Antenatal anxiety - survival stories please

[Luna2019]

Hello everyone,

I am really looking for some support. I am currently 9 weeks pregnant, and suffering from severe anxiety. I had started to get anxious before falling pregnant so we stopped TTC. I was prescribed 10mg citalopram. Unbeknownst to me I ovulated at a really strange time and had already fallen pregnant.

I carried on with ADs on advice from GP but felt no better after a good few weeks, so they switched me to sertraline 25mg. Been on that for nearly 2 weeks.

My anxiety is still through the roof and pretty debilitating. I am eating but have very little appetite and sleep is hard. It's the only thing I think about. I am worried about the impact of my anxiety and the ADs on the pregnancy despite assurances from medical professionals.

I already have one 3 year old son (no antenatal anxiety with him but did have PND and I love him dearly now but he is a bit of a handful which can contribute to my anxiety).

I have seriously considered termination, and still do.

I guess I am after survival stories, or words of advice, for those who have been through this or similar and have gone on to have perfectly healthy babies? Including those who took medication in pregnancy.

Thank you.

Oh you poor thing, anxiety is horrible. I'm on 100mg on sertraline and currently 16 weeks pregnant, my gp said this is fine to take but it takes about a month to start working so all I can say is hang in there. I imagine your gp will increase your dose too. I went on it shortly before I fell pregnant and it's been a god send for me. I hope you have the same luck. In the mean time are you seeing a psychologist or counsellor?

@Anoushka1986 thank you so much for your reply. Did you go on it for anxiety too? Had a bad few days but feel slightly better this afternoon.

I have been referred to a mental health midwife. I was having cbt before pregnancy but honestly it wasn't really cbt. It was on the NHS and the guy just chatted to me really and didn't deal with specific thoughts.

@Luna2019 yes I went on it for anxiety. My anxiety was pretty bad before and I've been surprised how the medication has pretty much taken it away. One thing I forgot to mention in my last post- my anxiety was actually worse for the first couple of weeks that I started taking it, before it settled in.

That's a shame you didn't have a helpful experience with counselling. I have actually found mindfulness based approaches more helpful than CBT. Also ACT is a type of therapy that resonates better with me than cbt.

I'm glad you are feeling better this afternoon! Feel free to ask any more questions x

Morning everyone,

Just bumping this thread as had a particularly bad few days. Feeling like I can't continue with this pregnancy as I feel so anxious. I do think I need to up my meds. I feel sick with anxiety a lot and it's all I can think about.

Please if anyone has been through/is going through this and can help with advice I would really appreciate it as I keep thinking termination would be the best way forward.

Xx