Can a pregnant woman be detoxed from methadone?

[Wendylee]

I am thirty years old and have been trying desperately to change my life over the past few years. I have been using on and off for seventeen years, and have been through eight inpatient treatments and many other outpatient and detox facilitys. I've always wanted to stop but it's been a difficult road. My addiction progressed to herion and I ended up on the methadone maintenence program about four years ago. The first two years were rough but thanks to the grace of God and my family I have been clean now for over a year and a half. My husband and my son have been my anchor to reality and responsibility. My husband does not smoke, drink or use drugs and never has(how we ended up together is a mystery). Also through a stroke of luck I got pregnant with my first son during a time in my life that I was clean, so there where no problems with him at birth. The only problems we have with him is the horrible separation anxiety he suffers from because of my past behavior. I have been to many detoxes during his life and he did not understand why mommy had to be gone and also while I was using I wasn't home much, so that didn't help. Anyway I have been coming down on my methadone dose since last July and I am down to 40mgs. I recently found out I was pregnant. I really wanted to be off the methadone before this happened, but that is not how things have worked out. My husband and I are happy about the baby, we are just worried. I don't want my baby to go through withdrawls because of my problems. I have a big problem with that! The bad part is everone including the clinic I go to says I could miscarry if I detox, but I have read otherwise from mothers that were in the same boat as me. I am so confused. I acually went down at least 10mgs possibly 15mgs before I found out I was pregnant, so I really want to detox if I can. Any information I could get regarding this matter I would be very grateful for. Thank you in advance.   Wendylee

[alana293]

i just found out i am pregnant and would like to get some advice from you. please email me at::  ***@****.  please get back to me asap!!

[Thee_Thee12]

Will the herion still be in th babys system if u only sniffed half of your 8 month pregnancy??? I know what I did was wrong but im sooo worried cps will take my baby away this is my first child please someone respond to my comment as soon as possible PLEASE!!!!!!

[bes7185]

@ LUCYRED^*wow...obviously then if you were "mentally absent" and you are blaming being on methadone for that you either had to have been on a dose way too high and/or taking psyc meds such as benzos...i.e. xanax, or a combination of mood stabilizers, depression meds, sleep meds that make u incoherent....if you had a bad enought habit to need to start a MMT then you should have known when you felt "not sick" and if you felt like that it would have been noticed gradually not all at once, given the fact that mmt clinics DO NOT ust pick a dose and give it to you all at once. You atart low and go up as needed being carefully monitored by the nurses who see you each and every day and if you were Lathargic, high or impaired in any way they would not dose you that day and make sure you were stabilized at the right dose for you which should only be high enough to keep off street drugs as low as possible to keep from experiencing withdrawals. Also I have no I dea what MMT clinic you went to but you also should see a counsilor weekly as well to make sure that your stabilized etc. SO BLAMING JUST METHADONE FOR YOUR DAUGHTER BEING RAPED AND MISSING 2 YRS OF YOUR LIFE SEEMS TO ME THERE HAS TO BE A POINT THAT YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALLOWING YOURSELF TO GET THAT WAY, BECAUSE LIKE I SAID CLINICS DON'T JUST GIVE YOU A HIGH DOSE AND TURN THEIR HEADS WHEN YOU SHOW UP ALL SORTS OF IMPAIRED 365 DAYS A YEAR, BUT STILL  THEY GIVE YOU YOUR DOSE. COME ON.

[neithy]

You are a judgemental person. To post such a thing is not only disgraceful but shows that you no knowledge of addiction or the fact that it a disease. What if a women gets pregnant while on insulin because she suffers from diabetes. That could also cause harm to the fetus, would you crucify her. I suggest you read a bible or go to chuch as jesus christ would be appauld at your behavior.

[sickbutwontgiveup]

thats what I said after having my first baby on methadone. It was a living hell! My poor baby girl in the ICU and people treating me like I was a heroin junkie mother... ugh,,,  when I was on painkillers for my 5 back to back miscarriages which was why I was put on methadone. Withdrawing off this stuff is way worse than any kind of street drug... how do you do it taking care of a baby?? Now I am happily pregnant again, weened down to 40 mg from 170, and I'll get off of this stuff now being 5 weeks pregnant than shooting back up and putting me and my unborm baby in an opiate fog again. With the aid of professionals. I have no desire to go out and find crap out on the street. I just want my family to be well. Anyone who looks down on a woman for getting pregnant on meth- give your head a shake. What situation do you have in your life to be judged upon thatsa probably far worse than this. Withdrawing off metadone with two babies just makes it worse. If you want off it Have some strength and do it now. My husband did cold turkey and after the illness of that, he is totally clean from everything for 2 years. It wont kill you... it just hurts. If you care, do it for your children.

[nevaehsmomma]

I am like 9 weeks pregnant and I have been on the methadone program for like 8 mnonths now. I was already on a slow detox because I didn't want to be on it anymore i hate it. I was in a really bad car accident and when my doc stoped givinging me perscriptions for pain medication I was feeling pretty bad and was having withdraws, I knew a couple people in the metadone clinic and i let them talk me into getting on it which i regret so much. I was in another accident in 06 and had no problem stopping useing them by myself which I should have done this time. I hate the methadone it taste so nasty, i feel like its worst then the pain pills. As soon as I thought i was pregnant i told the doctor I wanted to detox right away faster I decided to go down 3 mlgms a day, and he made me sign a form that I was doing it against his advice, I did not tell him that I thought i was p[regnant and still havent. but no matter what I do not want to be on methadone when i have my baby and make him go through the horrible withdraw. It is not his choice and I could not to that to my child, my kids mean more than anything to me. I have a three year old and before i was pregnant with her I smoked weed and cigarets and occasionaly drank and had no problem stopping all of that as soon as I found out I was pregnat. I have also had a miscarriage a year and a half ago that was devistating but honestly I would rather not have a baby than have one on methadone, I feel very strongly about it. Some one at that goes to that clinic told me the doctor would not let me detox that they would tell me it would kill my baby and a bunch of stuff. but i know some one that did it and there baby is perfectly healthy. I also know someone that was on methadone there whole pregnany and there son was in the hospital for over a month trying to detox and had a really really had time and is still very unhealthy. I worry about it everyday and hope I am doing the right thing. I feel fine I feel great actually I feel better then I did when i was on a 80 mlgm dose. I do not have any withdraw symtoms i dont feel sick dont feel bad in any way. I think alot of the withdraw is in your head and you thinking you need it. But I am so determined and just focused on my baby that it not even efectting me. I will be completly off of it in a week and a half and hopefully still doing just as good. I just want to be off of it and focus on my kids and have the excitement of being pregnant instead of being worried about him because off a bad decision i made.