2. Read the text and correct the wrong statements.

1. Pregnant women are never prescribed any drugs during their preg­nancy.

2. Drug usage during pregnancy can be classified into two groups.

3. Pregnant women never undertake self-medication.

4. All foetus abnormalities are caused by taking teratogenic drugs.

5. The last period of pregnancy is “safe” so you can take all drugs without harm.

6. The drugs administered to pregnant women will never be secreted into milk.

Pregnancy and Taking Drugs

Surveys have shown that almost all pregnant women receive at least one drug and many are exposed to a variety of medicaments and other chemical agents during their pregnancy.

Drug usage during pregnancy may be categorized as follows:

1. therapy of maternal diseases which is directly related to pregnancy;

2. therapy of maternal diseases unrelated to pregnancy, 3) self-medica­tion.

In the first category are antiemetics, antihypertensives, diuretics, sedatives, analgesics and anesthetics administered during labour. The second category of drug usage will include antibiotics and drugs ad­ministered for the treatment of conditions continuing from before conception, for example anticonvulsants. More than half of all preg­nant women undertake some form of self-medication. The extent of drug usage is likely to vary considerably between individual women. The type of drug may range from an occasional single dose to continu­ous therapy for days, weeks or throughout pregnancy.

The potential hazard of drugs interfering with foetal development is well realized, but the extent of the danger from a particular drug treat­ment during pregnancy is difficult to evaluate.

Only five to six per cent of developmental defects in the human foetus are stated to be definitely attributable to exposure to drugs and environmental chemicals. More than 60 per cent of all foetal abnor­malities have an unknown aetiology. Few overt behavioural teratogens

for man have been positively identified. There are some indications that babies born to mothers addicted to drugs such as heroin or metha­done have a persistent abnormal pattern of behaviour, as well as the withdrawal symptoms appearing soon after birth. Heroin addiction is also associated with low birth-weight.

Though certain structural deformities appear to be related to foetal exposure to a teratogen during the first trimester, there is no “safe period” and other defects may arise from drug exposure at later stages of gestation. Not all women exposed to teratogenic agents during preg­nancy have deformed babies. In fact, in some instances the incidence of defects is reasonably low. Thus, there appears to be some genetic factor also involved. Analgesics such as pethidine, together with an­aesthetics and sedatives administered during labour, have been impli­cated in certain abnormal infant behaviour and function at birth. The effects reported include depression of infant breathing, irritability, re- ! duced muscle tone and alertness and reduction in sucking and swal­lowing which may cause feeding problems. The occurrence of these effects during the first week or two after birth is well documented though whether any behavioural or functional abnormality persists in the long term is still not established. A course of therapy started during pregnancy may continue after delivery. Most of the drugs adminis­tered to lactating women will be secreted in the milk, but information about the amount secreted in relation to dose, and of the effect on the breast-fed baby, is often lacking or conflicting. Thus, occasional single doses of a drag will probably have no significant effect on the baby, but any continuous therapy carries the risk of a build-up of drug in the infant.

j 3 jRead the text and correct the wrong statements.

[ Morphine and codeine are natural chemicals.

2. Opioids are natural chemicals obtained from poppy. |

3. The effect of opium-related drugs doesn’t depend on anything. \

4. Heroin addiction isn’t dangerous.

5. The most effective form of treatment for addiction to heroin is the

synthetic narcotic drug methadone.

Opium and Related Drugs

The opium poppy contains a narcotic drug called opium — the raw material for some of the most powerful painkillers medicine can pro­vide. Opium itself, opium derivatives (called opiates) such as mor­phine and codeine, and synthetic chemicals that resemble opium

(called opioids) are prescribed for the relief of extreme pain, but opi­um can also be converted into the dangerous drug heroin.

The effect of opium-related drugs depends to a certain extent on the user. Pain-free persons may simply feel dizzy and nauseated on first taking such a drug. For most susceptible people, however, a dose of an opium-related drug makes worries seem distant. This carefree feeling may be followed by a period of stupor. A severe depression commonly follows the stupor, and a regular abuser will want another dose of the drug to ward off this depression.

If people take any opium-related drug often enough, they become physically dependent, or addicted, to the drug. If they stop taking it, they become very ill with a withdrawal syndrome.

If they are treated with proper medication, the withdrawal syn­drome is said to be like influenza, but without such help it can be agonizing. Many drug habits are maintained to avoid this syndrome.

Heroin addiction presents a special danger. Other opium-related drugs are obtained illegally from medical supplies. Heroin, however, is not used for medicinal purposes, and the criminals who produce it are not subject to any quality controls. The heroin they peddle is usually contaminated with all sorts of microorganisms. Moreover, purchasers never know just how much heroin they are buying. Heroin often kills when an addict buys an unusually pure sample and unintentionally injects an overdose.

The most effective form of treatment for addiction to heroin and other narcotics is the synthetic narcotic drug methadone. The drug itself is extremely addictive, but when it is given to heroin addicts on a daily basis, it prevents withdrawal syndrome and suppresses the drug hunger for heroin. The addict is then gradually weaned from the methadone addiction.

Unit 19 ADMINISTRATION OF DRUGS

[ lj Learn the following words.

duration	[dju(a)'reijn]	тривалість
completeness	[kampliitnas]	завершеність
allied	[a'laid]	суміжний, схожий
acceptable	[ak’septabl]	прийнятний
advantage	[sd'va:ntid3]	перевага
convenience	[kan'virnians]	зручність
saliva	[sa'laiva]	слина
angina pectoris	[aen djaina pektaris]	грудна жаба
suppository	[sapDzitari]	свічка, супозиторій
syringe	[sirind^]	шприц
leakage	[ li:kid3]	підтікання, просочування
vapour	[veipa]	випаровуватися
lesion	[ Іі-Зп]	пошкодження, ураження

[ 2j Match the definitions with the medical terms.

1 the study of poisons	a intravenous
2 treatment with chemicals	b toxicology
3 pertaining to within a vein	c rectum
4 study of drugs	d pharmacology
5 pertaining to under the tongue	e antibacterial
6 pertaining to under the skin	f chemotherapy
7 against infection	g sublingual
8 pertaining to within a sheath	h topical
9 external	i intradermal
10 distal end of the digestive tract	j intrathecal