36 weeks pregnant and withdrawing off of hydro

[mamatessa]

I was recently diagnosed with a lupus-class disorder and severe arthritis from it. I found out I was pregnant only 3 months after. I had been taking hydros for a while before I got diagnosed. At first it was just recreational. When I could find them I'd buy them, but it was only occasionally. But about 1 1/2 years ago I had a lot of work done on my teeth and so did my husband. We were taking them pretty heavily. When I got diagnosed I was put on extremely high doses of hydros. I was taking about 10-15 10/325's. When I got pregnant they moved me up to percocet 5's with absolutely no tylenol in them, just pure percocet. I got sick of always being ****** up and not being able to control myself. I went cold turkey off of them. It took about a week to get back where I was. But that didn't last long. As my pregnancy wore on my body, handled the pain very poorly, and just a month later I was back on hydro 5/500's. I started out really good, taking them as I was supposed to. And my dr control how many I got, and that wasn't very much, maybe 90/month. But I met this lady and she gets them constantly. I started out just buying a few to make up for the ones my husband was taking (he's addicted as well, only he just likes them, he's not taking them for pain control on top of it), but I got worse. I would only take 8 a day, then it got to be about 10, and now its about 14-16/day. I know the baby is ok, hydros only can cause the possibility of addiction if used heavily until birth, but I'm sick of being on them. And its getting close to my daughter being born. I've been clean 2 days now, but I'm in an incredible amount of pain. And I can't not sleep like at all. Its really hard because I already have 2 active boys. Im soooo beyond tired but I just can't sleep. My arms and legs are just completely jittery. And now my husband is looking for more. I don't know if I can quit if he doesn't, but he says he doesn't want to quit.  I don't know what to do. I've been taking hot showers and taking unisoms to sleep but its not working. Its 130 and I'm beyond exhausted but I still can't sleep. I don't want my daughter born with an addiction. I feel absolutely horrible for even taking them pregnant. I withdrew for a week last time, I'm praying that its not that long this time. I'm not on them as heavily so I'm crossing my fingers. I don't know what to do, and theres not much I can do since I'm pregnant. I'm already taking 3 or 4 showers a night. My hubby is absolutely not helping.  I just want to be done and away from them. I have a total love/hate relationship w/ hydros. I'm just in so much pain and don't know what to do.

[Rose703]

I know that you're worried and you have good reason to be especially if you're taking more than the doctor prescribed. The 5/500 does indeed have 500mgs of tylenol in them and taking more than prescribed can be potentially horrible for your baby!! If you absolutely have to have them, then please take them as prescribed!

I know you don't want anything bad to happen to your baby so just keep in mind that you don't have that much longer to go until your beautiful baby is born. Good luck hun and i know you will make the right decison!! May God Bless you and your un born baby!!

PS~~ You will get more resoonfese

[bandnmom]

you posted when noone was on and i apologize. You will get more as the morning moves on!
Anyways, You can do this. Just think of that little girl that is kicking you right now in your belly. Do it for her. I know its easier said than done but it wont be much longer till she is here. I would definetly call your OB though. Withdrawl is hard on you so i'm sure it has some affect on the baby as well. After she is born then you have to work on yourself. Alot of us here, myself included, started taking our DOC for true medical reasons and then we became addicted. You are really gonna have to take a step back and look at yourself and your life. i know being an addict is not the way you want to live your life. As for your hubby, he really has to look at himself and put his family first. He should be there supporting you, not making it harder on you. We are here for you. Keep posting and please let me know if you need anything. Good luck to you.

[cathy5841]

please be careful.  going cold turkey is not recommended for pregnancy.  we have an ob/gyn nurse on the forum.  please look her up she is 1234betterlife.  she will be happy to help you.  withdrawal has the potenetial to cause premature labor.  please notify your dr that you were abusing and get proper medical care for you and your baby.  good luck to you both.

[GoingToMakeIt]

You have found a good place for support and help. I just sent 1234betterlife a message about you. She is usually fairly quick about getting in touch. It is best to not taper. It is also a good idea to have your OBGYN in on this. You are not the first to have this problem. Most Drs are very understanding.

[desperate1111]

also avisg has an artical in her journals about preg/addiction. it may also be in the health pages. she's one of the community leaders. has the purple flower by her name.

