Aa
pregnant
how long will it take a pain pill to get out of your babies system while pregnant?
I have heard the exact opposite. Not everything a doctor says is accepted 100% by the medical community. Many doctor's have their quarky beliefs that have not been validated by medical science. It is always best for the original poster to get medical advice soley from her medical team regarding pain meds during pregnancy. This forum is more for sharing advice on how to manage different types of chronic pain through experience.
It would be a trajedy if someone took someone's poor advice on this forum and something terrible happened to their child.
It is similar to how some believe drinking a little alcohol is okay during pregnancy and others believe no alcohol should be consumed.
I breastfed my child while taking opioid medications because I was prescribed them due to being in a lot of pain after having a cesarean section. This was completely fine and okay'd by my doctor and I didn't hear any info about "more medicine being transfered through breastfeeding". And yes, my son is healthy and had no symptoms of opioid withdrawal.
If you read the technical pharmaceutical jargon that comes with most medications, they state that "it is not known whether or not this medicine passes through breast milk". If they don't know if it passes through breast milk or not, how can possibly quantify the amount??? And everyone's body is different. There is no way a general statement that "more medicine passes through breast milk than in the womb" can be taken as medical fact also because every women produces milk at different rates and the woman's body weight, what she eats and drinks, her activity level, and genetics play a role in how much of anything is in the woman's breast milk. The statement you make is simply an old wive's tale.
We should never give medical advice even it is heresay from someone's cousin's mother's doctor. It would be terrible if someone followed someone's "medical advice" on this forum and ended in a worse predictament than they started off because they decided it was okay to not go to doctor. Not good...not good at all. This person should bring her concerns to her physician for him/her to tell her what she needs to do to ensure a healthy pregnancy. There can be other underlying health conditions that would contraindict doing something that is okay for a woman that is having healthy pregnancy. We don't have the full medical history, the medical tests, and definitely not a doctorate in medicine to be telling someone it is better to take pain pills while breast feeding instead of while pregnant because my doctor told me that less medicine passes through breast milk.
femmy
It would be a trajedy if someone took someone's poor advice on this forum and something terrible happened to their child.
It is similar to how some believe drinking a little alcohol is okay during pregnancy and others believe no alcohol should be consumed.
I breastfed my child while taking opioid medications because I was prescribed them due to being in a lot of pain after having a cesarean section. This was completely fine and okay'd by my doctor and I didn't hear any info about "more medicine being transfered through breastfeeding". And yes, my son is healthy and had no symptoms of opioid withdrawal.
If you read the technical pharmaceutical jargon that comes with most medications, they state that "it is not known whether or not this medicine passes through breast milk". If they don't know if it passes through breast milk or not, how can possibly quantify the amount??? And everyone's body is different. There is no way a general statement that "more medicine passes through breast milk than in the womb" can be taken as medical fact also because every women produces milk at different rates and the woman's body weight, what she eats and drinks, her activity level, and genetics play a role in how much of anything is in the woman's breast milk. The statement you make is simply an old wive's tale.
We should never give medical advice even it is heresay from someone's cousin's mother's doctor. It would be terrible if someone followed someone's "medical advice" on this forum and ended in a worse predictament than they started off because they decided it was okay to not go to doctor. Not good...not good at all. This person should bring her concerns to her physician for him/her to tell her what she needs to do to ensure a healthy pregnancy. There can be other underlying health conditions that would contraindict doing something that is okay for a woman that is having healthy pregnancy. We don't have the full medical history, the medical tests, and definitely not a doctorate in medicine to be telling someone it is better to take pain pills while breast feeding instead of while pregnant because my doctor told me that less medicine passes through breast milk.
femmy
Hi I am a little confused. When I had my baby my doctor told me that more medication goes through the fetus than goes through breast milk and not to worry about having to take a particular medication while nursing.
Thank you
Thank you
Hi Chelsea and welcome to the pain management community.
Unfortunately, the information that Dee provided to you is incorrect. It is unknown how much medicine is transferred to the baby through the placenta in the womb versus through breastfeeding. What is true is that the baby does receive a good amount of the pain medicine you take while pregnant through the placenta and also through breastfeeding if you continue to take pain medicine after birth.
How long it takes for a specific medication to pass completely out of our system depends on many factors and we just don't have enough information to begin to give any answers to you. All pain medicines have a different duration of action. Vicodin and Percocet have effectiveness that lasts for 4-6 hours. The half life for both of these medications are around 2-3 hours, meaning 1/2 of the initial dose is eliminated within 2-3 hours. In another 2-3 hours another 1/2 of the dose remaining is eliminated and so on and so forth. So just based on the half life of Vicodin and Percocet, the medicine can remain in your system for 12-24 hours. The larger the dose you take, the longer it takes your body to fully excrete the medication.
