Methamphetamine and Pregnant Women
Methamphetamine Causes Health Problems to Pregnant Women
Methamphetamine is drug with many names, users have given it very many names but this is not strange as this is always the case with any illegal drug. This drug is illegal and users call it crank, ice, speed, crystal and meth just among the many tittles it has got just in a bid to conceal what it really is from concerned authorities. This drug is used as a stimulant. It works in such a way that it floods the brain with extra dopamine hence stimulating the entire central nervous system (CNS). Dopamine is a chemical that is known to stimulate pleasure and this has led to use of not only meth but also other illegal drugs that induce production of dopamine.
The use of this drug is not good especially to the women who are on their way to being mothers. Pregnant women should avoid the use of this drug more than anybody else. This is because it affects pregnancy negatively in many ways and if a woman continues to indulge in the risky behavior of using this drug when pregnant then at least she should know the dangers she is exposing herself to.
Generally, Methamphetamine causes irregular heartbeat, insomnia, paranoia, anxiety, heart damage, stomach cramps and high blood pressure just among the many side effects it’s known to cause. These side effects are not good for a pregnant woman and affects them adversely here are some more was that this drug adversely affects the life of a pregnant mother.
Methamphetamine may cause Placenta Abruption
Placenta abruption is the case when the placenta prematurely gets detached from the uterine wall. When placenta gets detached from the uterine wall before labor has begun it is termed premature and it can cause even death of both the mother and the child if emergency medical attention is not sought. Normally, the placenta remains attached to the uterine wall until after delivery after which it gets detached in thirty minutes. If accidental abruption occurs, emergency cesarean procedure must be done without which the mother and the baby may be lost to death. Methamphetamine affects the placenta adversely as it constricts the blood vessels hence causing lack of oxygen and nutrients to the baby. This leads to long term effects on the baby as a result of lack of significant nutrients in early life. Placenta abruption is dangerous and therefore it is worth quitting the use of methamphetamine for.
Meth and Preterm labor
Naturally the body of a woman should be able to know the right time to give birth but women who are victims of drug addictions have their bodies disabled to sense this right time. This may lead to early labor. Scientists have not made it known what causes the contractions during the 9 month gestation periods but several research findings have found that women who continue to use meth during their pregnancy mostly fail to contain the pregnancy to the full nine months. In United States alone half of women who use this drug during their pregnancy fail to carry the pregnancy to full term. Most of women using this drug give birth to underweight babies if they are lucky enough to carry the pregnancy to the full term.
Methamphetamine causes high blood pressure
As scientists have proved, Methamphetamine increases catecholamine activity in the branch of the peripheral nervous system responsible for controlling heart rate and blood pressure. This is the basis of all the heart related problems caused by this drug; Excessive catecholamine activity. The high levels of catecholamine are cardio toxic hence causing constriction and spasm of the blood vessels, rapid heart rate (tachycardia), high blood pressure (hypertension), and rupture of heart muscles. It may also lead to increment in the sizes of heart muscle tissues which in turn narrows the heart muscles. In the end of it narrow vessels leads to high pressure building in the blood vessels. Possible death of the heart muscle.
In pregnant mothers high blood pressure can cause serious complications, the foetus is still having most of its features being developed and its blood vessels are still very weak to put up with high blood pressure.
Methamphetamine and Growth retardation
A child who is born of a mother who is addicted to meth and continued to use it during the gestation period is exposed to myriad of health problems. To begin with it is known that the drug constricts the vessels through which oxygen and nutrients are transferred from the mother to the baby, this causes deficit in the nutrients that reaches the baby and this explains why most women who continued to use this drug end up giving birth to babies that are underweight. These nutrients that the baby has missed are very crucial for its growth and this is just one way through which the use of methamphetamine causes growth retardation in babies born of mothers addicted to this drug.
Generally, a pregnant woman should avoid the use of methamphetamine at all costs as it causes serious health problems to both of the baby and the mother. Among other problems that it can cause is stillbirth. This is when a baby dies in the uterus after being alive for the 24 weeks. No woman would be happy to have a stillborn baby and so all pregnant mothers should avoid methamphetamine.
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Methamphetamine Causes Health Problems to Pregnant Women
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