ultrams/tramadol during pregnancy.

an old friend of mine from highschool got in touch with me yesterday and told me she just found out she was pregnant, so i invited her to my house to hang out with me and my son Elijah for alittle while, to kind of get the jist of how awesome being a mommy is ;). Anyways, about 3 years ago she was in a car accident that messed one of the disks in her back up, and since then, the doctor has percribed her ultrams, also known as tramadol. She asked me yesterday if she could still take them, and i told her flat out, she needed to talk to her obgyn, because i ain't no doctor, lol. Which she replyed with the selfish answer, "i'm afraid if i do, he'll take me off of them." I was really pissed to say the least. I showed her that safefetus.com, where we looked it up, and it basically said that there hasnt been to much research on it, which made me tell her yet again, you need to talk to your doctor about it, PERIOD. to my surprise, she got really offended and called me a know-it-all and left . but whatever, that aint no sweat off my back, however, her accidently hurting this baby due to ignorance, is. I guess since she's not going to ask, i am going to ask my doctor on my appointment monday and let her know the outcome.

i was just wondering if any of you women have been on ultrams during pregnancy, and what your doctor said?

Ultram is an NSAID! No it's not safe to take during pregnancy...just like motrin or ibuprofen. Non Steriodal Anti Inflammatory.....can cause problems with baby. She needs to get her meds changed to a tylenol based one! They can give her anything from tylenol-3 to percocet and it would be much safer than that....some people man, make you want to slap them lol

Quoting JClark's havin a boy!:“ Ultram is an NSAID! No it's not safe to take during pregnancy...just like motrin or ibuprofen. Non Steriodal ... [snip!] ... her anything from tylenol-3 to percocet and it would be much safer than that....some people man, make you want to slap them lol”

thank you so much for answering so fast. do you happen to know some of the effects it can cause on the baby? i'm seriously going to send her this forum link and hopefully hearing it from different women will make her talk to her doctor.

Ultram is very bad. It can caus excessive bleeding and other birth problems. If she really needs painkillers, her doc can give her codiene or vicodin.

You are welcome   I'm not real sure of the exact problems but b/c it is an anti-inflammatory it can cause problems with a developing heart, lungs, brain etc....I know this partly b/c I suffer from migraines and I used to get shots of Ultram/Tramadol before pregnancy...now if I get a real bad one they always lecture about being careful not to take NSAIDS and that it always should be tylenol based....I've been given everything from darvocet to vicodin....all relatively safe, most of concern comes from the possibility of baby getting addicted if it's taken wrong. More than supposed to or more often than supposed to....but who would do that to their sweet precious one? ya know? I guess with some people you never know! Some days my headaches are so bad I've begged my doc to just let me take one dose of motrin....he has told me very strictly it is very much forbidden and only used in rare and severe cases ( I'm assuming like a really bad car accident etc)

P.S. It has pretty much the same effect that asprin would....like Kelly said!

Quoting Kelly56:“ Ultram is very bad. It can caus excessive bleeding and other birth problems. If she really needs painkillers, her doc can give her codiene or vicodin.”

And Kelly andI know....we are the migraine momma's on here...lol We see neurologists for our pain, b/c our regular docs can't do anything else for us  
Just had to throw that it in....funny stuff  

Quoting JClark's havin a boy!:“ And Kelly andI know....we are the migraine momma's on here...lol We see neurologists for our pain, ... [snip!] ... for our pain, b/c our regular docs can't do anything else for us   Just had to throw that it in....funny stuff  ”

I was just thinking about that.. We're pretty much the migriane experts. Between us, we've tried every drug and doctor there is!

Quoting Kelly56:“ I was just thinking about that.. We're pretty much the migriane experts. Between us, we've tried every drug and doctor there is!”

Very true! They've got me on beta blockers now....and it scares me b/c I have a heart condition and it says not to take with a heart condition....oh gosh when will the cycle end?! I'm gonna call the doc and find out what else to do, I can't stand my heart doing that bumpity bump thing!

Quoting Elijah&Isaiahs Mommy:“ thank you so much for answering so fast. do you happen to know some of the effects it can cause on the ... [snip!] ... i'm seriously going to send her this forum link and hopefully hearing it from different women will make her talk to her doctor.”

According to the FDA, these are reported effects on the fetus. There hasn't been enough research to establish if there are others, but IMO these are reasons enough NOT to take it while pregnant.

"Neonatal seizures, neonatal withdrawal syndrome, fetal death and still birth have been reported during post-marketing."
http://www.fda.gov/cder/foi/label/2004/20281slr030,21123slr001_Ultram_lbl.pdf

Quoting JClark's havin a boy!:“ Very true! They've got me on beta blockers now....and it scares me b/c I have a heart condition and ... [snip!] ... will the cycle end?! I'm gonna call the doc and find out what else to do, I can't stand my heart doing that bumpity bump thing!”

Wow beta blockers? That's pretty intense! Then again.. my vicodin stopped working for me about 2 weeks ago. The other pill she gave to take everyday lesson my migrianes BUT one of them causes "bowel dependance". I don't know what that is but I don't like the sound of it!

Quoting Kelly56:“ Wow beta blockers? That's pretty intense! Then again.. my vicodin stopped working for me about 2 weeks ... [snip!] ... lesson my migrianes BUT one of them causes "bowel dependance". I don't know what that is but I don't like the sound of it!”

Ewww! I have enough bowel issues...lol no more thank you  

Quoting Jess`n`Brett+4:“ Ultram is an NSAID! No it's not safe to take during pregnancy...just like motrin or ibuprofen. Non Steriodal ... [snip!] ... her anything from tylenol-3 to percocet and it would be much safer than that....some people man, make you want to slap them lol”

Ultam is NOT an NSAID its tylenol based.

Tramadol is not an NSAID. It is also not a narcotic. It is a monoamine uptake inhibitor and centrally-acting analgesic. It is a class C bc there isn't enough information out there on the effects it can have on a fetus. They will prescribe it if the benefit of the drug outweighs the potential risk.

Thanks so much to the last two ladies for getting the correct information out there. Even though every woman should ask her doc about ANY medication she is on during pregnancy, we would like to make sure that we have correct information available. Tramadol is a synthetic narcotic-like pain reliever that is a centrally-acting analgesicthat is considered much safer than other narcotic pain releivers. It is considered a pregnancy category C and it's use should be discussed with your doctor but it is allowed during pregnancy in cases in which the benefit will outweigh the potential risk. However, it is NOT an NSAID!

Thank you so much for the last few posts. I have been researching tramadol while pregnant for 6 months and am now 6 weeks pregnant and tried to get off all meds before. Went to a specialist and everything, The nurse at my clinic told me that I will just have to be monitored a little more closely but i'm still so worried that i'm doing damage... thanks again.