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April 30th, 2012
04:16 PM ET
'One baby per hour' born already in withdrawalThe cry of a baby withdrawing from prescription opiates is shrill, as if the child is in terrible pain. "It's a very high-pitched, uncomfortable cry," said Dr. Aimee Bohn, a pediatrician with Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation in Whitesburg, Kentucky. "It's like the kid has been pinched." That characteristic cry is increasingly ringing through the hallways of hospitals nationwide, according to new research. "That's about one baby per hour," said Dr. Stephen Patrick, lead author of the study, which was published online in the Journal of American Medical Association. "We were surprised by it. That's a startling increase." Perhaps more startling - that one baby per hour figure marks about a three-fold increase in the number of babies born with NAS since 2000; and during the same time period, opiate use among expectant mothers was also jumping, increasing nearly five-fold. "There has been an incredible increase in the number of opiate pain relievers prescribed in the U.S.," said Patrick, a fellow in the University of Michigan's Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. "We think that might be part of the increase we are seeing." Patrick says he undertook the study after he and colleagues from other hospitals began noticing more and more babies in their neonatal intensive care units with hallmarks of NAS, which includes increased irritability, respiratory and feeding problems, low birth weight and, rarely, seizures. Using hospital billing data from the Kids' Inpatient Database, they identified which newborns were discharged with an NAS diagnosis to arrive at a national estimate. Bohn says that a couple of years ago, one baby per hour born withdrawing from opiates would have surprised her. Today, she says, it is not surprising based on what she is seeing in eastern Kentucky, part of an area known as "ground zero" of prescription drug abuse. "Women you would never guess have a problem because they are functioning in society come in addicted," said Bohn. Those mothers, said Bohn, are having babies with NAS at a rate of 1-2 cases per week, on a busy month, at her hospital. And that does not include babies who are exposed to prescription painkillers in utero, but somehow escape the overt symptoms at birth. "A lot of times, the babies are a little jittery, they shake when they first come out," said Bohn. "They become cranky, they don't sleep and they develop terrible diaper rashes." Related story: Hospital seeing more babies born exposed to prescription drugs The average hospital stay for a baby born withdrawing from painkillers is 16 days, according to the JAMA study, and 77% of the time, babies with NAS were charged under state Medicaid programs. "What we found is that the total U.S. hospital bill quadrupled over the time frame [2000-2009] nearing 720 million dollars," said Patrick. "That is extra incentive for state governments to engage in developing solutions to prevent this."
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anyone heard from that over paid drug czar in DC lately?
If only there was an all-natural, non-addictive medicine that could help.......................................
Marijuana 2012
epsom salt baths.
If you wanted to look at the bright side it would be more than double if men could have kids. And i'm not trying to be funny it's sad!
Yeah... no. I have had pot head friends who have had babies. They quit smoking for their babies.
Um, does this increase in withdrawal come as a surprise? Doctors hand drugs out like they're candy. Tell your doctor you've been feeling tired, and see how quickly he shoves a 3-month sample of anti-depressants in your hands! Tell your doctor you have a lot of pain in your bones, and voila, the pain meds arrive.
They want you addicted so that you have to keep going back for more.
Given how many people there are in the world, and how many babies must be born every second, one per hour being addicted to something at birth doesn't really sound that bad to me...
what about the three-fold increase since 2000?
The figures aren't for the whole world; just for the US.
Doesn't sound that bad to you? Really? Were you given that harsh of a start? Try some compassion you self center j-ass
yeah!!!!!!!!!!! lets make drugs legal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! know how people freak out about a random shooting every several months and they say "ban all guns" well 1 baby a minute and people try to say "considering the popuation, thats not bad"..............bwahahahaha good ol' liberals
@freedomdem
Please don't call me liberal.
This country is falling apart sooner than I tought was possible. New generation of Americans are born addicted to drugs, jails are overcrowded, war veterans are suffering from all sorts of mental health problems, people are on welfare, homeless, hungry, the list goes on and on...
I am a pillow bitin freak!! Give me your monsterz-sized jiga-bbooo schlong!! I will polish dat big ol dong!! I luv da goo...dat salty spooo...give me more of da creaaamy dreeeamy foo!
"Women you would never guess have a problem because they are functioning in society come in addicted,"
Really, most of the women I know who are addicted to pills are nuttier than squirrel droppings. A cashier job at a fast food chain does not equate "functioning in society". Functioning = clearing $40,000+ and having a door on your office at work. Anything less is a shade of train wreck. Besides, if you can do a line item budget, you can clearly see that most people shouldn't have kids. Being too high to do basic math is an indication that you might be addicted to something. Being pregnant without being comfortably wealthy is an indication of a drug problem.
