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Ante-Natal Depression 'Gang' - sign in here please!

7 replies

Hangingbellyofbabylon · 05/07/2009 11:15

I apologise if there is another thread running but I haven't seen anything for a while.

I'm now nearly 30 weeks, previous two pregnancies horrendous ante-natal depression with anxiety and ocd and nothing was done other than to drug me up to the eyeballs on diazepam .

This time I was on a low dose of Sertraline for PTSD before I got pregnant. I have since had to go up to 100mg at around 14 weeks and up to 150mg at about 24 weeks. I have been better than I could ever imagine although the drugs do make me really exhausted. My GP wants me to try to 'titrate' my dose by taking 100mg one day and 150mg the next but as soon as I try I just feel myself falling straight away - I'm sat here on the setee now and the children are fighting in the garden and I just feel utterly despondent. I know I need to stick to the higher dose but the consultant this week was going on about the extra care my babe might need if she suffers withdrawal I just feel crap that I'm putting my baby through this. .

Anyone else out there?

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Hangingbellyofbabylon · 05/07/2009 18:33

bumping - I know you're out there..

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Verity79 · 05/07/2009 21:22

Hi HBOB,

I've had PND-OCD since July 2006 and I've been on Sertraline since December 2006. I'm now on my second pg (26 weeks with DD3) while taking Sertraline (currently 100mg). I've not had any one raise concerns over withdrawal or special care with either pg. I've just googled 'sertraline newborn withdrawal' and just about had kittens! It certainly seems a bleak picture of jittery babies although one study I looked at was based on just one baby whose mum had been give morphine & fentynal which doesn't sound like a comprehensive study.

I don't know whether no one has raised concerns as they know I will breastfeed (part of my OCD) so baby would still be getting a small amount of sertraline rather than baby going cold turkey or whether they don't want to give me something else to obsess about.

I'm sorry to hear they are giving advice about your meds which not only frightens you but isn't helping you manage your AND.

Have mw/drs/cons discussed infant feeding with you? I'm not saying you should breastfeed if you don't want/can't (my OCD about bfing only extends to my offspring not anyone else's ) but it may be a way to limit withdrawal. Sertraline is regarded as the safest drug out of the safest class of antidepressants (SSRIs) where breastfeeding is concerned.

Good luck with the rest of your pg.

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Hangingbellyofbabylon · 05/07/2009 21:56

Hi Verity - I'm totally with you on the breastfeeding front. My first baby couldn't feed and rather than just giving up I made my life hell by expressing at least 8 times a day for 6 months so not a drop of formula passed her lips until she was weaned. When my second baby was born at 35 weeks I again went into over-drive expressing until she was able to feed. I did feed her whilst on sertraline but only when she was quite a bit older. I actually hadn't thought that breastfeeding could help with the withdrawal, I would love to think that this one will just pop out and start feeding straight away after the other two but even if it's hard I will have to find a way round.

The one thing that struck me on some of the studies I read about were that it doesn't seem to make a difference what dose you are on re: withdrawal. It is something that can happen on a low dose or a high dose.

Have you got two girls already? I've got a 3 and 4 year old and this next one is a girly too!

Nice to hear from you.

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TotalChaos · 05/07/2009 22:01

when I ended up on Prozac at 30 weeks, the nice psychiatrist pretty much recommended that I breastfeed to reduce the chance of withdrawal symptoms. The mws on the postnatal ward were pretty relaxed about the whole PG on ADs thing, saying it really was a lot more common than you'ld think.

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Verity79 · 05/07/2009 22:14

I've got a 3.4 year old girl and a 19 month old girl. I'll have age gaps of 20 months and 22 months, obviously the meds aren't working .

I'm sorry to hear you had such a rough time with breastfeeding but well done you for keeping going for so long. DD1 was also a bad feeder as she had jaundice and I ffed/expressed for 8 weeks until she went back to breastfeeding so I was really lucky in that respect. She's still going now . DD2 was miles easier once we watched a few of Jack Newman's videos on latching at 2am when she was 4 days old.

I'm also epileptic so am on AEDs (lamictal which is also a mood stabiliser). I'm every pharmacist/drs nightmare tandem nursing whilst pg on AED AND ADs . I had a talk with my neuro a few weeks ago about my meds and he was fine with me nursing on it and didn't see any need for extra care.

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TotallyAndUtterlyPaninied · 06/07/2009 09:33

I've got a a 13mo baby and have pnd. Now I'm 6 weeks pregnant, came off my fluoxetine and feel dreadful. Going to have to go back on them.

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Hangingbellyofbabylon · 07/07/2009 11:39

Totallyandutterly, I can imagine how you feel about going back on them but you deserve to be well. I was lucky this time because the GP told me to come off my sertraline when I got pregnant but I had to stay on, could never go through that hell again. Hang in there .

Verity79 - I had 19 months between my first two - wouldn't do that again!