The effects of drug use on an unborn baby are devastating, but completely preventable. Whether you use recreational drugs on a casual, social basis or you are a habitual drug user, you should abstain from using any hard drug when you are pregnant. There are certain pharmaceuticals and some over-the-counter medications that have negative effects on unborn babies, too.
An unborn baby’s exposure to drugs may show or it may not show complications at birth. However, the child may experience learning disabilities, attention deficits, behaviour issues and addictive tendencies down the road. Although no one truly knows what long-term effects on babies born to drug users will be.
Drug addiction affects not only the careers, relationships and finances of addicts, but also has some very powerful physical effects. For women, addiction to alcohol, hard drugs, cigarette smoking, street or prescription drugs can lead to many physical problems in their reproductive organs and in pregnancy, as well as changes in mood and decision-making abilities.
Few examples:
The menstrual cycle often becomes erratic or even stops altogether. According to scientific research, cravings for the drug often rise and fall with a woman’s cycle while she is still having periods.
Drug abuse can make it harder for a woman to get pregnant, but much easier to have a miscarriage or a baby with birth defects.
A woman usually starts menopause between 45 and 55 years. But according to “Drug Addiction Research & the Health of Women,” drug addiction can bring on early menopause in the forties and even thirties.
According to “Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History,” women alcoholics die of cirrhosis sooner than men because their livers cannot process large quantities of alcohol.
Depression
They said women often turn to drugs or alcohol as a means of coping with depression, more than men. However, the drugs and alcohol often make the depression worse.
Drugs affect more than just you.
So, Say No To Drugs!