He said I should go as low dose as possible, I took 2 times a day 100 mg Tramadol and now he wrote me 50 mg Long (it means working longer than usual pills). During daytime I can handle some discomfort, so I take it only evenings to be able to sleep, and I must say it is quite enough doses, very rarely I need to go up to 100 mg (too much walking or just strange pain sometimes....).
The view in Germany is, that when mother has bad pain (plus frequency and very very bad bladder cramps as I have!!! without) it can also harm the baby. I have tried many times to stop at all, unfortunately I survive ca max 24 hrs and all the pain and cramps are back. So, by me at least in 3 months no remission whatsoever! But only with low dose Tramadol it is until now doable.
Very important though: if possible, said doctor, I should stop Tramadol before birth to avoid problems for baby. Like, last trimester, if I should get miraculously in remission. I very much hope so.

But as far as I read here, Elavil, Amitriptyline, Vesicare can bring much bigger problems as Tramadol. In Germany also in forum is often spoken that in reality is Tramadol less dangerous than ibuprofen and paracetamol (kidney failures and so on, read different articles about it). And IC patients will NOT get addicted from it, while we do not get "high" of it, we just get rid of awful pain. If I stop it for some days, I have no mental problems, my problem is only returning cramps, pain and frequency.

So, that in the view from my German pain doctor, just wanted to tell there is one more option to survive. (And same time my gyno said, vaginal antibiotics are not recommended...! She meant metronidazol... vow. Did not know that!)

[AnaD]

Re: Pregnant and on vesicare. Advice needed please

Hi

I realise this post is old but was wondering whether you could help as seems that you have been in a similar situation to me.

I was taking 5mg of Vesicare daily when I found out I was pregnant. I'd been taking it for 3.5 weeks of the pregnancy and stopped as soon as I found out.

The doctors and obstetrician know nothing at all and I'm really worried that I may have caused some harm. Do you have anymore information at all?

Many thanks