Motherhood bestows upon its owner a powerful responsibility and blessing. Unfortunately, motherhood doesn’t always come upon a person when they are in an ideal life situation. Many times, addicts will find themselves faced with motherhood and initially experience anxiety and bewilderment over how to handle the situation. The unhealthy drugs which plague a sufferer before pregnancy will not just go away because one is pregnant. The first thing a future mother might ask is how to get help for the addiction first, during pregnancy. Elevations Rehab Center is an inpatient treatment program which has helped thousands of mothers confront their addictions head on so that they can successfully give birth to a healthy baby boy or girl.
Motherhood and addiction are a toxic combination, both during pregnancy and after a child is born into the world. During pregnancy, though, addiction is especially toxic because of the effects narcotics have on a growing fetus. Without cessation of these drugs, a growing fetus may die in the womb or it may be born addicted to drugs like heroin and crack. This is something that addicts want to avoid just like anyone else. The question, then, is how to recover from addiction so that no harm comes to the unborn baby.
Treatment centers like Elevations work with mothers-to-be in a kind, encouraging environment to help mothers comfortably detox from narcotics and other addictive substances that harm unborn children. These treatment centers place an enormous amount of importance on the significance of motherhood and the life that will soon enter the world. How treatment centers successfully deal with addiction will make a dramatic difference in the lives of their clients and their children.
Treating Addiction During Pregnancy
First and foremost, cessation during pregnancy is by far the number one priority. There is a growing life inside of a mother, so it’s vital to make sure that all drug use is ceased. Treatment centers accomplish this by giving mothers a comfortable place to detox from their addiction. Some centers will provide medicinal detox solutions while others use an entirely holistic approach.
During the critical withdrawal period, treatment centers help mothers cope with a host of withdrawal symptoms, such as depression, sweating, nausea, cramps, and vomiting. Many new mothers-to-be will have to be monitored for the effects of these things and treated carefully with dehydration medications and other remedies to keep the mother and baby healthy during this time. Once the physical withdrawal is over, it’s time to get to the roots of the addiction and show mothers a new way to live.
Substance abuse is often accompanied by other co-existing mental disorders. Psychiatrists can diagnose these disorders by observing soon to be mothers in the safety of an inpatient setting. They determine what, if any, other mental disorders have been left untreated while the addiction ran rampant.
Group therapies are also an important part of recovery. Peer support is a huge part of recovery from addiction because no one knows an addict quite like another addict. Clients will share their experiences with each other and learn healthier ways of coping with life turmoil than just going to the bottom of a bottle or taking a substance like heroin into their body. Groups are perhaps one of the single most successful ways of replacing substance abuse with something that is healthy and healing.
Eating right is another important part of addiction treatment during pregnancy. More than other clients, mothers to be need to be on the right diet in order to keep not just themselves healthy but also the life that their bodies support. Dietary problems are often overlooked during active addiction. Few addicts can afford to eat right due to the financial burden of addiction and for those addicts who’ve lost jobs and helpful family members due to addiction, they might not have eaten right for years before treatment. In good treatment centers, diet is one of the focal points of recovery, especially for pregnant clients.
Getting Help
Like any other client, a pregnant mother has to truly want to get well and follow her program of recovery in her chosen treatment center. It’s not easy. But with the help of group meetings, sessions with counselors, and a great diet, pregnant mothers quickly begin to get all the benefits of recovery that other clients get. A pregnant woman is literally carrying another living life inside of them and often realize the importance of their pregnancy enough to get the help they need and leave treatment a new person.