what anti depressants can i take during pregnancy?
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at
7:17 am
what ones are safe, i have anxiety, i wont take them if great harm is expected xxxxx
Tagged with: Anti • depressants... • during • Pregnancy • take
Filed under: Anti Depressants Pregnancy
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ask your doctor.
You need to consult your doctor. My SIL suffers from depression and has 3 children. I have no idea if she stopped using medication while pregnant or what she used. Most antidepressants are unsafe to use while pregnant. And honestly, I probably wouldn’t take them even if I were told they are safe.
I was on antidepressants as a teen. I stopped taking them because I suffered horrible side effects. I found that a good counselor works just as well, only without drugs.
Anything you take will effect the baby.
Try to avoid taking them and do alternative practices to ward off the depression (exercise, yoga meditation, herbal remedies that are safe when pregnant, positive thoughts, etc). Most mental illness scripts are harmful to babies so it’s best not to use them unless you HAVE TO. I have OCD and was once diagnosed bi-polar (which was way off as I don’t have manic or depressive episodes…I just have severe anxiety and obsessions, ritualistic behavior). Anyways, I was put on meds but took myself off as I found being off the meds if much easier than being on them.
I go to extremes, even the food I eat is combative against the disorder…and I am much healthier and happier for it. Alternative medicine has been around for CENTURIES…current day practices and medicine is fairly new and often times fairly inaccurate.
Short answer – none of them are proven to be safe during pregnancy. Most of the popular ones today (Paxil, Prozac, Cymbalta, etc) have not been tested enough or on the market long enough to determine whether they are safe in pregnancy, and have show evidence of heart defects in some children born to mothers who took the drugs during 1st trimester. There is currently class action litigation agains the makers of Paxil brough by mothers who took the medication during the first trimester and had babies with heart defects.
The problem with anti-depressants is you have to take it every day — its not an “as needed” drug. So that poses more risk. In other words, taking a pain pill for instance once every month is not going to hurt your baby. But when you take a drug every single day, its much more risky since the exposure is continuous.
Therefore, it is recommended you not take anti-depressants during pregnancy. However, if someone is extremely depressed such that the depression poses more risk to the fetus/mother than the anti-depressant does, then doctors will keep a patient on it and just hope for the best.
Anti-anxiety mediations such as Xanax, Ativan, Klonipin, etc are even worse as far as proven dangers to fetuses unfortunately.
I’ve had to continue taking Seroxat (aka Paroxetine, Paxil) for anxiety throughout both my pregnancies (under doctor’s advice). The problem I have is that I find its simply impossible to stop taking them without debilitating withdrawal/side effects, which can be bad for the baby as well as the mother.
My son was just fine, he has had no problems whatsoever (he’s three and half now) and this pregnancy has gone smoothly, there’s nothing wrong with the baby (I’m 30 weeks today). I’m currently only taking 20mg a day and I’ve been told that it should be fine – I was on a higher dose than that with my son and he had no ill effects after birth at all.
Obviously you shouldn’t take anything without your doctor’s advice – and that goes for STOPPING any medication too. If you are on anti depressants and you want to stop taking them check with your doctor. This is because the withdrawals from stopping the medicine can also be harmful to your baby.
So please, this is a question to ask your doctor and NOT Yahoo!Answers . . .