Faith Ayer had no qualms about taking Tylenol for chronic migraines and COVID-19 during her pregnancy, and grew disappointed and angry as she watched President Donald Trump rail against the pain medicine.
“A lot of the claims that were shared have just not been backed by evidence,” said Ayer, a nurse practitioner in Jacksonville, Florida, who is about 17 weeks pregnant with her first child. She said Trump’s words have implications “for patients across the country and even across the world.”
During a White House news conference on Monday, Trump repeatedly warned pregnant women not to take Tylenol because of the risk of autism in their children. He also fueled debunked claims that ingredients in vaccines or timing shots close together could contribute to rising rates of autism. Trump’s comments left some pregnant women angry and others with questions.
Dr. R. Todd Ivey, an OB-GYN in Houston, said he’s already heard from a few patients and expects to get a lot more questions in the coming weeks.
“People are concerned,” he said. “But what I’m doing is reassuring patients that there is no causation that has ever been proven.”
Moms have mixed reactions to Trump’s announcement
As a nurse, Ayer knew she didn’t have a lot of options for treating her migraines and a fever she spiked during a bout of COVID-19.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has long considered Tylenol, also known by the generic name acetaminophen, one of the only safe pain relievers during pregnancy. Five years ago, the Food and Drug Administration warned that the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen might cause rare but serious kidney problems in a fetus.
“Weighing benefits and risks, I had no reservations when taking Tylenol,” the 30-year-old Ayer said, especially since she knew that untreated fevers in pregnancy, particularly in the first trimester, increase the risk for miscarriages, preterm birth and other problems.
Despite her medical knowledge, she had a conversation with her doctor about taking Tylenol “and kind of got the all clear on their end, too.”
When she gives birth, she plans to give her baby all the vaccines that medical experts recommend.
But other pregnant women are not so sure about things.
Dr. Stella Dantas, an OB-GYN in Portland, Oregon, said she was starting to get questions through her patient email system.
“I anticipate we’re going to have a lot of anxiety about using acetaminophen, which we counsel them is OK to use if they have a headache, if they have a fever,” she said. “There are a number of reasons patients will need to take it, and patients already feel anxious about taking any medication in pregnancy.”
Doctors reassure patients that Tylenol and vaccines are safe
Dr. Clayton Alfonso, an OB-GYN at Duke University in North Carolina, is drafting up standard responses for the nursing team to give out to Tylenol inquiries.
The main message: Tylenol has been around for decades, is safe, and has not been shown to cause autism.
Acetaminophen use during pregnancy hadn’t increased in recent decades like autism rates have, according to the Coalition of Autism Scientists.
Some studies have raised the possibility that taking acetaminophen in pregnancy might be associated with a risk of autism — but many others haven’t found a connection. One challenge is that it’s hard to disentangle the effects of Tylenol use from the effects of high fevers during pregnancy.
Science has shown autism is mostly rooted in genetics. Experts say different combinations of genes and other factors — such as age of the child’s father and whether the mother had health problems during the pregnancy — can all affect how a fetal brain develops.
Besides letting patients know “there has been no causal link established or proven” between Tylenol use in pregnancy and autism, Dantas said she’s also advising patients against “toughing it out” if they have fever or pain.
“A healthy pregnancy starts with a healthy mom,” Dantas said. “So I would ask patients if they are concerned to consult their physicians. And trust in the medical advice given to them.”
Doctors said much the same about advising patients to get their newborns vaccinated. Ivey said doctors are seeing more people decline vaccinations lately, which “speaks to the distrust for the medical community in general.”
“We know that these vaccines save lives,” and don’t cause autism, he said.
Doctors also said they don’t want women to doubt what they did during pregnancy if their child does develop autism.
“We need to take a deep breath,” Ivey said. “We need to trust the people that are doing the work – the scientists, the physicians, the other health care providers.”
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
