Health News resources and information

Street Drugs

The use of street drugs like marijuana and cocaine has increased steadily over the years. However, as well as their adverse effects on fertility, these drugs can also affect the development and health of the growing baby.

In animals, marijuana has been linked to stillbirths and malformations. In general, it has similar effects to tobacco smoking such as low birth-weight.

If women use cocaine once they are pregnant they are more likely to have a miscarriage, a stillbirth or a baby born with a malformation.

The number of stillbirths increases in women who take heroin while they are pregnant, and the rate of prematurity goes up. Also, babies born to mothers who have taken heroin and cocaine suffer withdrawal symptoms which can be severe.

The message has to be that these drugs need to be eliminated from your body at least four months before you try to conceive.

Medication

You should try to avoid taking any drugs while pregnant. If you are taking tranquillizers and sleeping pills, talk to your doctor about gradually coming off them and finding other ways to deal with the problem (such as relaxation techniques).

Even ordinary, over-the-counter drugs can have an effect on pregnancy. For instance, paracetamol and ibuprofen can inhibit the production of prostaglandins which are essential for the healthy development of the foetus.

Taking analgesics or painkillers – the kind you buy at the chemists and in the supermarket – has been shown to increase the risk of miscarriages, and paracetamol has been linked to causing mutations in both animals and human cells.

One kind of tranquillizer, called benzodiazepines (BZD), is often taken during pregnancy but could cause irreversible central nervous system and behavioural disorders. The UK drug reference books list them as being given with ‘special precautions’ during pregnancy, while the American Physicians’ Desk Reference state that they should not be used in pregnancy. However, as many as 35 per cent of pregnant women can be given these tranquillizers for insomnia and anxiety problems. Babies born from mothers who have taken these drugs have problems such as dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactive disorder.

In conclusion, I think we should learn from the thalidomide disaster that drugs can be extremely potent, especially when taken at the most crucial times of cell division (normally in the early part of pregnancy).

However, it is important to realize that it is possible to prevent foetal damage due to most of the causes. Now that you are armed with accurate information, you can take action to protect yourself and your child throughout your pregnancy and later on.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 7:41 am and is filed under Allergies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.