No potassium iodide for pregnant or breastfeeding women

You may be tempted like some of the panicking masses to run to the pharmacy for your potassium iodide. But if you are pregnant, think you might be pregnant, trying to get pregnant or nursing, stop now.

Potassium iodide may harm fetus

Potassium iodide (KI) is known to cause fetal harm, abnormal thyroid function and goiter when taken by a pregnant woman. According to the FDA it is a category D drug and is considered contraindicated during pregnancy.

This is because of the potential for fetal goiter secondary to fetal thyroid trapping of iodide. There is some support for short term use for surgical preparation and in radiation emergencies. But even then, a single dose because of the risk of blocking fetal thyroid function.

Passes to breast milk

Because iodide is passed to breast milk, the FDA has recommended that lactating women should be given for their own protection but not as a means of secondarily dosing a nursing infant. It may pose a risk of hypothyroidism in nursing babies.

But all this aside, unless you live near the earthquake and tsunami site in Japan, there is no reason to take radiation precautions such as potassium iodide. The State Department and the World Health Organization as well as the United nations have all declared that this is not a radioactive world event and that there is only the most remote chance that radiation in even a small amount will go over the ocean and to another continent.

Be safe, talk to your doctor and don’t take unnecessary medications while pregnant or nursing.

Source: FDA, drugs.com, Dr. Jay Gordon