Doctors can be arseholes sometimes

[postingfortraffichere]

GP today was a Complete arse and it's left me quite upset.

I requested a repeat prescription for anti depressant and she said am I TTC to which I replied yes.

She then proceeded to tell me that I should suggest going without them so to not harm the potential baby if I do conceive. And that I should try natural methods to improve my mood instead.

I've tried every natural method under the sun for many years, I finally after years of resisting taking anti depressants decided to take the plunge a few weeks ago and have felt like I've got my life back and feel much more positive.

Today has put me on a downer - not only am I struggling TTC but I don't need the gp trying to undo a decision and make me feel guilty for taking anti depressants when I've found them life changing.

Of course I could go without them as that's what I did for many years but I want my quality of life to improving and now I just feel so deflated at the doctors attitude and bluntness and guilt tripping.

She said anti depressants basically should be last resort - so basically I should only use them if TTC if I'm about to top myself?

I'm pissed off and feel shit by this. AIBU to be angry and now not know what to do.

@cjpark

GP isn't being an arsehole. It's incredibly difficult to think with clarity with depression. TTC is not going to help with your mental health. You ideally need to be physically and mentally well to cope with pregnancy. Look after yourself, take the pressure of TTC away and get better with or without anti-depressants first.

Seriously This thread and the nonsense it's bringing up is making me very frustrated

@CorrBlimeyGG

I’m kind of astonished that you think doctors can hold all the relative risk percentages for the whole gambit of side effects for all the drugs they prescribe.

If they don't know, then they should look it up, rather than giving inaccurate information.

Exactly. There was no need to refuse the prescription today. Could have made a further appointment to discuss in more detail if they couldn’t manage it today and needed more time to look stuff up. OP isn’t pregnant yet.

And anyway if approx 7% of pregnant women are taking anti depressants that’s a significant number and there will be other pregnant women on anti depressants registered at that GP practice. The point I’m making is that it’s not a rare occurrence and the GP should be a bit more accurate with their knowledge.

[quote Eyesofdisarray]@Theworldishard- well said!!!
It's a balance OP. Your GP should know this. The aim is to keep your MH good as if you stop the antidepressants, your MH could take a dip
Best wishes[/quote]
Thank you 🌺

There is antidepressants available while pregnant.
My gp said similar so I stopped taking medication, by 6 months pregnant I was a physical and mental mess.
I went back on them at 26 weeks.

You don’t say which medication you’re taking… I think you should go back to GP (or just google) the evidence about your particular prescription and pregnancy. Paroxetine for example is associated with a higher risk of fetal heart defects. So in that case it might be worth trying an alternative. However, the risk to your health may still exceed the risk to the fetus in which case they may still agree to keep prescribing it.

@Tlollj

Well if they will harm a potential baby then I don’t see how you can have them.

Clearly no idea...

Safer for you to take the tablets than not, the GP is very outdated in terms of advice - they should be considering different types of they are concerned.

Both mine fine and I take very high levels of anti-depressants; the only one I had to come off of was Lithium.

Some people are anti anti-depressants, some people are also doctors, some doctors are anti anti-depressants.

YANBU, before she tells someone to come off medication for depression - she needs to do at least a bit of research about the issue.

I’ve had a GP look something up for further information in an appointment as he admitted he didn’t have vast knowledge, and wanted to check. Doctors aren’t infallible.

Hi! Can you have a look and see if there is a local perinatal team? They specialise in helping those who have mental health needs during pregnancy and postnatally so may be able offer more advice as a second opinion?

@postingfortraffichere just seen your update to say sertraline, generally considered to be the safest to take when ttc, during & after pregnancy.
My dose at the time was 300mg per day, even then there were very few concerns.

[quote postingfortraffichere]@Theworldishard that is what got me angry. Higher risk - how much higher? If taking anti depressants means I have 0.0000001 percent chance greater risk then neither here or there is it - the fact she couldn't give me the statistic pissed me off more because it's not giving me opportunity then to even make a logical decision.

She gave no facts - how can she advise something without roughly knowing how greater the risk. [/quote]
There will not be a huge amount of research into this because it is medically unethical to test drugs on pregnant women. There will have been issues with the drugs, but the exact figure will not be known because they can not give the drug to 10,000 pregnant women and see which babies end up with missing limbs, heart failure, brain damage etc. or miscarrying.

