Pregnant and taking AD's - help please?

[calsworld]

Hi, I've been on Fluoxetine for about 6 months now and really managing my depression well. Am now 10 weeks pregnant and being a bit messed around by Dr's. When I said I was ttc they didn't mention any problems, but when I confirmed pregnancy they said I shouldn't be taking the tablets, but that they needed to find more info b4 taking me off them.

Dr rang me the day before my midwife appt and said I should swap to another AD, and talk to mw about it.

MW knew nothing at all (she wasn't very good on any subject) and said she'd call me back.

The next day MW rang and said that she'd spoken to obstetrician at hospital who said they couldn't say until they'd seen my notes - so I needed to book another appt with the doctor and get referred.

(Sorry - this is long winded!)

So, booked appointment and saw different Dr (wanted alternative opinion) and he said to stop messing around and just swap to Lofepramine which was safe. However, can't find any evidence of this anywhere.

Anyone got any experience?

Hi

I have been on the ad citalopram for 2 of my 3 pregnancies & didn't have any problems at all. Also could you ask for counselling? I found this also helped! Good Luck

xx

I was also on citalopram for part of my pregnancy. Sorry to hear they are messing you about :( My doctor prescribed it, then a week later I had a letter from the local mental hospital saying I had an appointment. Way to scare an already stressed pregnant lady! It was just to discuss the safest anti depressants I could be taking, but I found the way they went about it extremely insensitive, with no explanation on the letter I managed to convince myself that I was somehow in trouble :( Still, the man I saw helped put everything into perspective, and dd is 22 months now and I really dont think the citalopram has had any kind of effect on her. It makes me mad that more midwives and doctors aren't up to speed on the latest guidelines though, as it really cant be that rare to be pregnant and take anti depressants

Thanks guys - every little bit of info helps. I have tried counselling before but they tried to tell me that the reason I was depressed is that my parents aren't married (despite being happily co-habiting for the last 26 years). So I put that down as a load of b*ocks and stopped seeing them.

There is no cause for my depression, I just don't have the chemicals I need for my emotions to stay stable - I don't think its that uncommon either.

The AD's have opened up a whole new world for me, and I can be confident and relaxed instead of super tense, paranoid and over sensitive about everything. I don't want to go back there again.

Hi
I was on fluoxetine from 4 months into pregnancy onwards. I know there is anxiety about 1st trimester etc. Only reason I went on anti-ds at that point was because I had bad pre-partum depression. But my doctor reassured me that fluoxetine is drug of choice for depressed pregnant women, and made the salient point that this is a well-tested drug, over 20 years old, with no repuation for causing birth defects or other probs. The lowest dose possible (perhaps half a tab per day) is probably effective unless you are in a really bad way. It worked for me! Baby was fine, and I continued on anti-ds while I was breast-feeding. I increased dose, in fact, after giving birth in order to circumvent possiblility of PND. Only a tiny bit gets into milk: it doesn't affect baby.
Perhaps if you or doc are anxious about 1st trimester anti-ds, you could wait until you are into second trimester and then resume? Once you are in second trimester, baby is pretty much formed and only needs to grow - there's miimal risk of birth defects etc. But even in 1st trimester, it is unlikely that anti-ds will hurt you or baby, as far as I know. I looked into this the other day because I am currently on 20mgs of fluoxetine and suspect I might be in early stages of pregnancy. All the info I got was to the effect of: minimise all meds while pregnant, but do not suddenly stop taking fluoxetine (or any other psychotropic med) as this will make you ill and increase risk of miscarriage. If you wish to stop taking fluoxetine, wean yourself off gradually under supervision of GP.

Sorry, just realised that you were talking about citralopram, not fluoxetine! Citralopam is only a mild anti-d. I would get a second opinion before going off it, or if you are going to stop taking it, at least do it gradually. Perhaps consider switching to fluoxetine? As I said in previous post, this is a very well-tested anti-d with a good history in connection with pregnancy.

I've been on Fluoxetine since it came out in 1986 & continued to take it during both pgs. Dcs are fine. Don't worry.

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