Amitriptyline and breastfeeding - advice please!

[Blottedcopybook]

Evening all.

Posting with the disclaimer that I know this place is no substitute for qualified medical help. I have called NHS24 for advice but I will apparently be waiting up to three hours for a callback so I'm looking for info in the interim.

I finally bit the bullet and saw my GP on Friday after having a breakdown. GP went to prescibe citalopram when I mentioned that I was breastfeeding. I intimated that my preferred medication would be sertraline because I have anecdata suggesting it would help my chronic joint pain, but my GP went with Amitriptyline, 10mg once a day.

Leaving aside the fact that I feel my GP is patronising me by prescribing such a low dosage, he told me that amitriptyline was the safest drug to take whilst breastfeeding. I checked the info leaflet inside the box today and it explicitly states, "DO NOT TAKE WHILST BREASTFEEDING". Googling has given me a complete split down the middle, the most damning of which is that the American Academy of Pediatrics classifies amitriptyline as 'a drug whose effect on the nursing infant is unknown but may be of concern'.

I desperately want to get better, but not at the expense of my daughter's health. Can any of you help me here with reliable backed-up information on amitriptyline and breastfeeding?

[Devendra]

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/drugs-in-breastmilk.html

Hope it works out for you.

[AdoraBelleDearHeart]

Sorry to hear this. These doctors seem to have us over a barrel when it comes to giving us medication that we NEED to take, but refusing because we are breastfeeding, trying to force us to make a choice that we simply will not make.

Here is a thread a started a couple of weeks ago about sertraline and breastfeeding.

Good luck.

[NotQuiteCockney]

This page is about antidepressants and breastfeeding. It says amitriptyline doesn't end up in the baby, even in quite high doses (150mg is mentioned.)

[Blottedcopybook]

Thanks everyone - I went back to the Doctor who checked the British Formulary, he says he's happier to prescribe amitriptyline than anything else so we'll plod on with it.