8 wks pregnant, coming off citalopram, advice??

[jebbieD]

Hi, my doctor has said I have to come off citalopram because I am pregnant. I was diagnosed with PND in November and on 20mg I felt better right away. She is weaning me off going down to 10mg, and none on alternate days, I am now on my second day completely off them and I think I'm starting to feel the way I did before my breakdown in November. I felt fine yesterday but flew off the handle at my partner today for the littlest thing (he was laughing at my parking!). The feelings of doom are back and I'm wondering how i am going to cope. This baby is so wanted, I'm 38 and felt i couldn't wait to have another. This is my second and my first is nearly 2. Don't have much contact with family as that's how I got depressed in the first place. Has anyone else come off citalopram while pregnant? Will it get better? Is there an alternative? Don't want to spend my pregnancy the miserable weepy doom-laden person I was last year. The nausea isn't helping either!! anyone got any good advice? Thanks xxxx

Your GP is wrong.
You do not have to come off ADs when you are pg. There is a small risk in some cases, but still tiny and has to be weighted up against the risk to you if serious depression.
Loads of women use them throughout pg.
Sertraline (an ssri) is particularly suitable and is also ne of the safest during breastfeeding.
Unfortunately, a lot of GPs are overly cautious and woefully misinformed wrt AD use during pg/bf.
Your breakdown was in November - no time at all.

See another GP or ask for a referal to a psych - there is ususally one based in each large hospital who is exerienced to pg women.

What Nicky says - definitely

The problem is not that ADs are proven to be unsafe, but that you cannot ethically test drugs on pregnant women so the data doesn't exist.

A severely depressed you is much more likely to be bad for baby than a small amount of sertraline

I agree with Nickytwotimes too. I am 9 weeks pregnant with my first and chose to come off 30mg (previously 60mg) citalopram after being on it for 11 years. This is my choice though and my doctor made it very clear that it is a personal choice, that it possibly could affect the child (but they are not certain) and that it was a weighing up balance kinda thing. That if i felt very low (after coming off the Ad's) that that in itself would not be good for the child and to therefore carry on with the normal dosage.

I am on my third day totally off the AD's and really really struggling with the withdrawal symptoms in which have manifested in anger (at times) as well. I think that for me, this has been just purely because i am having such a rotten time of it that i am angry because i just want to be able to move around normally.
But you know in yourself. For me, i don't feel low, i'm just frustrated. But if you know that you have those old feelings/habits/thoughts creeping back in that are making you feel uncomfortable that it's your choice to continue on your AD's.

I do think it's worth seeing your GP and having a chat about a possibly switching - and just letting him/her know how your doing. There are so many people out there to help - you just gotta ask.

Just want to add my voice to encouraging you to get better informed advice.
Lots of maternity hospitals will run a combined MH/antenatal clinic, see if you could get referred there.
You can safely stay on ADs in pregnancy; obviously try to figure out what the lowest effective dose for you is.
I thought Fluoxetine/Prozac was the favoured one in pregnancy, but am no specialist... Citalopram is certainly not impossible.
Hope you feel better soon .

Hello

I agree, definitely get a second opinion. When I was pregnant with my DS (now 2) I was told to come off citalopram (20mg a day, which I'd been on for 6 years) as she didn't think it was safe. I did this and had something of a breakdown. So she referred me to an anti-natal psychiatry unit at the hospital where DS was born, and I was told I could go on sertraline as that has a shorter half-life than citalopram (IE stays in your system for less time therefore affecting baby less).

I went on 20mg a day and felt so much better. I continued to see psychiatrists for check ups each month for 6 months and by the end of it one said to me that citalopram is safe in pregnancy too! Willsurvivethis is right - so hard to test on pregnant women that medics just don't know and don't want to risk it.

Good luck, there are definitely ways to feel better xx