What is Duphaston
Duphaston is a new generation synthetic hormone, an artificial analogue of the female hormone progesterone. This is a fairly strong drug that gynecologists recommend to girls with a lack of progesterone in their bodies. The thing is that it is this hormone that is responsible for the onset of pregnancy and its successful course. It prepares the uterine epithelium to receive a fertilized egg and promotes its attachment. After pregnancy, progesterone is responsible for relaxing the uterine muscles, relieving tone and creating favorable conditions for the development of the fetus.
Duphaston or Utrozhestan - which is better?
The role of the first drug in planning conception and a successful pregnancy is well known. However, there are also effective analogues.
The main competitor of this drug, Utrozhestan, is also very effective when planning conception. The drug contains progesterone, made from plant materials. For this reason, it is used in exactly the same way as its counterpart described above. There is no big difference in whether to use Duphaston or Utrozhestan when planning pregnancy . The doctor decides which specific drug to give preference to.
The difference between these medicines is that Duphaston is a synthetic drug, and Utrozhestan is natural. But the first one has much fewer side effects.
The significant difference between these drugs is that Utrozhestan can not only be drunk, but also injected directly into the vagina, which prevents the development of allergic reactions. The doctor will decide which drug to prescribe for therapy.
Why is Duphaston prescribed when planning pregnancy?
Thus, the use of Duphaston when planning pregnancy, as well as after its onset, must be medically justified. You should not take this drug just like that, thinking that it will help you get pregnant. Duphaston can only be prescribed by your attending physician in the following cases:
- lack of progesterone in the girl’s body, confirmed by tests;
- irregular menstrual cycle, ovulation failure;
- history of miscarriages and missed pregnancies;
- endometriosis in a girl.
Side effects from taking Duphaston
Duphaston can be used when planning pregnancy because it has few side effects. It does not affect ovulation, and conception often occurs when taking it. But it is not 100% safe. Side effects such as nausea, dizziness, and bloating occur.
Taking Duphaston when planning pregnancy in rare cases can cause liver dysfunction and anemia. It is not recommended for women with pathologies of the heart, liver, kidneys, or pancreas.
To prevent side effects, you need to know how to take synthetic Duphaston correctly when planning a pregnancy. First, an examination is carried out, based on which the gynecologist determines the duration of treatment and the required dosage.
When a doctor recommends taking Duphaston when planning a pregnancy, there is no need to refuse - the drug is safe if you follow the instructions for its use. The medicine has proven itself well. If a woman is wondering whether it is possible to get pregnant on Duphaston, then she needs to know that only the correct use of this drug under the supervision of a specialist will help solve the problem.
Author: Alexander Indra, doctor, especially for Mama66.ru
How and when to stop the drug
If these indications exist, Duphaston is prescribed at the pregnancy planning stage. After pregnancy, the use of the drug is continued if the level of the hormone progesterone is still not normalized or if there is a threat of early miscarriage. Usually, when planning a pregnancy, discontinuation of Duphaston is not required. The exception is when an allergic reaction occurs to the drug. Discontinuation of these tablets is required by the 4th – 5th month of pregnancy, when the risk of spontaneous abortion is minimized. In this case, the drug is discontinued very carefully, reducing the dosage gradually. Abrupt withdrawal of Duphaston can lead to a rapid decrease in the level of progesterone in the blood and, as a result, miscarriage.
How to take Duphaston during pregnancy and how to stop taking it?
Unfortunately, not every pregnancy ends in a successful birth.
Women who have suffered a spontaneous miscarriage face not physical, but also psycho-emotional suffering. One of the reasons for pregnancy failure is hormonal imbalance. To save the life of the unborn baby, Duphaston may be prescribed during pregnancy. Gynecologists have been using Duphaston for quite a long time. This drug is used to treat diseases of the female genital area caused by hormonal imbalance. It is used for infertility caused by insufficient progesterone production and during pregnancy. Let's figure out why the drug is prescribed and when its use is inappropriate.
Does hormonal imbalance interfere with conception?
One of the female sex hormones is progesterone; this substance plays an important role in the functioning of the reproductive system. As you know, the monthly female cycle includes two main phases - proliferative and secretory.
