by rbaer@direct.ca » Fri Sep 18, 1998 11:45 pm
I wqas not on this drug, but I did have some minor surgery
involving a general anesteatic around 5 weeks befor I knew I was
pregnant. I have also asked my doctors about a possible link, and
have gotten no real answers. I think the problem is that no one
really knows the answers. Doesn't it just make you want to become
a geneticist so you can study it and figure it out for yourself?
I will tell you what I have been able to figure out... From
talking with a biological psychologist(admittedly not an expert,
but able to give some insight) I understand that DNA becomes a
protein through messenger and transfer RNA. Well, in our DNA
there is a message to have a cleft, but only under certain
environmental conditions, such as vitamin deficiancy, amino acis
lack ,et cetera. So what we need to figure out is if that
environment could be caused by such things as phen fen or, in my
case, a general anaestetic. They have been linking clefts to
levels of folic acid...nothing conclusive. So my next question
would be, can either of these drugs interfere with absorption of
folic acid, or deplete stores? I don't know...this is all
conjecture. What I do know is that if it IS folic acid, well I
took that during my pregnany, so I am searching for more than
that. That is probably a bit more than you were asking for, but I
guess I was waiting for a chance to share my thoughts with
someone