To think that taking Sertraline when pregnant caused my son's ASD?

[Guilty85]

So I took about 150 to 200 mg of Sertraline throughout my pregnancy as I am prone to low mood. I remember a doctor at the time said it was ok for me to take it while pregnant and especially if the benefits outweigh the negatives. My son is 7 and is autistic, he is verbal but struggles socially and is very delayed speech wise and emotionally.
I can't help but wonder did the chemicals in the anti depressants enter his blood stream and for want of a better word, give him autism.
If your child has an Autism diagnosis, did you take antidepressants during your pregnancy?
This is something that has been niggling me for years. I don't have any other children so can't compare.

I didn’t take anything while pregnant and my eldest has ADHD and my youngest is Autistic. However there is masses of family history on both sides of autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia etc. so it was probably inevitable.

My cousin was on antidepressants for the whole of her first pregnancy. Her eldest child was the calmest, sweetest baby who slept through the night almost straight away and hardly ever cried. They hit every milestone, grew into a bright, chatty child and since have grown into a well adjusted, NT adult. By the second pregnancy my cousin had been off antidepressants for a few years. That child was also bright and chatty but wouldn’t stay still unless you had them strapped in and was diagnosed with ADHD.

It’s not the tablets, it’s a genetic roll of the dice.

The child with ADHD also happens to be very, very good at a particular sport. Genetic lottery.

I took antidepressants while pregnant as it is safe to do so. My son is ASD. I haven't for a second blamed myself and nor should you. It is genetic and not caused by SSRIs

My sister and I have ASD and the only thing I can think of that would have contributed was my parents were older when they had us.

Neither of them were taking any type of medication.

Honestly , there is no link , it is totally genetic , the brain is just wired differently and it often runs in families .Please do not blame yourself because it is absolutely not your fault 💐.

My two both have autism and I was not taking anti depressants before or during pregnancy.

They also didn't have the MMR because that whole Wakefield bollocks had come out but not yet been discredited so we went private for single vaccines instead.

They are autistic because I am autistic and I am autistic because autism runs in my family. It's genetic.

Is it possible to be correlation rather than causation? ASD runs in families and depression (and therefore AD use) is very common in people with undiagnosed NDs.

Thank you so much everyone who has responded, you have no idea how much better it has made me feel. My son's dad and my own dad have some mild autistic traits in my opinion

I don’t think for one minute sertraline caused your child’s autism. There will have been a very good reason that you needed to take it throughout pregnancy - without it it could have caused more harm to your child.

I did everything advised while I was pregnant, and still found ways to blame myself for ds’ autism. It’s all over our family.

I am increasingly convinced that ASD is actually a descriptor for a range of different conditions, all of which give a social deficit. For example, some will be genetic, some brain damage, some triggered by environmental factors. This also explains the spectrum. My son is the mirror of his father and very classically ‘Asperger’s’. My daughter is not on the spectrum and has a different dad. So in my mind, the cause of my son’s autism is genetic. It often seems the case that Asperger’s type presentation comes from one or both parents.

OP people are either autistic or they're not.

Two weeks ago my mum misspoke and asked me if the medicine I took while pregnant caused ds autism. It's hard enough to not blame yourself without thinking others are blaming you too

I worry about it as well but have nothing to tell me that's what caused his autism so I try not to believe it was me (easier said than done)

My child is autistic with high needs and I got induced at 37 weeks as he was an IVF baby and considered high risk and he was very big!! He got stuck. Stressful birth for him. I wonder if I’d let him go to term… but now I’m reading your story and you’re reading mine 😌

No. My daughter is being referred for suspected adhd and autism. She already gets disability payment for it and I done nothing wrong during my pregnancy with her.

My mother never took so much as paracetamol when pregnant and I'm autistic. I highly doubt sertraline had anything to do with your son's diagnosis.

I don't think the Sertraline will have had any impact on your son having asd personally. I'm in a similar position with long-term low mood & was on Venaflaxine whilst pregnant with my youngest son, he has asd & my daughter, 2.5 years older & she doesn't have asd. I've done a lot of reading into the subject as I also queried whether the medication was a factor & I don't think it was

I really don't think this thread is doing you any good. I understand mum guilt - I was left disabled by childbirth, and on bad days I feel like such a fucking failure because I can't be what I perceive as a proper mother to my DS's.. So I know that it will be so so tempting to ignore all if the people who did not have a link between AD's and ASD and focus on the few who do.
But please remember that this is only a tiny sample of people whereas the research studies that show no evidence of a link are based on huge numbers of people. Also, correlation does not equal causation. But humans like to find patterns even when they do not exist, its just what we do. And adding guilt into the equation just makes it even more likely. So, from an expert at torturing myself, please step away from this thread and stop torturing yourself.

I think autism is genetic. I have 2 kids, both autistic. Textbook pregnancy, no anti-depressants, healthy weights, healthy eating, I did have steroids in the late stages of pregnancy though.

But I don't blame the steroids, I blame genetics. Like others have said, undiagnosed ND person + undiagnosed ND person (our generation) = ND children.

Having our own kids diagnosed, you learn a lot about the condition and that's when you start armchair diagnosing all the members of your family and realise the autistic children are just the first generation who have a diagnosis. Family members of older generations were just a bit "weird" or "lacking social skills", my kids are the first to have a medical, recognised label is all.

This is such an interesting theory. Could even extend to meeting people online. Lots of kids whose parents met on a fan forum/gaming online etc, which wasn’t a thing 30 or more years ago. Thus more people with with similar traits having children together. Interesting!

This is unhelpful, and also not strictly true. It is a spectrum.

Anyone with autism in their family will tell you that, on reflection, they have other family members who also have autistic traits. Who maybe wouldn’t entirely meet the threshold for diagnosis, but it makes sense knowing autism is genetic. Yes obviously a person is either diagnosed or not, but it’s plain what OP means.

There will be a lot of anecdata about sertraline and autism on eg., facebook groups. But really, it will be because neurodiverse women are more likely to be on sertraline, and more likely to have autistic children. It’s not causation.

My eldest is severely autistic. He’s in his 20’s now and I can tell you I’ve blamed absolutely everything over the last 2 decades. I never even took a paracetamol whilst pregnant. Back when he was diagnosed in the early 2000’s I didn’t know anyone else with an autistic child, it was very isolating. The internet was in its early stages so it was hard to learn anything. I drove myself mad wondering if it was this or that. I think it’s natural to blame yourself even if it’s not true. When he started at a specialist school I realised most parents blamed themselves and I didn’t feel so alone. It was good to talk to others.

@Guilty85 I think when something like this happens we look for reasons that make sense to us. I feel you are maybe almost blaming yourself.
there is no conclusive evidence of sertraline or other SSRIs causing autism and there has been a decent amount of research. tbh we don't even know how the developing brain becomes autistic.

I am sure you baby benefits from having a mum whose mental health is well managed and in the face of no conclusive evidence, your personal experience or even if there are 2000 mums out there on sertraline with autistic children - it doesn't prove it causes it. correlation is not the same as causation.

so please don't feel guilty for having taken the treatment you needed