Marijuana and early pregnancy: Fact, Fiction, and Anxiety
March 8, 2015 10:17 PM Subscribe
How much did my pot use in the first few weeks after intercourse effect my chances of a healthy pregnancy?
I have been a regular, heavy pot smoker off and on over the course of the past 12 years. About 2 1/2 weeks ago, I did the unprotected deed with my husband, and immediately I became aware that the grip of the substance on me in the past year was stronger than I thought. It took me up until yesterday to taper down and stop. I am not here to justify smoking during pregnancy; I don't plan to continue until I know for sure I'm not pregnant. I am ashamed about how things went down. I was expecting I'd be able to quit cold turkey without a problem.
My period is now about a week late and I am very worried because of some studies I've read linking marijuana use and anencephaly in early pregnancy, not to mention all other kinds of scary prognostications to be found on the internet. It's hard to parse the information because it seems like the majority of studies I find, both positive and negative, are badly slanted by bias.
I know this might seem a little stilly since I don't even have confirmation of pregnancy yet, but it's keeping me up at night, wondering ridiculous things like should I plan to abort this baby becuase it will be a deformed monster, etc. I've lost two other babies already, one stillborn and one early miscarriage, but I behaved like Mother Theresa from day one on those pregnancies. The idea of a third loss is tearing me up, especially if I'm to blame.
I'd like to hear your anecdotes with both positive and negative outcomes, advice, reassurance, and/or condemnation as appropriate. Folks here are so much more intelligent and trustworthy than other forums.
I have been a regular, heavy pot smoker off and on over the course of the past 12 years. About 2 1/2 weeks ago, I did the unprotected deed with my husband, and immediately I became aware that the grip of the substance on me in the past year was stronger than I thought. It took me up until yesterday to taper down and stop. I am not here to justify smoking during pregnancy; I don't plan to continue until I know for sure I'm not pregnant. I am ashamed about how things went down. I was expecting I'd be able to quit cold turkey without a problem.
My period is now about a week late and I am very worried because of some studies I've read linking marijuana use and anencephaly in early pregnancy, not to mention all other kinds of scary prognostications to be found on the internet. It's hard to parse the information because it seems like the majority of studies I find, both positive and negative, are badly slanted by bias.
I know this might seem a little stilly since I don't even have confirmation of pregnancy yet, but it's keeping me up at night, wondering ridiculous things like should I plan to abort this baby becuase it will be a deformed monster, etc. I've lost two other babies already, one stillborn and one early miscarriage, but I behaved like Mother Theresa from day one on those pregnancies. The idea of a third loss is tearing me up, especially if I'm to blame.
I'd like to hear your anecdotes with both positive and negative outcomes, advice, reassurance, and/or condemnation as appropriate. Folks here are so much more intelligent and trustworthy than other forums.
If you are pregnant, I don't think the zygote (blastocyst?) starts making a central nervous system until about 14 days in. The third week is when organ systems including the CNS are created. So maybe about a half week of that pot smoking was not great for the zygote. But man, if three days of being exposed to pot smoking USUALLY caused birth defects, there would be a lot more kids with birth defects out there! (Not to be rude, but what about Rastafarians? Also there are a lot of women on medical marijuana out there.)
I do not, at all, think that you should plan to abort the baby because it will be a deformed monster. That is high maternal anxiety talking. Nobody is perfect, which includes every mother of every baby born on this earth. It's very likely that you're not pregnant; if you are pregnant, it's very likely that your little fishie is fine.
It does sound like you have more of an attachment to pot than you realized, and also that you are anxious (like pretty much every pregnant lady in the universe) and maybe a little prone to self-harshness (like most pregnant ladies in the universe). If you turn out pregnant, look for the book "Expecting Better," which was written by an economist about pregnancy risk factors analyzed statistically. Also it would be great if you could find a way to be gentle with yourself and to maybe deal with the pot question -- if you really want/need it, and it's filling a role in your life, what else can you find to fill that role? Find a way to take care of yourself.
Oh yeah and stop googling. No Medscape! No PubMed! Talk to your doctor, but just step away from the search engine.
Hoping the best for you and your family.
posted by feets at 10:38 PM on March 8, 2015 [4 favorites]
I do not, at all, think that you should plan to abort the baby because it will be a deformed monster. That is high maternal anxiety talking. Nobody is perfect, which includes every mother of every baby born on this earth. It's very likely that you're not pregnant; if you are pregnant, it's very likely that your little fishie is fine.
It does sound like you have more of an attachment to pot than you realized, and also that you are anxious (like pretty much every pregnant lady in the universe) and maybe a little prone to self-harshness (like most pregnant ladies in the universe). If you turn out pregnant, look for the book "Expecting Better," which was written by an economist about pregnancy risk factors analyzed statistically. Also it would be great if you could find a way to be gentle with yourself and to maybe deal with the pot question -- if you really want/need it, and it's filling a role in your life, what else can you find to fill that role? Find a way to take care of yourself.
Oh yeah and stop googling. No Medscape! No PubMed! Talk to your doctor, but just step away from the search engine.
