An allergy is a medical condition wherein allergens irritate your system resulting to a myriad of reactions that make your body crazy. It is when your immune system becomes hypersensitive. Common allergy signs and symptoms are nasal swelling, redness, sneezing, coughing, difficulty in breathing, itching, asthma, bloating, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. A person is most likely to be subjected to an allergic reaction when the person is exposed to the allergens in the working and living environment.

Pregnancy is something that you should consider delicate. Carrying a life inside your womb is a very sensitive responsibility. It makes you more conscious of how you move, what you eat, and what medicine you take if something bothers you. It is not easy to just relieve yourself of even the simplest viral infection when you’re pregnant. What if you have an allergy and it just so happens that you’re pregnant? Allergy medication during pregnancy should be prescribed by your doctor. Your condition is very delicate and you should make sure that your medications won’t affect your baby.

There are several categories of medications that are used in pregnancy, according to the FDA or the Food and Drug Administration. Most allergy medicines are known to be under category “B”. This means that these allergy medication during pregnancy were tested on pregnant animals and were scientifically proven to be safe. Here are some of the recommended allergy medications that you would want to ask your doctor about:

1. Antihistamines

Most allergy medication during pregnancy are taken orally. Antihistamines such as chlorpheniramines are used on pregnant women who have allergic rhinitis. There are also similar medications that can be bought over-the-counter like Loratidine (Claritin) and Cetirizine (Zyrtec). Xyzal (levoceterizine) is one of the newly approved ones that are out in the market. Allergic rhinitis can really be bothersome especially when you are pregnant. This allergic reaction prevents you from breathing properly. This should be relieved at the soonest possible time. If you suffer from allergic rhinitis, make sure that you always have your  oral allergy medications with you.

2. Nasal Sprays

Allergy medication during pregnancy could also be administered directly into the nasal cavity. Nasal sprays are also used to treat allergic rhinitis. This is used is you don’t want to take oral medications for every bought. Cromolyn (NasalCrom) is prescribed for pregnant women to prevent the occurrence of allergic rhinitis. This could also be bought over-the-counter. Another useful nasal steroid medicine is budenoside (Rhinocort Aqua). This is prescribed by the doctor if Cromolyn doesn’t help.

3. Decongestants

One decongestant that is under category “C” (should not be used in the first trimester), is pseudoephedrine (Sudafed). This is an oral medication that treats allergies during the course of pregnancy. It should be avoided during the first trimester because it has been related to gastroschisis (a fetal condition wherein the abdominal contents protrude). This is usually prescribed and used after the first trimester of the pregnancy.

4. Shots

Allergy medication during pregnancy include allergy shots. This should be continued even when you are pregnant but not started during pregnancy. At the time of pregnancy, the dosage of allergy shots is not increased by the doctors. Instead, they reduce the dose to 50 percent. Some physicians say that these shots should be stopped at the onset of pregnancy because they want to lower any risk of anaphylaxis and any danger to the fetus. However, no study results show that allergy shots are harmful to the fetus. Allergy shots should not be started upon the start of pregnancy because the body may have reactions on the allergens in the vaccine. This is not healthy for you or for your developing baby. The initial reaction to the allergy shot involves symptoms that cause distress to the fetus and to your body as well. But it is advisable to continue the treatment so that you may have continuous protection all throughout your pregnancy.

Having an allergy when you’re pregnant is not easy. As much as possible, you should make sure that your allergies are under control. You can prevent yourself from having episodes by staying away from all that trigger your allergies. You should make sure that you talk to your doctor and get the best allergy medication during pregnancy. Health should be taken care of more than twice because of the baby that you are carrying. Work with your physician and dietician so that you may know what precautions and the right things to do and avoid for your allergies so that you may also have a safe pregnancy.