Good morning!
Procardia was my friend for a long time--I'll share my experience!
At 26 weeks I landed in the hospital with spotting and constant contractions. I was in a distant city for work so they sent me home with orders to see my doc. Within a few days of arriving home, contractions were intense and 2-3 minutes apart. I went to L&D at home and spent 24 hours being monitored, FFN, cervical check, etc. they sent me home with 30mg Procardia extended release 2x daily. Doc explained that it's a smooth muscle relaxer that is usually administered for blood pressure but that works to calm the uterus (another smooth muscle). After about 4 weeks and increased afternoon contractions, I was upped to 3x daily.
At 35 weeks my doctor weaned me off and as of Friday, 36 weeks, I'm completely off Procardia. I did modified bedrest from 26 weeks to today. I've been given the greenlight to increase my activity which I'm doing, but with lots of resting due to contractions--I'm already 2cm dilated and doc said to "stay pregnant" til 37.
Procardia worked great for me! In conjunction with modified bedrest and laying low. Now that I'm off of it, contractions aren't super intense like I feared. I didn't have any side effects with Procardia. Except for a raging headache for the first four days. The headache has never returned. Some women report feeling lightheaded, so before I get out of bed, I would sit up for about 20 seconds. But I never felt lightheaded. For my irritable uterus, it was a miracle worker! But everyone has different results. Hope that helps!
