Why It Is Used: Ritodrine or terbutaline can be used during preterm labor when:
- Labor needs to be delayed for 24 to 48 hours to:
- Let corticosteroids, given to the mother, help fetal lungs mature.
- Provide time to move a mother to a hospital that provides neonatal intensive care, if her local hospital does not.
- Regular uterine contractions have thinned (effaced) the cervix less than 80% and opened (dilated) it less than 4 cm, and the mother's amniotic sac has not broken.
- The mother is healthy.
- The fetus is alive and not in distress.
(my dr did warn me about this and said if my numbers get high to quit taking this medicine. other side effects talk about irregular heartbeat and blood pressure and one site i found said to be cautious taking this drug if you take particular b.p. pills of which the kind i take is listed...so i'm a little weary but i trust the dr. also dizziness and drowsiness are listed and 1.5 hrs after
taking this medicine i sure do feel drowsy!!! i hope i can stay awake for the Spurs game tonight :) )
If ritodrine or terbutaline treatment is effective, its effect typically lasts no more than 48 hours. Long-term treatment is not advised (based on the risk of serious side effects), nor is it effective
http://www.webmd.com/baby/beta-sympathetic-medications-for-slowing-preterm-labor
7 comments:
So if Terbutaline is only supposed to be used for 24-48 hours, why is your doctor having you use it for 1.5 weeks???
my thoughts exactly....i'm quite confused. i may call them tomorrow and find out
hey lani - chris told me to read your blog. i was on terbutaline for two months...the steroids are used when terbutaline isnt working and magnesium is no longer an option. i had a magnesium drip to stop my later and terbutaline injections and oral terbutaline for those two months i was in early labor. terbutaline is used in other facets. i was well managed during my pregnancy with three appts a week..the high risk doc, my doc and the NST's and all agreed terbutaline was the safest bet for me...you dont want to have a baby yet so just do the best you can, rest and take the meds and if necessary the steroid shots will help with lung dev and that can occur within that 24-48 hr window of the steroid use...hopefully you wont need it. ask your doc again because i think you might have confused something. you are in good hands and remember that it's better to listen to the docs than the internet at times :)! take care...your mystery pal lauren in jacksonville...ps - mom to two preemies... this was my march of dimes story... www.marchforbabies.org/LaurenHDavis
oops...i meant labor, not later :)
thanks for sharing your experience lauren!! its nice to know someone who has also dealt with some of the same issues. did the terbutaline make you feel kinda lousy? its 2 days in my system now and i feel pretty yucky. hopefully it will just take time for my to adjust to it.
Lani - I wish I could tell you otherwise...but no, I never felt good on terbutaline. I felt shaky and lousy the whole time. I remember once trying to walk in the heat while I was pregnant on that and nearly fainting. It's just no fun but it's a great drug for reducing/stopping labor and every day you can get with it, is good. It was hard to force myself to take it because I knew it was going to make me feel horrible...heart racing, sweating, shakiness, sometimes felt nauseous but I knew I needed it. Now magnesium...that is through the IV in the hospital and it is AWFUL so in perspective, I would take the terbutaline :). You're in a tough place and I am sure anxious but from what I read...for what it's worth, it sounds like your docs are doing everything perfectly for you...exactly what mine did... Hang in there. Im going to pray extra hard for you!!
"It was hard to force myself to take it because I knew it was going to make me feel horrible"
oh my gosh lauren, thats exactly what i said to myself this morning!! i woke up with a bad head congestion/sore throat and the last thing i wanted to do was add to feeling lousy by taking the terbutaline. i dont know how you did it being on it for a couple months. amazing! i figure at most it will be just a couple weeks for me, so in light of that i keep telling myself i can handle feeling yucky for just a little longer. i hope!
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