In the first two weeks of the cycle, the amount of progesterone is minimal, but after the release of the egg, its amount reaches its peak. Thanks to the hormone, the following changes occur in the body:
- blood supply to the uterus increases;
- the mucous layer lining the internal cavity of this organ thickens and loosens.
That is, the main function of the hormone is to prepare the body for pregnancy. If there is a lack of this substance, the fertilized egg cannot implant in the uterus and, accordingly, pregnancy does not occur.
Therefore, if difficulties arise with conception due to a lack of progesterone, Duphaston is prescribed. The drug contains a hormone analogue obtained synthetically. You will have to take the drug not for a day or two, but for at least several weeks, in some cases up to six months. Pregnancy during treatment usually occurs within 3-4 months.
Advice! Under no circumstances should you stop taking the drug immediately after a delay. The consequences of abrupt withdrawal can be very sad. When you can stop taking the drug and how to properly reduce the dose, only a doctor monitoring the course of pregnancy can tell you.
When carrying out IVF against the background of infertility, Duphaston is prescribed in almost 100% of cases. This drug blocks the action of the immune system, which seeks to destroy the fertilized egg as a foreign body. The dose is selected individually.
Reception after conception
The role of progesterone is not only to prepare the body for pregnancy, but also to maintain the resulting pregnancy. Its functions:
- relaxation of smooth muscles to prevent miscarriage;
- preparing the mammary glands for feeding.
Thus, with a lack of hormones, the normal course of the gestation process is impossible. Therefore, if indicated, doctors recommend the use of Duphaston during pregnancy.
Should everyone take it?
Of course, not all expectant mothers need to take the drug during the gestation period. The drug is prescribed if indicated (history of miscarriages) and after a series of tests. It is strictly forbidden to take the drug “just in case” on the advice of friends, either immediately after the delay or during the first weeks. Only a doctor can recommend use!
The decision to take the drug yourself can have unpredictable consequences. Pregnancy is not the time to experiment with your health. Even one day of taking a hormonal drug without a prescription can cause a malfunction in the body.
Therefore, it is worth repeating once again: Duphaston is strictly forbidden to be taken during planning, immediately after a delay, or during pregnancy, if the drug is not recommended for use by a doctor!
To achieve a positive result, you need to know exactly what day of the cycle you need to start taking the pills, how many weeks you should continue taking them, and how to properly reduce the dose.
The instructions cannot provide detailed answers to these questions, since they provide a standard treatment regimen. And to obtain a positive result, Duphaston is prescribed individually, taking into account the characteristics of the patient’s body.
How to use?
Let's figure out what the instructions say about taking the drug during preparation for pregnancy and after its onset.
Advice! Please note that the instructions provide general recommendations; your individual treatment regimen may be different.
Planning
To begin with, let’s figure out why and why the drug is prescribed. It is recommended for use in the following cases:
- infertility in case of insufficient progesterone production;
- dysmenorrhea;
Advice! Women should know what day of their cycle they should start taking pills. This point is very important. Therefore, be sure to check when you can start taking it.
The standard dosage depends on the type of disease:
- for endometriosis, you need to take a tablet containing 10 mg of a synthetic hormone three times a day. You need to take the drug at a certain time, from the fifth to the twenty-fifth day of the cycle;
- for infertility due to insufficient progesterone synthesis: 1 tablet no more than once a day from the fourteenth to the twenty-fifth day of the cycle.
If pregnancy occurs during treatment, you should under no circumstances stop taking the pills. In most cases, Duphaston is not canceled in the early stages of pregnancy. Why do you need to continue treatment?
Abruptly stopping the medication will cause a surge in hormone levels, and such actions can lead to pregnancy failure. How long should you take the drug during pregnancy? Only a doctor can answer this question. In some cases, you have to continue taking it until 36 weeks.
But often the drug is discontinued earlier. How many weeks you need to continue treatment depends on the individual reactions of the body. If you stop the drug correctly, pregnancy after stopping Duphaston will proceed normally. You need to take the drug strictly according to the schedule, trying not to miss the dosage time. What to do if your appointment time is missed? In this case:
- if no more than 6 hours have passed since the time of administration, take the tablet, then drink the drug according to the prescribed regimen;
- if more than 6 hours have passed, skip the dose and do not take an additional dose.
