Coming off morphine and tramadol whilst pregnant

[Itsallinthehips]

So I told my doctor I was pregnant yesterday and he just told me to stop everything now the tramadol and the morphine just stop cold turkey.

I’ve been on tramadol for nearly ten years surely me going cold turkey on tramadol is going to do more damage to me and the baby? He just sounded like he had no idea what he was talking about or cared.

I am going to the consultants anyway as a high risk because of my hip but should I wait and talk to them? I already lowered the dose from 6 to 4 myself

Thank you

[luthien]

Does your area have a pain management clinic? If there is one it may be a good idea to get in touch with them so you can talk stuff through and work out a plan. You can't be the only woman in this situation, other's must have gone through it too.

I think it's that it'll do damage to the developing foetus if you're on the stuff both physically, mentally and hormonally. But you want to come off safely so you don't pick up some other habit that could be equally as bad or not good for you either.

I guess some people (including GPs) feel that once you're pregnant your body becomes a vessel so you should do everything for the health of the foetus, which isn't really fair as yes it makes sense but it's your body too and that should be considered, you need to have a happy pregnancy and actually enjoy it as much as possible to be mentally there for your child.

Hope that helps xx

[Itsallinthehips in reply to luthien]

Thank you for your reply. I don’t want to be on them during the pregnancy as I don’t want the baby to have withdrawals and my last pregnancy I came off them slowly.

I’m with a pain team however they are an hour away from me but I will give him a call and see what he says thank you xx

[Bezbow]

I took opiates all through my last 2 trimesters of my last pregnancy. I had hip issues and then got SPD so my GP decided that my pain needed to be controlled and was priority to have a healthy pregnancy. My baby was born completely healthy and had no withdrawal issues, my midwife was onboard too. Ultimately they can give you a massive does of pethidine in labour so the risks to the baby are low. It’s a process of risks re benefits, in my case the benefits way out wayed the risks. I continued to breastfeed on tramadol and dihydrocodeine for 18mths too. I think if you really need the painkillers then you need to find a new gp!! Good luck 😉

[Hidden]

I think what the doctor means is try to stop them both now as it's probably best for baby. I don't know that for sure as I'm not an expert but that's my take on it. Yes, going cold turkey will cause you problems, so reduce as much as possible and as quickly as possible is probably the answer. Try and get to your pain clinic asap and explain to them for best advice. Good luck and congratulations to you both on your forth coming bundle of fun.