CHARLOTTE — Some women describe pregnancy as a long and exhausting challenge and it's critical to stay healthy along the way.
Megan Ferraro is on her second pregnancy.
"You're just always wondering about what's going on in there, what's going to happen," Ferraro said.
Ferraro takes acetaminophen when she has a headache which has been considered one of the only safe pain relievers for pregnant women.
Scientists are now linking that active ingredient found in many over-the-counter pain relievers with hyperactivity in children and ADHD, but Dr. Alyse Kelly-Jones, a local OBGYN physician with Novant Health, said it's not clear cut.
"They're not as simple as this one thing is going to cause this problem," Kelly-Jones said.
Scientists looked at 14,500 families in the study from the Journal of the American Medical Association.
More than 50 percent of pregnant women used acetaminophen and found 5 percent of the children in the study exhibited symptoms by the time they were 7 years old.
"It's an interesting finding and if a patient asks me about the study, I would say, ‘We need more data,’" Kelly-Jones said.
Acetaminophen is one of the few over-the-counter drugs with no other known harmful effects and doctors often say the benefits outweigh the risks.
"I feel like sometimes we think we should wrap patients in bubble wrap and put them away for months, but I don't think that's realistic," Kelly-Jones said.
Authors of the study said the drug should only be taken when necessary.
Kelly-Jones said expectant mothers should focus instead on eating right and staying in shape.
"I think the overall, most beneficial thing a pregnant woman can do is to be healthy," Kelly-Jones said.