Patient's question:
I am preparing to get pregnant, but my husband has been taking some stomach medicine (Ranitidine) intermittently for the past month. If I get pregnant this month, will it make a difference?Doctor's answer:
Hello: Based on your situation, there should be no major issues. It is unlikely to be a problem related to your personal medication use.People generally do not pay attention to the risks of maternal medication use during pregnancy on the fetus. From a continuous perspective, some medications used before pregnancy can have certain effects on the fetus, such as first-week fetal death or reduced blastocyst cell count, which may lead to miscarriage, teratogenesis, stillbirth, or intellectual disabilities. Pre-pregnancy medication use may result in the following consequences.
(1) Drug-induced chromosomal damage, such as thioridazine, chlorpromazine, and hallucinogens (LSD).
(2) Cytotoxic effects, such as azathioprine and cyclophosphamide.
(3) Anesthetic gases may increase the risk of preterm birth, spontaneous abortion, and congenital malformations.
(4) Ovulation-inducing drugs may lead to multiple pregnancies. Regarding the father's medication use during fertilization, animal experiments have shown it can cause reduced fetal weight and increased neonatal mortality. This may be due to the presence of drugs in semen, which can alter the development of the fertilized egg or directly affect genetic material.