Pain management during pregnancy

[Isabelle49]

Hoping someone will chime in. I'm a home health nurse, and most if not all of my patients are not of child bearing age, so I'm asking here.

I know someone who is in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and has had to have more than 1 ureteral stent placed, a urostomy that failed and is currently in severe pain almost all of the time. She is not receiving anything for this pain. Is this the norm? I wouldn't think it would be, since the longer a person endures severe pain, the greater the chance of developing a type of constant pain reflex. Help. Any info much appreciated.

[klone, MSN, RN]

No, not normal. I've taken care of many pregnant women who have chronic pain and are on some type of opioid longterm. It's not great, but it's relatively safe for the infant in utero. However, most of those infants have to spend some time in the NICU as they go through withdrawal, and in more serious cases, the infant will be given methadone and then weaned off that over time.