smoking pot while pregnant.. is it safe? - Page 15

[Theoretica]

Originally Posted by readytobedone

maybe because MJ isnt physically addictive

Entirely my point

[MyZoeJane]

Originally Posted by JacquelineR

What I saw you say is the opposite of what I heard from the time I got diagnosed, Talula Fairie, hence my last comment. I'm sorry that you were hurt by my words, it was not my intention, but I will not change the comment since that is still how I see it since that was my experience.
At no point did I say anyone was "the definition of mental illness". What I did say is that telling someone to keep doing something that's obviously not working is the definition of mentally ill.
I still don't feel that I was disrespectful towards you. I do think there was some misunderstanding though about what I said.

How could someone NOT be confused by what you said here? I know the phrase that you're trying to quote:

"The definition of mentally ill [insanity] is when that person continues to do the same thing while expecting different results."

But that is NOT what you inferred at all!

[AmberLynn]

My mother smoked pot with both myself and my younger sister. We were both in perfect health and never experienced even ONE severe or even slightly serious illness our entires lives. I also never even suffered a cavity! I have never broken a bone, and both my sister and I have higher than average test scores and IQ levels. We were ahead of our classes, and even though 12 years apart (and my sister being a homebirth to my mother of 33 with no prenatal testing or so much as a midwifes visit until her 7th month) are very VERY intune with each other and our mother.
I don't smoke, however. But if I decided I would want to, that would be entirely my choice based on my own experience. I am not saying every child will be as lucky as my sister and I , but with our cousins, and close family friends being perfectly healthy as well I can only speak from my own life.
Every mother is free to make her own decisions on the well being of her child, unborn or not. I don't understand the uppity opinions people have sometimes based entirely on public opinion rather than personal.
Sorry if this comes off as harsh, and this will always be an incredibly heated debate, but in my own opinion smoking pot is not going to harm your baby (unless your smoking is literally a habit not unlike smoking cigarettes, and you are breathing in smoke more often than oxygen!!!! ahah)

[simplykate]

I have to say that I was so sick for the first four months of pregnancy, that if I had kept feeling like that I was thinking about getting hold of some pot to see if it helped. I've only tried it once or twice during my college years, as it never held much attraction for me. I was at the point that I believe it would have been healthier to smoke pot and feel better than to be so sick as to not be able to eat or move for five more months. Of course I would have researched it more, but I think I would have felt more comfy with that than with a highly chemical prescription drug. That being said, I'm from the camp that believes in moderation. I've taken baths all during pregnancy as a form of pain control, HAD to take tylenol as a form of pain control, AND I drink a cup of coffee a day ( that started as a form of pain control too). My midwife approved all of these.
I would TOTALLY and COMPLETELY understand someone who chose to smoke pot for something like HG. If you haven't been there you just don't know how insanely horrible it is!
Just my two cents

[readytobedone]

Originally Posted by Mommal

I'm curious:

1. What sort of marijuana use is acceptable in pregnancy? Only therapeutic, or is recreational use also acceptable?

well, personally i think if one is morally okay, the other has to be too. i mean, assuming you are using mairjuana in similar ways, at similar dosages. because to say taking 2 tokes twice a week is fine if you're throwing up a lot otherwise, but it's not if you're just nauseated all the time...i mean, really. who cares? if it's safe in moderate amounts, it's safe. and to stigmatize the "recreational" users is just puritanical nonsense.
2. For those of you who use pot, how did you determine what level of use was “safe” during pregnancy?
despite being fine with pot use during pregnancy, i actually haven't used it.
3. What sort of pot do you use? Home-grown, or just what the market has to offer? If you don’t use organic home-grown pot, are you at all concerned about what it might be contaminated with?
i think the argument that pot is only okay when you know the source 100%, blah blah blah, is kind of ridiculous. great in theory, but almost impossible to live that way. most people don't know the source of their sushi grade tuna, but if they're told it's sushi grade tuna by a reputable tuna dealer (aka grocer, fish market person), then they trust that.

4. Why would a drug derived from an herb be safer than medications synthesized in a lab? Do you think that man-made molecules are inherently less safe than those derived from natural sources?
i have no opinion on what's safer between a drug derived from pot and pot itself. i just say, since pot is safe, why bother making a drug, unless it's just to placate people who are tsk-tsking anyone getting "high."

I have no quibble with those who say that pot is useful in treating their hyperemesis or their anxiety or whatever debilitating condition they’re suffering from. Nor do I think- on a gut level- that pot is particularly dangerous. But to me it seems hypocritical to claim that marijuana is indisputably safe during pregnancy when:

1. You have no idea what it might be contaminated with (unless you grew it yourself).

what do you think it is generally contaminated with? and let me ask, if pot is usually full of like clorox, then how on earth could a drug dealer keep selling bad pot? wouldn't his clientele go find better pot elsewhere? just sayin. if you go to a reputable source, or one you've used or someone you know has used, you don't really need to worry about bad stuff. the dealer samples it, believe me
2. No one really knows what pot does to the developing fetus.
i don't know what string cheese does to fetuses either. or fox news. or snickers bars.

3. Some of the studies on how pot affects adult people are mixed, with some finding negative health impacts. Would anyone defend aspirin as ardently as some here have defended pot if the data on safety were as mixed?

