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oops, just realized this was an old post revived. Lia is surely long gone...

If anybody had babies with heart defects using zofran please contact me. 541 376 5551
My name is Maria Brown. Thank you

Hi Lia,
I used Zofran with my last pregnancy as I have nausea and vomiting all the way through. I had no real side effects, but two of my friends had severe constipation, so much so that they decided they would rather live with the nausea. Zofran was exactly what I needed in order to function again. I loved it and am starting to take it again with my new pregnancy.
KarenK

Hi! I took Zofran for the last 7 months of my first pregnancy. i was so sick at one point that I was throwing up 10+ times per day an was losing a lot of weight. IT IS A MIRACLE DRUG. It completely relieved my symptons of nausea and vomiting. Some days in the last trimester I would go without it and would usually end up vomiting by the 2nd day. What I did was just split the tablets in half and take only half a tablet per day although my dosage in the prescription was supposed to be 3 full tablets per day. Test it with yourself and if you are able to wean yourself off it (if your morning sickness goes away), then do so. I am just one of those unlucky women who threw up all the way through pregnancy. In fact, I took a tablet right before I went into the hospital to have my baby delivered because I was so nauseated.
As per your question about side effects, I think it would be hard to tell because pregnancy comes with such a myriad of weird changes and uncomfortableness that it would be hard to attribute it to just a drug. I felt so much better when I was taking Zofran that it completely changed my life (I was able to keep working at my job, versus having to just lie still for 18 hours a day), so the side effects (if there were any) were not severe enough to merit me stopping treatment with it. Hope this helps!

yes - i was on it almost my entire pregnancy with my son, Carter. It was fine. Just had a weird after taste & made me really hungry... LOL

I am about 9 weeks. My doctor is going to be putting me on Zofran. I am concerned about the side affects. Is this a good medication?

I will be 7 weeks tomorrow and so far this drug has been an absolute miracle for me! This is my 2nd pregnancy and I was also very sick with my 1st son. I didn't take Zofran during my first pregnancy because none of my Dr's ever mentioned it to me! This time I had a sympathetic Dr in the ER prescribe it for me. We are Kaiser members and I just got off the phone with the Pharmacy to see if they will refill my Rx even though the drug is so expensive...they said YES! I am feeling the best today that I've felt in the last week. I was unable to hold ANYTHING down. If I ate so much as a grape I would be ready to vomit. I have only been able to drink a little bit at a time so far, and I really haven't eaten anything yet but that's because I've only been taking it for 2 days now. The severe nausea has subsided enough that I'm actually able to get out of bed again!! Before Zofran I could not even get up to go to the bathroom. It's a miracle.

I think with any drug you need to weigh the risks vs. the benefits. Having worked in a teratology/embryology research lab for the past 5 years I am able to sift through the publications on this drug and as it stands now there has been no good clinical trials to say that whether this drug is or is not safe for the development of the fetus. The only real human study done thus far "Placental transfer of ondansetron during early human pregnancy, Siu SS." showed that the drug was found in maternal venous blood, coelomic fluid, amniotic fluid and fetal tissue. Since this drug is a 5HT3 receptor antagonist and that's key to proliferation, differentiation and migration of the central nervous sytem neurons as well as chondrogenesis it is possible that the drug could have an impact and it could be so long before you ever knew that it'd be difficult to correlate the defects back to the drugs. As a result, I think I'm just going to choose to suffer for a bit longer and just hope that it goes away.

Hello, my name is Natalie and I am an emetophobic (deathly afraid of vomiting/vomit) and I am approaching my 6th week of my first pregnancy. This phobia has consumed me for the past 10 years and now that I am pregnant I am scared out of my mind! I get nauseated just thinking about the sickness happening...and it's to the point where I feel like my anxiety is causing the nausea and not the baby. I have already been taking Zofran as needed even before pregnancy. It worked when I had the stomach flu twice (stopped me from vomiting completely). I am now taking it for prevention of morning sickness. My doctor prescribed 8mgs that I can take 3x a day. I try not to take it unless I feel it coming on. I keep hearing all of these scary stories about how sick people were...but I really think it's because they are unaware of the relief that the Zofran can give. Most of my friends don't even know about it. Since I found out I was pregnant I have TRIED to stop taking my Ativan (for panic attacks) because it is not recommended during pregnancy, but it has been so difficult. I can work myself up into such a panic that I have to throw myself into a COLD shower to calm me down....and even that can take a couple hours. So basically I am really counting on the Zofran. Wish me luck!

