Pregnant and addicted to opiods

Pregnancy is the miracle of life, but it also comes with many challenges.

For expectant mothers who are seeking help for drug addiction, the challenges are nothing short of daunting.

The life and health of one mother’s unborn baby turned into the fight of her life while pregnant and addicted.

Due to the mother’s situation and for her safety, some parts of her story have been withheld.

A mother, whose identity is also being hidden for her protection, was desperate for relief of her sciatica pain.

“It just progressed from there, to where I didn’t have enough, and I started getting it on the street and it eventually leads to doing fentanyl,” the mother said.

“It made me feel like I could do anything, and I noticed I wasn’t taking it for pain anymore, and as it progressed, I noticed that it was doing the opposite, it was almost making me crazy. That’s how I felt, but I couldn’t stop because I didn’t know it at the time, but I was addicted to it,” the mother said.

She was addicted to opioids, and after her prescription ran out, she did anything she could to get her hands on the drug to the point where her addiction led her to crime.

“I started doing bad things to get it, which led me to jail, which led me to where I’m at now,” the mother said.

Then, the miracle of life, but at the worse time, once again addicted to drugs.

She knew she needed help before it was too late.

“I didn’t want to live like that anymore and it was taking a toll on my whole life,” the mother said.

At first, it seemed the world was against her when it came to treatment, but she became determined when she hit rock bottom, breaking promises she had made to her family.

“I let them down so much, made promise after promise and I just broke it so easily, because the drug was more important, way more important than them,” the mother said.

Quitting any drug can be difficult, and opioids are no exception.

The average person can become addicted in just five days.

“I am pregnant and it’s very dangerous just to be in the same room as it. You don’t even have to be using it. Just to breathe the same air as it is very dangerous. Somebody could take a little tiny piece of the fentanyl pills and overdose on it,” the mother said.

But the battle doesn’t end once the baby is born.

Opioid withdrawal symptoms affect newborns, even leading to an increased risk of seizures for the baby.

Dr. Jean Ko with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says these symptoms can start just a couple days after the baby takes its first breath.

“Opioid exposure during pregnancy can lead to neonatal abstinence syndrome or something that we also refer to as neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome, and this is essentially signs of withdrawal in the newborn and can include signs such as poor feeding, temperature instability, tremors, and it can also increase the risk of seizures,” said Dr. Ko, epidemiologist with division of reproductive health, commander in U.S. public health service.

Other risks to the pregnancy include the development of the fetus, problems affecting how the fetus’ heart develops, stillbirth, or preterm delivery.

The most recent statistics regarding this issue are only as recent as 2012.

According to Dr. Ko, 5 states are conducting an ongoing project to determine up to date information.

When considering opioid addictions for the general public, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, drug overdose deaths more than quadrupled from 1999 to 2017.

According to the CDC, during that same time, almost 400,000 people died of an overdose involving opioids.

Statewide, the Arizona Department of Health and Safety states that over 300,000 opioid prescriptions were dispensed last month in Arizona and there were over 3,000 suspect opioid deaths.

Though the withdrawal process may seem impossible, in the end it’s what is best for a mother and her unborn baby.

“I know it’s hard to get help, it really is. To go through withdrawal, I was deathly afraid of that, and I thought that I could never do it. Like I don’t think I could ever get sober because I don’t think I’m strong enough to go through that. It wasn’t as hard as I thought, you feel like you want to die but you’re not going to die, you’re not going to die from withdrawal from opioids. It just feels like you want to, and that’s another thing and another motivation for me, it’s because I do not want to go through that again, it’s horrible, but I feel good now,” said the mother.

For this mother, she says as heartbreaking as it is to admit that her children knew about her addiction, it’s also what has kept her on the right path.

“They know because they’ve been through my addiction with me, and they know what it looks like, even when I thought they didn’t know, they knew. They knew the smell of it. So they knew what to look for. And it’s sad that they have to know it so closely, but I’m kind of thankful for it because they hate it,” she said.

Over the years, there has been a greater medical understanding of opioids.

And though coming out of addiction can be extremely difficult, know that there are people who can help and who believe in you.

“I think the biggest messages that there is a greater understanding these days that opioid use disorder is like any other medical condition, and it’s important to treat it especially during pregnancy and postpartum,” said Dr. Ko.

“They have so much hope in me right now and I don’t want to let them down,” the mother said.

Dr. Ko says for anyone battling opioid use disorder and ready to seek help, reach out to a clinician right away.

From there, specialists can initiate medically assisted therapy treatments, some with the use of methadone or buprenorphine along with counseling and recovery support services.

Both medicines stop and prevent withdrawal and reduce opioid cravings.

Medical experts advise that you do not stop opioid use on your own.

Stopping the use of the drug suddenly can lead to withdrawal for you and your baby.

You may even be more likely to start using drugs again and possibly experience an overdose.