Just to illustrate that final point, some more anti-pot study abstracts follow:

- Effects of frequent marijuana use on memory-related regional cerebral blood flow. Block et. al. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. Vol. 72, Iss. 1-2. May 2002, Pages 237-250. Concludes that there are “altered memory-related brain function in marijuana users.”

- Cannabis use and risk of psychotic or affective mental health outcomes: a systematic review. Moore et. al. Lancet. 2007 Jul 28;370(9584):319-28. Found “increased risk of psychotic outcomes independently of confounding and transient intoxication effects” and despite “uncertainty about whether cannabis causes psychosis [which] is unlikely to be resolved by further longitudinal studies” was able to “conclude that there is now sufficient evidence to warn young people that using cannabis could increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life.”

- Heavy marijuana users show increased serum apolipoprotein C-III levels: evidence from proteomic analyses. Jayanthi et. al. Psychiatry 13 May 2008. Found that marijuana use was associated with increased levels of a protein associated with cardiovascular risks.

i think most studies showing MJ in moderation has ill effects are completely bogus.* yeah, i just said that and i'm not even a pothead--haven't partaken in nearly 3 years, since before conceiving DD.

*well, almost completely bogus. i totally get the angle of it makes some people's depression/anxiety worse, some better. or schizophrenia, it can be dangerous. i feel ya! but for a normal person, i just don't think it's bad for you, physically speaking. can be bad mentally speaking (as in psychologically addictive), but then again, so is the SIMS!!!

[readytobedone]

Originally Posted by Theoretica

Entirely my point

oh yeah, mama, i knew you knew that. i was just saying it for the benefit of others who seem confused!

[Talula Fairie]

Originally Posted by readytobedone

do you/have you actually used marijuana? because lemme tell you, all the times i ever ate it, i got WAAAAY more effed up than when i smoked. i would not want to be that "altered" while pregnant.

I think that's definitely true as when you eat MJ your liver converts it into a substance that's a hallucinogen.

That said, it DOES depend on how much you ingest, and how the item was prepared. When I was a teen, I've ate a small pot cookie before and wasn't messed up at all. Another time, I ate a huge pot brownie and was very altered.

[OmJaya]

I would prefer not to smoke Herb during pregnancy, to take good care of my health. I vaporize. You can also make very nice tinctures out of it, a very nice way to use it healthfully, medicinally...and use the proper dosages so you don't have to get "effed up" if that's not your intention. I have epilepsy and am using it medicinally for that disorder.

[Talula Fairie]

A pot tincture! That's brilliant! Why did I not think of that? (not that I smoke pot, but if I were going to use it medicinally....that's a great idea). If only it were legal.

[Sailor]

Safe compared to what?

Cigarettes - yep, pot is safer. Alcohol - well, I'm from Europe, no one stops drinking just because they're pregnant. A glass of wine here and there is both safe and normal. A whole continent can't be wrong.

Otherwise, I haven't read anything about pot smoking being harmful to the baby.

Would I do it? No. But, I smoke pot like once a year, maybe. So it's not like I'd be sacrificing anything.

[LionessMom]

everything i have read says it is perfectly safe in moderation. smoking is smoking though. the smoke itself has stuff in it. although it has a lot less stuff than cigarette smoke. have you ever read about how many man made chemicals are in cigarettes? its crazy!

I reccomend a vaporizer if you can afford it. if you cant, then use in moderation. I also reccomend quitting at least 2 months before birth if you live in a state where they test babies first poop. in my state, if you have any posession charges or CPS cases, they will automatically test babies first poop.

[imagine21]

I haven't read all the responses but I had to chime in. I have a cannabis perscription for anxiety, pain and PMS issues since 215 went into effect in California. I have medical records that I kept myself dating back to when I was 16 years old. I am a responsible adult, two children and have been a teacher and married to the same man for 18 years. I smoked during both my pregnancies, but only when necessary. The severe anger and anxiety that I experienced were not good for me or the baby in both cases. In limited amounts, the cannibis was very helpful. In one case in particular, after my amniocentisis with my second child, I was on bed rest for 48 hours. I felt fine but when I eventually got vertical, I began to experience severe cramping and was afraid that I would have yet another miscarriage. I had had two in the previous 8 months. At 38 years old, the fear and stress, with the cramping caused a situation that could have resulted in a trip to the ER and many unnecessary interventions that would have been far more dangerous to the baby than the cannabis. Twenty minutes after vaporizing cannabis, I felt fine. The cramping stopped, the anxiety stopped and the fear subsided. I have read the studies about Jamaican women, I have read the lists of drugs that are considered "safe" during pregnancy and my opinion is that the ability to self regulate the dosage of cannabis makes it the more attractive option from a medicinal perspective.

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Now that I've read all of the posts, I'm saddened that people are so seemingly angry at one another over this issue. We all make different birthing and parenting choices. I disagree with all sorts of things that other mothers do and perhaps they disagree with my choices. Yet I'd like to believe that we all have our children's best interests at heart. Also, we are all empirical beings, have experienced all sorts of different lives and have divergent reactions to those experiences. Tempers here have flared and not for the best reasons. I would hope that we could all find a way to agree to disagree rather than pass judgement and make assumptions when we have not "walked in another's shoes." If we had, perhaps we would make alternative choices as well.