Please just stop posting. You don't have a clue what you're talking about.
You are an idiot. I might not have a door for my office where I work but I get my bills paid. My children are happy, healthy and are without want. You dont have to make $40,000 to not be a train wreck. Being too high to make common sense is an indication of a drug problem you might want to get help
what?
Are you really as unintelligent as you sound?
Really? I'm a shade of a train wreck? I've never made more than $35,000/year. Yet, somehow I managed to put myself through college while raising a kid by myself. Put the child through private school. And, own 4 houses with zero debt other than a mortgage. Almost ALL of the people I know with a prescription drug problem are making well over $60,000/year with most in the 6-figure range. And believe me, I know at least two dozen who have been in and out of rehab just in the past few years – all people I work with, NOT people I'm friends with.
What have you been smoking? Gotta have a door on an office or your a train wreck? You are an Id!0!t
That's ignorant. I don't have an office, I am by no means wealthy, but I am NOT addicted to ANY drugs, not even alcohol. My daughter has what she needs because I work hard for what I have. I hope someone takes your off your high horse. I
I agree – what nutt job is addicted to drugs and proceeds to have a kid. Really, people should have to be licensed to have children before they are allowed to have them. If they have a drug addicted baby they should be thrown in jail.
You have got to be kidding. Do yourself a favor and refrain from posting. You do not know the world around you.
Funny, a little over the top, but funny. I was told I couldn't consider my self a functioning member of society until I stopped punching a holes like you. So what is so great about being functional?
Most employees at Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook don't have an office with a door, and they are still making way better than you.
You are an idiot
I hope one day you awaken from your delusion. You're pretty pathetic.
Dealing with drugs as a legal problem simply is not working people! Its time we took all the money being poured down the toilet to enforce the "war on drugs" and put toward dealing with the issues that causes the demand for drugs. Its so easy to simply get mad at these folks that use drugs that affect others, like their unborn children, and to demand we throw the book at them for being so unwilling to obey the law. Its much more complicated than that. A look at CBS's 60 Minutes segment on addiction is a good place to start.
If they do away with Liberalism the drug problem would nearly go away.
@Jerry,
And if they do away with Conservatism, the uneducated problem will nearly go away. Generalizations are fun!
What exactly does this mean: "By 2009 there were more than 13,000 babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome"
"By 2009"? Starting when? It can't be per year, because the latest super-high one-per-hour would only be 8760 (24 x 365). It is pretty sloppy reporting to give a large number without specifying over what time period it was tallied.
Stop listening to ONDCP and legalize marijuana already! This article is one more reason why women need to drop the pills and whiskey bottle and replace them with marijuana, which is not addictive at all for the vast majority of people. Doctors and politicians would rather you use these dangerous prescription drugs because they are ibought off by the pharmaceutical industry – same with the alcohol industry.
lol you beat me to it. I basically said the same thing a little lower down
There are only a couple government organizations perpetuating the false claims about marijuana (like it being addictive) even though there are hundreds of scientific bodies that say the exact opposite
While I may agree with you that marijuana may not be addictive, prescription drugs serve a purpose. There are medical conditions that require prescriptions. With that said, I do think pharmaceutical companies do need some regulation.
Tell me about it. It's not like we even need all the science behind us saying it's not addictive. There are millions of people smoking it that don't steal to get money for weed when they run out. They just go on with life as you would if you drank a few nights a week.
What happens to the babies? Do they go back home with their addicted mothers....
I really hope not.
Yes these babies go home with their junkie pillhead mommy and then they are reared up in a trailer where the only thing that is being "cooked" is meth, not breakfast, lunch & dinner. Mommy still is on drugs and her husband is the town drug dealer. Neither one has a job so they get food stamps, medicaid & a welfare check but don't have enough time to keep their kids clean & lice free. Then 15 years later the baby is now a teenager, on drugs knocked up with her OWN drug addicted baby. I use to be a social worker a long time ago and the cycle just keeps repeating.
If these mothers were using marijuana instead of pharmaceutical drugs, they wouldn't have become physically addicted (since marijuana isn't addictive) and they would have easily been able to stop using pot for the duration of the pregnancy.
Marijuana is one of the safest and most versatile drugs in existence and its completely ridiculous that it hasn't been legalized yet. There isn't a single, justifiable reason for marijuana to be illegal. Every argument I've ever heard is either scientifically false or hypocritical.
