If you must use heroin, DON'T inject

In my meth' clinic North East England (UK) there's a poster up about Heroin going round that also has Clostridium bacteria.

It said on the poster that between April 1st - Sept' something 2000 a certain amount of addicts (Injectors) died from it.

The poster said to SMOKE, not inject. They never mention snorting, but I guess snorting would not be a good idea either! :\
 
Well snorting would at least provide some layer of protection against infection; at the very least it would not afflict one with a direct injection of septicemia.
 
The high is the same when you snort. You just don't get a rush, the onset is longer, and the BA isn't 100%.
 
Up until the 20th week of a pregnancy when the fetus is viable, any loss of pregnancy is called a spontaneous abortion rather than a miscarriage, so the reporter actually is correct.


simply put, heroine abuse will cause the death of a baby, which is not a miscarriage after 20 weeks, its called a spontaneous abortion
 
^
What exactly can cause that? Is it just a property that heroin has, or is it something that other opiates have? The reason I ask is cause I've heard of women taking prescribed opiates- methadone, morphine, oxycodone- while pregnant. Surely they wouldn't be prescribed f if that was common, especially morphine which is what heroin essentially is.
 
phrozen said:
^
What exactly can cause that? Is it just a property that heroin has, or is it something that other opiates have? The reason I ask is cause I've heard of women taking prescribed opiates- methadone, morphine, oxycodone- while pregnant. Surely they wouldn't be prescribed f if that was common, especially morphine which is what heroin essentially is.
Click to expand...

I suspect that he means that it CAN cause spontaneous abortion, not that it always will do so. Or I should hope that's what he means.

I've known several pregnant junkies, and their kids were born naturally. No spontaneous abortion there for sure. It's still a terrible bad idea, but not as deadly as the article would have you believe.
 
Right. That's what I said and meant. What exactly can cause that? Not that it happens often, or even rarely. Just that he said it can, and I'd like to know why...
 
DXM101 said:
Up until the 20th week of a pregnancy when the fetus is viable, any loss of pregnancy is called a spontaneous abortion rather than a miscarriage, so the reporter actually is correct.


simply put, heroine abuse will cause the death of a baby, which is not a miscarriage after 20 weeks, its called a spontaneous abortion
Click to expand...

With you until the heroin abuse will cause the death of a baby, which isn't reallly true.

Certainly it'd be better not to abuse drugs while pregnant, but it's not nearly as dangerous as many would like you to believe. Opiates are commonly prescribed to pregnant women (my wife included) with no adverse effects on the fetus. My son certainly has none.

What will cause miscarriage or spontaneous abortion, however, is withdrawal. No attempts to detox should be made when pregnant. The female should be transferred to a methadone or buprenorphine program immediately.
 
^beat to it.

doesn't spontaneous abortion possibly happen if u stop doing Heroin during pregnancy...not if u do it...only if u stop and get w/d...thats what I read
 
Well, I don't think it's that simple. Heroin could easily cause fetal death. I'm thinking from depressed respiration that the fetus may not get enough oxygen and die.
 
Firstly, spontaneous abortion is simply the medical word for miscarriage. It occurs when the mother's body initiates labor before the foetus/baby is mature enough to survive outside the womb. This could occur because the foetus has already died in the womb for some reason, or because there is a foetal abnormality (ie severe chromosomal abnormalities such as some types of down syndrome will result in early miscarriage) or the mother gets really sick. If you are addicted to heroin and you stop while you are pregnant, this creates a huge physical stress on the body which is why 'going cold turkey' is dangerous - this can definitely trigger spontaneous abortion.

Basically, hormonal signals, nutrient exchange, and inflammatory signals all need to be normal to maintain pregnancy. If they are not, the mother's body can trigger a spontaneous abortion.

So if you are injecting heroin, you run the risk of introducing infection which could be passed to the foetus and cause harm or death and subsequent abortion. Likewise if you od, the baby's oxygen supply could be temporarily cut off leading to foetal injury and abortion.

If you are addicted and just using levels to maintain your addiction, your foetus is addicted too. So if you had clean heroin injecting with clean needles at a dose that just keeps you 'normal' this won't cause spontaneous abortion. The baby doesn't breathe til it's born so respiratory depression isn't a problem. It gets its oxygen from your blood. However, injecting heroin (or anything) there is always the risk of introducing infection, no matter how clean you are being. Unless you are iv ing hospital morphine in a sterile vial, it is not sterile. So changing to methadone takes away the risk of infection, and also reduces the risk of overdosing, since you know what dose you are getting.

Of course your baby will have to withdraw when it is born......but of all drugs opiates are actually quite safe in pregnancy. They don't cause birth defects or brain injury like other drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol and cocaine. Codeine is often prescribed to pregnant women for pain.

Hope this helps!
 
The baby doesn't breathe til it's born so respiratory depression isn't a problem. It gets its oxygen from your blood.
Click to expand...

Respiratory depression is a problem. If the mother is taking in just enough oxygen to sustain herself, then the fetus is not getting enough oxygen. Thus the problem with recreational opioid use, not found with maintenance.

They don't cause birth defects or brain injury like other drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol and cocaine.
Click to expand...

Cocaine's risk during pregnancy has been way overstated.

nice collection of articles here: http://www.totse.com/en/drugs/legal_issues_of_drug_use/crakbaby.html
 
Hammilton said:
Respiratory depression is a problem. If the mother is taking in just enough oxygen to sustain herself, then the fetus is not getting enough oxygen. Thus the problem with recreational opioid use, not found with maintenance.



Cocaine's risk during pregnancy has been way overstated.

nice collection of articles here: http://www.totse.com/en/drugs/legal_issues_of_drug_use/crakbaby.html
Click to expand...


Ah you meant depressed respiration of the mother.....yes I agree. But if the mother has depressed respiration to the extent it causes foetal hypoxia, I'd consider that an overdose, hence methadone being a safer alternative as you can accurately control the dose.
 
That's interesting about the cocaine risk being overstated. I must admit I've never seen a 'crack baby'......but then again I'm from Australia and the cocaine here is such low quality and expensive you'd be doing pretty well do get addicted in most circles.
 
Has there been any reports of this around Leeds?
I'd imagine that the same batch would be all around the North.
I don't inject myself but do snort it from time to time. So if there's any risk of getting whatever bacteria it is (I wish they would include that in the article) I'll stick to smoking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top