Amoxicillin Safety in Pregnancy: A Doctor's Perspective

Question
Hello,
 I have borderline flu and a sinusitis infection. So I went to see my internist and was prescibed amoxcillin 500mg. Inb addtion over the weekend I have already been talking mucinex and robitussin. I'm getting nervous about taking all of this medicine. Don't know what to do. Please help me.  

Answer
Dear Tenisha,

I assume your Internal Medicine doctor knew you were pregnant. The amoxicillin is generally considered safe in pregnancy. In a study of 401 primiparous women with a live birth from 1 January 1991 - December 2000, they concluded there was no increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcome associated with amoxicillin exposure during pregnancy.

Guaifenesin, an expectorant (Hytuss, Mucinex, Naldecon Senior EX, Robitussin) is also generally considered safe in pregnancy when needed. My concern would be that you not double up on it. Meaning that you should not be taking two different cold medicines at the same time with the same ingredients. It is essentially double-dosing and this is not good for any one, but especially for pregnancy.

Avoid cold remedies that contain alcohol. Also avoid the decongestants pseudoephedrine and phenylephrine, which can affect blood flow to the placenta.

I hope this information has helped you and answered your question. Be well!

Brenda