I agree, pot should be legal. But these moms are doing other illegal drugs. Pot is an option, so is alcohol but they are choosing hard drugs so your comment is just off point.
Curse this country's children... What goes around comes back around United States Secret Service and your lacky quack doctors working at the University of Michigan Medical Center. I hope heroin destroys the children and the families in this corrupt country. Curse all of them and the hypocrites working at Child Protective Services. Sincerely: R.I.C.O. Informant – Operation Mercury Detroit 1990. Happy 22nd birthday Danielle Ashley Brennan!
Where are the posts from the 'Legalize Drugs' crowd?
We're tokin man, chill. You dont drink or have never used perscription drugs in your life? Caffeine is a chemical that alters the way your body and mond function, Id say thats a drug too. But, illegal drugs you say? You ever drive 5MPH over the speed limit? Yup, illegal.
the Babies suffering are dealing with the Effects of YOUR Big Pharma america top wall street drug companies. Pain killers are dope and your companies are the evil dealers.
The truth of the matter is that the Rx drugs in question are much, much, more dangerous than Heroin.
But, since they are controlled by multinational corporations, who buy & sell governments, it's all quite legal.
The Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, William Renquist was a Prescription junkie!
He had to be hospitalized to kick his habit or he would have died going cold-turkey off of Placidyl.
Did his doctor go to jail, or lose his license, or even get reprimanded?
What do you think?
Thanks to all the idiots who advocate pot smoking for pregnant women. Only Americans could be so stupid that they think they can solve a drug problem with more drugs. Marijuana causes birth defects and serious neurological defects in children, but hey, lets ignore facts and replace them with selfish opinions. The idea that people will stop abusing all drugs and only smoke pot f it becomes legal s something that only a stoned moron would believe.
Speaking of stoned morons, what have you been smoking?
Perhaps some shredded Bible bits rolled in your H.S. diploma?
The Babies aren't suffering from the effects of natural marijuana. They are suffering from your Big Pharma America companies like Merck who deal dangerous dope by the truckload. Your Top Wall Street Drug companies are the evil pushers. Put that in your pipe and deal with that John!
herb grows wild, not manufactured it has a purpose.
Nah, you just hate yourself. Hope you get better some day.
I agree with you, John. There are too many idiots on here (most of them typical stoners) that assume that just because marijuana is a natural plant and not some kind of synthetic concoction, it's perfectly alright to smoke if you're pregnant. That's a total crock, and a dangerous one at that. I won't argue that it's nothing compared to the hard opiates out there, but you're still introducing a foreign substance into your developing child's bloodstream. What might not be that bad to us could be VERY bad for them.
If you want to blaze up, don't get pregnant. If you do get pregnant, put the damn bong down. Simple as that
You are so right, John, about the Americans. It is totally crazy to suggest a pregnant woman smokes a substance that so strongly affects a nervous system at the time when inside her belly a new organism is putting her own nervous system together. But it is also true about the Big Pharma being the drug pusher. And who, in the world, is prescribing these opiates to pregnant women???? It's an immoral world. . .
The article is so badly written tho, they didn't even bother to provide a single sentence with an opinion that analyses this problem.
These babies can be treated very effectively with homeopathic drugs, by the way, but the the medical-pharmaceutical establishment will never allow that.
Forced sterilization
Forced sterilizations 2012!
After the delivery tie their tubes
The Drug War should be fought against the Big Pharma Companies of America. Big Pharma is the biggest drug dealer of dangerous dope. Attack merck!
BIG PHARMA AMERICA ARE THE BIGGEST DOPE DEALERS. TOP WALL STREET DRUG COMPANIES DEAL DOPE LEGALLY.
Alot of these babies are mine, I apologize.
Hilarious! Thanks.
But drugs help so much, I myself like methadone and medical weed.
I would be in alot of pain without them
some stories are deep in reality, it is often those very same
stories that are hard to finish reading
any woman can have a baby, even fewer have the traits of
being a mother...
CVaughan
So, so true. I feel bad for every baby born to people who should not be mothers
Some day, America will see that it's not just Mexico's war. It is everybody's war. There's so much that can be done on the supply side. At some point, the consumers must be held accountable too. It is not a good thing to be the biggest illegal drug consumer in the world. This equation is true: Zero demand = zero supply.
Why would a pregnant woman be given prescription drugs in the first place Physicians.
