Why is Pitocin so bad?

[KimmyShaw]

Just wondering why or how Pitocin can be bad, does anyone know the negative affects of it? I know I can google it but I was about to make breakfast and saw the other post about inducing. :P

[my5]

[KyliesMom5]

 It caused me to have back labor which is very painful

[edwardsgirl]

It can overstimulate a uterus; causing more intense contractions and fetal distress . 

[kk_bella]

These are some of the adverse reactions listed on the product insert.

Anaphylactic reaction
Postpartum hemorrhage
Cardiac arrhythmia
Fatal afibrinogenemia
Hypertensive episodes
Nausea
Vomiting
Premature ventricular contractions
Pelvic hematoma
Subarachnoid hemorrhage
Hypertensive episodes
Rupture of the uterus

uterine hypertonicity, spasm, tetanic contraction, or rupture of the uterus.

The possibility of increased blood loss and afibrinogenemia should be kept in mind when administering the drug.

Severe water intoxication with convulsions and coma has occurred, associated with a slow oxytocin infusion over a 24-hour period. Maternal death due to oxytocin-induced water intoxication has been reported.

The following adverse reactions have been reported in the fetus or neonate:

Due to induced uterine motility:

Bradycardia
Premature ventricular contractions and other arrhythmias
Permanent CNS or brain damage
Fetal death
Neonatal seizures have been reported with the use of Pitocin.

Due to use of oxytocin in the mother:

Low Apgar scores at five minutes
Neonatal jaundice
Neonatal retinal hemorrhage

What is not listed here is death.

Pitocin is an artificial reprduction of oxytocin which is produced naturally in the body. When you are induced with pitocin, your body will no longer make the natural form of oxytocin, which is the hormone that starts labor and is also responsible for regulating postpartum hormones.

Physiological Effects

In a matched-sample comparison of home and hospital labors (Mehl et al. 1977), the hospital labors were shown to be considerably shorter, most probably as a result of the combination of interventions designed to speed labor, including amniotomy, pitocin, fundal pressure, forced pushing, and forceps and Cesarean deliveries. Pitocin augmentation certainly plays a major role in shortening labor, the greatest risk from which is to the fetus: the increased pressure of the contractions can, and often does, compress the umbilical cord and cut down the baby's oxygen supply:
Dr. Roberto Caldeyro-Barcia has demonstrated that uterine contractions stimulated with pitocin reach over 40 mm Hg pressure on the fetal head. The quality and quantity of uterine contractions are greatly affected when oxytocin is infused. The contractions tend to be longer, stronger, and with shorter relaxation periods between....With each uterine contraction, blood supply to the uterus is temporarily shut off. If deprived of blood supply, a fetal bradycardia (decreased fetal heart-rate deceleration) follows with oxygen deprivation and cerebral ischemia causing the grave possibility of neurological sequellae. Truly the fetus has been challenged, and the EFM dutifully records the stressed fetal heart rate. With suspicions confirmed, a diagnosis of fetal distress is noted and elective Cesarean section is the treatment of choice (Ettner 1977:153).

To this warning, the authors of the l8th edition of Williams add their voices: "Oxytocin is a powerful drug, and it has killed or maimed mothers through rupture of the uterus and even more babies through hypoxia from markedly hypertonic uterine contractions" (Cunningham et al. 1989:345). These authors go on to urge careful administration of the lowest possible amount of pitocin in order to avoid the tetanic contractions that can cause uterine rupture, and to insist that once the drip is started, the mother should never be left alone. Obviously the potential for abuse here is high: twelve of the women in my study reported that they were left alone for extended periods after a pitocin infusion had been started. (Three of them did experience long "tetanic" contractions, usually resulting from too much pitocin suddenly flowing into their vein when the nurse jiggled the bag or straightened out the plastic tube.)

