If you, your partner, or a loved one is pregnant and struggling with opioid use disorder (OUD), you may be feeling an intense mix of emotions. You may be thrilled and nervous about being a parent—or you may be terrified of what lies ahead. All of your emotions are valid, but your health should take priority now.
Before entering our residential recovery program in Iowa, the best idea is to consult a doctor about your situation. Your provider may need to put you on medication that can help you avoid heroin without causing withdrawal symptoms that could harm you and the baby. Once you have your pregnancy plan under control, know that St. Gregory Recovery Center has locations in Des Moines and Bayard, IA that can help support you and your growing family with outpatient services, therapy, and a supportive community.
This article will help you understand heroin use during pregnancy, its effects, and the different medications available to support you.
How Does Heroin Use Happen During Pregnancy?
While you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who actually planned to endanger themselves and their baby by using harmful substances during pregnancy, it still happens. Pregnant people who use heroin may be too ill or too deeply entrenched in their OUD to stop—even if they desperately want to. So, why it happens may not be the most productive question during pregnancy.
Instead, we may want to ask how each life can be protected.
Still, it can be helpful to understand the unfortunate but common reasons for heroin use to occur during pregnancy:
Unplanned pregnancy
Some people become pregnant unintentionally or against their will when they’re in the throes of OUD. They may not even know they’re pregnant until it’s too late to avoid damage.
Prescription pain medications
Some people don’t inject heroin or use fentanyl (another powerful opioid), but they may be legally prescribed opioid-based painkillers (like oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, or methadone) with similar effects to heroin. These medications can also harm both the fetus and the pregnant person.
Relapse
Many may want to immediately detox when they learn they’re pregnant, but obstetricians are seeing that relapse rates during pregnancy are high.
Heroin’s Effects During Pregnancy
Gestational heroin use can affect all aspects of the pregnancy, for both the parent and the baby.
According to The March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation (MODBDF), effects can range from:
- Serious Health Emergencies: Placental abruption is one serious health emergency that heroin use can trigger, causing the placenta to separate from the uterine wall before the baby is born. This can lead to heavy bleeding that can jeopardize the life of the baby, parent, or both.
- Birth Defects: Birth defects can range, since we don’t know exactly what parts of the baby’s body may be affected by substance use. Defects can permanently disrupt overall bodily health, growth, or function.
- Premature Birth: This is when the baby is born before the 37th week of pregnancy, and early arrival can come with many complications.
- Low Birthweight: Low birth weight is anything under 5lbs 8oz, and it can happen with both premature or timely births, complicating health.
- Stillbirth: Stillbirth is tragic, and means the baby has passed away sometime after 20 weeks of pregnancy but before birth.
- SIDS: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) means the baby died unexplainably before they turn 1, and it can happen to anyone regardless of substance use during pregnancy.
- NAS: Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) causes a baby to go through heroin withdrawal as soon as they’re born.
- Breastfeeding Complications: Heroin breaks down into morphine, which can then find its way into breast milk. Breastmilk containing opioids has been known to make babies sleepy, make latching more difficult, and trigger breathing problems.
Options for Pregnant People in Recovery For Heroin
The most important thing to understand if you or someone you love is dependent on heroin during pregnancy is to avoid stopping suddenly.
The best course of action is to slowly wean off, because we don’t fully understand what cold-turkey quitting could do to the pregnant body or fetus.
Speaking with your doctor openly and honestly can help you take the next steps in treatment, which typically include medication, like methadone or buprenorphine.
Enter Recovery in Iowa
Heroin use can have heartbreaking consequences for pregnant people, but you don’t have to face those challenges or go through your pregnancy alone. We’re here for pregnant people who struggle with OUD, before, during, and after they give birth. We encourage you to get in touch to learn more.
