What Are the Effects of Crystal Meth on Pregnancy?
What are the effects of crystal meth during pregnancy is a good question for women who may be addicted to crystal meth and also pregnant because the effects on a baby can be devastating.
What is Crystal Meth?
Crystal methamphetamine, usually crystal meth, meth, or crystal for short, gets its name from d-methamphetamine, an insanely dangerous synthetic drug. The other part of this drug's name is derived from the fact that it looks like shiny crystal or glass rocks, usually a pale blue-white color. Crystal meth is a stimulant which is likely why it's so alluring and extremely addictive to some individuals. Crystal meth is almost always smoked but it is sometimes snorted or injected.
What are the Effects of Crystal Meth during Pregnancy for the Mother?
There are always harmful affects when an individual takes crystal meth. Always. Some of the normal problems associated with crystal meth use for anyone, including pregnant women include:
- Anxiety
- Increased blood pressure
- Increased sweating and heart rate
- Insomnia and paranoia
- Irritability
- Psychosis
- Mental and physical exhaustion
- Deep depression and suicidal tendencies
- Decreased cognitive abilities such as memory, judgment, reasoning, and verbal learning
Along with the major issues come secondary health and emotional issues as well, such as lack of personal hygiene and care, financial problems, lack of stability, and more. A major secondary issue for pregnant women is poor dental hygiene and teeth grinding. Good dental care is very important during pregnancy to avoid bleeding gums in pregnancy and heart issues.
You have to consider that whatever happens to a woman during her pregnancy also is happening to the baby. Some of these issues may be:
- Poor nutrition and weight loss.
- Toxicity from this dangerous drug.
- Increased risk of contracting an STD which, like meth, can also cause issues for a developing baby.
- Increased risk of using a second drug regularly in addition to crystal meth, such as cigarettes or alcohol.
Additionally, individuals addicted to meth will often be exposed to violent and dangerous situations in order to obtain their drugs. That's not safe for a woman or her baby.
Lastly there is always an overdose possibility.
What are the effects of crystal meth during pregnancy become almost secondary if there's an overdose. An overdose can cause damage to multiple organ systems, induce a stroke, or cause kidney failure. Overdosing on meth may result in coma, shock, a total collapse of the circulatory system, and death. Further complications that may occur during or after an overdose include pulmonary edema (massive swelling of the lungs), brain hemorrhage, hypertension, delirium, and more. Crystal meth is one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous, street drugs around.
How Does Crystal Meth Affect the Baby?
The affects of crystal meth can be devastating to both baby development and to later development.
Research conducted in 2005 by University of Toronto researchers notes that if a pregnant woman takes just one dose of meth, it can have dire consequences for her baby. So it's not just women addicted that are an issue, but experimenters of drug use as well. The study points out that long-term neurodevelopmental issues can develop in a baby due to that single hit. That is a scary statistic.
What are the effects of crystal meth during pregnancy on the baby exactly? Well, it not only causes the long-term neurodevelopmental problems, but also reduced motor coordination in the long-term. Research says that a developing baby is much more vulnerable to DNA damage because fetuses have not yet developed the enzymes that will eventually help to protect the baby from free radicals.
Free radicals are destructive molecules that have been shown to cause cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Everyone comes into contact with free radicals as children and adults, but by then we've developed some protection against them. Meth exposes a fetus to these very harmful molecules, but the baby has no protective devices and thus can be terribly harmed by them. Furthermore, fetuses are vulnerable from conception to the last trimester.
This study and numerous others points out that crystal meth use during pregnancy needs to be researched much more to determine the precise effect it will have on a fetus, but also that most research to date shows that meth can cause problems for a baby including:
- Low birth weight.
- Cleft palates.
- Premature birth.
- Mental and physical disabilities.
- Increased chances of miscarriage.
- Later issues can occur for male babies. A recent study reports that males fetuses exposed to crystal meth who later take meth themselves develop brain disorders much quicker than if their mother had never taken the drug.
The best thing for a pregnant woman is to quit using crystal meth (or never start). If someone has a problem and needs help quitting, their doctor, clinic, or even a hospital is a good place to start. Health care providers love to see healthy mothers and babies, so resources for help abound at these places. Another good resource is Crystal Meth Anonymous.
To learn more about how someone can get help for crystal meth or any other drug addiction during pregnancy visit LoveToKnow's Drug Addiction Recovery resources.
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