Interesting article of on Pitocin which is used to induce labor

[one...two...tree 2,762]

In his classic book Husband-Coached Childbirth, Robert Bradley, MD, compares the arrival of human babies by nature's schedule to fruit ripening on a tree. Some apples ripen early, some late, but most show up right in season. Along with Grantley #######-Read, the father of what we now call "natural childbirth," Bradley advocated relaxation, trusting nature, and allowing babies to show up when nature intended.

Artificial oxytocin, or Pitocin, was successfully synthesized in 1953, and two years later it was available to physicians for the inducing and augmenting of labor. By 1974 it was well known that Pitocin had a 40 to 50 percent induction failure rate;26, 27, 28 and in 1978, largely due to the work of Doris Haire, Pitocin was investigated by the US Senate and the General Accounting Office. Between 1978 and 1981, Haire testified at three congressional hearings on obstetric care, which included reports on the dangers to mothers and babies of the routine and elective induction of labor. (Elective induction is defined as the induction of labor without a clear medical indication.)

One compelling theory, presented at the 1996 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association by Eric Hollander of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, links autistic children with Pitocin-induced labors. Hollander suspects that Pitocin interferes with the newborn's oxytocin system, producing the social phobias of autism. When he administered oxytocin to autistic patients, it made them four times more talkative, and according to the patients themselves, twice as happy, although not all patients responded.29

In 1978, the FDA advisory committee removed its approval of Pitocin for the elective induction of labor. (The drug has never been approved by the FDA for the use of augmenting labor.) The current Physicians' Desk Reference clearly states that "Pitocin is not indicated for elective induction of labor." An innovative New York Public Health Law, section 2503, passed in 1978, requires physicians and midwives to provide full, informed consent to laboring mothers regarding the use of drugs during labor and delivery.

Today, despite the problematic nature of inducing labor and the lack of hard data supporting these protocols from carefully designed controlled trials, the routine elective induction of labor in both normal and gray-area pregnancies (ones not yet showing clear medical indication, just possibilities) is still common.

Why Induce Labor?

According to ACOG, "Induction of labor is indicated when the benefits to either the mother or fetus outweigh those of continuing the pregnancy."30 A very small number of babies (a typical estimate would be less than Caldeyo-Barcia's 3 percent, mentioned above) actually need to be induced for medical reasons. Another 3 to 12 percent seem to want to drive their mothers crazy and hang out inside that wonderful, warm, loving womb. No one knows why these suspected "postmature" babies choose not to make an appearance exactly when those of us on the outside want them to.31

Actually, the percentage of babies born exactly on their predicted due date is so small it's a wonder we bother with due dates at all. It's perfectly normal for 80 percent of healthy babies to have anywhere from a 38- to 42-week gestation.32 Several generations ago, a physician might tell an expectant mother that she was due "sometime in late October or early November"; today, women are given a "precise" due date, often determined by ultrasound testing. Many instances of so-called postmaturity result from nothing more than an inaccurate due date.

Robert Mittendord of the University of Chicago Medical Center has isolated 16 factors that can influence the accuracy of a predicted due date. Ethnicity may play a role; African-American women, for instance, often have pregnancies that are, on average, three to eight days shorter than those of other women. First-time mothers can almost be counted on to deliver ten days or more after their due date. The length of gestation seems to peak for babies of mothers who are around 29 years of age, so maternal age may be a factor. Caffeine consumption makes pregnancies shorter. Taking The Pill up to two months before conception can cause havoc with due dates. Finally, because biologic variation in fetal size increases throughout gestation, ultrasound dating can be deemed somewhat reliable only in the first trimester.33

The gestational age of an unborn baby is best determined by looking at a number of different factors. If you combine an accurate date of the last menstrual period with a first-trimester pelvic exam, fundal measurement (from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus), date of "quickening," and a fetal heart tone, then confirm these findings with a first-trimester ultrasound, you'll end up with a due date that is still only 85 percent accurate, plus or minus 14 days. Second-trimester ultrasounds tend to be inaccurate by plus or minus 8 days, and third-trimester ultrasounds by a whopping 22 days.