Aside from their risks of uterine rupture and decreased oxygen supply to the baby, the increased pain for the mother of the pitocin-induced contractions, which are often double-peaked and back-to-back with little or no rest time in between (a function of the amount of the pitocin being administered), is likely to increase her stress and anxiety levels as well, and to cause her to repeatedly request increased pain medication. Moreover, pitocin is a strong antidiuretic, even at low doses; its combination with the IV fluids administered to fasting women can result in water intoxication, which itself heightens the woman's risk of pulmonary edema in those rare instances of gastric aspiration (Cunningham et al 1989:344; McKay and Mahan 1988:214).
Women's Responses

All the women in my study who were given pitocin reported increased pain from the pitocin-induced contractions. Some were able to keep on with their Lamaze breathing techniques (discussed as mediating rituals in Chapter 4) without any pain medication, whereas others called for analgesia soon after the administration of the pitocin. Some felt grateful that their labors had been shortened; others would have preferred less stress and a slower pace:

I was glad to have the pitocin--anything to get the whole thing over with as fast as possible.
-Laura Parker

Once they put me on the pitocin, it was all over for me. The pain was unbearable. I couldn't wait to have the Cesarean--at least it would get me out of that misery.
-Lisa Smith

I needed the pit drip. My uterus just wasn't doing anything. I might have lain there forever with nothing happening, and then they would have cut me, because my waters had already broken. Given that the hospital was only going to give me 24 hours to dilate, I was glad for the chance the pitocin gave me to have a vaginal birth.
-Donna Chapman
Ritual Purposes

Under the technocratic model, time--mechanical and linear, is viewed as being measurable in discrete, almost weighable units, so we say that something should take place within a specific "amount" of time (Lee 1980; Ornstein 1972). As the process that reproduces society, birth must set the standard for the general cultural handling of time: birth must be culturally shaped to occur within a specific amount of time, just as must the production of any factory good. When a woman's labor fails to conform to production timetables (labor time charts), it will be speeded up with pitocin:
At Doctor's Hospital we use [Friedman's] chart of labor, a curve developed by Dr. [Emmanuel E. Friedman] which defined on a graph how a labor should progress. Each woman's chart has a blank graph of hours and of centimeters of cervical dilation which we must record approximately hourly in order to evaluate the shape of her labor curve. When a woman's labor is off the "proper" curve, she is subjected to intervention in several possible forms. Harrison 1982:121

Moreover, the tendency of pitocin to set in motion the chain of events described above by Ettner is entirely in keeping with the structuring and ordering characteristics of ritual described in the Introduction, and with the sense of inevitability--the "conceptual cranking gears" --that ritual's consistent performance can invoke.

The administration of pitocin through the umbilical IV sends several messages to a laboring woman: (1) that our cultural concept of time as linear, measurable, and a valuable commodity is right and true; (2) that her body is a machine; (3) that her machine is defective because it is not producing on schedule; (4) that the institution's schedule is much more important than her body's internal rhythms and her individual experience of labor. Moreover, the increased pain during contractions that results from the administration of pitocin serves the ritual purpose of hazing--that is, of speeding up the breakdown of the initiate's category system through the intensification of physical stress.
 

[lcappytan05]

from what I understand, it can sort of "overwork" your uterus. It brings on contractions strong and hard and that's not good for your body...and that's why a lot of women who are induced with pitocin end up with a c-section.

[3greatkids751]

I'll put it the best way I know how from MY experince... I was induced w/ pitocin when I had my 1st dd and I had the WORST labor and delivery. It was 18 hrs long and I just wanted to DIE after a while w/ no sleep, no food, and being confined to a BED  Pitocin is just EVIL lol

W/ my 2nd and 3rd dd I went into natural labor w/ them and the contractions are TOTALLY differant w/o pitocin =) My reg normal contractions when I am in labor feel like really strong braxton hicks.. which is also kinda BAD cause I kinda don't know just WHEN I'm in labor lol.. With my 3rd dd I thought it was false labor so I spent the majority of my labor at home and I got to the hospital I was 7cm and feeling TONS of pressure because my water was about to break any min lol.. I had her 30 min w/ arriving to the hospital =) So I pick a natral birth over pitocin ANYDAY.. it's a lot LESS painful for me!!

