methadone and early pregnancy?

Question

First of all it is not me that is pregnant but my question is my freind is 7 weeks pregnant and she had been on 10mg of methadone a day due to back pain but is not prescribed by a physician. Do you think that her baby will be ok? If she tells her mid-wife that she is dependent on this will she tell authorities or not? I dont know much about the withdrawal of this or the side effects during pregnancy so should she reduce the doses until she is off of it or should she go cold turkey? Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Methadone will not 'kill' her baby. I have worked in a methadone treatment facility for 10 years and seen lots of happy healthy babies born to mother's who were prescribed methadone. What can 'kill' the baby is the withdrawals. Anything mom goes through the baby will go through. Withdrawals from any opiate (including methadone) is very serious. She should not stop taking the methadone, but she should tell her midwife so she can get help from a facility that is licensed to prescribe methadone. If she is not using a doctor she is 'buying it on the street' which is a huge issue. You never know for sure what or how much much you are really buying. People like to water down (the liquid form of methadone) and she and the baby could go into withdrawal. 10mg methadone is such a small amount I wonder if that part of the information is correct? 10mg would not help with back pain, but you could become physically dependent on that amount. I have seen babies born whose mom's were on anything from 30-150mg and they were and are just fine (mentally, emotionally, and physically). If she does not get the methadone prescribed legally before she gives birth she (and the baby) could end up in serious trouble. For one thing the baby may go through neonatal abstinance syndrome (withdrawals) after birth and need medical treatment (the hospitals know how to withdrawal babies comfortably). The other issue is if medical personnel suspect the baby is in withdrawal they will drug test him or her at birth and if they are positive for methadone without the mother being prescribed the methadone by a doctor she will be at risk for having social services step in and remove the baby pending an investigation. If her doctor or midwife and hospital personnel know ahead of time, they will be prepared to give the baby something to keep them comfortable and help with any withdrawal symptoms. Tell her it is best to get help now so she can have a healthy baby.

Answer 2

She needs to tell her midwife. I doubt that she will repor ther to authorities...but she will be able to offer alternatives to that drug. If she has back pain, there are far safer drugs to take during pregnancy. Methadone is usually abused by people who were taking lower pain killers.

It's a horrible addiction, speaking from experience with my fiance. His ex-wife was a Methadone addict with the child she just had. Luckily the baby has no problems as of this moment...but not everyone is that lucky.

Please advise her to speak to the doctor about it...they can offer her help. She will never live with herself if something is wrong with her baby due to her addiciton.

Answer 3

She needs to seek medical advice on this one. I would imagine reducing the dosage would be her best bet, but I'm not a doctor. She should just risk getting in trouble and tell her midwife that she's using methadone (which would be given to her by a physician if she really was in need of it). The midwife's main priority is keeping her and the baby healthy (and this should be your friend's main concern as well).

Answer 4

There's a chance that you did and a chance that you didn't, it all depends pretty heavily on how much of each thing that you were taking. The alcohol will not effect your baby most likely, the babies that are effected by their mothers drinking have mothers that are major alcoholics and barely have functioning livers (a sip of alcohol effecting a baby is a myth) and as for the drugs if you haven't aborted then you probably haven't done enough to permanently harm the fetus and with completely quitting and good prenatal care your baby should come out fine. But of course you should go and see a doctor to be checked out.

Answer 5

First of all,methadone is a narc, and those are never good early on. Secondly, she MUST tell her doc/midwife. HIPAA (Dr/patient privilege)prevents the health care provider telling anyone, even the police. She needs help NOW...her baby is highly at risk!!

Answer 6

Your "friend" needs to get to a doctor asap!