Everyone, welcome back to the course parently. Today we're going to talk about the Big Bad 10 as far as considerations for an upcoming pregnancy. Now, this list is not all inclusive, it's important to understand that but it's 10 points that I think as a healthcare provider are very important to consider when considering an upcoming pregnancy. Point number one, alcohol. There's lots of discussion in the literature of what is a safe amount of alcohol, pre pregnancy and during pregnancy, specifically alcohol that will slow the sperm down in the mail and potentially injure a new conception. Those are issues that we want to discuss.

Now. I think the important thing is if you can abstain from alcohol, that's the best However, if you need to have a drink Every day, it's super important to understand that binge drinking pre pregnancy, especially during a conception is very potentially dangerous to a new conception that oftentimes leads to miscarriage if there was binge drinking. In other words, where you got so drunk that you didn't know where you were. If you need to have a drink every day, four ounces of wine or the equivalent thereof, is safe. For most women, it's important understand that binge drinking will slow the sperm down, decrease the quantity of the sperm ejaculated. So in an optimal situation where you need both a man and a woman to conceive.

It would be best for both of you to abstain from alcohol or limit that to four ounces per day or less. The second point I want to address today is to smoke. It's important to understand that everybody knows tobacco is bad for you, but why why is it bad for a Potential pregnancy and why is it bad for pregnancy? When you smoke, whether it's cigarettes, whether it's pipes, whether it's cigars, whether it's marijuana. When you inhale in your system, you have an increase in carbon monoxide. See, carbon monoxide is the same gas that comes out of your car's tailpipe.

Everybody knows that carbon monoxide poisoning can kill people if they get too much of it. So assume that you inhale, you increase your carbon monoxide in your system. Carbon Monoxide potentially can kill an egg. It can kill a conceived egg. In other words after conception occurs. And thirdly, during your pregnancy, your baby's going to get less oxygen when you inhale cigarettes, tobacco, anything like that you increase your carbon dioxide in your body.

So I encourage you to try to abstain from tobacco, pre pregnancy and throughout your pregnancy. The third issue we're going to talk about today is raw, specifically raw meat, raw eggs and raw fish. I want to address raw vegetables before we get into the other issues. raw vegetables are very healthy. It's important though when you consume raw vegetables, that you wash them in a vinegar base water before you consume them. So let's talk about why raw meat, fish and eggs.

Our problem. raw meat oftentimes has a bacteria in it called listeria. listeria is a bacteria that can cause you to contract Listeriosis. Listeriosis is a flu like syndrome that can make you very, very sick early in pregnancy that can create an issue with a fertilized egg. And oftentimes, it could cause such illness that you would potentially miscarry your baby raw eggs. Now, right eggs are a problem for some people, but not for other people.

Again, it comes down to bacteria that can oftentimes occur and the raw eggs will go back to listeria, and also the bacteria, E. coli, both of those can cause you to be very, very sick and cause you to miscarry and an early pregnancy. The third possibility, or the third thing you should stay away from is raw fish. Now, down in the south, oftentimes they eat or anywhere along the coast, they eat oysters, and many, many people like raw oysters and have eaten those for much of their life. or raw oysters in pregnancy because your immune compromised when you're pregnant, can cause you to become very ill. So staying away from any of these raw substances during preconception and during your pregnancy. You're important.

Now it's important to understand the other issues can have arrives and then specifically Manet, and Manet's for most people is not a problem. But again, if you're considering an upcoming pregnancy, I would probably minimize or abstain from Manet's or anything potentially that has raw eggs in them. The fourth issue to consider is shellfish, shrimps, lobster crab crawdads, specifically if you live in New Orleans area. Now, why are shellfish important to consider the most important thing to know about shellfish in a pre pregnant or pregnant status as they need to be well cooked shellfish that are not well cook potentially can harbor bacteria. For example, the stereo which could cause Listeriosis can make you very, very sick. The fifth issue to consider is deli meat.

Now, there's a lot of questions that I often am asked about nitrates and deli meat. Now it's important to understand that nitrates We know, enlarge consumption can cause cancer However, there's little to no information in pregnancy. However, if we know it can cause cancer in an adult, theoretically it potentially could cause cancer and an unborn baby. So we want to minimize or abstain from deli meat. The second issue with deli meat because you're immunocompromised during your pregnancy, is they potentially can harbor bacteria. So again, oftentimes you don't even know you're pregnant for the first five to six to seven weeks.

And so you are immunocompromised sustain away from anything that can cause but they can harbor bacteria we would recommend that you abstain from the sixth issue is paint. Now, none of the new paints have led in them. However, old paint oftentimes does. So let's assume you were to move into an old house. You were going to scrape your room and repaint it. You need to consider that ladder An old pain is a real problem.

Lead can cause cancer. So we want we would want you to abstain from that completely. In that scenario. The seventh issue to consider is hot tubs and saunas. And the real issue here is the heat. Can the heat potentially cause death to a fragile egg or death to a fragile sperm?

The answer's yes. Now, what is that heat? We don't really know. But we know that he just like anybody potentially can cause death. So something that you should consider of staying or minimize as you consider pregnancy and in your pregnancy. The other issue with both of these is dehydration.

