Percocet while Pregnant

I am almost 19 weeks pregnant and have been taking percocet for over a year now.  The past 6 months I have taken up to 10 10/325 a day.  Once I found out I was pregnant, I was lowered to 5/325 and up to 6 a day.  That was to big of a drop and she moved me up to 8 a day of the 7.5/3.25 a day.  This is my fourth pregnancy and I have never taken a pain medication other than tylenol before while pregnant.  I just wanted to know if anyone else has been through this.  Have you taken percocet your entire pregnancy?  If so how much a day?  If not, how do you taper off it without having withdrawl (withdrawal) symptoms and putting the baby at risk?  Also I heard about if your baby is born with narcotics in their system social services steps in, but if you are given prescriptions for it the whole time is that still the case.  Both my OB and Pain management are aware of me on percocet and I have been very open about it. I am so upset and so depressed about what I am doing to our innocent baby.  Please anyone who has any advice, experience, stories, results, I would like to hear it all.  Thank you.

[pinklashes]

I dont have advice as i havent been through it, but if you are being totally clear and honest with your doctor, i dont think you are at risk of child services stepping in.  You didnt say why you take the meds.  If it isnt totally necessary, maybe you could keep slowly cutting back and just get off of them, unless there is some reason  you have to stay on.  This is such a sensitive issue because there is a baby involved so I think you must keep talking to your doctors and finding out from a licensed medical professional what the best course of action is for you.  Dont be hard on yourself though -- you are doing the right thing by talking this out with your OBGYN and having him or her help you come up with a healthy taper plan. Sorry i cant be more help but please know that just the fact that you are asking these questions shows what a good mom you are and are going to be.

[Ashelen]

As long as you are open and honest with your OB about your medicine, you will not be in trouble. I had to take pain meds during both pregnancies ( i had kidney stones with my daughter and ended up having surgery at 34wks, and with my sonI had a weird neurological reaction to the pregnancy that ended up with me blind and numb in parts of my body but with horrific headaches).

both of my children were both VERY healthy and without any sort of withdrawal/addiction issues. I stopped taking pain meds about 6wks before my daughter was born because the surgery fixed my pain, but with my son I had to take pain meds right through delivery and he never had a moment's problem.

whatever you do, do not quit cold turkey. that can cause fetal seizures or miscarriage.

I wasn't taking percocet throughout my whole pregnancy...with my daughter, it was tylenol #3 (codeine) regularly and once in awhile when I was hospitalized, it was dilaudid and morphine, but that was only a few brief times in the hospital.

with my son I started out taking tylenol #3 but had to step up to Lortab 10mg 4x a day...and ended up on Percocet 10/325 about 4x a day as well. that's what I was on when I delivered, and likeI said - no problems with my son.

you WILL need to be monitored carefully but CPS will not bother you as long as your OB knows about the meds...they only step in when someone is taking drugs illegally or that they have not notified their OB about.

there are several other women on this forum who have taken pain meds while pregnant and turned out just fine so try not to worry - in fact, the oNLY risk from pain meds during pregnancy is fetal addiction (which isn't a small concern, but stil compared to others it's fairly small)...you don't have to worry about developmental problems or stunted growth according to generations of study.

so take a deep breath...you and baby will be just fine. if your pain is at a manageable level you can talk to your OB about a taper plan - but make sure it's slow and steady, because all withdrawals and pain you feel, so does your baby.please feel free to message me at any point.

-Ashe

[Ashelen]

sorry I meant to say I ended up on percocet 10/325 with my son, not percocet AND lortab!^