During pregnancy, methadone detoxification?

Trouble courtesy of bullymommy25: Methadone Detox while pregnant?

My sister was prescribed methadone for severe sciatica and became pregnant. Her dose was 35 mgs when she got pregnant after birth control failure.She decided to keep the baby and slowly detox, and is now 16 weeks preg and down to 16 mgs. She has a few aches and pains but nothing serious at all, but is under stress. As this med is also for heroin addicts, she’s nervous about how people will treat her, plus really doesn’t have too many people to talk to. Has anyone out there detoxed from this medicine while pregnant?

Uh, yes, she has prenatal care (??), and rather than just ABORT, her and her husband decided that she come off the pain management med for the baby, but since you know so much, you should know that you can’t just quit a medication like that.

DUDE, it’s not ME, and she is on methadone for CHRONIC DEBILITATING BACK PAIN, not for like smack or something. Does anyone read these questions???

This will be things to know about Methadone Detox while pregnant? that you might are required to solve situations on his or her. Subsequently this element helps in many ways… and produce your own life considerably better. Thinking things to know about Methadone Detox while pregnant? tend to be an option going forward.

Solution:

Answer by samnbudsmom

Has she had prenatal care? Methadone is very dangerous to the baby. Something is not right here. I don’t think any OB would let this continue.

Answer by FunkyMonkey

Methadone causes a reduction of oxygen to the unborn due to breathing depressions according to pharmacological pregnancy information.

here is an informative website for you.

http://www.methadoneandpregnancy.com/

“Is methadone safe for my baby?” is usually the first question we hear from women.

Pregnant women have been treated with methadone for more than 25 years and neither methadone or other opiates have not been shown to directly cause birth defects. However, your baby may experience some side effects from methadone. The most common are smaller-than-normal head size, low birth weight, and withdrawal symptoms. As babies born dependent on methadone grow, they usually will fall in the normal range for size and development.

Methadone is not the only thing that can cause these symptoms. Smoking cigarettes, drug use, your biological makeup, nutrition, and how well you take care of yourself are just a few examples of things that can affect the health of your baby.

Whether or not you are pregnant, you only get the benefits of methadone if you are stable on your dose. There is no ‘magic number’ of milligrams to stay below. If you feel any withdrawals or cravings to use, make sure you talk to your counselor about adjusting your dose. When you feel withdrawals, so does your baby and that can lead to complications and even miscarriage.

Answer by K

she should not stop unless told by a Doctor. Methadone can be extremely violant when quit cold turkey. She needs to call her doc asap. I have heard where woman stay on methadone because the side effects of withdrawal are horrendious from heroin so it all depends what the doc want to do. Good for her for cleaning up her life. keep her motivated.

Answer by brevejunkie

My sister is currently 34 weeks pregnant, and before she found out she was pregnant, she was drinking heavily, chain smoking, taking sleeping medication (rozarem) that’s in a dangerous pregnancy category, and taking methadone for back problems. She did all this during the first trimester (she didn’t find out until she was almost 4 months pregnant. She’s overweight and her periods have always been screwey). Anyway, after having EVERY test known to man (bloodwork, amnio, several genetic tests, numerous ultrasounds (including 3D) etc., she found out that her baby is completely healthy with no birth defects. She was on 60 mg. per day at the time she found out she’s pregnant, and now I believe she’s on 25 or 30 mg. Her doctor wants to wean her off it completely during her last month of pregnancy so that the baby won’t be born and go through withdrawal. I’m not saying how she behaved was right, but she’s VERY fortunate to have a healthy baby on the way. Her doctor has gradually been lowering her dose throughout her second and third trimester, and she’s suffered no ill effects from it. She even had back surgery while she was 5 months pregnant, and came through with flying colors.

Tell your sister to see an ob/gyn who specializes in high risk pregnancies. They may want her to see a genetic counselor like my sister did.

Whatever happens, good luck to her and her sweet baby! I’ll keep them in my thoughts and prayers.

Answer by amgandboys

from what I understand, methadone is unsafe during any stage of pregnancy. If I were her I would get a second opinion at the very least. The last thing she wants is a baby going through withdrawal or long term side effects. Good luck.

Answer by spnkysparky

Ok,I have a friend who went thru the same thing.She weened herself down to 5mg a day and then incorporated an herb called KRATOM.She took both for about 3 days and then no methadone after that and continued on kratom for 3 weeks.Now that being said.I have not seen any studies about kratom use and pregnancy.I can tell you that she and her baby came out fine.AGAIN Im not a doctor,But I have used kratom to fight opiate withdrawals and worked wonders.There are many different strains of kratom but I found “BALI” to work best for opiate withdrawals.I can also tell you that studies have show that kratom actually lowers blood pressure and cholesterol and is actually good for you in many ways OTHER than Kratom itself can be addicting and cause MILD withdrawals.NOTHING compared to methadone.More like a 2 day hangover.But of course these studies were conducted on people who were not pregnant.You might Google and see if you can find studies of the effects to the baby.I have posted a couple of links to give you an idea of what it is.But as with any DRUG whether its natural or man made,precautions have to be taken.Good luck and give her support.

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During pregnancy, methadone detoxification?