It's probably best to stick with the "late November, early December" method unless you are fortunate enough to know the exact date of conception, another way to attempt to pinpoint a due date. Medical science recognizes in vitro or artificial insemination as the only accurate means of determining conceptual age. However, if a woman was using an ovulation predictor test correctly, or her husband was home between business trips only once after her period ended (and she actually wrote this date down on a calendar), she could nail down her due date by counting forward ten lunar months from conception. Even so, she might end up with a baby who stubbornly decides to belong to that 10 percent who go beyond 40 weeks. Despite all of these calculations, an induced baby may turn out to be premature rather than postmature.

http://www.mothering.com/articles/pregnanc...n/inducing.html

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Holy cow! This maybe the smoking gun on the autism epidemic that's been happening in this country among children!

Chapter 10 ~ Autism and Pitocin Induction,

Operative Delivery and PP Depression

Several times a year news magazines and television broadcasts report on various health-care related topics that raise questions about “obstetrics as usual” but never seem to explore any of the potential answers or include any follow-up stories. For example, a July 2000 cover story for Newsweek was about an explosive increase in childhood autistic disorders, a severe problem in which the majority of these children wind up institutionalized by the age of 13. One of the possible explanations mentioned was a statistical link between the increase in autism and the increase in labors induced with Pitocin. It quoted Dr. Eric Hollander (director of an autism clinic at Mt Sinai Medical Center in New York) as reporting that 60% of his patients were the product of a Pitocin-induced labor. To my knowledge, not another word has been raised in public or in print about this potential drug connection, even thought the article identified that more children suffer from the scourge of autism than childhood cancer or Downs Syndrome – as high as 1 out of 500. I can appreciate the litigious nightmare for Parke-Davis if that observation turns out to have merit, as a lot of “Vitamin P” (as L&D nurses jokingly refer to it) is being used these days.

In the last few years, public health authorities have identified an enormous increase in the incidence of childhood autism. In California, the number of kids receiving state services for autistic disorders has nearly quadrupled since 1987. (1) A recent news report on National Public Radio noted 775 news cases, a 33% increase over the previous quarter in which only 550 new cases were identified. This brain development disorder results in a lack of normal language skills and inability to form human bonds of affection with parents and other people. The majority of its victims are boys. Many also suffer from epilepsy. The physical, mental, emotional and social disabilities combined are so sever that most autistic children end up in institutions by the age of 13. This is a tragedy for the child and its parents, a loss to society and an economic burden of great proportion. Autism is now thought to affect one person in 500, making it more common than Downs syndrome or childhood cancer. According to Dr Marie Bristol Power from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, it is a not a rare disorder but a “pressing public-health problem”. (1)

Neither the cause of this disorder nor the reason for its exponential increase is well understood by researchers at this time. However there is data associating autistic disorders with the use of an artificial hormone (Pitocin) which is given to pregnant women to induce or speed up labor (1, 2). Pitocin is a synthetic exogenous source of the natural hormone oxytocin which stimulates the gravid uterus to contract. It was developed as a drug by the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company in 1953 and put into general use in 1955. It comes from the pituatary glands of cattle and includes acetic acid for pH adjustment and .5 percent chloretone as a preservative. The lead story in the July 31, 2000 issue Newsweek magazine was devoted to exploring this growing health problem. The Newsweek reporter, Geoffrey Cowley, interviewed Dr Eric Hollander of New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine, a physician who specializes in treating autistic kids. Dr Hollander reported that several years ago he noticed that 60% of the autistic patients in his clinic had been exposed to this drug as a fetus. Material published by the World Health Organization also notes an association between the use of Pitocin and autistic disorders (2).

In spontaneous labors the mother’s pituitary gland makes an endogenous (i.e. internal) oxytocin that triggers the physiological onset and progress of labor. The hormone oxytocin is also produced during breastfeeding (causing the let-down of breast milk) and it accompanies sexual orgasm. For this reason it is referred to as the “love hormone” by obstetrician Christian Northrop, MD as each of these biological events are associated with experiences of great emotional bonding and include meaningful social interaction between the individuals involved. Since autistic disorders produce an inability to make or maintain affectionate bonds or have normal social relationships, one cannot help but wonder if perhaps there is an causal relationship between these disorders and exogenous sources of an artificial form of oxytocin. Perhaps flooding the immature body of the fetus (especially boy babies) with this gender-specific synthetic hormone from animals somehow interferes with the eventual function of these psychological systems. It is an intriguing question.

