It’s completely normal to be worried about going through withdrawal when you detox during pregnancy. A lot of women remain trapped in their addictions because they don’t want to go through the pain of withdrawal. Deciding to stop using drugs is hard for everyone, but it can be even harder for a pregnant woman who is also addicted. It’s not uncommon for women to struggle with a substance use disorder, get pregnant, and be unable to stop getting high – despite their strong desire to do so. Addiction makes it next to impossible for women to make healthy, rational, positive choices when it comes to their own health and the safety of their unborn child.
Limit Caffeine & Alcohol
For this reason, it is often best for expectant mothers to detox off any drug use during pregnancy. Anyone who struggles with alcohol misuse during pregnancy may benefit from detoxification since no amount of alcohol is determined to be safe during pregnancy. The majority of stimulant withdrawal symptoms affect a person emotionally and psychologically.
Detox Food Swaps to Make During Pregnancy
Some abortion providers are not comfortable with managing pain in patients who take buprenorphine, so you can ask them to reach out to your buprenorphine provider for information if that feels safe to you. A doula is a support person who can be with you during pregnancy, birth, abortion, miscarriage, or the postpartum older adults national institute on alcohol abuse and alcoholism niaaa period (also called the 4th trimester). Doulas advocate for you, help you make decisions, and provide general support. Some provide services that are covered by health insurance and Medicaid. Stigma toward people who use drugs is written into our laws, child protective service, and social service systems.
Pregnant Women and Substance Abuse: How and Why It Happens
Many pregnant women choose to undergo a drug detox at an inpatient facility such as a rehabilitation center. There, they can receive support and medical care around the clock, with trained professionals monitoring their health and the health of their babies. Inpatient facilities will typically accept pregnant women no matter what substances they’ve used. They will do everything they can to lessen the symptoms of withdrawal and support you in moving forward with your pregnancy. Once they decide to pursue detox during pregnancy, many women find it challenging to choose an appropriate detox center. Although many rehab facilities provide comprehensive programs and therapy, only a quarter of these offer services for pregnant women.
Yet withdrawal symptoms can be uncomfortable, painful, and may cause distress to the mother or fetus. Our systematic review captured 1,315 unique citations, of which 110 were assessed for full-text review. The publication periods for the included studies ranged from 1975 to 2016. Among these, 10 studies were published after 2000 during the current opioid crisis.
“LATE TO CARE”
Some healthcare providers might require you to go for in-patient to get monitoring on the OB-GYN floor and others might feel comfortable with you doing it as an outpatient. The medications available for the treatment of alcohol dependence are naltrexone tablets how to detox from marijuana in 2023 or injections (Vivitrol®), acamprosate (Campral®), disulfiram (Antabuse®), and gabapentin (Neurontin®). We don’t have good information on how safe these medications are during pregnancy, but they are likely to be much safer than continuing to drink.
Learning all of the ingredients in your detox will help you make decisions about what is and isn’t safe to consume. You need to be aware of everything that is in your detox, both active and inactive. Remember, inactive does not mean inert; it just means those ingredients are not part of the intended set of results for the cleanse. If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please contact at All Addiction Resource content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
- If you want to detox during pregnancy, you should only do it with supervision from a healthcare provider because detoxing can be stressful and dangerous, for both you and the fetus.
- Hyperemesis gravidarum is nausea and vomiting so severe that you are unable to eat or drink anything, even water.
- Possible lower birth weights among people who take these medications could be related to sleep deprivation, and not the drugs, because many people take benzodiazepines for sleep problems.
- When a woman is carrying a child, it is even more important as drug toxins can remain inside of the body and make their way into the baby’s bloodstream.
Addiction Resource does not offer medical diagnosis, treatment, or advice. Only trained and licensed medical professionals can 2c-b alcohol and drug foundation provide such services. If you or anyone you know is undergoing a severe health crisis, call a doctor or 911 immediately.
There are many options to consider around when and what kind of contraception to use if you do not want to have another pregnancy within the next year. You may also share this information with your provider who may not be familiar with the specific issues faced by people who use drugs when choosing a pain control plan. Healthcare providers in the field of obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) have not historically received much training about substance use and other mental health issues.
Despite widespread acceptance that substance use is a health condition and not a personal character flaw, stigma against people who use drugs is still considered socially acceptable and commonplace. These materials can be shared with family members and service providers in order to start important conversations about our plans, hopes, goals, and dreams. This work is written, edited, and informed by people who have lived experience of substance use and pregnancy.
Starting treatment with methadone or buprenorphine can help reduce many of the risks of illicit opioid use while improving both maternal and infant outcomes. Naltrexone is less likely to be effective in reducing substance use than agonist medications (methadone and buprenorphine) and comes with side effects, including increased vulnerability to death by overdose. Starting naltrexone requires a person to detox completely before the first dose to avoid severe precipitated withdrawal. Some people with OUD find naltrexone to be helpful, but many others have a hard time sticking with this treatment. Because naltrexone use lowers people’s tolerance for opioids, they are at increased risk for overdose if they resume their opioid use. Some people may try to overcome the opioid-blocking effects of naltrexone by taking larger doses of opioids, which also increases risk of overdose.
Our structured framework ensures that detoxification during pregnancy is managed with the utmost care and attention to detail. To safely detox while pregnant, you need to follow a careful plan while being supervised by a doctor. Key strategies include slowly cutting down on drug use to lower the risks of withdrawal and using a mix of therapies, such as medication-assisted treatment (MAT), to keep the mother’s state stable. Prenatal care increases the chance of having a healthy pregnancy, delivery, and baby.
Cramps are more intense during activities that release natural oxytocin, such as breast/chestfeeding, cuddling your baby, or hearing them cry. It helps to anticipate these times and use measures to decrease this pain before it starts. Be sure to use a licensed professional if using acupuncture during labor and clear it with the birth provider in advance. A combined spinal epidural (aka “walking epidural”) can be used to decrease pain without interfering as much with movement. Despite the name, most people will not be able to walk safely without assistance, but they will be able to move more than if they received a standard epidural.