[1234betterlife]

i have several reasons to be concerned for you at this time. you are very late in pregnancy. you have tried repeatedly to stop. you have legitimate pain. you are living in an addictive environment with a spouse who has no intention of quitting. you are taking very large amounts of tylenol. tylenol can affect liver function which is already very taxed at this point in pregnancy. you stated you are not concerned that the baby will be affected. i strongly urge you to seek help through your ob/gyn or the physician that diagnosed your lupus disorder. one of those physicians should be able to help you with this addiction. cold turkey would not be my recommendation for numerous reasons. i think you need very supportive physicians and a very intensive program to assist you with full recovery. i don't mean to be negative and i certainly am not judging you. this is a battle for everyone on this forum. i see so many hurdles for you that most would be unable to clear without help. with a family and a baby on the way the responsibilities you are facing are many, the stressors are valid. i would love to see you get the help you need.

[avisg]

This was written by one of our members that was on opiates during pregnancy. I like 1234 am very concerned about the amout of tylenol you are taking in as well as the addiction issue .Take a look at the post below.



From experience I can tell you that if you are off for at least 8 weeks, your baby will not be born addicted.  IF the baby does happen to be born addicted, they can tell right away and you could be in A LOT of trouble because the signs are ridiculously obvious to medical professionals (they are trained to look for it) but IF you are honest about your usage, you will be ok.
You don't want your baby to go through withdrawals.  Although they can easily treat the withdrawals in newborns you don't want to have to medicate your child as soon as they come into the world.  Babies who are suffering from withdrawals have trouble eating, sleeping and they have a poor sucking reflex.  It's not pretty as they cry excessively and nothing soothes them.  You NEED that precious time with your baby to bond, the baby needs it too.  It's VITAL which means necessary for life!
I was prescribed pain killers throughout my pregnancy and weaned down VERY SLOWLY with the help of my ob/gyn.  I had a beautiful, healthy, perfect little girl who continues to thrive and become smarter and smarter by the minute.
I just want to stress to all the pregnant women out there who are using for whatever reason be it legal or not, that you cannot and SHOULD NOT go cold turkey under any circumstances.  I don't care what you've been told.  I am not trying to be argumentative but frankly, if I can save just one child and mother from the heartache and physical ache of pre-term labor with complications, I will be argumentative!
Cold turkey at any stage, never mind the later stages of pregnancy, put the mother's body into shock no matter what your usage is and can cause preterm labor and/or miscarriage.
If you are early ini your pregnancy, be honest with your dr and allow him/her to wean you VERY slowly.  The drugs that normally would be prescribed to anyone coming off of opiates (valium, xanax, klonopin etc.) are EXTREMELY UNSAFE at any time during your pregnancy.  They are all a category X and can and most likely will cause defects or brain activity reduction.  So you need to make sure that when you wean that you do it slowly and carefully so that your body does not go through too much stress.  It is way better for the mother to be comfortable during this process than it is to go through it quickly.        
If you are later on in your pregnancy, again I stress to be honest with your dr.  They can and should help you and if you are honest there is less chance of you getting into trouble and having your baby taken away.
If you are so late into your pregnancy that stopping isn't an option, take as little as possible, pray and talk to your dr.  Hopefully, it won't be an issue.
I do need to say though that although the pregnancy is obviously important, you need to have some sort of a plan for after the baby is born.  Even if you're being prescribed the drugs like I was, you are still addicted physically not to mention mentally and no baby deserves to have an addicted mother.  You will need to be on the ball with all of the sleepless nights and crying ahead of you.  SO please, talk to a dr., get on suboxone, go to counseling or meetings but whatever you do, get a hold of this problem because you NEVER get those years back and you don't want to be in a fog for the best and most important months of the beautiful babies life where you should be spending your time gazing into their eyes and watching them sleep at night for hours at a time.
May God bless you all and may you all have healthy and happy babies who have a sober and clear headed mother.

[mamatessa]

