Mental health articles

All substances have at least some effect on a woman’s pregnancy, the fetus in utero, and the infant at birth. An extensive discussion of the perinatal effects of substance
use is outside the scope of this chapter, but we will briefly discuss the consequences of some of the more frequently abused drugs during pregnancy. Tobacco, marijuana, alcohol, opiates, sedatives, and stimulants can all lead to various degrees of pregnancy complications including increased incidences of preeclampsia, abruptio placenta, spontaneous abortion, premature delivery, intrauterine death, and stillbirths. In
utero complications from drug abuse can manifest themselves as birth defects, intrauterine growth retardation, brain development retardation, hypoxic encephalopathy, intracranial hemorrhage, and other physical and developmental abnormalities.
At birth, many infants suffer from withdrawal symptoms secondary to extended prenatal drug abuse. Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome resulting from prenatal opiate
use is a well-documented withdrawal syndrome with symptoms such as tremors, sweating, jitteriness, hypertonia, poor feeding, and watery stools. These infants typically require postnatal treatment with morphine for their symptoms resulting in extended hospital stays, and prolonged withdrawal symptoms can persist well into the neonatal period. Prenatal drug use has also been shown to have both obvious and
sometimes subtle lifelong detrimental effects on an individual born to an addicted mother. One example of this is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome resulting from in utero
alcohol exposure. Individuals affected by this syndrome can have lifelong complications including learning and memory deficits and social/emotional impairments, as well as a characteristic physical appearance.
Pregnant substance abusers are often aware of the potential negative consequences to their baby from continued use during their pregnancy, which can result
in a decrease in use during this period. In the case of adolescent mothers, a decline in drug use and an increase in quit rates during pregnancy and just after delivery,
sometimes extending into early childrearing years, have been shown. During pregnancy, young women are less likely to smoke, drink, or engage in substance abuse, mostly due to concerns about the risk to their pregnancies and unborn children. Women who continue to use drugs after becoming pregnant tend to have greater severity of their substance abuse, greater likelihood of substance use among family and
friends, less prenatal care, and a higher number of pregnancies.

Tags: pregnancy, substance abuse