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable at all to be annoyed by a GP suggesting you are only taking ADs out of laziness and that you it’s not already a last resort.

Did she ask you? Did she say so OP tell me about your depression and why you’ve decided to use ADs? Because if she doesn’t know the back story and she doesn’t know why and how you’ve chosen to use medication then yeah she is an arsehole.

She’s assumed you’ve taken the “easy” route. But there’s no easy route in dealing with mental illness.

Explain the risks and pros and cons of ADs whilst TTC - yes.
Guilt trip and imply someone is too lazy to try and combat their illness without medication - no.

If the studies show that the prescription for your medication is deemed safe then all she had no cause to mention it. If the studies have shown it’s unknown or not recommended then she can tell you that and suggest a safe alternative.

Two points.
1.I used to have a depression in my early twenties and was on antidepressants for 3 years.It took me 'growing up' and counselling to realise my depression stemmed from bad life choices and shitty support system.I changed my friends and started being more constructive with my life and haven't taken anything since.This is just my case and everyone is different
2.I am currently 28 weeks pregnant and from start of May till mid July had terrible hayfever.Couldnt go out ,watery eyes ,sore throat and popping ears. My normal prescription drugs were not allowed due to potential risks to baby.I am very grateful as I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if she had any birth defects due to me giving into weakness and not listening to doctors.

@CorrBlimeyGG

I’m kind of astonished that you think doctors can hold all the relative risk percentages for the whole gambit of side effects for all the drugs they prescribe.

If they don't know, then they should look it up, rather than giving inaccurate information.

Look it up where pray tell? In the big book of percentage risk of side effects? In a 10 minute appointment?

Jesus the unbelievable unrealistic expectations placed on HCPs by some members of the general public.

@cabinfever102

Stop trying for a baby right now. You shouldn't even be thinking about it from what you've said on here. Do you honestly think your MH is going to get better with the addition of 9 very physically demanding months and then sheer exhaustion for years wjth a relationship under strain already?

Focus on you for at least six months. Get some
Therapy, start a new sport, see friends, get your diet as healthy as possible. Cut out sugar and processed food. Try and improve your mental health with lifestyle approaches on top of your meds and think about the child you want to have snd the mother / family you want to be. The GP was exactly right to point out the not insignificant risks which should be weighed up. There ARE things you can do to help yourself now instead of resenting a medical professional and feeling like you have no control or choice over medication. Perhaps you will need them perhaps you wont/ either way surely the health of your baby is the most important thing?

Oh give over, you make it sound like people with MH issues shouldn't have kids. Also depressive illnesses cannot be cured by going for a nice walk; mild reactive depression maybe, actual mental illness, definitely not.

YABU. If I were to try and conceive I’d have to come off two of my medications and I wouldn’t blame my doctor for that. I’m not sure why you’re blaming your GP for trying to help you have a healthy pregnancy and baby

[quote CorrBlimeyGG]It's absolutely fine to take sertraline during pregnancy. Why do people post when they don't have the first idea of what they're talking about?

mothertobaby.org/fact-sheets/sertraline-zoloft-pregnancy/[/quote]
Sertraline taken during pregnancy is associated with a significant increase incongenital heart defectsin newborns.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6231277/
link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40264-020-01027-x

@BananaMilkshakeWithCream

YABU. If I were to try and conceive I’d have to come off two of my medications and I wouldn’t blame my doctor for that. I’m not sure why you’re blaming your GP for trying to help you have a healthy pregnancy and baby

Also, why talk someone out of medication? You only do that for conditions someone can help - so for example entirely reasonable to tell a type two diabetic to change diet

Again, it really is her job to check out whether people still need medication.

@A116

This is terrible advice from your GP and against the NICE guidelines for antenatal and postnatal mental health. Ask them to consult with your local perinatal mental health team who will advice on what should be done re: your antidepressants

This. There are plenty of safe antidepressants to take during pregnancy.

