detoxing while pregnant

[aah1619]

Okay so i just found out that i was pregnant yesterday...i have been using pain meds and herion for over a year now off and on with the help of suboxone ( no prescription) so now that i found out about being pregnant i want to get off everything un-natural. i have been reading up on detoxing and the dangers this could have on my fetus. yesterday i used a small dose of sub, i usually only need a small sliver from my 8mg strip to ward off withdrawls, and today i took about the same amount. i hope to be able to taper down to nothing by only taking the suboxone when i feel the withdrawls coming on. So what i want to know is, i guess how safe this will be for my baby. i would like to be drug and sub free in less than two weeks. considering i only take about 1mg of sub, if that, to keep the w/ds at bay im thinking it will have little strain on my baby. im only about 4 to 6 weeks pregnant. are there any red flags i should look out for when withdrawling? i was hoping i could just listen to by body, im sure i will be uncomfortable like body aching, lack of sleep, ect...but when do i know its too much for my baby?

[aah1619]

Thank you so much for answering my question! I'm still slowing tapering...my obgyn is not supportive of the suboxone and believes I should quit cold turkey. However everything ibjave read has told me that it's not a good idea. So basically I have been waiting until the withdrawals begin to take any sub. I have been slowly trying to take less and less. I do not want my body to become dependent on yet another substance that is bad for my baby so that is why I'm trying to use such a small amount and slowly dwindle down to nothing. Do you have any suggestions on tapering? Or advice that would be helpful or anything I should be concerned about while tapering. Example body temperature, cold sweats? Is there anything my body is telling me that would raise a red flag for my baby?

[Julia M Aharonov, DO]

If you slowly taper the Suboxone off your baby probably be tapered slowly with you without any problems, but you should have done it with your doctor's supervision. Even tapering off of 1 mg of Suboxone may be too abrupt during pregnancy. You should probably do it slower and gentler than that. But  please get a physician involved in this process.
That way, you can be sure that long time before the delivery both you and the baby are clean and ready to start healthy bonding and nursing.
The OB/midwife will also be there to guide you though good prenatal care, healthy nutrition, smoking cessation (if necessary), etc..
Good luck to you, motherhood is a career full of joys and pain, but we all do it for the joy of it...
P.S. Please read my blog on Pregnancy and Addiction by clicking on name in blue and then on blogs. Good luck to you and your growing family. You must take care of yourself for your baby.
Good luck to you.