The ones I get from my friend are 325's, but thats still not better. I'm scared. My husband tries to quit but after a day or so he's like maybe we should just buy a couple or something ridiculous like that. When he woke up this morning he asked if I slept, when I told him no that I was withdrawing, he said It's ok I'll get someone to "save you" today.  I told him I don't want back on them. He just said ok. He tries he really does, but he's dealing with an addiction too. And let me clarify one point that when I went back and read, didn't come out right. I was scared to death to post this and things got jumbled. I am in no way trying to make myself look better. But I take 14-16 if I can get them. Maybe like 1 or 2 a week, sometimes 3? I take about 5-10 regularly. I know thats not better either. I'm scared to death for my daughter, and I really feel like a horrible person because of all of this. There are really no supportive drs. My dr knows for the most part that I'm taking 5-10 and he's been encouraging me to taper, and only letting me have so many pills a month. But I'm horrible at tapering and it just doesn't work. I always end up telling myself ok just this one time and then I'll start cutting back again. And I live in a really small town, so there's not really support. We have one counciling center and they practically push every med at you that they can. My reg dr is the same way. Its hard ya know, because I'm in so much pain from my arthritis and nothing helps but the hydros, but at the same they are like my cryptonite. I'm due to deliver soon, I was just in the hospital because I got really sick (not from w/d, it was a stomach bug) and I'm already softening and dialating. He doesn't think I'll go more than a week or two. And he doesn't want me going more than 3 weeks. I have an appt to be induced in 3 weeks if I haven't had her yet. My body is really not handling this pregnancy well. My pelvic bones have seperated and its extremely painful! I feel like a piece of **** person right now. I don't want my daughter to be hurt, and really right now i'm so pissed off for putting myself and my daughter in this position. During the day, like right now, its not bad, I feel perfectly fine, even if I'm just laying around doing nothing. Its just night. Its been almost 3 days, this afternoon. I eventually passed out from sheer exaustion at about 330 this morning and slept until about 9. I took 3 showers last night. I know c/t isn't the best way right now, but I know myself and I know I wouldn't be able to taper. And I'm already 3 days in. . .  . . .I dunno. . . .  I'm an emotional mess. I'm pretty sure I'm just rambled on in this whole post. Its hard for me, I've never told anyone about this, except my dr knows I'm on a much higher dosage than we both want.  And its hard for me to get this all out. Its a mess in my head, I can't imagine how this came out writting it down.

[extrmeski]

Be very careful I've read that trying to withdrawl while pregnant can cause you to loose the baby.  My ex G/F is highly addicted (over 20 percocet 10's a day) and she only weighs like 100 pounds at best.  So I read up on it and it can be really bad.   All my best to you.

[seeksolice]

Hey,

I am almost 8 months pregnant and am addicted to vicodin as well.  My doctor told me to NOT quit cold turkey as it will have an adverse reaction on the baby.

If you are withdrawing, the baby is too. You said that the baby is healthy- However, excessive use of opiates during pregnancy has been to cause lower respiratory function and low birth weight.

It is recommended for the baby to have optimum lung function they need to be carried for 40-42 weeks. If your baby is addicted, they will save your baby- trust me. They have things they can do so your baby will perfectly healthy and normal. Do not worry about your baby being addicted- worry about what withdrawal will do to your baby as that it MUCH more harmful!!!!

Be honest with your doctor, PLEASE. They will help you, not hurt you. Get back on your meds- it sounds silly but that is the best thing you can do for your baby right now.

[mamatessa]

so I called my dr to refill my pain meds, I'm just waiting to hear back from him. My hubby and I had a long talk about all of this and he's going to help me. We're going to start with 4 a day and work down from there. I dunno. . . . I'm worried 4 might not be enough but we'll see. My dr should be calling back soon. I actually feel pretty good today, but I'm having a hard time telling whether its my arthritis bugging me or w/d's. Its in my shoulders, which is one of the places my arthritis is the worse. Oh and my hips, but being so far along, having my pubic bones seperating, and my hips being where the arthritis is the absolute worse, its hard to tell. I dunno. .  . I don't really feel antsy like I did last time. I was 12 wks when I did it last time and my dr knew I was doing it. I literally felt like I was going to die. I was soooo sick and I would literally cry all day long. I don't feel even close to that. This whole thing is just so hard!

[mamatessa]

Oh and my dr is guessing (by feeling her and all that) thats she's at about 6 1/2 lbs. I'm definitely huge. I'm worried the most about respitory function. It scares me. I was on prozac for a while because I've been extremely depressed with how my life it. I'm only 20 years old and I have the body of a 50 year old. I'm always in pain and its just dragging me down. I was in nursing school and had to drop out because I just couldn't handle it with the constant pain, constant dr appts, and a 5 year old, and 2 year old. Then being pregnant on top of it..  .  . anyways he told me prozac can affect respitory function too, so I weened off of it. I was on a really low dose and had only been on it about 2 months. I start with every other day, and then every 3 days, and now I'm finally totally off of them. I'm really moody, but hubby is great about it. He just says that being so hugely pregnant in the arizona heat would do that to anyone. He is an amazing help. I dont know how I'd make it through without him. He totally helps out with the boys, and actually does most of the stuff when he gets off work.

My dr. said she probably will have some form of addiction but he thinks she'll over all be ok and that it will be really minor, if I can get down to about 2-3/day by the time she's born. Its hard being off of all my meds that were controlling my disease. My arthritis went totally haywire when that happened.

