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MedHelp Member's Question

I did not realise i was an adict

by pginma, Dec 20, 2006 12:00AM
Ok so last week I found out that I am pregnant.Be for that for the last year I have been taking hydrocodone. Over the past two months I would take vicodin some days and other days percacet and after like 7 days of either I would take methadone for like a week but never to much and so I havent anything in 8 days and three days ago. It started nerviousness,tencion,iratiably,lack of sleep,feeling like I could jump right out of my skin.and because of pregnancy Im nothing but tired but every time I lay down I cannot relax long enought to fall asleep. So Ive been awake for almost 3 days. IS THERE ANY HELP?!!!!!
Member Comments (6)

by boogaloo, Dec 21, 2006 12:00AM
The ant-anxiety meds typically prescribed for withdrawls (benzo's) are not good for pregnancy.  Your ob needs to know the quantity, frequency and what your are taking.  Hydrocodone and Oxycodone are not harmful during pregnancy if taken in moderation and with supervision by a physician.  For pregnant women, the taper off method is reccomended.  The stress of cutting cold turkey would be bad for both you and the baby.  The biggest danger for the baby is taking the narcotics duing the 3rd trimester and delivery.  Dr.'s are concerned about fetal addiction.  I'm not sure why you are taking the pills so I'm not sure if the benefit outweighs the means as far as staying on the medication.  Obviously if you can do without, you should but soemtimes that isn't always and option.



Good luck with your pregnancy.   I really hope everything goes well for you.

by JessRabbit, Dec 22, 2006 12:00AM
Hello,



     I am new here. I ran across this website by doing a search. I then saw your posting and had to respond. So that led to my registering here. Cause I think that maybe I was led here for  reason. I wanted to respond to your post, so of course I hd to register. Anywhooo...I became addicted to pain killers- i.e.- Vicodin, Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, and whatever else I could get my hands on. I knew I was bad off.

        I found out that I was pregnant, but I was a good 3 or 4 months preggers before knowing, because I had only 1 period for that whole year before finding out. I was puking, had terrible doubled over cramps, and diarreha that would probably kill a horse. I went through this the entire pregnancy..I was worried for the baby of course. My husband kept telling me that the lack of Loratab/Hydrocodone/Opiates was what was making me go through all of the physical symptoms. But I was like, no..I am pregnant and sick. It was so bad that I couldn't ever go in public much, cause I spent the whole time in the bathroom.

       Anyways, long story short..I realized that it was in fact the drugs that was making me sick. I was going through withdrawals. Do whatever you must do to make sure that you and your baby are free from pain and suffering while pregnant and afterwards. Go to the nearest Methadone Clinic and sign in to get help. Theres no way that they will turn you away nor will they expect you or want you to go through withdrawals while pregnant! So please listen to what I'm saying. I know from first hand experience. You will be able to enjoy your pregnancy and enjoy your new, growing baby if you take care of your addiction and your needs. I am sure that theres a Clinic nearby for you. Do a search. I may do one for you and post the results, in a minute. But like I said, don't make yourself or your baby suffer through detox and withdrawals. Because that baby feels exactly as you do, if not worse. God Bless! Stay strong!

by mema3, Dec 22, 2006 12:00AM
To: Jess
Did they have to have your baby detox from the methadone??



I'm asking b/c I'm currently 35 weeks - and down to 5mg a day - from 40mg during my pregnancy.



I've been on pills since surgeries in 2001 - long story short - is that my current doc does not approve of me taking anything whereas my old doc had no issue with it.  (moved and had to get a new doc - a big mess!)



ANYWAY - for the past 10 weeks I've tapered down to 5mg of hydro a day - and have had withdrawls - but I was reading online that if you go to methadone while preggo - you get BAD w/d for you and the baby and that if used in the PROPER amounts that hydros will not cause bad w/d for the baby.



Anyone with advice on this - ???

by boogaloo, Dec 22, 2006 12:00AM
As long as the delivering dr. is aware that you are taking the narcotics, there really should not be any problem with the baby and detox.  I'm currently 30 weeks pregnant. My ob does not want me taking any narcotics more then once/week.  I haven't had to take it that much so I'm not too concerned.  My ob is not against taking narcotics during pregnancy either.  She fortunately understands that there are definate time that pain meds are necessary.   At the beginning of the pregnancy, we went over the whole narcotic and withdrawl discussion with relation to pregnancy.  She was very into the tapering method.  The other dr.'s I have spoken to seemed to agree with her.  I asked one of the pediatricians I work with for his view of the situation.  He did not seemed too concerned about it as long as the mother wasn't taking more then reccommended. As I've said before, less or none is generally better but sometimes that isn't possible.  You just need to make sure your delivering dr. is aware of everything you are taking.  They need to be able to take precautions and have treatment available if the baby does need help.  It will likely be a respiratory issue if that is the case.  Keep working on the tapering down.



Good luck, I hope you have a smooth next few weeks.

by JessRabbit, Dec 22, 2006 12:00AM
To: Mema/Everyone
Hi,

   About 2-3 months before I delivered, I found out about the Methadone Clinic, but I didn't know if there was any near me and I didn't have the $80.00 to go to one either. But I went from using 20-30 pills (Loratabs/Hydros) to using about 4-5 Methadose/Methadone Pills a day, that I was getting off of the street.

   That was the only thing that kept me from having withdrawals. I did let my OB know that I had an Opiate Addiction but she wasn't very forgiving at all. I live in Georgia too...and they are pretty backwoods here, at least in the County and City that I live in. My OB did give me Tylenol 3 with Codiene cause I was hurting like hell. But she only gave like 2 refills during the whole time I was seeing her. I quit seeing her because of the way she treated me and I believe she had plans of not giving me anything for pain when in labor.

