pregnant and addicted

[allybaby69]

Please help me. I have been addicted to dolased/mersyndol (an over the counter analgesic calmative containing coedine, doxylamine succinate and paracetamol) and am five months pregnant. Can you please tell me what damage this has/could cause my unborn baby. is there a chance my baby will have birth defects, brain damage etc. please help me. not knowing the possible outcomes is killing me. i have been taking twenty tablets in one go and have been doing this on and off for seven years. I am 27 years old.

[martikadragoon]

allybaby~ Why didn't you think about correcting this issue when you found out you were pregnant?

I know addiction is hard to get over but personally I feel it's EXTREMELY irresponsible of you to do that. HOW can you be a good mom if your doing this?

What will you do if your baby is born with defects?

you NEED to talk to your doctor no matter what even if the court can get the records because your causing YOUR body harm and your baby's body harm.

I know that codiene (sp?) can be ok in pregnancy in small doses because my OBGYN (high risk) had me on Vicoden for the last 5 months of my pregnancy, but it was small doses and TJ didn't have any withdrawal from it.

Seriously.... speak to your doctor because typically. at least in the US they test a woman and baby at birth for drugs and they WILL find it in your system. You may try to say that "I won't take it then" but if it's an addiction, your fooling yourself to say that.
If you seek help for this then it'll actually look better for you than if they find out when the baby is born that he/she has the drug in their system and you have it in yours.

I promise I'm not trying to upset you, but the way you post you seem to talk about it in a cavalier way, and you need to REALLY take this seriously. I personally don't understand why you couldn't talk to your OBGYN when you found out you were pregnant because your reason isn't a good one.
Cindie

[mikaleen]

The paracetamol can cause you severe liver damage...in low doses it is the preferred medication for pain during pregnancy.

The doxylamine in the US is a category A drug during pregnancy...but that is at normal dosage.

Codeine is sometimes prescribed at low doses at the end of a pregnancy for various debilitations.  It is prescribed at a threshold that the Dr feels would not be overwhelmingly likely to cause fetal addiction.

Is there no type of anonymous clinic or addiction recovery center you could go to?  Not only can high doses of drugs generally considered safe cause you damage, but then they are no longer safe during pregnancy.  
I would also be concerned that even though you feel it is safe for your children because you take it at night...some kind of emergency could arise that would need you to be awake and coherent...not in a drug induced sleep that could keep you from waking.

I don't know how it would work in Australia with a baby born addicted, but I can guarantee that if you are concerned about the father getting custody if records showing you tried to get help are used against you...an addicted baby will definately not be in your favor.

I know how difficult it is to break an addiction...and especially not replacing it with another.  It will most likely cause you a lot of physical pain to quit cold turkey...and could even possibly be physically dangerous for you and baby.  It is also physically dangerous for you to continue with the habit.   You really need to talk to your Dr.  There would likely be issues during the birth as well, you could accidentally be killed if it is not known you have narcotics in your system and at what level.  I would hope that the fact you are seeking help would weigh with the custody.  It won't be easy, but I hope that you seek help from your Dr., and find an addiction clinic and hang in there and fight it for the health of you, your baby and your older children.

[JoyRenee]

I don't know all the terms you used or the drugs listed except for codeine. You do need to seek help and slowly wean yourself off the medication. 20 pills at once is very excessive. Not only are you damaging your baby's body but you're damaging your own. What you must do is wean yourself, though, or you AND baby will go through withdrawals.

If they find baby to be addicted at birth they will take them away.

[allybaby69]

I haven't told my doctor about this because here in Australia medical files can be subpoeaned for court and the father that i'm no longer with is threatening to fight for custody. He knows nothing about the addiction. I am a mother of three a good one too. I take the pills at night when my kids are in bed. It started out as pain management after two c sections and manifested into this addiction. I didnt choose this and the reason i am on this forum is to find out information. If you know of any web sites or have any information yourself i would love to hear it.
Thank you for answering

[GRose]

Why haven't you discussed this with your doctor? You could be causing your baby serious damage not to mention that if you continue abusing this drug your baby WILL BE born ADDICTED and will then go through withdrawals. You need to get help now!