Which medication is safe during pregnancy?

I am 39 years old and pregnant. I have no blood clots but my doctor prescribed aspirin yet when I searced on google I found out that aspirin and diclofenac should not be taken during pregnancy. What can I do? Emily

Dear Emily,
Pregnancy may for many reasons be associated with pains which require investigating the cause and treating it to stem pain instead of just taking pain relievers. Aspirin, just like other painkillers carries health risks for both the mother and the unborn baby.

Aspirin given during pregnancy is not for pain but rather for other reasons including recurrent pregnancy loss, blood clotting problems that cause miscarriages (antiphospholipid syndrome), and preeclampsia (a type of high blood pressure in pregnancy). In this case, low dose aspirin will be given but not before eight weeks of pregnancy since it may affect implantation.

Using higher doses of aspirin for long may risk bleeding in the foetal brain and during the first three months of pregnancy (first trimester), it may cause a miscarriage or congenital defects.

During the last three months of pregnancy (third trimester) high dose aspirin may prematurely close the heart blood vessels also risking miscarriage.

Low-dose aspirin has been used during pregnancy, most commonly to prevent or delay the onset of preeclampsia which is likely to happen during a woman’s first pregnancy, maternal age of 35 years or older, an obese woman (a body mass index greater than 30) and a family or personal history of preeclampsia among others.

Because of your age, your gynaecologist may have given you low dose aspirin to prevent or delay preeclampsia.