[kk_bella]

http://www.wix.com/angela4kp1/ispitocinsafe

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/03/03/pitocin.aspx

http://www.nursinglaw.com/intoxication.pdf

This article is on the dangers of cytotec which is also used for induction. Still, believe it or not

http://www.icpa4kids.org/research/pregnancy/induction.htm

http://www.consumerjusticegroup.com/birthinjury/paininback.html

This is just a blog, but interesting

http://www.pitocindiaries.com/2009/03/chief-complaint.html

http://www.doingoralhistory.org/project_archive/2004/Papers/PDFs/C-Whit.pdf 

[KimmyShaw]

Wow, thanks girl!!!! I had to have it because my water broke and I wasn't progressing by the 12 hour mark. I guess I didnt realize how bad it could be.

Quoting kk_bella:

These are some of the adverse reactions listed on the product insert.

Anaphylactic reaction
Postpartum hemorrhage
Cardiac arrhythmia
Fatal afibrinogenemia
Hypertensive episodes
Nausea
Vomiting
Premature ventricular contractions
Pelvic hematoma
Subarachnoid hemorrhage
Hypertensive episodes
Rupture of the uterus

uterine hypertonicity, spasm, tetanic contraction, or rupture of the uterus.

The possibility of increased blood loss and afibrinogenemia should be kept in mind when administering the drug.

Severe water intoxication with convulsions and coma has occurred, associated with a slow oxytocin infusion over a 24-hour period. Maternal death due to oxytocin-induced water intoxication has been reported.

The following adverse reactions have been reported in the fetus or neonate:

Due to induced uterine motility:

Bradycardia
Premature ventricular contractions and other arrhythmias
Permanent CNS or brain damage
Fetal death
Neonatal seizures have been reported with the use of Pitocin.

Due to use of oxytocin in the mother:

Low Apgar scores at five minutes
Neonatal jaundice
Neonatal retinal hemorrhage

What is not listed here is death.

Pitocin is an artificial reprduction of oxytocin which is produced naturally in the body. When you are induced with pitocin, your body will no longer make the natural form of oxytocin, which is the hormone that starts labor and is also responsible for regulating postpartum hormones.

Physiological Effects

In a matched-sample comparison of home and hospital labors (Mehl et al. 1977), the hospital labors were shown to be considerably shorter, most probably as a result of the combination of interventions designed to speed labor, including amniotomy, pitocin, fundal pressure, forced pushing, and forceps and Cesarean deliveries. Pitocin augmentation certainly plays a major role in shortening labor, the greatest risk from which is to the fetus: the increased pressure of the contractions can, and often does, compress the umbilical cord and cut down the baby's oxygen supply:
Dr. Roberto Caldeyro-Barcia has demonstrated that uterine contractions stimulated with pitocin reach over 40 mm Hg pressure on the fetal head. The quality and quantity of uterine contractions are greatly affected when oxytocin is infused. The contractions tend to be longer, stronger, and with shorter relaxation periods between....With each uterine contraction, blood supply to the uterus is temporarily shut off. If deprived of blood supply, a fetal bradycardia (decreased fetal heart-rate deceleration) follows with oxygen deprivation and cerebral ischemia causing the grave possibility of neurological sequellae. Truly the fetus has been challenged, and the EFM dutifully records the stressed fetal heart rate. With suspicions confirmed, a diagnosis of fetal distress is noted and elective Cesarean section is the treatment of choice (Ettner 1977:153).