We know that dehydration can cause problems with the mobility of both sperm and the mobility of an egg. So if the sperm and the egg are trying to get together, they're both moving in the direction to get together. And you have a Do you have an environment that decreases their mobility, potentially that would decrease Research chances for getting pregnant. The last issue with a hot tub is bacteria. Potentially that bacteria can climb up through the vagina, cervix, uterus and fallopian tube and cause an infection that would decrease the chances for getting pregnant. The next issue number eight is kitty litter.

Now, cats are very important in many, many people's lives. And especially if that cat stays inside, you have to change your kitty litter. Why is kitty litter problem? Oftentimes cats, especially cats that come in in the house and outside of the house, can transmit a bacteria called toxoplasmosis. toxoplasmosis can cause problems during your pregnancy that can cause birth defects in your baby. So it's important that if you're considering pregnancy or are pregnant, that you stay completely away from changing the kid the litter box, and it's not just changing it.

Cats is you know, we'll see Rats at kitty litter and caused dust to fly around. It's actually the dust that can transmit the toxoplasmosis, that's something you would want to stay away from. The next issue is x rays. Most every facility in the United States, when you have an X ray will ask you if you're potentially pregnant or are pregnant, and they do this for a very specific reason. x rays can kill a new conception, they potentially can cause injury to a fetus that's in utero. So it's important and since oftentimes, you don't know you're pregnant until your fifth sixth seventh week, that if you have an X ray, that you're very specific, that hey, yes, I'm pregnant.

And if you need x rays, specifically the pelvic region, that you discuss that with your healthcare provider prior to having those x rays taken Now it's important understand, it's not just x rays. CAT scans are a very significant problem. In the United States, as far as too many CAT scans, many, many emergency rooms, if you come in and you have pelvic pain, they will obtain a CAT scan on you. CAT scans have much more radiation that are given to you as a patient, much more exposure than a traditional x. Right? So it's important to stay away from CAT scans, if you're potentially pregnant.

One issue that I get asked about is airport scanners. Is there a concern going through a traditional full body scan is a pregnant woman or a woman that potentially could be pregnant? We don't have the literature we don't have the statistics. We don't have to research to know if there's a problem. And the answer theoretically, there's probably not a risk however, we don't know that. So if you're in line waiting for TSA and look and there is a full body scan, you simply need to say to the TSA agent, I need to opt out of this and have other evaluation.

The next issue who to discuss number 10 is medications. Medications are very, very important to know what those category ratings are on those medications as far as the potential to cause birth defects. The FDA has rated all medications and categorize them into five categories A, B, C, D and x. A is the least concerning as far as birth defects. x are drugs that we know that cause birth defects. However, you have to understand as a patient that most medications do not have specific resources research has done on them to determine if they cause birth defects or not.

And the reason is very clear. You cannot give a pregnant woman a drug and say, Hey, we're going to look to see if this drug causes birth defects moving forward, and we're not going to give this patient the same drug and see if there's a difference on the other at some most studies that look at drugs. Look At the retrospective data to determine if those drugs cause birth defects. What do I mean by retrospective data? That means looking back, so we just say to a patient, Hey, your baby has a specific birth defect. Where are you on this medication in the past, and then we can link those we can say, potentially, this drug causes birth defects.

Now, one patient, one birth defect, we can evaluate data. It's many, many patients, and many, many of the similar types of birth defects. And then we can categorize those, however important that you talk to your healthcare provider. any potential drug needs to be discussed, let's address some very specific drugs that are taken in the home on a daily basis for many people. Tylenol, Advil, or ibuprofen, same drug, or aspirin. Now, we have much much retrospective data that shows that Tylenol is safe For most women, but you want to minimize that.

So Tylenol comes in two doses, 325 milligram dose and a 500 milligram dose. You want to minimize it. So if you have a headache, maybe take one Tylenol, two at the most. Advil, ibuprofen, we know that these drugs potentially can cause problems with the baby's heart. And so we want to minimize those pre conceptually, but for sure we want to abstain from those during pregnancy. Aspirin.

Aspirin comes in two doses, 325 milligrams, and the 81 milligram tablet. Now 325 milligram tablet, nobody should be on that dose, whether you're trying to get pregnant or not. Aspirin is a potentially very dangerous drug that can cause bleeding, bleeding in the GI tract bleeding in the brain, so nobody should be on that 325 milligram dose. Many, many women take 81 milligrams, specifically, if they have hypertension, 81 milligrams if you're on that stage. on that, and you'll probably stay on that throughout your pregnancy. However, it's important that you discuss this with your healthcare provider.

The last issue is herbs. Now, there's lots of herbs out there that we use for cooking that we have in our house. There's very specific herbs that are safe. There's very specific herbs that we want you to minimize or stay away from during your pregnancy. I have those listed. And I encourage you to look through those and try to minimize those if you can.

Now, we're calling this list the big bad tab. This list is not all inclusive, but there's 10 issues that we think are important that you look at pre conceptually again before you can see because potentially, any or all of these can cause problems with a new conceived pregnancy. Thanks again for being here today. We'll see you on the next video. parently