Also - most of them are fine whilst breastfeeding. Don't take advice at face value, ask to see evidence that it is harmful. In most cases (but not all so be careful) all evidence suggests it's safe, but since it's unethical to do medical trials on pregnant women or babies they don't have gold standard double-blind trials.

My GP was amazing and pre-TTC referred me for a prenatal medication check with a specialist consultant. He confirmed it was fine to take my antidepressants whilst pregnant, and to breastfeed too.

@Aggy35

Two points. 1.I used to have a depression in my early twenties and was on antidepressants for 3 years.It took me 'growing up' and counselling to realise my depression stemmed from bad life choices and shitty support system.I changed my friends and started being more constructive with my life and haven't taken anything since.This is just my case and everyone is different 2.I am currently 28 weeks pregnant and from start of May till mid July had terrible hayfever.Couldnt go out ,watery eyes ,sore throat and popping ears. My normal prescription drugs were not allowed due to potential risks to baby.I am very grateful as I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if she had any birth defects due to me giving into weakness and not listening to doctors.

1) I suggest you likely didn't have depression then. It is not as simple as 'growing up' or being more 'constructive'. It is a CHEMICAL IMBALANCE in the brain. You can't switch it off or talk yourself out of it. It takes over your whole body and you have a black cloud over you that you CANNOT shift.

@Aggy35

Two points. 1.I used to have a depression in my early twenties and was on antidepressants for 3 years.It took me 'growing up' and counselling to realise my depression stemmed from bad life choices and shitty support system.I changed my friends and started being more constructive with my life and haven't taken anything since.This is just my case and everyone is different 2.I am currently 28 weeks pregnant and from start of May till mid July had terrible hayfever.Couldnt go out ,watery eyes ,sore throat and popping ears. My normal prescription drugs were not allowed due to potential risks to baby.I am very grateful as I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if she had any birth defects due to me giving into weakness and not listening to doctors.

Well aren't you the lucky one to be able to will power your way out of hayfever🙄 I suppose I didn't try hard enough to cure my Bipolar, BPD and broken hip so I didn't have to take risky meds. Am damn lucky my baby was ok, but there is no way I would torture myself if she wasn't just because I did everything I could to stay alive for the rest of my family.

@Aggy35

Two points. 1.I used to have a depression in my early twenties and was on antidepressants for 3 years.It took me 'growing up' and counselling to realise my depression stemmed from bad life choices and shitty support system.I changed my friends and started being more constructive with my life and haven't taken anything since.This is just my case and everyone is different 2.I am currently 28 weeks pregnant and from start of May till mid July had terrible hayfever.Couldnt go out ,watery eyes ,sore throat and popping ears. My normal prescription drugs were not allowed due to potential risks to baby.I am very grateful as I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if she had any birth defects due to me giving into weakness and not listening to doctors.

you literally didn’t have depression

@MatildaIThink either you haven't read the study you linked to, or you failed to understand it - the findings were that, when restricted to patients with a psychiatric diagnosis (I.e. depression) there was no statistically significant increase in heart defects.

It also stated, for all patients on SSRIs, that the study finds "against a substantial teratogenic effect of SSRIs".*

• teratogenic effect means impact on the foetus.

I can't believe posters with no medical qualifications are aggressively diagnosing someone's depression or lack thereof over the internet.

Everyone is different.

Hi OP.

I was on two mental health meds for ten years. An antidepressant and an anti-psychotic.

I went to the GP and explained I wanted to start TTC but wanted advice on the risks of my medications.

They referred me to the local perinatal mental health team. I then had a one hour phone appointment with their psychiatrist who carefully talked through the risks of each medication, including % likelihood of each risk to the baby. She went into loss of detail including around baby having withdrawals when they are born.

This meant I could consider the risks carefully. The risk to baby and the risk to myself not being on the medication.

In the end I did decide to try without my meds. I'm 13 weeks medication free now and it took me two months to really get over the withdrawal symptoms. Unfortunately no BFP yet.

The point is, your GP should have offered to refer you to a similar service so that you have all the information to make an informed decision for YOU.

GPs are not experts on this type of thing and will never know all of the %s and facts etc (nor should they be expected to know it all).

Maybe go back with a fresh head, explain you would like to learn more about the risks and ask for a referral.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck ✨