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Can Subutex cause stillborns and low birth weight in fetuses as it does in rats?
Thank you for your question:Are you (or the person about whom you are asking) addicted to opiates or heroin?Have you or they talked to their doctor?How far along in pregnancy?
The person is me i was addicted to heroin but as sson as i found out i was pregnant i got on subutex and got clean my whole pregnancy was great well thats what they was telling me but i felt different they gave me a blood test at 12 weeks its the one to see if you can carry the baby threw full term my numbers was 2.06 and the number was suppose to be 2.00 and she said its slightly elevated like i said my whole pregnancy was great until i gave birth to a stillborn on 3/6/12. I was full term 9 months my c section date was on 3/20/12 she was breached. And i was on 2 8 mg tablets a day which is 16 mgs everyday every sence i have lost her i have been researching and recently came across something online stating subutex when giving to rats at a high dose caused stillborns and low birth weights and reduced litter size i also looksed up online that a girl was taking a high dose like me and through out her pregnancy her dose was being lowered through out her pregnancy untiol she was taking 1 mg a day but they never offered me to lower and kept me at that high does all the way threw and also about the rats how it said low birth weights my daughter was 4lbs 15ozs when she was born in march well when i went to an ultra sound appointment in feburary she was 4lbs 15ozs then to but a week before she passed i had a doctors appointment where she just checked heartbeat and size of my belly caan they tell she wasnt growing by belly size and considering me being high risk in feb. shouldnt they have took my daughter out considering she was not growing and again i was soo tired threw my whole prgnancy even at the beging i would sleep from 11 pm til like 3 pm without eating it was a very hectic pregnancy but i did alot for my daughter and for this to happen it makes no sence to me and how far along i was its crazy i dont know if it has anyhting to do with the subutex or was it just the numbers was true and wasnt ment to carry her threw the hole time and the doctor did the wrong thing i have alot of questions and should i talk to a lawyer if it has somethig to do with the subutex believe me its not about the money but if it is the pills and i could prevent it from happening to other women and there babies i would love that because my daughter is very much missed....
I'm going to opt-out and ask one of the Ob/Gyn experts to answer your question. Please be patient, I'm sure one of them will be with you shortly. There is no need to reply until one of the other experts posts an answer or asks you for more information.
Is the obgyn reading my post yet
Yes, sorry, the site was having problems. I am glad to help you. Answers are intended to provide general medical information only. Subutex is Category C in pregnancy. There are some case reports of use during pregnancy but none of them show any congenital malformations, increased risk of preterm birth, stillbirths or any other such issues. Here is a link to an excellent summary of use during pregnancy:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64230/Scroll down to the section on pregnancy and buprenorphine use.Morphine is the drug of choice for opiod withdrawal during pregnancy and has a much longer history of research that shows safety regarding these issues. Subutex does not have as much in the way of case reports or event reporting. However the data that does exist is very reassuring and so far there is no reason to believe that it is any less safe than the use of methadone.Both medications result in a withdrawal syndrome in the infants. The above article talks about this in detail.I'm very sorry about the horrible outcome you had. Your physician should certainly file an adverse event report with the FDA. Here is a link to information from the FDA on post-marketing adverse event reporting:
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Surveillance/AdverseDrugEffects/default.htm
Experience: 27 yrs experience, awarding winning educator
So do you think that because my daughter was high risk as it is and breached and also weighing 4 lbs 15ozs in feb. and my due date well cesection date was on the 20th of march should they have giving me an emergency c section when the weight was like that and giving the blood test they took stating i couldnt carry her full term it was 2.06 and it was suppose to be 2.00?
These kinds of situations are very complicated to tease all the factors out. We do know that there are many other factors that impact fetal growth such as cigarette smoking, nutrition and stress. I imagine that your doctors were struggling with figuring out whether your baby was safer staying inside you or safer being delivered sooner. This can be a very hard decision making process. Usually we try as hard as we can to allow baby to grow inside a mother whenever possible. I'm sure they were monitoring the health of your baby closely, with ultrasounds and fetal heartbeat monitoring. Every day they had to judge whether the baby was doing well enough to stay inside you for another day or would be safer delivered. The fact that the baby was breech doesn't sound like it changed much of the decision making process. In such a case, C-section would have been done because of the breech. The timing of when to do the C-section was based on the safety of leaving baby inside to grown longer versus the danger of it. They had to decice when the risks of keeping the baby in were higher then the risks of delivery. Sometimes this is a very hard and complicated decision to make. It is horrible to lose a baby. It changes a parent forever. I hope that you are healing from this loss and working further through to good health and hopefully a much better outcome with your next pregnancy if you choose to try again.