welcome perhaps the doctor can talk to you about this since they are specialists in prenatal care....hugs

Congratulations on your new adventure.

As soon as you can you need to sit down with your GYN and the pain management doctor. No, I agree you do not want to be on meds while you are pregnant. I was close to where your are in a similar situation on my 2nd pregancy.

I had to go off all of the medications that I was on. The seizure med was the most difficult, because of my fear of seizing during pregnancy. I did not have any during the pregnancy, very thankful.

Two of the most important things that I was told was too keep my stress as low as possible. When the pain gets high, my stress increases. The second was to find ways not to take the heavy meds.

I have been on the Oxycontin and Oxycodone at different times. Two years is a lot, IMO they should have been trying to get you off the Oxycontin by now. Your pain management doctor has to come up with a safer medication routines to use during the pregnancy. The body's chemicals do change during pregnancy and you may be better able to control the pain on safer medications. Honestly I would be afraid of using Herbs during this time unless it has been checked by your doctor. Warm baths, not hot, to soak in. Maybe a Tens unit. They were using Tens units to help with labor pain for some people.

I do not know what is causing your pain, but your goal during this time is to get the pain to the point that you can tolerate it for the next 9 months. Being pain free or a very low level of pain my be only dreams. Keeping the pain between a 5 to 7 should be doable. Look into Biofeedback; Massages (we did the Bradly method which is a Husband Coached pregnancy and delivery. Also teaches some massage.) Lamaze definitely helps with the breathing. You will need that during your pregnancy and your delivery.

My son is doing fine. He is 27 years old now. I was off meds by the 7th week.

Wishing you well. I think I wrote a book here, sorry so long. I hope some of the info will be helpful.

Welcome to this CP group, I look forward to getting to know you. I hope you find the support and friendships that you need. Please keep us up to date on how things go for you.
-RJ

There are so many babies being born addicted to pain meds. More and more drs are taking their patients off pain meds until after delivery and breastfeeding. You do need to talk to your OB and pain Dr ASAP.

The FDA has recently increased the warnings on the manufacturers bottles about taking opiates while pregnant

Hi Ltiger,
Welcome to DS. I have found a lot of positive support here from everyone here. How scary & overwhelming for you. I agree, talk to your doctors, the ob/gyn & your specialist about your options. I do not have my own, but I worked with children for many years and I have seen miracle babies that grew healthy and good out of some odd situations.
I'm not sure it feels like the happy life event that it should be you but congratulations! (I suppose I should be very grateful that I don't have to worry about pregnancy even being on methotrexate & humira since I'm gay. :)

You are not failing at life. You are dealing with so many physical issue, emotional, and your first pregnancy. Someone here on DS told me that I am a warrior for surviving & even thriving in the midst of chaos. I will pass that on to you, You are a warrior!

Hugs
NY

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I have heard of some mothers on strong pain meds giving birth to healthy happy babies. i am just so unsure confused and scared if i should go ahead. YES i know the best thing for me to do is talk to my ob/gyno which i will be as I've been put in as an urgent patient with him, he is one of the best in my area. Its just the waiting period until i speak with him, and even when i do speak with him, i have some decisions to make. I know there are woman out there that cannot conceive and would do anything to have a baby, i understand that, and i DO want this baby, BUT i don't want to be selfish and have this baby if its going to go through nightmare withdrawal or other complications for my own want of a baby. THEN i have thoughts that I couldn't let the baby go because that would be cruel, so i feel I'm in a no win situation.

What i can tell you is, i cannot come off the pain meds totally, maybe i could reduce the dose, but my condition is agonising , without the meds id be in so much pain, the stress would probably cause a miscarriage. I was awaiting my surgery consult as my spine doc wanted me to have a disc replacement, I've got sever disc degeneration and facet joint arthritis L4/L5/SLJ/S1 this is what causes my pain, I'm only 3 weeks if that and the pain i go through now, even on meds is pretty bad, i tried one night without them and it was just a nightmare, there is no way i could be heavily pregnant and not be on my medicine, i wouldn't get any sleep, my appetite would go due to feeling so ill due to the pain, my stress would be thru the roof, i just dread the thought.

Hanging out a load of washing is bad enough, after doing that one task my back is throbbing and burning....
So i was just wanting to know, has anyone or know of anyone, that has experienced a full term pregnancy, given birth, while on pain management of opioids?

