Women can be pregnant, and also be helplessly addicted to alcohol, prescriptions, and street drugs. Is this you? Is this someone you know? Don’t worry, you are not alone.
It’s a serious problem, yes. Many newborns start their lives addicted to drugs. These babies spend their first few days outside the womb going through the physical and psychological agonies of withdrawal.
This happens not because women don’t care about their unborn children, but rather because these women are fully enslaved, caught in a cycle of compulsive self-destruction wherein their personal willpower is ineffective to follow through on sane and rational decisions.
It’s really important to understand that these women are not bad people, they’re just addicted! Addiction behaves the same way in every single person, it’s not personal whatsoever.
If this is you, take heart. There is, as they say in AA, a solution. It’s called recovery, or living life fully sober, one day at a time.
Can you detox while pregnant? Is it safe?
It is possible to detox safely while pregnant, but it’s important to do so in a medical setting, or in a supervised detoxification facility.
Any substance that you are ingesting is being filtered by your placenta and shared with your baby as well. The impacts to your system introduced by a sudden absence of the drug will also affect the baby – the pain or suffering of withdrawal will be felt by the baby too.
To minimize the risk of birth defects, complications during childbirth, and extreme withdrawal symptoms, such as seizures or other life-threatening events, check yourself into a medical facility to undergo detox.
What should a woman know about detox and pregnancy?
The sooner you detoxify your body from all addictive substances and their harmful side effects, the better it will be for you and your baby.
If you are pregnant and addicted, do not wait to seek help. Every second counts, due to the relatively short and influential window of time during which a baby’s development is being determined by your own body’s condition.
The longer your baby is exposed to chemicals, the greater the risk of harm to the baby, in the form of death by miscarriage, birth defects, or being born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a condition generated when babies go into withdrawal at birth.
Getting sober begins with detoxification, or getting the drugs out of your system. Detoxification should always be monitored by medical professionals, because it is not an easy step of the process, psychologically and physically.
Many substances popularly used by addicted women today, including prescription opioids, benzodiazepines, and good old-fashioned alcohol, are dangerous to withdraw from due to the way they interact with key organs and systems in the body.
Seizures, heart attacks, and other life-threatening medical incidents can happen during detoxification. When pregnant, medical monitoring is essential to secure the life of the baby as well as to make sure the mother safely detoxes all harmful substances.
Why shouldn’t a woman attempt to detox on her own when she is pregnant?
There are several reasons to check yourself into a medically supervised detox if you are pregnant, rather than trying to detox on your own. These two are primary.
The first is that the withdrawal process can be dangerous to you and the baby, especially in the case of alcohol and prescription pills, and whenever drugs are used in combination with alcohol and medications. Sometimes medical interventions are needed, including medications administered to help reduce the severity of some of the worse withdrawal symptoms.
It will be much easier on you and safer for the baby if you are medically supported through the phase of cleaning psychoactive chemicals out of your body. If the withdrawal process were to go poorly, it is possible not only to lose the baby but also to lose your own life. A medical setting is essential.
The second reason is that most women underestimate the overpowering nature of cravings that kick in during detox. The further impact of pregnancy hormones can amplify cravings. Those who attempt to detox alone are much less likely to be successful at getting through to the other side than those who do it in a medical setting. When you’re pregnant, there isn’t enough time to try it and see if you beat the odds.
How to safely detox during pregnancy?
Detoxing safely during pregnancy involves making and following a plan together with other people. It should not be done alone as an impulsive reaction. The instinct to get clean, because you’re pregnant, is right and good, it’s just important to do it safely by following a plan.
The plan will involve medical personnel monitoring the detoxification journey, nutritional support, hydration support, and therapeutic services to help you through the worst of the emotional aspects of withdrawal.
The plan will also include where you will go after detoxification (ideally into residential treatment, or the next best available option for you), so you are as protected as possible from the urge to return to drugs and alcohol, and so that you can be properly supported to learn sobriety skills.
Immediately after detox, you will need to participate as actively as you can in a substance abuse treatment program, taking responsibility for your rehabilitation and recovery so that the transformation in lifestyle, thoughts, and feelings that is necessary for long-term sobriety can take place.
Recovery is accomplished one day at a time and never requires more than doing the very best you can, in the moment. You will only ever be dealing with the stretch of road right in front of you, which means a lot of letting go of control, plans, and expectations, instead learning to be adaptable and to take things as they come, with as much courage and cooperation as possible.
It is best to keep things very, very simple, and to keep your priorities crystal clear, sobriety being priority number one in every single moment. You may want to prepare yourself for the fact that, to stay sober every day, especially in the early days, takes commitment and full surrender to the process. This almost always means doing things you feel resistant to doing and following people’s advice and examples.
This is a temporary stage in which you are rebooting your whole life. All the difficulties of early recovery are eventually rewarded later on, with a surprising joy that you won’t be able to predict, but which will make it all worth it (and more).
Much like motherhood itself, sobriety will be an adventure – it might seem scary now, but once it arrives you will never be able to imagine your life without it. If this is you, we’re cheering you on!
What to expect during detox while you’re pregnant?
Being in the unknown is hard for all women. When you’re deciding to get off drugs, and you’re pregnant, you have every right to feel vulnerable and scared of what’s to come. We’re here to tell you that if you relax, follow instructions as they come, try to stay out of fear, and surrender to the process, you can get through this challenging stage.
Perhaps you can draw comfort from knowing that many women have gone before you into this same unknown, and come out the other side intact. Countless numbers of women who stood where you are now have gone on to live beautiful, humanly-imperfect lives together with their daughters and sons.
One barrier that sometimes scares women off from entering detox is fear of pain. Pain is a temporary part of the withdrawal process, it’s true. It is also part of giving birth. But pain can be, and is, tolerated and survived, every day, by women all over the world. And furthermore, there is a big difference between pain with support, and pain without it.
If you are in a medically supervised detox setting, there will be taper-down options for slowly adjusting to having less pain-numbing substances in your body. Some doctors may suggest medications that can help you reduce slowly, and/or drugs to counteract withdrawal symptoms, as well.
In your first sober weeks, in treatment, there will also be emotional support options for helping you to manage the anxiety you may be having about pain, fears of the unknown, and just feeling plain terrified to be a mother (or a mother again). Know that your courageous decision to get clean for your own sake and for your baby is meaningful and important, and so so valued.
Villa Kali Ma can assist pregnant women with detox and addiction
Villa Kali Ma offers medically supervised detoxification as a part of our spectrum of addiction treatment services. We welcome all women into our doors, including pregnant women.
Our programs for women address substance abuse, mental illness, and trauma through a combination of evidence-based clinical methods with holistic practices like massage, acupuncture, and yoga.
If you’re pregnant, first of all, congratulations. If you’ve decided to detox, congratulations again! We’re here for you if you need us.