However, Pitocin is not the only drug received by women whose labors are being induced or augmented. The use of Pitocin requires that the mother also be given IV fluids, have continuous electric fetal monitoring in place and remain sedentary in her hospital bed while connected to this equipment. Pitocin-induced uterine contrations and enforced maternal immobility makes labor more painful, so much so that under these circumstances most laboring women also receive narcotic pain relievers and/or epidural anesthesia. The use of these drugs and anesthetics is also associated with an increase in operative deliveries (vacuum extraction or forceps). It is possible that the causative agent or trigger event for autism is a particular combination of drugs or certain physical problems or propensity for either the mother or baby, in combination with certain drugs, rather than a simple direct effect of Pitocin per se.

The use of Pitocin to induce or augment labors and concomitant use of epidural anesthesia has been steadily climbing for the last 20 years – about the same period that the increase in autism has been reported. Estimates of the use of Pitocin in laboring women over the last 2 decades range from 12% to 60%. However, a 1992 survey by a medical anthropologist at the University of Texas found that 81% of women in US hospital receive Pitocin to either induce or augment labor. Epidural use is as high as 95% in many urban hospitals. When one factors in a Cesarean rate of 23% (acknowledging some overlap), the proportions of these facts is staggering as virtually 100% of medically-managed births are subjected to a high level of pharmaceutical interventions that have never been approved for use in fetuses. It certainly seems prudent to research the possible association with pharmaceutically-augmented labors in an attempt to discover the cause of the rising tide of autistic disorders. It may be necessary to amend our current obstetrical practices to prevent an epidemic of this expensive and emotionally-crippling disorder.

http://www.collegeofmidwives.org/Faith_Man...Ch_10_Nov05.htm

[Ban Hammer 13,678]

by the time jinky has that baby, steven will be the vj expert on induced labor.

[doodlebugg 10]

where are the cliff notes?

[Ban Hammer 13,678]

where are the cliff notes?

here: "have baby naturally, without drugs"

[one...two...tree 2,762]

by the time jinky has that baby, steven will be the vj expert on induced labor.

Seriously though, right now, 1 in 5 children being born in the U.S. have autism! That's staggering! And so far, at least up until now, I haven't read any compelling theories as to why we have this epidemic. This is scary stuff. I took a birthing class years ago with my ex and our instructor really encouraged us to have a natural child birth because whatever they give the mother, it will have an effect on the baby. Obviously, you've got weigh in on your doctor's wishes, but I want to bring this up in the hospital should they want to use Pitocin to speed up the labor.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Mothering is not a source I would outright trust. They believe in some fairly wacko things. Just read their forums on vaccination and unassisted childbirth. Children have died in the latter forum and the conspiracy theories that go flying around the former. Get your tin foil hats ready.

homebirthdebate.com is not unbiased, but I feel far more useful source of information.

[mawilson 2,133]

What's with all the drugs, Steven?

Is your wife's name Jinky or Junkie?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Seriously though, right now, 1 in 5 children being born in the U.S. have autism! That's staggering! And so far, at least up until now, I haven't read any compelling theories as to why we have this epidemic. This is scary stuff. I took a birthing class years ago with my ex and our instructor really encouraged us to have a natural child birth because whatever they give the mother, it will have an effect on the baby. Obviously, you've got weigh in on your doctor's wishes, but I want to bring this up in the hospital should they want to use Pitocin to speed up the labor.

I arrived 2 weeks after my Mama's due date... the doc said let nature take its course

[Y's_habibitk 2]

I didnt read thru the whole article- forgive me

Pitocin didnt work for me.. I was on a drip for.. oh, 5 hours and not much happened. Every "contraction" upset my little guy's heartbeat, so they came in after a while and said WE'RE HAVING A BABY,NOW!.

a big whopping 3 lb peanut.

Autism- many children are being mis-diagnosed btw.

Im not taking away the fact that more and more children have it, but many kids have other behavior problems and are being tagged as autistic. The same thing happened when MD's got "ADHD" happy.

Just my opinion based on my experience working with that population for a number of years.

[mc2000ch 0]

where are the cliff notes?

here: "have baby naturally, without drugs"

DRUGS are bad for you, i know; you already know this, but you just can't quit

[Ban Hammer 13,678]

where are the cliff notes?

here: "have baby naturally, without drugs"

DRUGS are bad for you, i know; you already know this, but you just can't quit

i don't use drugs. drug testing at work.