Saturday, June 18

Trust

Caution: extreme language and opinions, do not continue if easily offended!!

Who do you trust?
Your parents, your partner/husband/wife?
Your kids?
Your doctor?
The hospital??
Well I sure as hell don't trust this last one. Now I don't want all you nurses etc attacking me for dogging the hospital system as this attack is warranted. All those who have followed my previous diary know that I had a few problems with my pregnancy. A quick recap: Blood pressure issues escalating at 30 weeks when admitted into antenatal wards at CWH. Upon admission was stuck on Methyldopa with no explanation of any side effects. Being naturopathically minded I did query the safety of the drug and was assured that it was fine. Started on 750mg a day and increased to 5oomg 4x daily. Kept in hospital for 8 days, during which my BP fluctuated extremely. At home on same dose of Methyldopa. (Please remember I am pregnant at this stage). At 38 weeks gestation, induced due to extremely high blood pressure and faintings. Beautiful baby Phoebe born at 9.39pm on April 6th, 2005. Blood pressure monitored postnatally and appears to be staying around same. Kept on methyldopa 500mg 3x daily after Dr phones drug information and finds that there are no other BP meds safe for breastfeeding. 6 weeks postnatal: liver function tests return abnormally high. Sent for further blood tests (hep a,b,c and glandular fever). All come back clear. Referral sent for ultrasound of liver - expected 6 week stand down time. Meanwhile second liver function bloods tested at 10 weeks postnatal. (By this time we have been on Methyldopa for 20 weeks!!). Results come back yesterday. Instead of dropping, liver enzymes have risen by 25% in a couple of weeks. Not what Dr expects of his preferred diagnosis of "Fatty Liver". Dr and I chat. I query whether medication could be having an effect. He thinks it shouldn't but will check up before he sends me to a gastro specialist. Dr phones back. Unfortunately Methyldopa does have KNOWN SIDE EFFECTS OF LIVER DAMAGE. Excuse fucken me!! Have I not been told that this shit is safe all along?? What the fuck is going on?? So I do a bit of researching of my own. Anyone in the medical field will know the value of the Merck Manual. It is a diagnostic reference book and also comes in online version. And this is a wee bit of what I found out. Methyldopa is well known to cause liver damage in certain people who are susceptible. Unfortunately, they have no way of telling who is going to be affected and who isn't. It is not related to dose and is completely unpredictable. So do you not think, that knowing this, it would not be used in pregnancy when your liver is under stress, especially if you have high blood pressure?? Don't be silly!! I then searched further:

....Analgesics and antipyretics that contain acetaminophen are a common cause of liver inflammation. If you use these over-the-counter medications, never increase the dose beyond what is recommended on the bottle. These medications can damage the liver when taken in doses that are not much greater than the therapeutic dose. If you drink heavily or regularly, you should completely avoid these medications or discuss safe doses with your physician.
Other problem drugs for the liver include the general anesthetic halothane, methyldopa, isoniazid (used for the treatment of tuberculosis), methotrexate, .....

I am pissed off by this stage and then look up Methyldopa fact sheet and discover this little ditty copied and pasted directly from Methyldopa fact sheet:

Nursing Mothers:
Methyldopa appears in breast milk. Therefore, caution should be exercised if methyldopa is given to a breast feeding mother.

and this on the 1999 fact sheet:

Use in pregnancy: Because, at this time, clinical experience and follow-up studies in pregnancy have been limited, methyldopa is not recommended for use in pregnant patients. Therefore, the usage of this medicine when pregnancy is present or suspected requires that the benefits be weighed against the possible hazards to the foetus.

I am livid with all of this crap. I have been on this shit for near on 5 months and, not once did anyone tell me about any of this. And they wonder why we are querying the DHB push for meningitis vaccinations when they haven't even been to third stage trials. If they don't give us all the facts then how the fuck can we be sure we are making informed decisions?? I am so angry. I am just hoping that the ultrasound of my liver doesn't show that there has been any permanent damage.

And most importantly, I hope that this has not crossed through milk or placenta to Phoebe. The hypersensitivity that makes someone susceptible to liver damage from drugs is more often than not: a genetic factor. I tell you what - heads will fucken roll if there is a problem.

And how have I handled this food wise:

Lets see, 57.5pts yesterday and 37.5pts today. Great - we have once again confirmed that I am an emotional eater.



Posted by Jules :: 10:34 pm :: 3 Comments:

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