Just found out I'm pregnant - telling people, anxiety and on citalopram

[HK1234]

I literally found out I'm pregnant yesterday and am going to see the doctor on Monday. The calculators say I'm 5 weeks. We are very happy but my head is spinning as we didn't expect it to happen so soon and I'm very scared about everything. We were planning to wait a while before telling anyone (would wait til 12 weeks for sharing generally but considered telling parents and close friends a bit sooner). Then saw three close friends tonight and the subject of pregancy and telling comes up, so my friend tells us she is 8 weeks which is great, so I ended up blabbing as got carried away in the moment and wanted her to know she's not alone as she didn't like being the first. Now I'm really paranoid that I've jinxed it or tempted fate somehow as it's so early days, and am worried in case something goes wrong for one or both of us... I hope it works out as it will be lovely to have our babies at the same time.

I am also very concerned as I'm currently taking a low dose (10mg) of citalopram to manage my anxiety. I want to wean off and was taking it a bit less regularly but am now unsure whether or not I ought to take any more. I had also not stopped drinking or started taking folic acid before I found out yesterday :( feel like I'm already failing at this whole thing and it's only been a day!!

I just wondered if anyone had any advice or have had similar experiences. It all feels very confusing right now and I have read so much conflicting info.

Don't just stop hour citalopram, make an appointment for Monday. I stopped mine as I had an inkling I would get pregnant, I really struggled without. I have managed to get to the end (baby is due Wednesday), however it's been hard. Get some advice on how to manage it don't just stop. Try not to worry about jinxing it, we told a few people fairly early. Congratulations x

*your

I'm also 5 weeks and taking 20mg of citalopram for anxiety. There are other anti-depressants available which are safer in pregnancy, but my doctor has said its fine to stay on citalopram if the benefits outweigh the risks. For me, the benefit of not having crippling anxiety and stress is better for baby than the small risk of citalopram affecting baby.

Try not to worry that you hadn't stopped drinking, there are hundreds thousands of women who don't know they're pregnant and keep drinking/smoking.

Enjoy your Sunday and see what your gp says tomorrow.

No such thing as jinxing it. Who you tell and when has absolutely no impact on the success of your pregnancy.

Maybe spend some time researching non-drug treatments for anxiety so that you have alternatives if you come off the citalopram having talked to the GP. There may be online CBT courses.

Don't stop your medicine. I stopped before I realised I was pregnant and my anxiety has gone from manageable to severe. As well as that I haven't just been able start taking it again as I needed to get it approved by my GP which isn't until next Tuesday so I've had to depend on postive thinking ect till then.
As for jinxing the baby I feel exactly the same. Every time some asks me about her I clam up because I worry talking about her will jinx her. We need to be rational though and think positive thoughts about our babies. Logically we know we can't jinx them.

Thanks for all your helpful comments, really appreciated. I won't just stop the meds as sounds like it can do more harm than good- will speak to GP tomorrow. Am hoping to stay on something as the last time I came off I had a terrible relapse and this is a pretty anxious time in general, plus things are pretty intense at work at the moment so I need to keep it together.

The jinxing and not telling feels like a really tricky issue- the advice to wait feels like it's isolating women/couples as surely if something did go wrong or we were feeling really sick in the early weeks we would want support from those closest to us. I guess we all just have to do what feels right to us.

Thank you for all your helpful comments. I won't just stop the meds, sounds like it can do more harm than good. Will speak to GP tomorrow - I think I need to stay on something as it's a very anxious time in general and last time I came off I had a terrible relapse.

Re: telling people and feeling superstitious, all the advice is so isolating for women. For me, whatever happened I would want those closest to me to be aware and be able to support me, but then you feel bad for telling. I guess we just need to go with what feels right for us.

I haven't stopped taking citalopram and have been told by both a GP and my midwife that it is fine. Depression and anxiety have got worse in pregnancy so I have no plans to stop taking it either.

I was taking sertraline and got pregnant a bit quicker than we thought I would so hadn't tapered off like GP and I had planned. So made appt after BFP and discussed. Agreed that as I was doing well, I should taper off to none but if I hadn't felt as well, I could have kept going, confirmed by consultant at antenatal appt. However, I'm more chilled about this pregnancy than just about anything else, ever. DH keeps saying how well I seem to be. And for him to actually a) notice and b) comment is pretty major.
Please don't just stop. Make GP appt, find out how register with midwives, get some folic acid and Vit D and take them every day.

As for telling people, I told my parents about 5 weeks- kind of had to as mum and I do a gardening club and she was talking about heaving bags of compost about etc. Told his mum too as a courtesy except she bloody well told every other person in the world. Told a few close friends too as I needed to check/ moan about nausea etc and because it felt so much like it wasn't real. Because MIL had told people, I then didn't bother too much about keeping a secret from about 8 weeks.

Now almost 16 weeks

It's great that you're doing so well coming off the meds. That sounds v frustrating with the MIL telling everyone- we have similar concerns, she will be sooo over excited and are likely to get daily phone calls to check in so might wait a bit on that one or it could be a long pregnancy! Haven't started feeling sick yet, not relishing that with a long commute. It definitely feels much more real now some friends know.

I was very cross, especially when she later asked if she could tell people. I said to her that I knew she already had been and since DH hadn't at that point told his dad, then NO!

And there is a bit of a background train of thought on 'is this just pregnancy hormones or depression/ anxiety' a lot of the time but we have MH trained midwives here and knowing DR says I can start again if I need to, and that our GP does have a sit and wait and see SOMEONE slot each day I have an avenue if needed.

need help
iam trying for a baby i misses my period on the 6th but knoe i have had some some blood and its pink not very heavy but my back it killing abd had cramps is this my period

Please start a new thread Louisa

It isn't relevant to this one and might not get seen.

Might be implantation