Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) | Sudafed side effects, Warnings, and Use in Pregnancy/Breastfeeding

Today a discuss the drug pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) including:

What’s going on guys this is tyler pharmacist with pharmacy update and today we were going to talk about a drug that is used to treat nasal congestion and that is pseudoephedrine or brand-name sudafed will cover quite a bit of information in this video we will talk about some general information on sudafed and what the requirements are for purchasing this medication

Without a prescription i’ll talk about some warnings and precautions pertaining to sudafed the side effects and then at the end of this video i’m going to discuss the use of pseudoephedrine in pregnancy and breastfeeding women so here we go before i start i just want to make sure that before you take any medication over-the-counter including sudafed always consult

With your doctor first especially if you’re taking multiple medications or you have other health related conditions all right so first i want to go over some general facts about pseudoephedrine this drug is approved by the fda for the treatment of nasal sinus congestion this is a very common condition where you notice become stuffy and it makes it hard to breathe

I’m sure everyone knows what i’m talking about and the nice thing about this medication is that it does do a good job i clear your nasal congestion especially over-the-counter wise there really isn’t any medication that does a better job however there are some possible complications of using this drug and we’ll discuss those in a minute pseudoephedrine is available

As either a prescription medication or something that you can buy behind the pharmacy counter so this is not a medication that you can just buy in the aisles you must go directly to the pharmacy to purchase it now this may have changed in some states some states have reclassified sudafed as a scheduled drug or made it a prescription only medication so just check

With your state’s guidelines concerning pseudoephedrine and i’m not really going to get into why there are so many obstacles to get this medication but you can research that on their own if you would like to also if you want to purchase this you to have an acceptable id for many people this would just be a driver’s license or a personal identification and finally

Again this can be different according to your state but you must be at least 18 years old to buy this medication without a prescription so if you are planning on buying some of this just make sure that you are prepared when you go into the pharmacy there is one other nasal decongestant that you can buy over the counter without a prescription and that is phenol efrain

Pseudoephedrine in my opinion is a superior option when it comes to clearing nasal congestion will compared to phenol efrain and there’s actually been some studies to show that phenol efrain really works no better than placebo or a sugar tablet so just keep that in mind and weighing your options now like i said this medication is also available as a prescription

And it is contained in many coughs and cold prescription medications so according to johnson & johnson the manufacturer of brand-name sudafed there are some conditions that if you have you should ask a doctor before using this and some of these are understandable given the possible side effects of the drug first off and this is a contraindication so under no

Circumstance did you take these two medications together there is a group of drugs and as the monoamine oxidase inhibitors or mao is that really aren’t very popular i hardly see them used anymore they can be used to treat depression and parkinson’s disease some examples include celgene and phenelzine so if you take a medication in this drug class you do not want

To take sudafed and even if you do stop this medication you must wait at least two weeks before you can take suit so just be aware that there are some conditions that you need to contact your doctor before you using pseudoephedrine this includes heart disease and high blood pressure and on the next side we’ll talk about why and it also includes thyroid disease

Diabetes now diabetes i really couldn’t find a lot of information on why you shouldn’t take this medication without asking a doctor first but i guess there have been some reports of higher blood sugar after taking sudafed but again i really couldn’t find too much information proving that other ones include trouble urinating due to an enlarged prostate because it

Can worsen that problem and also if you have glaucoma or are over the age of 65 years old you will want to consult with a doctor before using this now we will move on to side effects of pseudoephedrine and this is certainly not a full list these are just some of the more common ones that i decided to add so there are other possible side effects besides these ones

But anyway probably one of the most important side effects you want to watch out for is an increase in blood pressure and heart rate if you have uncontrolled hypertension or pretty severe heart disease you’ll probably want to steer clear of this medication now the effects of this are normally pretty mild it won’t shoot your blood pressure up a hundred points or

Anything but still it’s something that if you’re already having trouble with you don’t want to worsen the problem if you take blood pressure medication but your blood pressure is that are pretty good control talk to your doctor first like i said using this for a short period of time may not do any damage the next side effect here is stimulation of the central

Nervous system and this can cause a variety of effects it can really give you some energy you can give you a pep in your step it can also call us a little bit of hyperactivity a special higher doses for this reason i always tell my patients do not take this medicine close to bedtime because it can cause an insomnia due to the stimulated central nervous system

And can make it hard to sleep along with that it can also make a person become nervous and even twitchy in some cases so if you already have anxiety problems you may want to consider that before taking this medication it can possibly make it worse and a couple other side effects here i’ll mention include skin rash and this urea or difficulty urinating now i want

To my next topic patient education so what should you know before taking this drug besides what we’ve already covered obviously you don’t want to take more soot of ephedrine than prescribed and if you’re buying it yourself just follow the directions on the box don’t take more than what it says you may also want to consider limiting your caffeine intake while using

This medication and this is mostly because of the combination of the two drugs causing excess nervousness increased heart rate and even shakiness so just be aware of that maybe try to separate the two as far as taking them with food it does not matter so take it without regard to meals and there are some extended-release formulations of this available including

Medications such as claritin-d and mucinex d anytime you hear it d in the name it usually means to decongest it do not crush or chew these formulations as that will mess with the proper release of drug so just to make sure you swallow the tablet whole for these particular medications and i did include the number to the poison control center here if you suspect

A potential overdose the number is somewhere that is easily accessible but as with any medication if you suspect an overdose of pseudoephedrine call this number and get medical help as soon as possible and with that i will move on to one of my final topics and that is the use of pseudoephedrine in pregnancy so i’ll say it again always consult with your obgyn or

Doctor before taking anything during pregnancy as far as suit fedra it should normally be avoided in the first trimester because there has been some limited studies showing it could possibly cause birth defects when taken in the first trimester your doctor may decide otherwise it’s really up to them as far as the second and third trimesters there has been a case

Report of increased fetal heartbeat while taking sudafed for an extended period of time there’s also some studies that show that taking only a single dose did not increase any risk of birth defects so really just speak with your doctor get their opinion see what you guys decide on the mother really means to take care of herself as well so if the nasal drainage is

Unbearable it may be an option to take this drug as with any medication decision it really comes down to risk versus benefit are you willing to take these moderate risks to get the benefit from the drug that’s the question you have to ask yourself now what about breastfeeding and taking sudafed it can be an option for mothers but it really does have many possible

Negative side effects if you do take it first off pseudoephedrine does cross into the breast milk so the baby will be getting a dose if you take it and there has been reports of agitation and irritability and babies exposed to this drug so again you will definitely want to talk with your doctor first another big possible issue with this drug is that it does decrease

Milk production at least in the short-term and that can be by up to 24 percent it actually does this so well that some have suggested to use it when a woman is producing too much milk and a condition hyperplasia so if you are already having issues producing enough milk you don’t want to further jeopardize that by taking this medicine but speak with your doctor and

If you guys agree to try this i do suggest taking this dose right after a feeding that way that baby will get a minimal dose compared to taking it say an hour or two before feeding well that’s all i have for today guys thank you so much for watching if you felt this video helped you or educated you i would appreciate it like also please subscribe to my channel for

The latest pharmacy and medical updates including drug reviews such as this one so i thank you again and have a nice day

Transcribed from video
Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) | Sudafed side effects, Warnings, and Use in Pregnancy/Breastfeeding By Pharmacy Update