Medications, Drugs, Smoking and Alcohol during Pregnancy

Medications: 

Many people wonder which medications are safe during pregnancy. Only a few medications have been specifically approved for use during pregnancy. However, many other ones can be safe if they are used carefully. Follow these general rules for using medications during pregnancy:

• Use medications only if absolutely necessary and if non-medicinal treatments have been unsuccessful. Do not exceed the recommended dose as printed on the label.
• With the exception of prenatal vitamins, avoid all medications during the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.
• Use medications only "occasionally," rather than "around the clock."
• Any health problem which requires using medication repeatedly or for more than two days should be discussed with your health care provider. Always let your health care provider know what medications you have taken.

  If you are taking prescription medications and discover you are pregnant, discuss the use of this medication with your health care provider as soon as possible. Do not stop a regular medication abruptly, as this may cause problems.

Drugs Use:

Drugs used during or before your pregnancy may have an impact on your baby. People use drugs in many ways for many reasons. Whether swallowing, snorting, smoking, or shooting, or whether using experimentally, recreationally, weekly, or daily - the effect on your baby may last a life time. Over-the-counter and prescription drugs that may be safely used when you are not pregnant may cause harm to your baby during pregnancy. As your obstetrical care providers, we want to work with you to have a safe pregnancy and a healthy baby.

Common over-the-counter medications are pills or liquids used to help you sleep, diet pills, cough medicines, antihistamines, and nicotine. Prescription drugs, such as valium, used for any reason other than the prescribed reason, could put you and your baby at risk. Many of these medications are not recommended for use during pregnancy. Commonly used recreational drugs such as marijuana, LSD, and speed are not safe to take during pregnancy. Though you may have used them with no known harmful effects before, it will be risky to use them while you are pregnant or nursing your baby. The use of any medication or drug should be discussed with your health care provider.

The most commonly used stimulant is cocaine. Cocaine or crack use, whether smoked, snorted, or shot, quickly gets into your bloodstream and crosses the placenta into your baby's blood. The placenta or afterbirth has the important job of supplying oxygen and nutrients to your growing baby. Your high may last up to thirty minutes. But your baby is not mature and the effect of the drug in his system may last as long as five to six days. Cocaine and amphetamines cause your blood vessels to constrict or tighten, and your uterus or womb to contract. This decreases the blood flow to your baby. The combination of the tightening of the blood vessels and the contracting of the uterus may cause the placenta to be pulled away from the wall of the uterus. This is a very serious and dangerous situation and may cause you or the baby to die. Other problems that may occur are bleeding or spotting at any point of your pregnancy. If contractions or cramping continue, you may lose your pregnancy. If this happens early in the pregnancy, you may have a miscarriage (A miscarriage is the loss of a fetus before the 22nd week of pregnancy, or before the developing baby is capable of surviving on its own without artificial support. Women are often most concerned about the possibility of miscarriage during their first trimester - or the first three months - because that is when the natural termination of pregnancy is most likely to occur. It is estimated that only about 10% of women who know they are pregnant miscarry, but the actual miscarriage rate is higher because often a fertilized egg dies before a woman is aware she is pregnant). If this happens before the baby is ready to breathe on his own, your baby may be born prematurely. The baby would need to stay in a special care nursery and would require a great deal of care. Babies born to mothers that use drugs tend to be smaller than other babies. Some babies have been born with an abnormal kidney. The longer you use cocaine, the more it takes to get high. As you start mixing drugs to smooth your crash from stimulants, such as heroin or other narcotics, the risks to your baby are further increased.

Many drugs sold on the street or traded for favors have been cut or mixed with other substances. This cutting or mixing may pose an even greater risk because you may be unaware of what is even in the drug and how it may effect you or the baby.

There are benefits to staying drug free. There is less of a chance for complications for you and your baby. Our goal is to help you to have a safe, healthy pregnancy and delivery. You have an important job. Please continue to come to your clinic appointments. Talk with your health care providers and let them know about any drugs or medications that you have used or are thinking of using.

Smoking:

Smoking affects every aspect of pregnancy including fertility, conception, development of the fetus, labor, and growth during childhood. If you are planning to have a baby, the time to quit smoking is before you get pregnant. The main consequence of smoking during pregnancy is low birth weight. Studies show that children who are born with low birth weight are on the average shorter, have more respiratory problems, and experience more difficulty in school than children of non-smoking mothers. If you smoke during pregnancy, you also have a 25% greater chance of having a miscarriage, premature birth, or stillbirth. A higher incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or "crib death" is also linked to mothers who smoke. Cigarette smoking interferes with the blood supply to the fetus, and less oxygen and nutrients are supplied through the placenta. Several toxins enter the maturing baby's blood including carbon monoxide, nicotine and cyanide. Even breathing smoke from other smokers can have adverse on the fetus, so try to persuade people to smoke elsewhere when in your company. For more information on having a healthy baby, talk with your doctor.

Alcohol:

When a woman drinks during pregnancy, she is putting herself and her baby at risk for fetal alcohol effect and fetal alcohol syndrome, commonly known as FAS. FAS is one of the top three causes of birth defects and affects approximately one in every 750 babies. When a pregnant woman drinks, the alcohol passes through the placenta and into the fetus' blood. The fetus' liver can not effectively process the alcohol so it remains in its system long after its been eliminated from the mother's body. FAS can cause low birth weight, deformities of the limbs, joints, fingers and face, small head circumference, central nervous system dysfunction and heart defects.

Sometimes the symptoms of FAS will not appear until adolescence, when the child suddenly becomes hyperactive or has learning and perceptual difficulties. When the child becomes a teenager, physical problems may begin, including chronic ear infections, hearing loss and dental and vision problems. An average of one to two drinks daily has been linked to these problems but it is not known how much alcohol is safe. Therefore, a woman should refrain from drinking throughout her pregnancy, while she is trying to conceive, and afterwards if she is breast feeding her baby.

If you or someone you know has a drinking problem, seek assistance. For those with mild to moderate alcohol problems, call DrinkWise at (734) 998-9473. For those with severe alcohol problems, call the Chelsea Arbor Treatment Program at 1-800-828-8020.

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