Z Pack at 8 Weeks Pregnant,is It Safe??

I would wait and see. If it is a cold- a cold is a virus and antibiotics don't work on viruses. The best thing you could do right now is drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and drink soothing drinks as well- such as chamomile tea with honey. The warm tea will feel good and honey is a natural pain soother. :)
Also gargle with salt water- kills germs and helps the inflammation go down which means less pain! :)

I took a Z-Pack when I was 8 1/2 months pregnant for a sinus infection. I had had it for weeks, and I was about to have a C-section, so the continuous coughing was not going to work. My doctor said it was safe. That said, you are still in your first trimester, so the things you put into your body can have a lot more impact on the fetus. Unless your symptoms get worse, you may want to wait and speak to your primary obgyn. I hope you feel better soon!

If your doc was aware of the pregnancy when he prescribed, it's probably fine. If you have ANY doubts that he was thinking of that, call both the advice nurse AND your pharmacist. They should be able to tell you whether it's safe in your circumstances.

By the way, in addition to gargling with warm salt water, you can use it to clean out your sinuses. I think of this as a "nose gargle." Sniff some up from the palm of your hand (or use a neti pot), tilt your head as upside down as you can, and blow it out. Repeat maybe a dozen times. Three times a day is good. This is, um, not terribly ladylike, but it can help amazingly with the drippy symptoms.

When my throat starts feeling scratchy, I get out my neti pot and start rinsing my nose out with saline. I rinse as often as I feel like it. If my throat feels itchy enough to start my eyes watering, I'll take a pinch of salt, look straight up at the ceiling, open up my mouth wide as I can, then sprinkle the salt on the back of my throat. Drink water if you want to first, but try not to rinse off the salt for as long as you can. It really helps to take the sting out of a sore throat. Beyond that, chicken soup, hot tea, keep up with your vitamins, steamy showers/baths, etc help me feel better when I have a cold. For a cough, sometimes a heating pad over my throat and upper chest really feels good.

On top of the other advice you've already gotten, Sudafed is a safe drug to take at any point in your pregnancy. While it isn't very strong, I found in each of my pregnancies that it took the edge off cold and allergy symptoms considerably. I would try that before taking antibiotics, even without being pregnant. Until they've done a culture or in some other way positively confirmed that you have an infection that would respond to antibiotics, there's no sense in taking one, in my opinion.

First of all does your doctor know you are pregnant. If they do then they have a list of "safe" drugs for pregnancy. However you can wait and see for a day or two. It almost sounds viral to me since the soreness goes away. Sometimes I have a sore throat in the morning when I have nasal drainage. A cool mist humidifier in your room at night might help with this. I also like to drink a "tea" that I make with hot water lemon juice and honey. I still drink this whenever I have a sore throat. Good luck.

I struggled with illness during one pregnancy. The doctors were constantly weighing "risk vs benefit." I could not take antihistamines and decongestants during early pregnancy. The allergist, Obgyn and the pediatrician teleconferenced about what was safest for me because I was on antibiotics over and over again from severe infections due to my untreated allergies (back then, people still smoked indoors and even though I avoided the smoke, I had no idea just how badly that was affecting me... of course, no one smoked in my home). During the last part of my pregnancy they had be go ahead and take the antihistamines because antibiotics are just that - anti=against bio=life.

Anyway, the advice I have from my own experience, is I would only take the antibiotic if you absolutely had to because the risk to you and baby warranted it. THEN, I would be very very sure to take probiotics and prebiotics for a good long while.

That's me.

My baby did have subtle issues. But I blame my own immune system perhaps attacking her in utero, combined with genetics... who knows. I could not help what happened. But that is something to think about - doing what is best so there are no regrets if something goes wrong.

I took the antibiotics because NOT taking them was also a bigger risk. And remember - if it is a risk for Mommy's health, that makes it also a risk for baby's health. The question becomes how much to each?

I am glad we discussed it not just with the prescribing physician, but ALSO with a pediatrician and the obgyn.

that sounds like allergies since the sore throat isnt constant. wait and see if it gets better i dont think you can do much for allergies when pg but you can ask your doc

I would not take Z pack. Try a vaporizer that puts steam in the air. It will help to dry up the mucus. Your throat is probably sore because there is a drip from your nose. and at night try sleeping in an upright position.The Z pack will also only work with a bacterial infection.

You are smart to do your homework. Call the local pharmacy and ask to speak to the pharmacist (not the tech).
Congrats on your pregnancy!

I'm sure if your doctor prescribed it than it is okay. As long as they know you are pregnant you should be fine. I would take it, if I wasn't feeling well and was having trouble sleeping. You want to stay healthy for that baby. Get well soon!

It's possible they think it is pertussis (whooping cough), which is going around quite a bit in our area in the Pacific Northwest--ask your doc if that is the reason they gave it to you. The problem is that the symptoms could be almost anything at first. It could be just a cold. It could be an allergy. Neither of those would be helped by antibiotics. But if pertussis is going around your area, they may be simply giving out z-packs (the antibiotic of choice for this) prophylactically, since you can greatly reduce the level of illness you experience if you catch it early. The only way to tell is to do a culture. And that takes 2-4 days to come back. It would be fine to ask them to do one and wait until the culture is complete before starting antibiotics. Unless you know you have been exposed to pertussis, it's probably a good idea to do that before starting on that very strong antibiotic. Just a few weeks ago, my daughter was exposed by her friend. Her friend had similar symptoms to what you described and her mother thought it was just a cold. She waited about a week or so, but after it didn't get better THEN she had her tested. Another several days later, they confirmed pertussis. By that time, the symptoms were more difficult to deal with, but still not terrible. My daughter started having the same symptoms about then, so we got her tested right away, and did put her on z-pack prophylactically. She turned out to be positive. She was almost completely feeling better within a couple of days. Then my partner started having the same symptoms. He chose to get tested, but not start z-pack right away--and his test came back negative. So it's hard to know. I think the key is to get tested soon and then wait until you know the results--shouldn't get too much worse in that time, unless you are already really miserable.

Either way, the things to do at home to improve your immune system's ability to keep the illness down and help you recover more quickly are the same:
-LOTS of water, tea, and other healthful fluids. Among other things, it helps keep all the tissues moist and breaks up mucous, as well as keeping all your cells functioning at top levels.
-Garlic. Raw is best if you can stand it. Or try this midwives' trick--peel a clove and stick in under the sole of your foot inside your shoe. The bottoms of the feet can absorb the constituents--you will be amazed that your breath starts to smell garlick-y. It works! Cooking in any form will reduce it's effectiveness, but if your going to do it, baked garlic spread on olive oiled crusty bread is yum!
-Echinacea. Best to get tincture form--the tiny amount of alcohol will not harm your pregnancy, but if you are concerned you can drop it in hot tea and the alcohol will evaporate. Don't boil the tincture in the water, just drop it in the cup after you have made the tea. This is an excellent support for building more white blood cells and making them function better--proven scientifically in a study that was actually trying to prove the opposite because the drug companies were hoping to sell you expensive drugs instead.
-Grapefruit seed extract--An unbelievably effective natural antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal. Brand name is Nutribiotic. 15 drops twice a day mixed in a shot glass of citrus juice. It's a heavy oil that sinks to the bottom, and if you've ever bitten into a grapefruit seed you get an idea of how bitter it is. citrus flavor like lemonade or orange juice cuts that. It will make you feel better FAST!

Hope you feel better.

yes, I had to take it with both of my pregnancies and both babies were perfectly healthy. ;o)