Hoping the best for you and your family.
posted by feets at 10:38 PM on March 8, 2015 [4 favorites]
In the book "The Panic Free Pregnancy" by Michael S. Broder M.D. it says you should be okay. He says that its definitely not recommended... however:
"The two largest and best designed studies found no association between marijuana use (even heavy use) and miscarriage, complications or major or minor physical abnormalities. Several small studies have found a connection between the size of the baby and heavy first trimester marijuana use, but this finding has not been consistent." (p.124)
So I think you should try and relax and not beat yourself up...
posted by catspajammies at 12:48 AM on March 9, 2015 [4 favorites]
"The two largest and best designed studies found no association between marijuana use (even heavy use) and miscarriage, complications or major or minor physical abnormalities. Several small studies have found a connection between the size of the baby and heavy first trimester marijuana use, but this finding has not been consistent." (p.124)
So I think you should try and relax and not beat yourself up...
posted by catspajammies at 12:48 AM on March 9, 2015 [4 favorites]
If you're going to go through a pregnancy and then subsequent parenthood it's a good time to learn to reject fear mongering and people making you feel guilty about shit, because that stuff is endless.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:28 AM on March 9, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:28 AM on March 9, 2015 [5 favorites]
I was born in San Francisco in the early 80s and my mom's doctor allowed her to continue smoking pot because it was the only thing that kept her from vomiting. She smoked through the whole pregnancy and I turned out totally fine, and even "gifted" in school. Same thing with my younger sister, so if it was a fluke we got lucky twice. You're fine!
posted by masquesoporfavor at 6:31 AM on March 9, 2015
posted by masquesoporfavor at 6:31 AM on March 9, 2015
From an anonymous commenter:
I smoked on and off for a few years, prior to my most recent pregnancy. I smoked fairly regularly (every 1-2 weeks) for a few months up until I got the positive test result, which was about 2 weeks after ovulation. I had actually just smoked before taking the test. Cue very similar freaking out. I had two previous pregnancies, one which ended on miscarriage, the other which was ectopic and had to be terminated.posted by taz at 6:58 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
My son turned 1 a couple of months ago. I'm currently listening to him snoring on the baby monitor. He's gorgeous, chatty, an early walker, and generally having a really good time on this earth so far.
Take a deep breath. Close those browser tabs. Go take a nice walk outside. You, and your potential baby, are going to be ok. There are going to be loads of opportunities to freak out about whether you're at fault for your kid not turning out as perfectly as you hope, but it sounds like you have taken sensible steps to mitigate the risks here (seriously, way to go on becoming aware of your usage patterns and helping yourself taper off gently!), and the best thing you can do right now is try to relax and wait for a clear positive or negative result.
Best wishes to you!
RELAX. There have only been a few small studies on this that I know of, and they showed NO differences in the children of moms who smoked pot during pregnancy vs. moms who did not (cite, cite).
I personally know at least two moms who smoked periodically throughout their pregnancies who have lovely, healthy, gifted children. We live in a culture of fear-mongering in which we TERRIFY pregnant women into subsisting on wheat germ and organic kale. Fetuses are hardy little buggers, and pot is WAY less-toxic to the human body than, say, alcohol.
posted by julthumbscrew at 7:25 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
I personally know at least two moms who smoked periodically throughout their pregnancies who have lovely, healthy, gifted children. We live in a culture of fear-mongering in which we TERRIFY pregnant women into subsisting on wheat germ and organic kale. Fetuses are hardy little buggers, and pot is WAY less-toxic to the human body than, say, alcohol.
posted by julthumbscrew at 7:25 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
Even if you had been drinking a lot of alcohol (which IS known to cause birth defects), it's not likely that it would cause problems that early on. The embryo is nourished by a yolk sac that early, it is not even connected up to your bloodstream. The embryo typically doesn't implant in the uterus until around the time your period would have been due.
Even if you do have a miscarriage, that doesn't mean it happened because you smoked pot. Lots of miscarriages happen because of chromosomal abnormalities- those aren't caused by anything you did during the pregnancy.
posted by Anne Neville at 11:39 AM on March 9, 2015
Even if you do have a miscarriage, that doesn't mean it happened because you smoked pot. Lots of miscarriages happen because of chromosomal abnormalities- those aren't caused by anything you did during the pregnancy.
posted by Anne Neville at 11:39 AM on March 9, 2015
I don't believe that smoking pot during pregnancy is a good idea by any means, but I did check PubMed and pull a recent review article (free full text available) to find this quote for you:
"The Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study (OPPS), the Maternal Health Practices and Child Development (MHPCD) study, and other well-controlled studies have not implicated in utero marijuana exposure in any major fetal growth or physical abnormalities (Day et al., 1992; Fried and Smith, 2001; Table 2)."
By the way, did you know you can buy pregnancy tests at the dollar store? Not to mention every major grocery store. Why not just run out to a 24 hour shop right now and settle the question rather than stewing in anxiety?
Also, you say you won't smoke again until you know you're not pregnant. Given that it appears you're at least "not trying not to conceive", why not just stop smoking period until after you're done having kids? It'll be good for your health in other ways too.
Signed, your friendly neighborhood internet doctor.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 7:56 PM on March 9, 2015
"The Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study (OPPS), the Maternal Health Practices and Child Development (MHPCD) study, and other well-controlled studies have not implicated in utero marijuana exposure in any major fetal growth or physical abnormalities (Day et al., 1992; Fried and Smith, 2001; Table 2)."
By the way, did you know you can buy pregnancy tests at the dollar store? Not to mention every major grocery store. Why not just run out to a 24 hour shop right now and settle the question rather than stewing in anxiety?
Also, you say you won't smoke again until you know you're not pregnant. Given that it appears you're at least "not trying not to conceive", why not just stop smoking period until after you're done having kids? It'll be good for your health in other ways too.
Signed, your friendly neighborhood internet doctor.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 7:56 PM on March 9, 2015
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As a helpful(?) anecdote, when I went for a class at my hospital run by a licensed RN on pregnancy, the nurse asked how many people drank before they knew they were pregnant and the entire room raised their hands. The nurse then said, "yeah, you're fine."
Stop reading stuff in the internet. It'll drive you crazy.
posted by Toddles at 10:33 PM on March 8, 2015 [5 favorites]