     Plus I felt that I was a High Risk Pregnancy and I asked her if I was and she said NO..I was like, "Thats BS!! I knew that my pregnancy was high risk, because the OB that had delivered my 3 babies before this, told me that with my having High Blood Pressure, Polycystic Kidney Disease, along with all of the other things...that I would ALWAYS be a HIGH RISK." So I knew that I'd better find another OB.

       So I drove 35+ minutes away from where I live to go see my old OB/GYN, and after meeting with me...she sent me to a High Risk/OB/GYN Specialist and after doing a few sonograms and stuff, the guy told me that I should have been giving birth like last night..thats how strongly he felt about me being pregnant and giving birth. He never told me if he found any probs..but he said that with my kidneys in the shape they were in, my extremely high blood pressure, that I should have been admitted the night before and had the baby taken, my labor induced.

       When the baby was born, the Midwife found about 3-4 loose knots in the Umbillical Cord..and she freaked, she told the others to send that off to be analyzed, that she had had heard of that b4 but never seen it. I later read on net, that anytime that a knot or more is in the cord, more than likely the baby dies b4 reaching 5-6 months in the womb. And if you noticed...a MIDWIFE DEIVERED MY BABY! Reason being, I think is that this SPECIALIST didn't want to be responsible if something happened in delivery, so that he wouldn't get sued, I heard that Specialists are covered by more INSURANCE than regular doctors, just in case something happens.

         But obviously he didn't want to take that chance. He lied and said that they were expecting me and (he made me think that he would be delivering my baby) but I get there and its a damn MIDWIFE. I mean don't get me wrong, I really have nothing against them..I had 1 deliver my 1st baby...but THERE WAS NO DAMN WAY I WAS GONNA TAKE A CHANCE ON NOT HAVING PAIN MEDS FOR THIS BIRTH CAUSE I WAS OLDER, MUCH OLDER THAN I WAS WITH MY 1ST CHILD.

           I was only 16 with my 1st child and here I was 31 years old...a drug addict, with an EXTREMELY HIGH OPIATE/DRUG TOLERANCE...so they have me some kind of brain drug (reason I say that is because, it mainly just messed my mind up and didn't help with pain) and by the time the baby was coming & the pain was more intense...they say-"I'm sorry the baby will be here any minute, you just had something a while ago, it hasn't been long enough to give you more meds."

         I was like, "WTF??? OMG!! I have to go through this medfree???? I can't do it!!" Well I did do it...cause they popped my water and then they hollered, "Pea Soup" which meant that the bag of waters was green..the baby had pooped while I was giving birth, so when I heard that, I didn't care bout the pain..I pushed & pushed, I didn't want my baby dying by inhaling or swallowing that junk.

          She was born at 6:05a.m. and they had to work on her till 9a.m. to get all of that junk out of her lil lungs and stomach. They brought this cup of **** to me and showed me what they had pumped out of my sweet lil Skyla Rose, my sweet princess! Sorry for a long post. But I think that if you aren't too bad off on pills like I was, then maybe you can get by with what you are doing. But there are Methadone Clinics and they will take you faster being pregnant than not being pregnant.

          The clinic that I go to, had had several pregnant women and I don't think that they or the babies go through any withdrawals at birth or after. BUT DO TELL YOUR OB/GYN IF YOU ARE ADDICTED. SO THAT THEY WILL BE PREPARED, JUST IN CASE THE BABY DOES HAVE WITHDRAWALS OR SYMPTOMS. I HAVE HEARD THAT THEY DO KEEP MEDS ON STANDBY FOR THE BABY, JUST IN CASE THE BABY HAS PROBLEMS. If you can find a OB/GYN that is sensitive to your needs as well as your babys, then thats perfect!!

         But unfortunately, there are sooo many Doctors and people that discriminate against people who are in treatment. Plus..the clinic I go to, they don't believe in lowering a pregnant woman's dose, I believe they actually raise it or keep it maintained..and THEY WILL NEVER DETOX YOU WHILE PREGNANT. Because that could hurt you and the baby for sure. But for me, personally, I had been using Loratabs/Hydrocodone/Vicodin/Opiates since 2001...my kidney disease/kidney stone pain and then the pain in my neck & back caused me to go on pain meds.

         So I used from March 2001 till March 2005. I went from using 1-2 every couple of hours to using 20-30 tabs a day. It got to where I would pray before going to bed, so that I'd wake up and not die while sleeping.

         I used while pregnant but I paced myself..which was still not good. I don't know what your particular situation is or how bad your addiction is, but mine was pretty severe. But my cutting back and trying to stop using as much..made my withdrawals terrible and my Blood Pressure shoot through the roof. Being pregnant and being an addict is very, very risky and dangerous.

         Because everything that you are experiencing- your baby is too. If you aren't lucky enough to find a Doctor that you can talk to heart to heart, or if the Doc is profiling you or discriminating because of your addiction..then go to the nearest Methadone Clinic. You DO HAVE RIGHTS AS A METHADONE PATIENT.

         Like I said, this is pretty much the only addiction forum I have found and I like this one. I have decided to make a website so that people like me and you, can have a place to get educated on Addiction, Methadone, and finding a local Methadone Clinic. Because people need resources, they need help and support and by God, I am gonna be the one to give it to them! So all of ya'll cheer me on...cause I am off to make a Haven for all of us to go to!

         I will post the address as soon as I'm finished making my website. If anyone reading this would like to help me or have any information that they would like to add such as:  links, website addresses, suggestions, ideas, non-profit organizations & businesses that are in the medical field, any nurses, doctors, therapists & etc. that would like to advertise for free on my site ( I will place your