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.

There have been medical studies on exactly this, and they're basically inconclusive. There was a small effect in one study, but they're not sure whether it was really because of the SSRIs and not some other thing.

I took prozac and my son has asd..as does my other son who I didn't take anything with

That association only talks about vaccines though, not drug intake or drug intake during pregnancy?

Different studies suggest different things

eg
https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j2811

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9963091/

^ Ofc these are random links, not a proper literature review

I was on pregabalin until the second trimester with my eldest. She has some mild traits of ASD but it's a kind of wait and see thing as she's only 2.5. I spent around 6 months in hell and focused on certain things convinced I'd given her ASD. It ruined some of my time as a FTM. The guilt was horrendous. But then I started to learn about how ADHD affects women and I'm pretty certain I have it and will be seeking a diagnosis. My mum also has some autistic traits so I actually think if there's anything it's genetic and not the meds.

My youngest is a baby but she does some of the things her sister did as a baby like avoiding eye contact during feeding so it could be something there, could be nothing but I'm not allowing it to spoil this time with her.

I honestly think the link to ND and anti depressants is as someone said upthread that ND women are much more likely to suffer with mental health issues and therefore be on ADs. Although I wasn't on ADs the pregabalin was for pain but I actually used it for anxiety aswell.

I think there is a link to anti depressants taken in pregnancy in NT mothers, yes.

Some ND is genetic but not all.
This is not your fault, you trusted your doctor to advise you safely.

There needs to be an urgent inquiry in my view.

I think the question is how can it not have an impact of some kind on the baby and its development?

Given how they work.

all of mine have Asd. Nothing in the family. I didn't even take s single paracetamol during pregnancy...it can happen to anyone. it's not your fault.

So why do you think it’s happened?

no idea 🤷

do you think mother cause it?

Sorry but you are being very silly.
I had a fabulous pregnancy so didn’t take a single tablet, not even a paracetamol and my daughter is autistic.

I don’t think the mother caused it of course not, but we need to know what happened.

Hi i understand your need to blame something or search for an answer however i have many friends that took this. Including one friend who e for all her threee pregnancy’s and not one of her children has any kind of problem
they are all teen /pre teen or at primary and are very bright and sociable so I don’t think the antidepressants to blame

My son was born at 26 weeks and spent 5 months in hospital. I was convinced that was the "cause" of his autism. However, as he's grown older (now 14) I realised that I have a lot of similar traits to him. I was always the "weird child" at school (80s) but now it's very enlightening and I'm pretty sure I'm autistic.
My sister's son was then diagnosed autistic too and now goes to a special needs school.
It's made me realise that autism is genetic and nothing that I did would have made any difference.

ASD doesn't have a single cause. Some things you just cannot find out.

My sons' neurodiversity was almost certainly inherited from both sides of the family. However, their outcomes and life chances have almost certainly been affected by the quality and level of support they received, and the co-occurrence of serious mental illness (some of which is also almost certainly inherited).

I can't recall being asked if I took any medication whilst pregnant when my dd was being assessed.
I was asked if it was a normal birth, it wasn't, it was a ventouse delivery.
That made me wonder if they were gathering data into delivery method outcomes 🤔

I don’t think that is true, we just haven’t found out yet.

ASD is heritable. But it’s not 100% heritable in the way that say eye colour is. So there are contributing environmental factors. Some
of them are quite well established now (maternal/paternal age, stress exposure in pregnancy) and others are not. I don’t know of any established link between sertraline and ASD but I do know of a correlation between depression and ASD. So it seems a lot more likely that your link is there OP. You can’t change the past, who you are, who your son is. You can just love him and support him as best you can which is, I’m sure, what you already do every day.

I didn't touch alcohol or smoke, ate a very healthy diet, did everything you "should" do.

My son is diagnosed ASD. It is just one of those thing's.

It's very common to try and blame yourself, my eldest daughter is ASD & ADHD, she had a very long and traumatic birth, as a result I really struggled to bond initially. I was convinced I'd done something to cause it (all the pregnancy & birth questions during diagnosis dont help) but its simply not true x

No they ask about these things because they could indicate other issues that are not autism.

OP, there is so much we don't know medically. People are still doing research and I was being followed in a special unit whilst pregnant due to increased risks.
The highly regarded specialist, who is well known in medical circles for his research and results, was very concerned about the possible correlation between slightly premature birth (36,37 weeks), and asd. Others have mentioned steroids, when these are still being pushed in many hospitals (he steered us clear of those).

This article is quite helpful: suggests a possibility of it being a small factor but ultimately reassuring : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9963091/#:~:text=SSRI%20exposure%20to%20fetal%20through,model%20of%20autism%20%5B29%5D.

I say this not to worry you because you are worried already. Rather, to avoid gaslighting you. Truthfully we don't know if sertraline was remotely a small contributing factor, but it's unlikely to be more than that and in all likelihood wasn't a factor at all.

Anecdotally, I took sertraline in pregnancy and my dd is not affected. You didn't do anything different from me.

Hugs to you.

I think its better to say that the current theory is that its genetic, and that doesnt account for every instance.

Our understanding of a number of different disorders change over decades/centuries as more and more research and investigation takes place about the human brain. We know very little about it

2 of my 3 DC are autistic. Those are the two pregnancies that I did not take sertraline. The one that is not autistic is the one that I took sertraline throughout the pregnancy. So there's no link at all.