[seeksolice]

thats good that you talked to your doctor. I have weaned to 4 of the 10/325's a day myself. Its hard, but its not drastic enough to put you into withdrawals.

I hope your husband helps you through this by managing and treating his own addiction. From experience, it's damn near impossible to get sober if your partner is still using.

Good luck

[mamatessa]

Ya I get 5/500's from my dr but my friend get 10/325's which is where I get those. We both quit for a while. When I detoxed the first time I went on tylenol 3's about 3 weeks later. I was really good on them. They were too mild for me to really get addicted to and start popping. I was on them for about 3 months, until I was 5 or 6 months, and we found out I was allergic to them. I was having a lot of breathing problems and it turns out it came from them. They put me on the 5/500's, which I did good on at first, but I slowly started taking them more and more. The last month is when things really started to spin out of control. When I detoxed the first time, I was on huge amounts of pain killers. I was taking about 10 percocet 5's with no tylenol, just pure percocet. I was extremely addicted. My problem now is more the mind thing, I think. I love the high, its what calms me down. I'm a stay at home mom and my boys can really drive me up the wall. The pain pills are to me what pot is to some people, its my stress reliever. My hubby quit the whole time I did and while I was on the tylenol 3's, but started back up when I did on the lortabs.

[mamatessa]

Well I only took 4 yesterday. I've already took 4 today, it *****, but its a hard day today! I woke up in an extreme amount of pain. And its been one year today since my brother in law died. I'm extremely stressed out and that makes my arthritis flare. Its going to be a tough day. My husband is helping, but he's taking my pills too. He's already taken 8 of them. I dunno. . . .he has 2 fractured vertabrae so he's in pain too. It ***** because we both started out on them for legitamite reasons, and got addicted. It *****! I'm tired of being on them. I can't live with them, can't live without them.

[mamatessa]

today was 8. . .  . better than what I was taking. My pain is ridiculous right now. My husband is helping me taper. He has my pills and we agreed on a plan. He's going to leave me 2 for tomorrow during the day. I'm not sure what he's going to do with the pills but they will be somewhere where I can't find them or not here at all. I'm really glad he's helping me. I'm going down to 4 a day for the next 3 days, then it will be 3 a day, then 2. But I was wondering. I'm going to be breastfeeding. This is something that is very important to me. If she's born with an addiction will she withdraw if I'm breastfeeding? I know that it does go through breastmilk. It just seems like she would still be getting it. . ..and this way if I'm not totally off of them she can ween down with me. . . .  this is sooo hard. .. .. I feel like a horrible person! I feel like I should have more will power tahn this. . .that I'm weak. My emotions have been all over the place the last week or so. I just hate myself right now, and I'm having a hard time dealing with it. Its even harder because the only person who knows how I'm really feeling is my husband, because we talk a lot, about everything. But I still don't think he gets it, not totally at least.

[GoingToMakeIt]

Be sure your Dr is aware of what you are doing. If a baby goes into w/d and the Dr is not aware, it usually has to be reported. As faras breast milk, I am not sure what you are asking. If you have been off the pills for a few days, there will probably be no drugs in your milk. Ask 1234betterlife about this.

[cathy5841]

sorry you are having to deal with all these emotions on top of the pregnancy hormnes.  but, the emtional roller coaster in a normal part of w/ds.  i am not sure about the breatfeeding, you will have to talk to your dr about that.  do you plan to continue your use after the baby comes?  its great your hubby is helping you.  you are right though, it is so hard for a non-addict to understand what we are going through.  good luck to you and the baby...if i can help you, let me know.

[mamatessa]

I plan to taper all the way down while I'm breastfeeding. I know I probably won't be totally off of them by the time shes born, which my dr knows. Our plan is to be down to between 1-3 a day of 5/500's. I want to be totally off of them a few weeks after she's born.

[avisg]

This is your OBGYN helping you right ?

[GoingToMakeIt]

Please ask your Dr about the breast feeding & opiates.

[desperate1111]

best of luck to you, i'll be sending good thoughts your way.

[avisg]

This is what it says about breast feeding

NURSING MOTHERS: Hydrocodone/acetaminophen is excreted in breast milk, and, therefore should be used cautiously by nursing mothers.

[seeksolice]

If you are taking 2 or 3 of the 500's while breastfeeding, the baby will be fine.

I had my DR appt this week, and I recieved ALOT of conflicting information that you might find useful.

The hospital I go to is a nationally recognized research hospital. The DR I saw is a high risk/addiction specialist/OBGYN. So she was not only qualified but had seen much worse cases of drug use in pregnancy... Surprisingly, doctors are fairly incompetent in this field from what I have realized..

