Symptoms Of Addiction

The use of heroin, cocaine, and other illicit drugs has become a public health concern especially during pregnancy. Maternal substance abuse has become an issue during the crack epidemic in the 1980’s; however, there is an alarm rate of infants born addicted to heroin. More than 3.7% women have indicated the uses some form of illicit drugs during their pregnancy, as well as 1.9 % reports binge drinking (Bhuvaneswar el at., 2008; Grant el at., 2009). With this in mind, more than 375,000 infants are born to maternal substance abusers each year costing over $100,000 in medical expenses covered by the state (Reitman, 2002).

Addiction is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance. Most kids do not comprehend why

When a woman uses heroin while pregnant, her baby is at risk for many challenging effects that will ultimately follow him or her as they grow into an adult. As heroin enters a mother’s system, the drug crosses into the child through the placenta (“Heroin Addiction”, n.d.). While a baby is in utero, a mother’s substance abuse can cause a fetus to grow at a slower rate, lead to the rupturing of the membranes surrounding the baby that results in premature labor, and cause a possible stillbirth, which means the fetus dies in the womb (“An Overview of Heroin”, n.d.). Substance abuse can also cause the placenta to separate from the uterine wall leading to dangerous heavy bleeding, which is a threat to both mother and child (“Heroin and Pregnancy,” 2015). Along with possible placenta abruption, the use of heroin can lead to the intrauterine passage of meconium (“Opioid Abuse,” 2012). After labor and delivery, the effects

In the 80s Boston, as well as other cities, experienced a drug epidemic. The drug was called crack and it affect the city of Boston badly. A nurse named Fulani Haynes at Boston Medical Center was working during the crack epidemic. She explains how to care for babies who were born addicted to drugs that passed from a mother’s bloodstream through the placenta and into a tiny body. “The babies couldn’t tolerate being held or rocked, she recalled. They wailed at the sound of soft lullabies. Only complete darkness, silence, tight swaddling, and medication could soothe them.” This drug has nothing to do with heroin but it shows the people of Boston that if the heroin addiction continues to spread, more and more children will be born addicts and

The National Health Institute (NIH) explains that addictive drugs such as amphetamines, cocaine, barbiturates, diazepam, and opiates consumed during pregnancy pass from mother to the fetus by crossing the placenta. This causes the baby to become addicted to these drugs along with the mother. Once born, the newborn no longer receives these drugs which then results in NAS (“Neonatal abstinence syndrome”, 2012a).

Within seventy-two hours after birth, many infants who were exposed prenatally to drugs experience withdrawal symptoms, including tremors and irritability. Their skin may be red and dry; they may have a fever, sweating, diarrhea, excessive vomiting, and even seizures. Such

    The opioid and heroin addiction is affecting the upcoming generation drastically. There are babies being born with an addiction to alcohol, opiates, heroin, alcohol, or multiple different things. These drug addictions at a young age take a toll on the children 's bodies, they shake violently and cry uncontrollably. 1 in 10 children born in a hospital are addicted to one of the above mentioned drugs. The babies aren 't the only youth affected, there are also teens/young adults that who are addicted to these drugs. This

In today’s society people are talking about babies being born to drugs, and how could a mother do that to their unborn child. Drug addiction is a very serious issue that needs more research. We are still learning the effects of substance abuse. One problem that needs to be looked at is are there enough Rehabilitation Centers, to help the women who are addicted to these different street drugs. Also doctor and nurses should not judge these women but instead give them the best prenatal care that can be provided. We need to see what harm and side affects it has on the mother and baby, so that we can be able to understand better how to treat these women and get them off drugs before they do harm their babies.

