Anti depressants!

[July21Baby]

Hi ladies

Currently 12+3 and I have been taking anti depressants (citalopram) for the last year. When I found out I was pregnant I spoke with the midwife and told her I was on them and she told me to continue taking them and she’ll put me in touch with a doctor. Well that never happened and I’ve continued to take them.

As silly as it sounds, but as it’s a routine I never thought more into it but now I’m reading about heart defects in baby. Has anyone taken them throughout pregnancy and been fine?xx

Yep, I was on citalopram when pregnant with my son (now 16). He is fine. I’m currently 20 weeks pregnant and on antidepressants. I have been told to remain on them until 36 weeks, so I have 4 weeks clear until birth, then start them again if needed. If I can’t come off then, they will keep us in for a couple of days as baby may have some withdrawal symptoms. This is a new one to me, and explains some of the initial problems I had with my son. He cried a lot and struggled to feed for about 3 days, so at least it is recognised that the meds can cause these difficulties now. I’m hope this doesn’t cause you worry, this is my experience and what my medical team say. Others may have very different experiences

@henni85 thank you so much for your response.

I heard about the withdrawals which sounds awful for baby! I’d love to wean myself off them now but don’t want to mess with myself! Hope everything works out for you xxx

Hi, this is my area of... expertise I have done work on this and I’m a psych nurse (and also take ADs myself... and am pregnant!)

As with every medication you will come across in life, there are risks. With AD use in pregnancy, you have to weigh up the risk of not taking with the risk to baby. Fortunately, though the risk to baby exists, it is tiny. Research has shown that there are poorer outcomes for babies who have a mentally unwell mother. I am currently on 40mg fluoxetine as I wouldn’t be able to function without it. For me, I have decided it’s far more important for me not to become severely unwell with anxiety and have weighed this up against the tiny risk of the ADs causing issues for baby.

@henni85 is correct about withdrawal symptoms, but for me, I have to carry on; I’ll just be halving my dose.

Bottom line: don’t worry about taking ADs while pregnant. If you need them, you need them.

I was on 150mg of sertraline.

I'm now 14w and off it completely. The midwife said I didn't need to, but the idea the baby would have to go through withdrawals wasn't okay with me.

I cut down 50mg at a time over 11ish weeks. The withdrawals weren't great along with feeling so lousy, but I am glad I've done it and I (somewhat surprisingly!) am feeling pretty good mentally

@Coolerthanapolarbearstoenails can I ask about your withdrawals?

I weaned myself off, but clearly still did it too quick and the last few days the dizziness and upset stomach have been awful. How long did yours last?xx

@July21Baby I weaned myself off citalopram just before I fell pregnant and it was rough. I felt like I had a bad flu and lasted about a week. But did start to feel much better soon after that.
A mum on my post natal ward had a baby that was being monitored for heart issues as she had been on antidepressants during her pregnancy. She was very open about it and I got the impression she was well supported by the medical staff but don't know any more about her situation.
I would talk to your midwife and doctor again...if you decide to try and wean off them then having a support network of people to go to will really help.

Sorry just noticed you have weaned off them..i remember how rough it was and hope you start feeling better soon.

Just for a bit of clarity, they no longer call it withdrawal in infants. They monitor babies for poor neonatal adaption syndrome if they have been exposed to medication in the womb. 1 in 10 babies not exposed to medication get this and the risk increases to 3 in 10 on medication.
I took medication in pregnancy and she scored 0 on all the checks over 3 days we were in. The risks of me becoming unwell were too great. I'm now on even more meds due to severe pnd and still breastfeeding if that is a further concern.

I see you have now come off your meds, please seek advice on how to do this as safely as possible.

Hi @July21Baby

I think every time I dropped it a bit it took a week to get "stable". And the went I went cold turkey about 10 days to be used to it.

I've been off them for a while now and am doing well - that was what I was most worried about. I think I will probably start taking them again once baby is here so long as it's compatible with breastfeeding, but right now the crying can absolutely be put down to being a pregnant women 😊

And then when I went**

@Coolerthanapolarbearstoenails glad you’re feeling better!

Did you get any withdrawals? I’m so scared I’m
Affecting the baby 😭xx

My dr advised me to stay on citalopram throughout my pregnancy as the effects of depression and anxiety would prob be more harmful to the baby than the medication. I did reduce it to the lowest dose of 10mg throughout and upped it after my son was born. I didn’t breastfeed as didn’t want to pass medication on to him more than I had. My son is 10 now and totally healthy and I have no regrets staying in the medication throughout pregnancy. Not sure I would have coped without. So please don’t give yourself a hard time if you chose to stay on the meds. X x

Yeah. Felt quite spaced out, lots of head zaps and I got a lot of hot flushes.

Everyone's different but I'm glad I did it.