Drug Therapy During Pregnancy - Essay Example

"Drug Therapy During Pregnancy" is a perfect example of a paper on pregnancy. 
Drug Therapy During Pregnancy: An update on FDA Labeling for Antipsychotics

In the book, “Drug Therapy During Pregnancy: An update on FDA Labeling for Antipsychotics”, Vanessa Rouzeau and Greta Pelegrin discuss the current situation of pregnant women needing medical prescription and treatment, the current system being followed in pregnancy labeling for antipsychotics, the effects of exposure to antipsychotics during pregnancy towards newborns, and at the same time provide thorough knowledge about the risks of taking antipsychotics for pregnant women (Pelegrin, G. & Rouzeau, V., 2011). All these are indeed a noteworthy issue in society especially because there are a lot of pregnant women who are undergoing complications in their pregnancy and health caused by a wrong communication of a prescription drug.

First of all, there have been a lot of apprehensions with regard to pregnant women undergoing drug therapy. This is because of the integral risk it exposes not only the mother but also the child she is carrying. However, the fact that pregnancy does not impede one’s vulnerability to diseases such as diabetes, vaginal infections, preeclampsia and etc, there is an inherent need for pregnant women to be treated. Because of this, there is an increasing number of pregnant women undergoing medications, most of them are not aware of their pregnancy while the others are uneducated about the risk it is exposing themselves and their child. With this in mind, drug manufacturers are made to extract supplementary efforts in providing palpable clinical information regarding pregnancy and medication through their labels (Pelegrin, G. & Rouzeau, V., 2011).

Today, the system for pregnancy labeling for antipsychotics have radically changed. As there are some pregnant women involved in cases of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders that need uninterrupted medication, drug manufacturers are now including information regarding the possible risks of exposure to antipsychotics for newborn babies. This is indeed suitable as expecting mothers, their husbands, and their families would have complete knowledge about the pros and cons of taking medication before they actually agree on undergoing such. FDA is an organization that helps precede this change in the labeling of antipsychotic products for pregnant women. What they do is that they make sure the label is easy to understand and communicates not only the benefits of taking a certain drug but most importantly its hazardous effects. Aside from that, there is now a classification of pregnancy drug categories that are specially made for pregnant women and guarantees safety and risk-free medication (Pelegrin, G. & Rouzeau, V., 2011).

I believe that the change in pregnancy labeling system of antipsychotics is really crucial especially because of the number of women who use prescription drugs without having been educated about what comes with it. We have all been used to drug labels that discuss the benefits of a certain drug and yet only a few would mention the risks behind it. This has resulted in a lot of medication errors that have slightly or severely affected someone’s health condition wherein when we deal with life, I believe that there should be no room for mistakes. Also, it is best to provide a more individualized prescription process for pregnant women especially when pregnancy drug categories are not accessible or available by consulting a professional to provide for an alternative cure. Aside from this, each type of pregnancy is different. Some women have a more sensitive case than others which require a more careful treatment procedure/ medication. Though all these precautionary measures require so much work and time, the benefits of which would surely go beyond the cost of a miscarriage, abnormalities in babies, poor health of a mother and etc.