Can anxiety effect a pregnancy?

[Babyno3tobe]

Hi I suffer from anxiety and panic disorder since having my last lo a yr ago yesterday, I managed to finally get it under control then i found out I was expecting my anxiety has got worse due to my symptoms their all pretty much same as my anxiety symptoms iv been quite ill with it all so luckily iv not been out I'm just wondering if it could effect a pregnancy? I'd hate to think it was effecting the baby I used to be on citalopram but made me feel worse an gave them up in jan if anyone could shed any light on the subject that would be great :)

Well i suppose that anxiety can increase your blood pressure but tbh im not sure if there is evidence to suggest that anxiety can affect your unborn baby.

ime anxiety has definitely not helped.

The levels of actual stress involved are the key. Normal everyday anxiety will do nothing at all, but serious levels of stress (like, hugely serious, near constant) might raise cortisol levels on the baby.

For example, dh got blown up when I was 10wks with ds1. We weren't sure if he was going to survive, and had no family/ support etc (I also had a 17mo). Ds1 is 10 now, no obvious problems at birth etc, but he has picked up a dx of ADHD and some aspergers symptoms, which were potentially triggered by being swished in cortisol during brain development.

From recollection, they class stress I three ways, and it is only the most severe from that even might affect development.

There is no definitive research though. Just a load of neuros working in the background.

As ever, go to GP for reassurance. What you describe sounds unlikely to have an effect, but given your history you will worry anyway. Speak to health professional.

Thanks iv spoke to my dr and he has refused to tell me anything about this pregnancy till iv had my scan he won't tell me anything about my prolapse anxiety has just been dismissed and brushed to the side basically treating me like iv not had a baby before and I have no clue what a normal pregnancy feels like completely arrogant, iv got low bp ATM plus iv suffered a lot with previous pregnancies so know to take iron rich foods the dr has ran no tests on me he Is also aware im a lot further along and had zero antenatal care not even bothered to check my bp at the very least so I'm pretty much blind to my own pregnancy, just want to make sure the baby is ok and doing well and added stress ain't gonna help the situation is it, plus iv been really ill this time round so thinking what if their is something wrong with the baby that's signalling all this rottenness as a sign to me I dunno every thing is 1 big guess ATM.

Omg I hope your dp is ok? must be such a hard time for you all. well done for doing so well