To this warning, the authors of the l8th edition of Williams add their voices: "Oxytocin is a powerful drug, and it has killed or maimed mothers through rupture of the uterus and even more babies through hypoxia from markedly hypertonic uterine contractions" (Cunningham et al. 1989:345). These authors go on to urge careful administration of the lowest possible amount of pitocin in order to avoid the tetanic contractions that can cause uterine rupture, and to insist that once the drip is started, the mother should never be left alone. Obviously the potential for abuse here is high: twelve of the women in my study reported that they were left alone for extended periods after a pitocin infusion had been started. (Three of them did experience long "tetanic" contractions, usually resulting from too much pitocin suddenly flowing into their vein when the nurse jiggled the bag or straightened out the plastic tube.)

Aside from their risks of uterine rupture and decreased oxygen supply to the baby, the increased pain for the mother of the pitocin-induced contractions, which are often double-peaked and back-to-back with little or no rest time in between (a function of the amount of the pitocin being administered), is likely to increase her stress and anxiety levels as well, and to cause her to repeatedly request increased pain medication. Moreover, pitocin is a strong antidiuretic, even at low doses; its combination with the IV fluids administered to fasting women can result in water intoxication, which itself heightens the woman's risk of pulmonary edema in those rare instances of gastric aspiration (Cunningham et al 1989:344; McKay and Mahan 1988:214).
Women's Responses

All the women in my study who were given pitocin reported increased pain from the pitocin-induced contractions. Some were able to keep on with their Lamaze breathing techniques (discussed as mediating rituals in Chapter 4) without any pain medication, whereas others called for analgesia soon after the administration of the pitocin. Some felt grateful that their labors had been shortened; others would have preferred less stress and a slower pace:

I was glad to have the pitocin--anything to get the whole thing over with as fast as possible.
-Laura Parker

Once they put me on the pitocin, it was all over for me. The pain was unbearable. I couldn't wait to have the Cesarean--at least it would get me out of that misery.
-Lisa Smith

I needed the pit drip. My uterus just wasn't doing anything. I might have lain there forever with nothing happening, and then they would have cut me, because my waters had already broken. Given that the hospital was only going to give me 24 hours to dilate, I was glad for the chance the pitocin gave me to have a vaginal birth.
-Donna Chapman
Ritual Purposes

Under the technocratic model, time--mechanical and linear, is viewed as being measurable in discrete, almost weighable units, so we say that something should take place within a specific "amount" of time (Lee 1980; Ornstein 1972). As the process that reproduces society, birth must set the standard for the general cultural handling of time: birth must be culturally shaped to occur within a specific amount of time, just as must the production of any factory good. When a woman's labor fails to conform to production timetables (labor time charts), it will be speeded up with pitocin:
At Doctor's Hospital we use [Friedman's] chart of labor, a curve developed by Dr. [Emmanuel E. Friedman] which defined on a graph how a labor should progress. Each woman's chart has a blank graph of hours and of centimeters of cervical dilation which we must record approximately hourly in order to evaluate the shape of her labor curve. When a woman's labor is off the "proper" curve, she is subjected to intervention in several possible forms. Harrison 1982:121

Moreover, the tendency of pitocin to set in motion the chain of events described above by Ettner is entirely in keeping with the structuring and ordering characteristics of ritual described in the Introduction, and with the sense of inevitability--the "conceptual cranking gears" --that ritual's consistent performance can invoke.

The administration of pitocin through the umbilical IV sends several messages to a laboring woman: (1) that our cultural concept of time as linear, measurable, and a valuable commodity is right and true; (2) that her body is a machine; (3) that her machine is defective because it is not producing on schedule; (4) that the institution's schedule is much more important than her body's internal rhythms and her individual experience of labor. Moreover, the increased pain during contractions that results from the administration of pitocin serves the ritual purpose of hazing--that is, of speeding up the breakdown of the initiate's category system through the intensification of physical stress.
 

[mom2four1978]

The only issue I had with it was that it made my already back labor about 10 million times worse. I had 4 kids and that was the only time I ever thought that labor "natural" was going to kill me. It hurt so bad that I lost control of myself, meaning I could no longer practice pain management. It was the most painful experience of my life.