I have been told my nurses a few things, which were all debunked by the DR this week-

1. The baby will be born addicted- DR said there's a slim chance.
2. The baby will have respiratory depression- completely false
3. The baby will be born small- completely false
4.If you withdraw while pregnant, you will lose the baby- NO evidence supports this. False.
5. Withdraw causes discomfort in the baby- False, NO evidence supports this.

6. Studies have shown that babies who were in utero while the mom took opiates are more likely later in life to have cognitive impairment functioning and low IQ.

[Expecting718]

What about WD's? can the baby go through WD's?? On Vicodin? or Suboxone? Or Methadone ? Or whatever? Any drug?

[avisg]

YES your baby can go threw withdrawl on all of the above

[mamatessa]

Thank you so much for this information. This is really reassuring. I'm not saying I feel better for the postion I am. I feel like a really ****** person, and that Im weak because I'm addicted and pregnant. But it makes me feel good to know the truth.

And yes its my dr that I've been talking about with our plan to taper, but this was a personal thing and it was my schedule that I picked and my husband is helping me with.

Just a little update, on my pregnancy, some good news for once. They thought I might have pre eclampsia because my feet swole up like 3x their normal size in a day adn a half, but i don't, my bp is looking good. She was breech but is now head down and dropped, which is the main reason Im so swollen. She's putting sooo much pressure on my legs. I'm dialated 1 1/2 cms which is a whole cm more than last week. And about 10% effaced. My dr really wants her to come soon, because I'm just having more and more health problems as my pregnancy wears on, but the hospital policy is no inductions later than 39 weeks because we're at such a high altitude. He stripped my membranes, well as much as he could, and said hopefully it will start up contractions or at least dialate me more. He said he's going to do it again next week. He's really hoping I have her within the next week. I asked him what I could do at home and he told me to drink rasberry leaf tea, but not to say anything to the hospital. I live in a very conservative town, and they are really against doing stuff really naturally for some reason. When in labor they push extremely hard for pain medications, and I actually had the nurses getting mad and frusterated with me when I didn't want them with my son. I ended up getting them but only because I was induced and the pitocin was HORRIBLE! Anyways he said if I can get my contractions to about 5 mins apart, and dialate a little he'd break my water. I'm glad, my dr is really awesome and understanding! I've only had 3 pills today. I'm sooo happy!

[avisg]

ohhh ya that is alot of swelling in the feet...I am gald they are keeping a close eye on that ..pretty soon you will have a wonderful new addition to your life .

[1234betterlife]

i have to respond to some information in this post. as some are aware there has been conflicting information regarding pregnancy and addiction for some time. there is information in the help pages regarding this. now we have an alternative opinion that seek solice has presented.
i would like to make myself clear on both sides of the story.
NO ONE PREGNANT WOMAN SHOULD GO SOLELY ON EITHER ONE OF THESE OPINIONS.
i do not mean to come off harsh but words like always, never, completely false, absolutely true, should never....these should not be used for any one pregnant woman. some of this information applies to some, to others it does not.
i disagree with some of the information in the help pages and i disagree with some of the above information.
i do agree this should be discussed with a physician always and not any one person or group of believers on this forum. this is very serious and lives are dependent. many focus on the baby but there is a mother involved as well. she is involved as a host sharing organs with this child. organs that are very taxed during pregnancy. it is not like dealing with a "normal" adult on opiates, benzos, etc.
there is so much to consider; age, due date, medical history, medications, allergies, family medical history, income level, living conditions, support systems, type of physician being used, type of drugs being ingested, amount and duration of use, history of use, etc.
there is NO WAY to group every pregnant woman into either of these categories and IF YOU ARE PREGNANT i would strongly urge you to do your homework, make rational and educated decisions about your own health. do not fall into what makes you feel better, relieves you of guilt or scares you to death. none of these should be a factor when deciding how to handle your addiction and pregnancy at the same time.
this is not intended to stir up trouble. it is just my opinion.

[avisg]

I would definitely encourage you to put your knowledge and expertize in the health pages .It would help greatly to have more information on addiction and pregnancy to help guide ladies with addictions (guiding but as you said not solely on any one piece of information)..

[1234betterlife]

the whole point is, there is no one piece of information applicable to pregnancy, addiction and specifically, each and every drug that is abused.
every woman should be evaluated individually.
posting across the board information will not suffice or substitute a one on one evaluation of each woman.

[avisg]

That is very true but even general information about pregnancy and addiction would be very helpful .

[1234betterlife]

i will work on that. thank you.