Are you taking pain medication during pregnancy for a chronic condition or were you in pain management before getting pregnant and now you are trying to reduce your dose or stop entirely now that you know that you pregnant? Or, were you taking pain medication for recreation before you found out you were pregnant?
There are different answers and approaches depending on your answers to the above questions. For women who have chronic pain and want to conceive, it is possible for many of them to continue to get pain management through opioids during pregnancy as long as they are working closely with their OBGYN and primary care physician. However, unfortunately so many babies are born in withdrawal when the mother is abusing pain medications to get high as the doses used to obtain the high are much larger than what would be used in a pregnant woman for pain management. Be aware that taking lower doses of pain medication during pregnancy for pain management does not mean that your baby will NOT be in withdrawal after birth. The chances are lower but your baby could still have withdrawal symptoms regardless of the dosage amount or reasoning behind taking opioid pain medicine during pregnancy. It is a risk and all the pros and cons should be weighed and discussed with your team of doctors.
If you are abusing pain medications, you need to seek out help from your OBGYN and primary care physician ASAP to ensure the welfare of your baby. Depending on where you are in your pregnancy, it can be very dangerous stopping pain medications cold turkey as it can put too much stress on the baby and trigger preterm labor. Uncontrolled severe pain can also trigger preterm labor as well. So it is important to have a team of doctors providing the right balance of care throughout your pregnancy.
If you are taking pain medications for management of chronic pain, it is still very important to talk to your OBGYN and primary care physician as they may want you to take a different medication or a different dose or have you taper completely off of pain medications in the event that your pregnancy is considered high risk.
You are not going to get the information you need on the internet. You need to see a doctor ASAP and discuss your personal situation with him/her to understand exactly what steps need to be taken to ensure that your baby is healthy.
Congratulations on your pregnancy and I wish both you and your baby well.
femmy
Unfortunately, the information that Dee provided to you is incorrect. It is unknown how much medicine is transferred to the baby through the placenta in the womb versus through breastfeeding. What is true is that the baby does receive a good amount of the pain medicine you take while pregnant through the placenta and also through breastfeeding if you continue to take pain medicine after birth.
How long it takes for a specific medication to pass completely out of our system depends on many factors and we just don't have enough information to begin to give any answers to you. All pain medicines have a different duration of action. Vicodin and Percocet have effectiveness that lasts for 4-6 hours. The half life for both of these medications are around 2-3 hours, meaning 1/2 of the initial dose is eliminated within 2-3 hours. In another 2-3 hours another 1/2 of the dose remaining is eliminated and so on and so forth. So just based on the half life of Vicodin and Percocet, the medicine can remain in your system for 12-24 hours. The larger the dose you take, the longer it takes your body to fully excrete the medication.
Are you taking pain medication during pregnancy for a chronic condition or were you in pain management before getting pregnant and now you are trying to reduce your dose or stop entirely now that you know that you pregnant? Or, were you taking pain medication for recreation before you found out you were pregnant?
There are different answers and approaches depending on your answers to the above questions. For women who have chronic pain and want to conceive, it is possible for many of them to continue to get pain management through opioids during pregnancy as long as they are working closely with their OBGYN and primary care physician. However, unfortunately so many babies are born in withdrawal when the mother is abusing pain medications to get high as the doses used to obtain the high are much larger than what would be used in a pregnant woman for pain management. Be aware that taking lower doses of pain medication during pregnancy for pain management does not mean that your baby will NOT be in withdrawal after birth. The chances are lower but your baby could still have withdrawal symptoms regardless of the dosage amount or reasoning behind taking opioid pain medicine during pregnancy. It is a risk and all the pros and cons should be weighed and discussed with your team of doctors.
If you are abusing pain medications, you need to seek out help from your OBGYN and primary care physician ASAP to ensure the welfare of your baby. Depending on where you are in your pregnancy, it can be very dangerous stopping pain medications cold turkey as it can put too much stress on the baby and trigger preterm labor. Uncontrolled severe pain can also trigger preterm labor as well. So it is important to have a team of doctors providing the right balance of care throughout your pregnancy.
If you are taking pain medications for management of chronic pain, it is still very important to talk to your OBGYN and primary care physician as they may want you to take a different medication or a different dose or have you taper completely off of pain medications in the event that your pregnancy is considered high risk.
You are not going to get the information you need on the internet. You need to see a doctor ASAP and discuss your personal situation with him/her to understand exactly what steps need to be taken to ensure that your baby is healthy.
Congratulations on your pregnancy and I wish both you and your baby well.
femmy
Hello, I believe that more is transferred by breastfeeding than in utero
I think the pain pill would go through both of you at the same amount of time. I hope this makes sense. You could also ask your doctor
Good luck to you
I think the pain pill would go through both of you at the same amount of time. I hope this makes sense. You could also ask your doctor
Good luck to you
Need a bit more info. Are you taking them for pain?? How often and how much?? It is important to talk with your OB about this. They will help you understand how to help your baby and need to know so the baby is safe.
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