Opioid addicted babies need treatment in the hospital setting to help them through the withdrawal process. Studies are showing what medications to use to help reduce the length of hospital stay. Today, many neonates stay in the hospital much longer than years past, this is generally due to being born addicted to opioids. The United States is suffering from an epidemic of opioid abuse. When a pregnant mother is addicted to opioids these drugs cross the placenta, causing the neonates to be born addicted. According to Hall et al. (2015), this epidemic can cause opioid misuse, overdose or even death. When looking at the United States from 2005-2011, “more than 14% of pregnant women were dispensed an opioid at some time in their pregnancy”, (Hall, 2015, pg.40). Depending on the length of medication used and timing during the pregnancy will determine how a neonate will withdraw after birth. This withdrawal is becoming a common practice and is known as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). By 2015, this syndrome would affect one neonate in 200 births. Improvements in medications and techniques help neonates get through withdrawal. I have created a PICO to help form this paper. This paper will compare the two medications; Morphine and Buprenorphine are most commonly used to help neonates withdrawing in the

In the year 2016, five percent of babies delivered were born dependent on drugs, equating to 49.9 babies out of 1,000 births were born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (Holdren, 2017, p.1). These statistics illustrate the epidemic that continues to heighten throughout the state. According to the Journal of Rural Health, the rate of drug-dependent babies born in West Virginia has quadrupled within the past six years and is three times greater than the national average (Stabler, Long, Chertok, Giacobbi, Pilkerton, & Lander, 2017, p.11). Data such as this is staggering as it is is, but unfortunately, as time progresses, the numbers will continue to rise

Not all babies have the same symptoms or go through withdrawal in the same way. There are several types of symptoms these symptoms are: high pitched cry, tremors / jittering / shaking of arms, legs, face, yawning, hard time sucking during feeding times, poor weight gain, fast breathing, frantic sucking – fists, fingers, thumbs, trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, fussy – hard to calm, sneezing / stuffy nose, tense arms, legs and body, vomiting / diarrhea, skin rashes – more so in the diaper area and face, and warm to touch / sweating (Cincinnati Children's, 2015). Infants exposure to drugs in the womb can also cause health issues such as; birth defects, low birth weight, premature birth, small head circumference, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and problems with development and behavior (University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, 2015). The rates of NAS increased 5 times between the year 2000 and the year 2013. In 2012, there was an average of one infant born with NAS every 25 minutes in the United States, and that year alone NAS accounted for an estimated $1.5 billion in healthcare spending. (National institute on drug abuse, 2015).

Most people feel that drug addiction is a choice, and a mother using during pregnancy has a total disregard for her baby’s well-being, lack of love for the baby, moreover, she is a poor parent. Additionally, the mother realizes her situation is dire, however, she continues using having full knowledge, and there are serious medical risk factors for herself and the baby.

Infants of regular heavy users usually have a low birth weight, because of intrauterine growth retardation and frequent premature births. (http://www.bookrags.com/research/addicted-babies-edaa-01/) Also if you are regularly abusing the drug, the infant may be born physically dependent on heroin. Children born to addicted mothers are at greater risks of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) as well. (http://www.uatests.com/drug-information/heroin.html) Tiffany looks over at Cassandra with tears running down her face and tells her, “I don’t know what to do? I want to stop but I can’t! I need to use heroin, I can’t go a few hours without it.” Cassandra hugs her and tells Tiffany, “Yes you can stop! You just need a little help and support, but you also have to know the risks you pose to yourself.”

Infants suffer from neonatal abstinence syndrome when a mother is pregnant and doing various forms of drugs such as heroin, oxycodone, methadone, codeine, or buprenorphine. The infant is then born addicted to the form of drug the mother was doing, then forced to suffer through withdrawal symptoms. They go though these symptoms till the drug leaves the infants body. The symptoms of neonatal abstinence syndrome include, blotchy skin, diarrhea, excessive crying and suckling, fever, hyperactive reflexes, increased muscle tone, irritability, poor feeding, rapid breathing, seizures, sleep problems, slow weight gain, stuffy nose, sneezing, sweating, trembling, and vomiting. However, the severity of the symptoms can range because it depends on the

Sometimes that I learned about the article was, that some drug addict can be very harmful to children. Some kids are even scared to be around their own parents because of their drug addiction. It also talks about how kids are even afraid that their own schoolmates find out that their parents are drug addicts. Also, many drug addiction care about their families, but need or have the urge to feed their addiction so it seems that they don’t care but in reality they do. " Substance misuse may be one of a series of inter-related factors within a family, such as poverty or depression, so that disentangling exactly what causes poor outcomes for the child can be difficult,"(Hart 9 ). In other words, children do not really understand why their