Smoking while pregnant anyone?

Tondella

krisskross wrote:

Obesity on it's own will cause heart disease and diabetes. Fatty foods are the best tasting ones so we eat more, unfortunately the same yummy tasting foods deposit atherosclerosis in our blood vessels, causing heart disease.

The same large amounts of food plus sweet stuff, also in abundant cheap supply and very yummy make our pancreas work overtime producing insulin to utilise all the sugar which all the carbs and sweets turn into. Like any other organ the pancreas only has a limited life span, so effectively it gets used up. Nothing at all to do with smoking per se, although nicotine does constrict blood vessels so will exacerbate the problem.

Smoking, independently of obesity, causes atherosclerotic plaques.

http://www.bhf.org.uk/smoking/why_medical.asp

rchddap1

I'm pregnant at the moment (26 weeks). I have never ever smoked. So far throughout my pregnancy I have avoided anyone with a cigarette. I don't know how much effect it has or not. But what I do know is that I would kick myself later on if I found out that some damage was done because I did or didn't do something.

I can picture in my head all the nasty chemicals in the smoke and that anything within my system will also be within my baby's.

So I am doing everything that I think is right...which includes for me staying well clear of any smokers.

krisskross

Tondella wrote:

Smoking, independently of obesity, causes atherosclerotic plaques.

http://www.bhf.org.uk/smoking/why_medical.asp

So how does it do that then? I honestly cannot see how smoking causes deposits of fat inside your arteries. the article does not say how, just that it does. I agree that smoking causes constriction of blood vessels which would exacerbate the effects of the atheroma.

Sarahsaver

Just imagine a newborn with a fag in its mouth. That should put anyone off. It really makes me angry, to see a pregnant woman smoking. Well done to those you have given up, best thing you could have done for your child. ANd you have to think about the future - how can anyone who smokes tell their kids it is wrong :rolleyes:

Tondella

krisskross wrote:

So how does it do that then? I honestly cannot see how smoking causes deposits of fat inside your arteries. the article does not say how, just that it does. I agree that smoking causes constriction of blood vessels which would exacerbate the effects of the atheroma.

Squeezing my brain to get what i can remember from my undergrad degree i think it goes a little something like this:

your arteries inner lining is made up of endothelial cells
when endothelial cells are damaged (and they are damaged by the products of smoking) they release chemicals that encourage cholesterol to be laid down along the arterial wall
you then get a snowball effect over time where the fatty streaks of cholesterol build up, attracting cells called monocytes that circulate in the blood, which stick to the plaque and encourage more cholesterol to stick and so on
As the plaque builds up it obstructs the flow of blood. Plaques on the coronary arteries that restrict the flow of blood to the heart cause heart attacks, but these plaques can also break off and obstruct other organs, such as the lungs (pulmonary embolism) or brain (stroke).

However, this is more to do with the effects of smoking on the smoker, there is no evidence that smoking while pregnant causes plaques to form in your baby. I'm not sure what the evidence is for plaques caused by passive smoking in children or adults.

If you have a poor diet that leads you to be obese you will be taking in more of the bad (LDL) cholesterol that contributes to the plaques. You are also probably less likely to exercise and so your heart will not be as fit and will be poorly equipped to deal with reduced blood flow. That is why obesity is a risk factor for heart disease.

cupid_s

also nicotine induces vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration. these cells obviously increase the thickness of arterial cell walls making it much easier for atherosclerotic plaques to build up. and as said just other components of cigarette smoke damage the cells and encourage cholesterol to be laid down, this combined with the narrowing of the arteries by VSMC proliferation and migration makes the atherosclerosis twice as bad

Sarahsaver

YOu should not give medical advice on the forum;)

achtunglady

I know of two women who smoked thoughout their pregnancies, the first one was born prematurely and suffered brain damage, the other ones baby had breathing difficulties and hasnt thrived well at all,so much so that social services have got involved thinking the mum was starving her child.

cupid_s

Sarahsaver wrote:

YOu should not give medical advice on the forum;)

who is giving medical advice?

iwanttosave_2

achtunglady wrote:

I know of two women who smoked thoughout their pregnancies, the first one was born prematurely and suffered brain damage, the other ones baby had breathing difficulties and hasnt thrived well at all,so much so that social services have got involved thinking the mum was starving her child.

That could have been a genetic abnormality or anything, I actually have a friend who is the same, her last one was born over term weighing 4lb 1oz, she is now 4 years old and my 15month old is bigger than her. This is because of a chromasone defect, not because her mother smoked, it would have happened if she had or hadn't smoked.