Post spine surgery pain meds and pregnancy

[GirlyD]

I am a 2-time back surgery patient. Most recently,I had a spinal fusion in Dec 11.  The surg was not successful and i learned that i must now have an ALIF surgery to fix my injury.  My husband and I want to have a baby; however, I am currently prescribed 15mg percocets (4xs/day).  I am so afraid that the pain during pregnancy without pain medication will be unbearable. Is it safe to cont taking my medicine or do I stop completely? My concern is not caring for a baby; rather it is for carrying the baby. PLEASE HELP! I am so distressed about this.

[Hillsy69]

I have a kinda long reply to this but I want to write this before anything else.  You have something VERY important to consider with this situation: If you decide to get pregnant now and talk to your dr and he decides the benefits of taking your medication outweighs the risks to the baby, there are still risks. Percocet is a pregnancy class C drug, according to the FDA that means either there have not been adequate studies on humans but it does appear to cause harm in animal fetus' or it hasn't been studied in humans or animals, so it is unknown if it will cause harm to an unborn baby. According to the fda, percocet does not seem to cause certain birth defects, however it has been known to cause breathing problems in newborns, and newborns are often born addicted to/dependent on the medication if the mother takes it regularly throughout her pregnancy. Newborns often go through opiate withdrawal in that situation which causes a number of symptoms, which may include seizures and disruption of mother/infant relationship and/or bonding among many other symptoms. Subacute symptoms of narcotic withdrawal in infants can last 4-6 months. Treatment of newborn withdrawal may include opioids, phenobarbital, and/or clonodine, also longer hospital stays and constant monitoring among other treatments. The reason I say this is so important, is because even though all these risks are just possibilities and not for sure (you could have a perfectly healthy baby, other women have taken pain killers during pregnancy and had healthy babies, but some have had other outcomes) if I were you I'd have to strongly consider if something did go wrong. How would I handle if my baby were born sick? Would I be riddled with guilt and if so could I handle all that guilt? Would I blame myself for many years? Are the risks worth it to me, even if my dr says it's worth the risk? Will I be ok with the situation? I think you should think about how you'd deal with these things before you make any decisions.

The first thing I would do is talk to my doctor about it. I'm no dr so I can't give you medical advice (I am a medical assistant lol, but obviously that's not significant to give medical advice). I can tell you that if I were in your situation I would most likely first talk to my doctor and ask how pregnancy would effect my meds and treatments and how those things could effect my baby, and discuss every possible risk, what treatments and meds I could and couldn't use during pregnancy, etc then discuss that with my husband.  I would most likely have the surgery I needed, heal, then see how my back felt after healing, and then talk to my doctor about getting pregnant. Who knows, after surgery you could get lucky and no longer need narcotic pain meds! If it seems you will need to be on pain meds for a long time, you probably will want to REALLY consider the risks involved and after surgery and follow-up treatments consider if you feel like you could get through pregnancy without narcotics.

I didn't have the back problems I have now when I got pregnant with my daughter, but I did already have Fibromyalgia. I had to stop my medications completely (different kinds though, I use narcotic pain relievers for my back but not for my fibro, I use different meds for that) and pregnancy made some of the pain worse. When my dr said I could take Tylenol 3 for a couple weeks I declined and just used hydrotherapy (swimming, baths) to help. Because of my current back problems and need for medication and treatments I can't use while pregnant, my husband and I decided it was best for now to stop trying to have another baby until my situation is better. That was our decision, I'm not saying that's what you should do, you, your husband, and your dr will decide what's best for you.

I hope your next surgery is successful, and good luck in whatever decision you make about having a baby!

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

I do not think that this would be the right time to have a baby, with back issues. The back issues may worsen and intervention/ surgical repair may not be possible during pregnancy. Though typically all medications including pain killers should be avoided during pregnancy, a few may be allowed depending on its benefits Vs the relative risks. I would suggest getting the back issues fixed before stepping into a pregnancy.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care!