It is so crazy! I was wondering the same thing myself when I went into the ER at 6 months pregnant for a cyst. They told me to take VICODIN! I'm like "Uh, is that even safe?!" And of course, they doctor said yes. Despite the excruciating pain I was in, I stuck with Tylenol (the only PROVEN safe drug for pregnant women, in small amounts). No way was I going to take vicodin and risk my baby's life. Doctors really will look you in the eye and tell you it's safe. It's maddening.
too much tylenol isn't good for you, that's why they are giving you something else.
More then 75% of the people addicted to prescription drugs in America don't have a prescription for the drug they are hooked on.
Another whopping symptom of a nation in total decay.
RX drugs are legal FYI - where are the drug addicted babies withdrawing and crying for weed? Oh yeah I forgot there arent any!!!
I don't trust any new report or "finding" about drugs, especially narcotics. The government is deeply committed to the drug war and every official report is suspect, in my eyes. We have had 70 years of the most egregious lies about drugs and their effects, so it's a little difficult to accept new "findings" at face value without suspecting a Puritan assault on intoxicants.
Blame it on Bush? Why not.
In my view the mother who knowingly puts her baby at this type of risk should be prosecuted,, We don't stand for anyone causing a child such horrific pain – why do we permit it to happen to new-borns? It IS the role of society to protect those who can't defend themselves - so let's make this a priroty – and stop the junk about "one or two a day doesn't sound that bad!" Those one or two little babies did nothing to deserve this type of trauma... and every baby born that way is one too many!
Why not live with the pain like humans have forever? Why poison your children? Talk about selfish!
Since many people blame God for babies being born with this, now you know you that it's not God who brings babies into this world with these or any kind of sickness or disease....it's the drug addicts in this case.
So much myth and misconception surrounding painkiller abuse. First of all, of course these people are high functioning. Painkillers can actually increase your pruductivity by taking away feelings of soreness, stress, and even fatigue. They are like infusions of capability. They also make you happy and even favorably disposed to people you dislike. Unlike other drugs, they do not impair. Let me repeat that - they do not impair. They do not alter your state of consciousness, your reflexes - anything that would affect your ability to do anything you normally do. From either a safety or health perspective, alcohol is worse for you than the opioid. Acetaminophen, which they mix in with opioids, is worse for you than opioids (i.e., two Tylenol is worse for you than a 10 mg / 325 APAP Percocet or 10 mg 625 APAP Percocet. Even coca-cola is worse for you than Percocet. The ONLY time this stuff is harmful is if you overdose or if you addict your baby.
I was once on opioids for 2 years. 1 pill a day. When you have to go off, and I cut cold turkey, you go through 3 days of depression, which is most acute at the time you would normally pop the pill (when you are conditioned to expect a surge in well being). But then it broke. Those 2 years were well worth the 3 days.
I disagree with you. Because once someone starts abusing, they change and aren't who they used to be - and, they eventually will have the need to take more and more at one time. It's worse than you make it out to be.
As a physician I can completely disavow what Ben says. This statement is absolutely untrue as anyone with any inkling of physiology and pharmacology would know. Tolerance, hyperalgesia, physiologic addiction just to name a few. Please educate yourselves. Look up hyperalgesia + opiates for instance.
This is not surprising at all given the number of prescription medications we toss around this nation.
yeah!!!!!!!!!!! lets make drugs legal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! know how people freak out about a random shooting every several months and they say "ban all guns" well 1 baby a minute and people try to say "considering the popuation, thats not bad"..............bwahahahaha good ol' liberals
Hey smart guy, the narcotics in question ARE LEGAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am just thinking aloud here - but, one has to wonder if drug use goes up when the economy and way-of- living becomes more challenging. I would suspect that's a factor with this increase....
Apparently, if we made drugs legal, all these kind of problems will just disappear.
No, but doctors and dentists should not be handing out prescriptions to everyone who walks in the door. There are people who have severe chronic pain that needs to be controlled. But you go to the ER with a sprained back, foot, or wrist and they are offering morphine and a prescription for vicadin. When they should be talking ice, heat, and over the counter pain relievers. Once these people get started on the narcotics it becomes very difficult to get them off.
A nation of junkies, nice.
As if that's news...
