Addiction in Pregnancy to Prescription Drugs - Essay Example

Addiction in Pregnancy to Prescription Drugs Addiction in Pregnancy to Prescription Drugs Addiction to prescription drugs among pregnant women causes harm to the unborn child. This behavior is also dangerous and risky to the life of those women who do it. The abuse can be of many ways. One of them is using the drugs against the rules and regulations instructed by a provider or using someone else medicine. Another form of abuse is taking the medicine while still using alcohol and other narcotic drugs. Moreover, abuse of the drugs can be in the form of taking medicine without consent of a medical profession in order to relieve pain. Availability of the drugs makes it easy for most people to access them. This paper illustrates some of the common issues related to addiction of prescription drugs among pregnant women. Introduction Most pregnant women expose themselves into the dangers of abusing of prescription drugs. This abuse tends to cause many health risks to both the mother and the infant. After taking the prescription drugs for sometime without following the regulations ordered by the provider, most of the pregnant women find themselves becoming addicts. Through biological research work, there is enough evidence that everything a pregnant woman eats or drinks have the potential of reaching to the infant. Moreover, the substance ingested may have various effects, either positive or negative on the infant. Any drug that a pregnant woman may take eventually crosses and reaches the infant. This gives a clear indication that addiction to prescription drugs harms the unborn baby. Provide a brief overview regarding the substance. Prescription drugs are of many kinds depending on their nature of use. Some of the commonly types include Opiods. Most of the drugs under Opiods are prescribed to treat various discomforts that come up because of pain (Schmid et al., 2010). Another common abused one includes the CNS depressants. These types of drugs are commonly prescribed to a patient with aim of reducing anxiety. Moreover, patients with sleeping disorders may take these drugs to improve their sleeping patterns. Examples of these drugs include mephobarbital and pentobarbital (Hanson, Venturelli & Fleckenstein, 2011). The use of all of the above prescription drugs and many more others not mentioned tends to be risky to the unborn child when taken against the instructions. What is the nursing care considerations associated with the use of the substance during pregnancy? If a pregnant woman is taking prescription drugs, she should inform her health care provider. This helps the medical professional to offer necessary medication at the right time. A woman ought to provide her history on the drugs abuse and state the type of drugs she has been using while in pregnancy or before. This will assist the nurse in providing the best advice about how to stop the addiction and live healthily for her benefit and that of the unborn child. Moreover, nursing care considers universal screening of the drugs as the option to determine how they may have affected the woman and the infant in order to provide the recommended medication (Cazacu, et al., 2011). Another consideration that nurses tend to make is checking the level at which the prescribed drugs may have affected the infant. In some cases, it is not advisable for an addicted woman to stop taking the drugs immediately. Stopping the drugs at once may lead to a higher chance of causing death to the infant. Therefore, it is advisable for the women to seek medical advice from medical professionals in order for the situation to be addressed carefully. Another nursing care consideration entails that the woman should be ready to undergo various laboratory check-ups in order to determine the level of the effects on both the woman and the infant. What are the nursing care considerations specifically during the second trimester related to this substance? Exposure to prescription drugs during the second trimester tends to cause various negative effects on the unborn baby. One of these side effects is interfering with development of various organs of the infant. Some of the drugs can interfere with development of the nervous system of the unborn baby. This tends to affect the normal learning development of the child in future. Apart from the effects related to the brain, these drugs tend to cause other long-term effects on the later life of the child. For example, most of the children who are victims of prescription drug abuse during second trimester tend to delay in crawling and walking. Moreover, the drugs can cause heart problems and various other defects of the unborn baby. Therefore, various considerations are set in order to help both the woman and the infant in order to avoid all these consequences. One of the nursing considerations during this period is that the woman ought to stop completely taking the drugs. However, this would be through getting the recommended medical assistance in order to address all consequences that would result after withdrawing the drugs. The woman should be under medical check-up in order to receive the recommended treatment for her and the unborn baby (Brady, Back & Greenfield, 2009). What are the care considerations specifically for the neonate who has been exposed in utero? Some of the prescription drugs tend to pass to the unborn child below three months/neonate. They pass through the placenta. When there is an exposure in utero, there is higher chance of the unborn child during this period to be in risk of the consequences that come up with use of the drugs. Some of the risks include failure in brain development of the unborn child. Moreover, the infant can have stress status because of the effects of the drugs. A woman ought to withdraw from the use of these drugs and be under medical check-up. The child may also feel the effects of withdrawal of the drugs and therefore, a woman should be screened to monitor the development of the child and receive the appropriate medication. As a future nurse (must include the various roles of the nurse), how would you plan to address this issue? One way of addressing the issue of addiction to prescription drugs, especially during pregnancy, is to understand the history of the patient. This helps in determining how the drugs may have affected the unborn child. Another significant issue to consider is conducting various laboratory tests. This also helps in determining whether the infant is at any risk because of the effects that emerge after using the drugs. Moreover, further assessment may be important in order to check the health status of both the woman and the infant. It is also important to encourage and assist the woman on how to stop using the drugs. This can be done through routine clinical check-ups (Crespin et al., 2011). My role as a nurse during the check-ups also entails providing the addicted woman with clear and understandable information concerning the risks that emerge after taking the drugs. Conclusion The worst issue about drugs addiction in pregnant women is that they pose great risks to their children through engaging in this behavior. The most alarming issue concerns the high number of women who abuse prescription drugs in order to relieve the pain that may come with pregnancy. This leads most of them to become addicted. The best option for addicted women to do is to seek medical attention and be ready for withdraw the process. This will help them to improve their health and that of the unborn child. Pregnant women ought to take all drugs as instructed in order to avoid becoming addicts. References Top of Form Bottom of Form Brady, K. T., Back, S. E., & Greenfield, S. F. (2009). Women and addiction: A comprehensive handbook. New York: Guilford Press. Cazacu, I., Farcaş,A., Mogoşan, C., & Bojiţă, M. (2011). Safety of over-the-counter medication in pregnancy. Sometimes a dilemma. Clujul Medical, 84(3), pp.348-354. Crespin, S., Bourrel, R., Hurault-Delarue, C., Lapeyre-Mestre, M., Montastruc, J., & Damase- Michel, C. (2011). Drug Prescribing Before and During Pregnancy in South West France: A Retrolective Study. Drug Safety, 34(7), pp.595-604. Hanson, G., Venturelli, P. J., & Fleckenstein, A. E. (2011). Drugs and society. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Schmid, M., Kuessel, L., Klein, K., Metz, V., Fischer, G., & Krampl-Bettelheim, E. (2010). First-trimester fetal heart rate in mothers with opioid addiction. Addiction, 105(7), pp.1265-1268. Appendix I. Why pregnant women ought to stop taking prescription drugs without following instructions? II. What pregnant women should expected after visiting the health care centers for pregnant check-ups? III. What are the most risky consequences associated with being an addict of prescription drugs? IV. What are the most abused prescription drugs and their effect on both the woman and infant? V. Where can women find information related to prescription drug abuse? Read More