Thread: Being pregnant and Having Asthma

Although only 8 percent of expectant mothers have asthma, it's still the most common lung problem during pregnancy. If you can control your asthma during pregnancy, your risk for problems such as premature labor, low birth weight, and stillbirth goes way down.

Of course, pregnancy affects different women's asthma in different ways: For about a third, asthma will get worse during pregnancy, for another third it will get better, and for the final third, nothing will change. Within three montdelivery, for women who experienced a change, the condition will return to the way it was before pregnancy. Although the severity of the problem can differ from one pregnancy to the next, doctors tend to pay closer attention to women whose asthma got worse during a previous pregnancy.

You should treat your asthma from the start, even in the first trimester. Most asthma drugs are considered safe during pregnancy, including terbutaline, albuterol, prednisone, and theophylline ? so you probably won't have to give up anything you're already taking. But, if possible, avoid oral steroids during the first trimester. However, asthma should be aggressively treated if it's unstable. Your doctor may recommend gradually reducing your dosage of steroids to see if you're one of those women whose asthma improves during pregnancy.