Pregnancy & Depression

[AnguaUberwaldIronfoundersson]

Does anyone else suffer with low moods and depression?

I suffer with low moods, exacerbated by my menstrual cycle. I take a low dose of sertraline each day to regulate my moods. Or at least I did... because of the low dose I was advised to stop taking it due to the harmful effects in the first trimester.

4 weeks in and I'm starting to feel that terrible familiar lowness. The type that casts shadow on pretty much everything and makes it hard to see the positives as easily as you would normally do.

Anyone get this? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Please speak to your GP. It is talked about less but prenatal depression is more common than post natal depression.

Thanks Another

It’s not that... I’m really aware of my symptoms and it’s really hard to articulate exactly what’s going on but I know it’s nothing major. My moods are very cyclical and given that my hormones are probably all over the place right now it’s no wonder that I’m feeling like I am, especially given I’m cold turkey on the Sertraline.

I’ll get there, I’ll speak to the GP if I feel worse. I’m very open about my mental health and my DH is totally up to date with any changes

It took me nearly a year to come off Sertraline before we started TTC because I was so sensitive to the side effects. It was awful. I'm now pregnant, extremely hormonal and concerned about my moods (they had seemed fine). I can't imagine being pregnant and coming off the meds simultaneously, so you should probably give yourself a break for starters and try to take things slowly. Don't catastrophise, but do try and speak to someone soon to see if you can get some talking therapy.

Thanks Hiccup I’m also dealing with my swinging pregnant emotions and a few Googles tell me that low moods can be quite normal in the first trimester.

Will speak to the GP if I start feeling any worse

I'm on 50mg of sertraline and have been throughout my pregnancy (I'm now 36 weeks). I've been told by the gp, a few midwives and a consultant that it's absolutely fine, and more dangerous to have low moods/depression/horrendous side effects from withdrawal.

Maybe go back and see your doctor.

That’s interesting Brutus I was on 50mg but the doctor told me to come off it straight away! To be fair it was my old doctors, I’ve reregistered since as my doctors were rubbish... so I’ll book in for a second opinion

I was advised to step down 25mg every two weeks, and I was on 100mg a day. I just cut the tablets in half. Hope it works out for you x

I suffer with depression and spoke to the GP about taking sertaline whilst pregnant. She said ideally being off it is best but it much better to be happy and on it than suffer without it.

I came off it before I fell pregnant but shs said if I started to feel low at any point to go straight back to her and we could look at going back on a low dose.

I've been on sertraline 50mg tablets daily for some time and conceived in march - I spoke to my GP who was more than happy for me to stay on this dose throughout the pregnancy - I have a history of depression and anxiety and he felt it was much better for me and baby to stay on this than to try and wean off during pregnancy - looks like there's lots of different advice out there!

I'm on 50mg sertraline and have been for my entire pregnancy. Going cold turkey off it sucks at the best of times, can't imagine doing that whilst pregnant.
Think it would be good to speak to your new gp and consider going back on it

I'm struggling beyond belief and just need a friend I'm pregnant and very alone my child's dads family haven't spoke to me for years and I'm scared of how I will cope with baby 2 and were not currently togeather I have no family around please help

I also suffer from mental health mixed anxiety and severe depression just can't stop crying

@Inshallah Have you spoken to your midwife and GP about how you are feeling? There is a lot of support out there for women in your situation and they can put things in motion to get you feeling better. As you can see from this thread, there are plenty of us who are juggling pregnancy and mental health issues, and it does get better.

Can you ask your GP what he or she actually means by ‘harmful effects in the first trimester.’? Because they’re not giving you evidence based information. Fluoxetine for example is something you could ask about switching to. Fluoxetine isnconsidered a VERY safe medication in pregnancy.

Here is the OTIS (society of teratologists) fact sheet on sertraline mothertobaby.org/fact-sheets/sertraline-zoloft-pregnancy/

Here is the one for fluoxetine.
mothertobaby.org/fact-sheets/fluoxetine-prozac-pregnancy/

If your GP cannot tell you exactly what ‘effects’ they are taking about, press for details.

Sorry posted too soon - because untreated depression is far more of a problem than taking a low dose of Prozac. Ask if you can switch to a different SSRI.

Also my dr said the risk of taking Sertraline during pregnancy was that there was a thought that it may result in a slightly higher risk of heart defects but she said nothing had been proven as they wouldnt do testing on pregnant women.

She didnt seem overly concerned and said that if I was on a dose throughout pregnancy I would have more scans and monitoring and baby would have to stay in hospital for monitoring for the first 24 hrs after birth

Ive been told that my dose is low enough for the baby not to need monitoring for withdrawal symptoms. Interesting how different the advice is!

Inshallah- have you any friends in real life you can talk to? You sound like you need concrete help from someone. Go and see your doctor

I have had an extra scan, though.