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Is Oxycontin For Pain Management Safe During Pregnancy?

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Posted on Thu, 23 Jun 2016
Question: Hi my name is XXXXXXX I'm 27 years old and pregnant 17 weeks I also have sickle cell anemia ssD. I'm currently taking for pain management OxyContin 80mg twice a day or every 12 hours, I've been taking this for almos 15 years now I was put on this regime, for severe pain control by pain management. My high risk obgyn says it's ok to take it because it's unavoidable my condition needs to be control because if not my body can shut down the pregnancy, I'm concerned about the effects of this medication to my baby, and one big concern is that can this medication give Down syndrome to my baby? My first test came back positive I'm doing the second test tomorrow but I'm so scare I need to know also Down syndrome doesn't run in my family or baby's father family they told me that only older woman and family history Increases risk. But what if the medicine can do it is it possible please help me.
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Answered by Dr. Ronald Schubert (50 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
Downs syndrome

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for contacting HCM with your health care concerns

You are currently pregnant and taking Oxycontin for chronic pain associated with sickle cell disease. You were also told that your child may have Down's syndrome. There is no correlation between your Oxycontin and Downs syndrome. Yes Downs does occur with mothers who are older but that does not mean it can't happen at your age. Down's is a congenital deformity due to a chromosomal abnormality. We do not know what causes the abnormality to happen but we do know it is caused by the 21st chromosome to have additional genetic material from a faulty division of the chromosomes

Your pregnancy will high risk because of your sickle cell disease and due to the Oxycontin. Your child will need to go through withdrawals after delivery but this has been done frequently with newborns and he/she should have not problems post delivery. Your child will be in a high risk nursery though until he/she completely withdrawals.

I hope I answered your question. Please contact us again if you have any additional questions
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Ronald Schubert

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :1984

Answered : 2407 Questions

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Is Oxycontin For Pain Management Safe During Pregnancy?

Brief Answer: Downs syndrome Detailed Answer: Thank you for contacting HCM with your health care concerns You are currently pregnant and taking Oxycontin for chronic pain associated with sickle cell disease. You were also told that your child may have Down's syndrome. There is no correlation between your Oxycontin and Downs syndrome. Yes Downs does occur with mothers who are older but that does not mean it can't happen at your age. Down's is a congenital deformity due to a chromosomal abnormality. We do not know what causes the abnormality to happen but we do know it is caused by the 21st chromosome to have additional genetic material from a faulty division of the chromosomes Your pregnancy will high risk because of your sickle cell disease and due to the Oxycontin. Your child will need to go through withdrawals after delivery but this has been done frequently with newborns and he/she should have not problems post delivery. Your child will be in a high risk nursery though until he/she completely withdrawals. I hope I answered your question. Please contact us again if you have any additional questions