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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Effects of Heroin Abuse on Infants

Heroin is a semi synthetic opioid drug and it is a depressant which slows down the function of the body and provides a sense of lowered anxiety. Heroin produces intense feelings of euphoria and relaxation. Tolerance to heroin often leads users to require more of the drug to produce the same effects over time. Heroin is also used for pharmaceutical purposes like relief from acute pain and treatment of heroin addiction. In some countries heroin is available as a legal drug and it is used as pain killer. When a pregnant women uses heroin, the child takes heroin into the blood stream via the placenta and thus the unborn baby can become addicted to the drugs.

Unborn babies whose mother is consuming heroin are at a higher risk of premature or stillbirth, in addition to the complications they may face after their birth. Babies born with low birth weight are likely to die in their first month than normal weight babies. A baby that is exposed to heroin is at high risk for a number of afflictions after birth, including hypoglycemia, intracranial hemorrhage, premature birth, breathing problemshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif and low birth weight. Symptoms of the withdrawal in the baby includes tremors, seizures, vomiting, moodiness, achiness, difficulty sleeping, fever and diarrhea. Pregnant women who are addicted to heroin should not attempt to stop use of this drug without consulting a physician.

Long term effects of the heroin on the infants when the mother uses heroin includes these children requires some special education classes in schools and some need to repeat one or more grades.

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