Stop Taking Unisom / Dilectin - My Story

[Enough]

I took unisom (doxylamine succinate) during my pregnancies with babies # 4 and # 5. It helped me tremendously with the nausea and I thought it was totally safe.

When baby # 4 was born I noticed that he had several webbed toes. None of my other children have ever had this so I thought it was strange. However, since it was cosmetic I didn't think it was a big deal.

When baby # 5 was born he had a cleft lip and 2 1/2 kidneys. I was starting to get very worried because it seemed as I continued to have children they were getting worse and worse.

I was doing research on benedictin (what unisom used to be back in the 70's and 80's) and found startling stories of people who had deformities like my babies had. (Cleft lip, cleft palate, kidney problems, limb deformities, etc...)

You can read some of those stories here -
https://www.medhelp.org/posts/Maternal--Child/anti-nausea-drug-banned-in-80s/show/158730

I don't have conclusive evidence to tie a direct link between the unisom and the defects, but I have decided that I would NOT use it with my current pregnancy or any future pregnancies I may have. I wanted to warn you so you can learn from my mistakes.

 

[megangrohl]

Thanks for the info. But are you able to really prove that it's from the diclectin? I am taking diclectin and everything is fine thus far. If you can prove it's from the diclectin then you can sue. The reason I am on diclectin is that without it I am severely sick and can't keep anything down (hyperemesis gravidarium) and motherisk has said it to be safe as they have run tests on several women and said that it contains no added risk. Every child has a 1-3% chance of having deformities regardless of using prescription drugs or not. So sorry to hear about this and once again, thanks for the info.

 

[MustangGTgirl]

OP, I read the same things about anti naseau medicines which is why I am not taking any of the phenegran my doctor gave me even tho I am severly sick. It is just not worth it at all to take any medication while pregnant. I bought some sea bands and they have worked wonders!!

 

[PoodleMommy]

Wow, so sorry for you babies' problems... thank you for the heads-up! Do you know if Benadryl has similar I'll effects?