I am counting down the days to see my ob/gyno, he is in the know when it comes to strong meds and pregnancy ..

Thanks again, much love and light to you all.

and thanks for the positive kind words, RJ and NYgirl xoxoxo

There are a couple things you need to consider....the health of your baby, of course....with your issues, the chance of a C-section, yes. Making sure that all of your Dr.'s are on the same page is very, very important. Getting down to as low a dose of whichever narcotic that your Pain Mgmt. Doc, OBGYN, Spine Specialist ALL agree that is safest for a safe, healthy baby is important. They may let you be on different dosages during different trimesters. Remembering that if you were to have a C-section being on the lowest amount of pain medication going in is going to positively effect your pain management afterwards is a big deal. The more your on, the harder to control your pain.

I've had 2 sons, 1 while on daily narcotics for pain mgmt., weirdly he was the healthiest of the 2. I had a planned C-section with my 2nd pregnancy because my first one went so bad, so I was able to plan things out. My Dr.'s worked together on what meds I could take, what was safe, what dosage I needed to be at delivery, etc. The dosages were different per Trimester.

It probably feels totally overwhelming and like too much to work out, but you have to trust that your Dr.'s know what's best and safest for your baby and you. There probably will be a period where your having to deal with more pain than you like, but pregnancy for CP'ers is often about sacrifice. Knowing that it's not forever and only lasts a few months and at the end you have that pink, healthy baby...that's the payoff and what you have to keep in your mind.

Parenting-good parenting- is many years of self-sacrifice and pain of various kinds. And all worth it.

Hope you get good support. And lots of rest.

Amen Tikka!!!

You are in such a difficult position...I don't envy you.
There is not enough research data to make a strong conclusion about what the consequences are.
My mind is made up because my best friend adopted two children who were born to parents who took narcotics.

I wish you all the best and I hope you have a happy, healthy baby!

Aronia, thank you for your input. I understand what you're saying. My med is a Class B med in pregnancy, it doesnt cause birth defects but can cause withdrawal and possible anxiety later in life. first trimester is usually fine, but really need to see my ob/gyno, to talk about this matter, as its a very hard time for me :( as i was due for spine surgery and then fell pregnant in the mean time. Aronia may i ask what the children are like? xx

Hi, welcome to the group & congratulations. While I did not have a child of my own I did adopt my son when he was 11yrs old & his biological mom used drugs all through her pregnancy, thankfully he suffered no withdrawls and was born perfectly healthy. My niece didn't know she was even pregnant until she was almost 12wks along as she was hooked on meth. Thankfully she was able to get off of it and my greatnephew was born perfectly healthy. Then you have moms who do everything right and their baby is born with many issues. My point is it can go either way. That said:

You have many things going for you. The first being there are many really good high risk Obgyn's that can help you navigate what is best for you & your baby. I just had my 10th back surgery, my first three were on the exact discs that your having issues with. I will tell you, you are capable of handling more than you think. Before my third surgery with all my meds combined on was on the equivalent of you taking 247 percocet a day. I went to my pm dr and told him I wanted off all of my meds as I felt it was masking some of my symptoms. I got off all my meds and stayed off of them for over six months so I could see/feel what was really going on with me. I managed the pain with accupuncture, self hypnosis, guided imagery just to name a few. There are many, many alternative treatments out there besides opiod's the biggest hurdle you face is being open to trying these modalities.

I should add I am a chronic insomniac and have been since I was a kid. Yes pain had me up and down all night, but then I discovered self hypnosis for sleep. Go to YouTube and type in self hypnosis or guided imagery for sleep and also for pain. It may take a few times listening to them but they do work. Another great program you can get is Calm.com there are great sessions for sleep, anxiety, stress etc. the sessions are 2,4,10min long its up to you on how long you want to listen. I purchased all of their sessions for $9.99, you don't need to do that as they have their free ones, I just wanted more choices.

I know you are scared, confused, worried & happy all at the same time. As the others have said the first thing you need to do is speak with your drs. Just know you are stronger than you think, surviving the pain from those discs is more than possible even without meds. One of the biggest hurdles you need to get over is the fear of the pain, I'm not saying its a piece of cake, but I am saying it's doable. Please keep us posted on how you are doing. Sorry this turned into a novel.