Check out the number of babies born with problems at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation across from White Clay...White Clay that tiny town that has a population of 14 people , and the most beer sales per capital in the whole country, 4.1 million cans a year..14 people live in the town remember, no schools, no churches, no civic organizations, no parks, no benches, no public bathrooms, no fire service and no law enforcement, but generates over 3 million in beer sales reach year... ...and the Indian reservation across the street, just 400 yards away in South Dakota..that has the highest rate of alcoholism in the whole country, 8 out of 10 families are effected..and death from alcohol related problems is 300 percent higher then in the rest of America ..and sick babies too...Tribal officials have repeatedly pleaded with the State of Nebraska to close these liquor stores or enforce the State laws regulating liquor stores but have been consistently refused. By the way health care for the Indians is very poor...33% of the residents lack basic water and sewer systems, and electricity...
South Dakota should put up a wall and send the bill to White Clay...And Nebraska should not elected anybody that still allows this to go on to any office..
If the United Nations ever investigated the conditions on the second largest Indian Reservation in America, or just one part of it at Pine Ridge South Dakota they would be simply disgusted...
So taking prescription narcotics during pregnancy is bad? But it's okay to have them shot into an IV line during labor when they absolutely effect the newborn? They cause respiratory distress, lethargy, problems with establishing breast feeding.
If we're going to get up in arms about babies being exposed to narcotics, let's include the ones given by OBs every day to over 85% of laboring mothers. Yes, epidural medications impact newborns as well and are a potent narcotic blend.
It's okay for mom to use narcotics during labor, but not during pregnancy?
Are you seriously advocating for drug abusing pregnant women? You talk of narcotics like they are bad during pregnancy...yet defend users. Wow.
Um, NO, I'm just point out the hypocrisy in saying how bad it is to use narcotics when pregnant, EXCEPT when in labor, then doctors and nurses push them on pregnant women every day! If they're bad, then why in the WORLD are they foisted on women and BABIES every day in hospitals all over the country?
It baffles me that we women will worry ourselves to death about what type of cheeses we eat, and if we heated our deli meat to 160 degrees, and if we had any caffeine, but will PLAN on using narcotics during labor!
While the only births I have any say over are my own, it doesn't seem to take much thought to make the conclusion that narcotics are bad during pregnancy because they can cause issues with the baby. If they're bad during pregnancy, then they're bad during labor as well.
I wish more women would truly learn about the "harmless" drugs that are given to women during labor. They are anything but.
Look, I didn't have ANY meds during my labor and delivery, so I do understand what you're saying. However, this is about an increase in pregnant women using pain killers. And pregnant women, I will go out on a limb and guess, are not majority doctors or pharmacists themselves. Therefore, doctors and pharmacists prescribing epidurals and other drugs to women during labor and delivery know what they're doing a hell of a lot more than those women who can't stand the thought of withdrawal but can ignore what it could be doing to their unborn child.
"Those mothers, said Bohn, are having babies with NAS at a rate of 1-2 cases per week..."
My god, they must be exhausted.
Nope .. the doofus editiors got the whole article wrong again!!
How about this .. and it's a whole lot more truthful. " Number of MOTHERS who take drugs causing babies to be born with withdrawl problems on the rise"
OR
How about "DOCTORS Prescribing any thing to anyone complaining of a minor twinge.. Baby's born to these mothers are showing increased withdrawl symptoms."
I think thats a more truthful headline..
What we have are legal drug pushers. Docs and big pharma should be held accountable. Where is the outrage from our supreme leader? Betcha wont hear a peep out him or his cohorts.
of course all the lib nuts want these drugs legalized so you can buy them by the beer in the super market
Idiot!
wheres all the pot smokers saying we need to make these drugs legal because its your body???
they should.
Oxycontin you stupid f***s
Now here is something the right to life people should be getting into, these babies are in Pain. Who knows what these drugs are doing to them. Time to speak up people, got any ideas on how to save these living babies? How to get the mothers off of drugs, how to cut the cost of post natal care? Save the babies, this is a cause a lot of us would get behind you and support.
legalize pot@@@@!!!@!@!@
If emergency departments would stop handing out hydros like candy it would help!
I luv dat oxycontin and I luv dem gayboyz!! I been poundin da pillz and pumpin da dudes for yearz!!
if we legalize the drugs these women are using the number of people using them will not increase.
sell the pain killers by the beer in the supermarket. this will stop the abuse of drugs the libs say
Sad 4 the babies! An its people like these moms that make it hard 4 pfople with severe pain not able 2 get pain meds.
the libs say its their body and their right to use those drugs. they should sold by the beer in the super market for good times
the libs say its their body and their right to use those drugs.
I iz a fairy and I iz a fruit! I pop dem pillz and I schlob to boot...I been polishin da knobs...I slurp da spooo from dem super-sized (corn on da) cobs!!