Posts Tagged ‘FDA’

July 27th, 2010

An Unknown Tidbit About Pitocin

You would think since labor induction with Pitocin is so widely popular today that more people would know the standings and guidelines the FDA has in place for the drug. God knows all the women I have spoken with about induction do not know much about the drug, other than it is for induction, and most people use it.

With over half of all labors being augmented with pitocin, it must be safe and approved by the FDA right?

WRONG! Contrary to popular belief, Pitocin is NOT FDA approved for elective labor induction, or augmentation. When we use the word elective it means, not medically necessary. Which is what induction should only be used for today.  Of course we are all tired, achy, sore, and sick and tried of being pregnant, but those aren’t true medical reasons for a labor induction. They would still be classified as elective.

I decided to look up elective in the dictionary to use an example of what Webster says elective means.

open to choice; optional; not required: an elective subject in college; elective surgery.

Because of the risk of a premature baby, the fact that due dates are not accurate, the increased risk of a surgical delivery or serious complication with induction the FDA simply cannot support this in situations when the risk does not outweigh the benefits of the induction.

Problem today?  The number of women being induced, and the amount of women that simply do not know about this. I know there has been a huge backlash about Cytotec because it was being used widely (and still is) for labor induction when it is not FDA approved for labor induction, but people automatically assume pitocin is so widely used that is must be perfectly fine.

Because something is approved, or recommended by a provider for whatever reason, that does not always equate what is best for you and your baby. We have the laws for informed consent for these reasons, and women need to truly start learning to question their providers, and make their own educated choices in their care, not just blindly following what someone else thinks may be the best choice for you.

I know I may sound like a raving lunatic, but I was that woman for my first pregnancy, believing everything my OB told me until it landed me in an OR strapped to a table and not getting to meet my baby until he was almost 2 hours old, for NO MEDICAL REASON besides she thought after a mere 7 hours of what I later found out was an elective induction, not the medical induction she had made me believe I needed, that she just wanted to go home for the day.

When my son was over a year old I finally got a hold of my records after fighting with the hospital for them, and clear as day in my chart and delivery records it said patient choice cesarean which if anyone knows me, you couldn’t get me to elect to sign up for HUGE surgery. No Way! No How!

To this day it pisses me off, and I want to do my best to use my story to teach out to other women, especially women pregnant with their first child, or may not know a ton about childbirth, induction, pregnancy, etc.  and let them know they can say no, they can switch doctors at 36 weeks, they can make their own decisions about their medical care, it is Your right!