Hugs & God bless
Lisa

LTiger,

Your post seriously caught my eye because 3.5 years ago I was in almost the same exact position that you are in now. I live with all consuming daily chronic pain in my leg/knee and back from sports injuries leading to surgeries leading to problems resulting in the pain I live with now. I was taking Avinza, norco, trazodone, Celebrex, and Zoloft when I got pregnant with my daughter. It was 100% a planned pregnancy but because of how debilitating the pain is, I didn't wean or stop taking any of my medication prior to getting pregnant because I didn't know how long it would take to conceive and I we wanted to have a child more than anything in the world and I know that if my pain had been any less stabilized or controlled (not good...but managed better than without the medications) I wouldn't have been strong enough to try to get pregnant or feel like I could be a mommy once we got preggy and had a baby. BUT, I did talk to all of my doctors that I work with for pain, plus my OB to discuss exactly what my situation was...the medicines I was taking, etc because I wanted to be 110% honest with everyone to make sure that there ALL of us knew that my first priority was taking care of my baby and having as healthy of a pregnancy as I could without jeapordizing my baby but while still helping myself enough to basically just make it through and survive the 9 months that I was carrying baby.

One of my doctors that I have been with for years whom understands the severity of my situation and the importance of managing my pain told me that unfortunately this is a hard situation...and one that isn't super common, so it's really important to have an OB that thoroughly understands the impact of your pain and will work with you without judgement, but with compassion and understanding your struggle while educating you and helping you keep your baby as safe and healthy as humanly possible. The OB I was with when I first got pregnant was (rightfully and totally understandably so) conservative and pretty straight laced -- I could tell that she really could not understand the gravity of my struggle with pain (again...I get it) and wasn't very supportive of my overall situation. So luckily my other doctor referred me to anoth OB that he knew that was excellent but also wouldn't judge and would still be very honest and not condone anything that wasn't good for baby or mommy, but was more open minded. My husband and I went to him (the second OB...the one that delivered my daughter) and explained everything to him right away. Bottom line is that he took the time and educated us and shared examples and experiences in reference to other pregnant women taking medications.

I'm anxious as is and I could not bring myself to look online to read about taking norco and other pain mess during pregnancy because I was terrified that I would mostly see people shaming it...people that don't know what us chronic painers are going through. So again, with the support of my family and doctors we weighed all the pros and cons to come to the conclusion that I would continue to take norco -- I weaned down to 6 10/325s a day -- and then 6 weeks before my due date I got off everything just to make sure that my daughter didn't come out dependent or "addicted" and with a clean system. 6 weeks was suggested by my OB as enough time to endure clean mommy and clean baby just to be on the safe side because I had taken it for so long. BUT, my OB didn't at all push us into that decision...he actually said that really all that might happen if I continued he mess through having my daughter is that she might be more sleepy and kinda lethargic but still healthy. I suuuuuch an overly nervous person in general and I just thought "okay....make it through the pregnancy, 8 months, then try to suck it up and just survive the last leg knowing that my daughter would be there soon and then I could take anything and everything I needed to again. Remember...there are no studies at all showing any sort of long term effects for babies born to mothers taking these pain mess....just the immediate after birth "withdrawal" potential. And I'm just going to be completely honest that scared me enough to stop and clean my system for her towards the end (ended up being only 4 weeks cause she came 2 weeks early...yay!) and she was almost 9 lbs and super healthy and perfect with absolutely nooooooo side effects!!! Then (I know this will be judged my some but in has to own the decision because it was either die in pain or take my meds and be a mommy) I nursed my daughter for 3 years...yes 3!...all while taking my norco and just from the natural weaning off of breast feeding there was not one issue whatsoever! I thank god (I'm not religious but just so freaking thankful) that things went as great as they did, but there was so much trepidation and nervousness about whether I was doing the right thing and everything was absolutely perfect I the end.

That last month of pregnancy SUCKED beyond words...I was miserable and hurt and sad and scared but I got through because I knew what was on the other side.

Just be honest with everyone and always put your baby first...BUT u have to help yourself and be able to live through to actually have baby in the end. You are beyond strong and amazing and already a better mother than most because of your concern and thoughtfulness....just own your decision to take meds (or not) but don't be scared because i promise your baby will be happy and healthy and you will not even believe the miracle that is coming.

Keep it up mommy...and please please PM me if you want to talk or want to know more about my situation because I have sooo much more to share and support with u of you would like! You are not alone...this is scary and shitty but you are doing great I promise you!!!