Posts tagged Methadone

Question by : slow methadone taper while pregnant???? want my baby healthy!!! stressed.?
I am 13 weeks pregnant right now and on 16mg of methadone [i was detoxing from 65mg before i was pregnant]. When i was younger i was addicted to drugs….I have been clean for OVER 2 years now. I found out i was pregnant when i was only 4 weeks and i immediatley stopped smoking cigarettes and drinking caffeine. I am serious about having a healthy baby and have done all i can. I know it is not an ideal situation [trust me i feel soooo stupid for ever getting on these meds] but MY BIRTH CONTROL FAILED and i am in a supportive relationship, have good family and finances and don’t believe in abortion. I was also prescribed 3mg of xanax daily for 4 years when i found out i was pregnant and so i went to the hospital and totally detoxed off the xanax with help from my OBGYN [it was HELL but i am that motivated so PLEASE do not say "oh but methadone is better than heroin so you must stay on it" because, well, a LOT of stuff is "better" than heroin but that doesnt mean its good for baby and i KNOW i would never put drugs in my body...i made it through the xanax withdrawal hell so i know for a fact i am strong enough to get off the methadone. I was on 18mg when i found out and the clinic i go to said they would NOT allow me to taper/detox and would call children services if i did and my OBGYN also said it wasn't a good idea. However, after they saw me get off the xanax succesfully and finally saw that i really am trying my OBGYN AND the doctor at the clinic said i should have no problem getting off the methadone completly before baby is born! They also treat me different now, i think before the detox they just thought i was another "junkie" and would use drugs if i got sick.. Anyways, i went down to 16mg 4 days ago and was a little uncomfortable [very very minor] but then last night i felt pretty sick and this morning i had the sweats and diarrehea, insomnia and gooseflesh and that very anxiou/skin crawling feeling. Now I can take it, its only nighttime and early morning but i worry about the baby. I am afraid to go to my docotor because i am afraid they will tell me to quit detoxing without even looking into how they can make it better [slower maybe?]. I wish my doctors would take this more seriously…i feel like they really don’t care that much about my baby because of my past and its SOOO frustrating because i want my baby to have the best start in life as possible. Has anyone out there tapered off methadone while pregnant? I really want to know if there is anything else i can do to make it better…like shouldn’t the doctor be seeing me more than usual, and shouldnt the clinic really be monitoring how i am feeling? I would feel better if i knew they were monitoring the babys growth. and is a little bit of withdrawal ok or can it cause development problems etc? Obviously if an OBGYN says my baby is not developing right etc i would stop the detox…..and trust me the doctors would NOT of let me detox if it was really bad…but they also don’t know i am getting a little sick. Also for those of you who think so having a baby on methadone is NOT 100% safe, there is low birth weight/dev issues and obviously the worst…weeks worth of withdrawl [and it doesnt matter how low your dose it]! I just cannot imagine seeing somone administer morphine to my baby or it getting so sick!!! I am SOOOO MAD AT MYSELF for getting on methadone and i feel like a horrible person. DO NOT want to have a baby born on any drug if i dont have to. I was wondering if it would be safe to just go to the hospital and have a medically supervised detox? Anyone do that? Cause the xanax hospital detox worked. Maybe i will go down 1mg at a time instead of 2 since i am so low now. Im freaking out…any knowledge about this would be helpful, but PLEASE dont be rude….im doing EVERYTHING i can and i dont believe in abortion.

Best answer:

Answer by MW
You are doing the right thing:) you just need to get off me it as slow as you can i know you want off me it now but if you get off of it too fast you get stressed because of the detox and you could lose your baby and that’s not an option the key is to do it very slowly so no stress is put on your baby just make sure you take your vitamins and your baby will have a great start:)

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