Kayla Weber was one of those moms. It has been a long and hard-fought journey to her sobriety. Weber is the mother of three boys.
“I have been addicted to opiates and basically whatever I could get my hands on for 12 years. Currently, I have 18 months in sobriety,” Weber said. “It just seems like a lifetime ago. It’s just hard to picture my life as it was a couple years ago to now. It’s a complete change.”
Her turning point came here at Xlusive Services. [READ MORE ON WLWT]
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There are currently no FDA-approved medications to treat opioid, or other drug, dependence in pregnant women specifically, NIDA reports; however, replacement medications with low risk factors are often beneficial during detox. For example, both methadone and buprenorphine are long-acting opioid drugs that are frequently used to replace shorter-acting opioid 8 s like heroin or prescription painkillers during detox. These medications do still carry the risk of the infant developing neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) at birth; however, symptoms are typically fewer and less severe than those related to heroin. Benzodiazepine medications are often used in the treatment of withdrawal from alcohol, and long-acting benzodiazepines may be substituted for shorter-acting ones during detox. Typically, these substances are tapered off slowly to minimize the possible withdrawal symptoms, and often, adjunct medications are beneficial as well. Medical professionals work directly with pregnant women to help them understand the risks of medications and withdrawal symptoms, and to find a healthy middle ground. Medical detox can help pregnant women to become physically stable before moving on into a complete addiction treatment program.