Bellagirl3, I too, am emetophobic and feel the same way as you. I am in the process of trying to get pregnant and am extremely anxious about the whole morning sickness issue. I am relieved to hear that there is something out there that can prevent it. Also, I know that you are hearing all of these terrible experiences from people, but just remember that every single woman is different and every single pregnancy is different. I know a ton of people who didn't feel an ounce of nausea their entire pregnancy. Keep that in mind. I'd love to chat more about this issue. Take care!

Hi-I'm an OB nurse, and can asure you that Zofran is very safe during pregnancy. We use it all the time for women with hyperemesis(uncontrollable vommitting during pregnancy). I have never seen any poor side effect on the baby, and rarely on the mother. About the worst is a little stomach ache or just not working well enough to control the vommitting. Hope that aleve's your fears!!! Good Luck :-)

i am emetophobic as well (havent allowed myself to throw up in over 18 years) and when i told my dr i would never have a child because of it she prescribed zofran instantly...i hadnt even started ttc yet. she said it is very safe to use and knowing i have it on me certainly eases my mind. i told her i might even end up taking it prophylactically and she said that would be find. a happy, worry free mommy is the safest thing for a growing baby.

and bellagirl i am on xanax for my anxiety and i told my dr flat out that there is NO WAY i would be able to not take my xanax without something to prevent me from throwing up. i think that assurance will make all the difference.

While I am happy that Ondansetron does the trick, you can not say that it is safe as if that's a fact. You are taking a risk as you do with any other Category B drug. There is only one study that was done retroactively and funded by the company that makes the drug that shows it's safe. Furthermore, they stopped following the women 6 mo. post delivery so neurological symptoms wouldn't even be present then. The drug has been shown to cross the placenta and accumulate in the neural tissue of the fetus. Also, this is an offlabel use of the drug and if you read the product insert it specifically tells you that this drug is not intended to be used during pregnancy. Chances are your baby will be completely safe after taking this drug, but it's irresponsible to tell people it is safe. People should be given all the facts so they can make their own educated decision.

I am currently 17 weeks preg and I've been using the generic form of Zofran for almost 2 months. I only have to take 1 every 24 hours or so, and the nausea subsides within 10 minutes of taking it. This stuff is a life saver! I've had 2 ultrasounds so far, (because I'm 38 and this is my first pregnancy), and the baby is JUST FINE. No stumps for arms or legs like the other posting said...
The only drawback is the high cost, so you might have to beg your insurance company to cover it. The other is the constipation that can occur. Right now I'm dealing with that, which is better to me than throwing up every day.
Zofran is what doctors prescribe to cancer patient going thru chemotherapy, so it has to be effective but safe.

I have posted last month in response to the emetophobia. I suffer from emetophobia and have since I was a young child. My fear has pretty much controlled my life, although I do try to function as a "normal" person. I am a teacher, am married, have a house, 2 dogs, and am now in my fifth week of pregnancy.
I always knew that I would be very hesitant about getting pregnant because of the morning sickness aspect of it. I did not realize that I would be feeling as anxious as I am right now. The major problem I have is that, in the past, when I am nervous about something or panicked I don't like to eat. This is very common with emetophobics. I know that this is not good for a developing baby so I am trying to eat small things and take at least Flinstone vitamins. The problem is that when I have anxiety I feel like I have a lump in my throat and can't swallow. This makes it difficult to eat.
I spoke to my gyno and my regular physician and both of them said that they would not prescribe Zofran unless I had an extreme case of morning sickness. I guess they don't understand the severity of my fear. i think I would feel more releived even if I just had it "just in case".
It comforts me to hear that there is something that works like "magic" for morning sickness. I also don't think it is healthy for the baby for me to be waking up shaking and with my heart racing. I know stress is not good for a developing baby.
I am trying to reassure myself that I will be okay because no one in my family has ever had morning sickness (my mom, grandmothers, aunts, mother in law). I have always taken after my mother with my hormones (age I got my period, length of cycle, etc.) Hopefully, I will be like her with pregnancy too.
If anyone has any positive advice for me I would really appreciate it. It would make me feel better to know that I am not alone in my fears. Thanks so much!