Advice! Due to the cumulative effect, skipping a pill once will not cause much harm, but you should still try not to deviate from the prescribed treatment regimen.
Pregnancy
Why can an appointment be scheduled during pregnancy? The drug is prescribed if the following indications exist:
- with habitual miscarriage;
- with threatening spontaneous abortion;
- during pregnancy occurring against the background of endometriosis or endometritis.
How to recognize the threat of spontaneous abortion? The main symptoms of threatened spontaneous abortion:
- nagging pain radiating to the groin or lower back. The pain becomes more intense when moving and subsides a little if you lie down;
- bloody discharge from the genital tract. The discharge does not have to be significant; spotting is no less dangerous. Please note that discharge may appear periodically, that is, if it has stopped, this does not mean that the threat has passed.
Advice! Bloody discharge in the early stages is associated with the beginning of detachment of the ovum. If measures are taken in a timely manner, the child can be saved.
It should be noted that spotting brown discharge is not always a threat of interruption. Sometimes they appear at the moment when the fertilized egg implants in the uterus. But such symptoms cannot be ignored; it is worth visiting a gynecologist to find out the reasons.
But if the discharge is bright red, then you need to urgently call an ambulance. Duphaston for this condition is prescribed by a gynecologist. Improper use of the drug may aggravate the situation and the child will not be saved. Standard scheme:
- initially – 4 tablets once, then 1 tablet three times a day;
- it is important that the interval between doses is the same and is about 8 hours (provided that the standard dosage is prescribed, one tablet three times a day).
The duration of the course depends on the condition of the pregnant woman; if the threat of interruption has disappeared, the doctor decides to stop treatment. Moreover, you need to gradually reduce the dose; the following scheme can be used:
- one tablet twice a day for a week;
- over the next week, the daily dosage is halved, that is, once a day is enough;
- then they begin to take the drug every other day for another week.
It is very important to reduce the dosage gradually, since with abrupt withdrawal you can expect the development of a repeated threat of miscarriage. On average, the withdrawal time during which you need to reduce the dosage of the hormone is about three weeks.
Side effect
Side effects from taking Duphaston are rare. Most often, side effects are observed when there is intolerance to the drug; they manifest themselves in the form of allergic reactions. Side effects in the form of bloody spotting are eliminated by adjusting the dose upward.
So, Duphaston can be used during pregnancy only as prescribed by a doctor. Remember that self-medication can cause harm! Therefore, carefully follow the doctor’s recommendations, strictly following the treatment regimen prescribed by the specialist.
Source: https://jmiss.ru/zdorovie/beremennost/dyufaston-pri-beremennosti.html
How to take Duphaston correctly
As we have already said, such a drug should be taken only after consulting a gynecologist. You should not rely on the advice of girlfriends, forums, or even the instructions for the pills. The dosage of Duphaston when planning pregnancy is selected by the doctor strictly individually, depending on medical indications. It is usually taken for a long time: continuously from three to six menstrual cycles. In this case, the tablets should not be taken every day, but strictly on those days that the doctor tells you. This is usually days 11 to 25 of your menstrual cycle.
Please note that taking Duphaston should begin after ovulation. This is due to the fact that the appearance of progesterone in the body before ovulation can contribute to the early stage of secretion of the uterine mucosa, due to which the fertilized egg simply cannot take hold in the uterus. This is why consultation with a gynecologist is so important when starting treatment with Duphaston. Only an experienced specialist, based on your individual menstrual cycle, will be able to correctly calculate the days of taking the drug and its dosage.
Side effects
Like all medications, Duphaston has side effects. First of all, they occur when a girl takes pills without the recommendation of a gynecologist or does not adhere to the course of treatment prescribed to her.
Remember that the onset and course of pregnancy directly depends on progesterone, so the use of Duphaston should be justified.
If there is an overdose of the hormone level in the blood, even a miscarriage is possible. In addition, the following side effects may occur:
- allergy,
- nausea,
- headache and dizziness,
- cycle and ovulation disorders,
- vaginal bleeding.
If you experience side effects, stop taking the tablets immediately and consult your doctor.
