Taking Dosulepin (Dothiepin) whilst breast feeding?

[burstingbug]

I know its probably been asked about loads on here but is it safe to take whilst bf?
I did tell the dr that I was bf and he looked through his big drugs book, but reading through the leaflet it says not to take them without checking with dr first.
Just want reassurance I guess really. I'll be taking 50mg at night (2 x 25mg's)
Thanks

Hi burstingbug, I took this when breastfeeding, but it was a few years ago. Can I ask why you were prescribed this and not one of the newer SSRIs such as Cipramil, Seroxat etc? The current thinking is that these are OK to take when breastfeeding and are more effective than the older ADs such as dothiepin.

I don't know why he chose this one. I've got to go back in a few weeks to see how things are going and to also get more tablets as 56 will only last just over 3 weeks anyway.
I was diagnosed with depression 4 or 5 years ago and was taking fluroxetine (sp?) but stopped taking tablets while we tried for a baby, now we have ds1 21 mths and ds2 3 mths and things have really got on top of me again. A combination of depression, stress and anger

{{{Hugs}}} burstingbug, I had depression a couple of years before my ds1 was born then had PND with him and ds2. I'm very lucky that I've been fine for almost 4 years now, but I do remember how awful it was. Hopefully the dothiepin will do the trick but if not, then it might be worth asking to change tablets. I'm guessing he thinks the SSRIs aren't safe when breastfeeding (fluoxetine aka Prozac is an SSRI) but they are - unfortunately it seems many doctors are still out of date on this.

Thanks Daisymoo. I'm going to start taking them tonight then, about an hour before I go to bed. If I don't feel any better on them when I go back to see him, I'll see if he will offer me an alternative, or he might increase the dosage.

i've never had to take ads during pg/bf but i have spoken to my gp about the possibility (thought was likely candidate for pnd), but this was a few years ago now. she said that the older type of ads are often preferred just because they've been around longer. i don't think (am no kind of expert whatsoever ) they can do controlled trials for that kind of thing, so they just have to wait for reports of any problems. the older the drug the more likely any problems are to show up.

dosulepin is the one i've taken for years and gp said it should be fine if bf. you're starting on a nice low dose, usually takes up to 2 weeks to start working.

i found some general info here . can't remember the name of the main site for checking out meds and bf for the life of me, sorry.

hope they kick in soon.