Anxiety medication in third trimester?

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I had my 34wk midwife appt today and when she asked about my anxiety I was honest and said that I am struggling. I've coped through 1st and 2nd trimesters with the help of a counsellor and thought things were getting better but now that I'm getting closer to due date and packing hospital bags etc I'm finding it harder again. My thoughts aren't really rational but I keep becoming convinced my baby will die and I can't concentrate on anything else. The midwife was lovely and supportive and is referring me for mental health support but also said that she thinks I should take anxiety medication. I said I wasn't keen and wanted to understand the risks for baby. She said there might be a need for extra monitoring which worries me but that she thinks the benefits outweigh the risks because my anxiety is also not good for them. I'm not sure what medication is being proposed just yet.

I know I can say no to medication and I will ask more questions before getting a prescription as I want to understand what the pros and cons actually are and feel confident I'm making the best decision for the baby as this is obviously playing right into my anxiety!

Has anyone taken medication or chosen not to? What was your experience and why did you make the choice you did?

I started Sertraline for anxiety shortly before becoming pregnant and I mentioned to the GP when I started that we were hoping to start TTC soon. He said it was generally considered one of the safest options for pregnancy and BFing but we could always reconsider if we wanted to once we got pregnant. Tbh, not taking it wasn't really an option with how bad my anxiety was at the time, and knowing it might be months or longer before we conceived. It took a while to get the dosage right but I feel much better on it now - I still have the somewhat irrational thoughts but they don't make me as anxious or dominate my whole day etc. I spoke to the midwife and GP after we found out and they both said they'd recommend staying on it, and that unhappy mum would be much more likely to be of concern than staying on the medication.

Don't know if that helps but definitely feel it was the right call for me.

I didn’t take in 3rd trimester as I just battled through and didn’t tell anyone about how I was feeling. But that bit me on my backside royally once baby was here and I suffered badly with post natal anxiety and depression that took a long while to settle (with the help of medication). If i started to feel like I did with DC1 at any point during my current pregnancy I wouldn’t hesitate to take the prescription. I was not the mother I wanted to be, or was capable of being, whilst so unwell post partum.

I’ve already spoken with GP and it was explained that there a some medications that, although not tested on pregnant women (it’s unethical), have been taken by lots of pregnant women for many years with little/no issues. Any monitoring is just to make absolutely sure you and baby are okay.

But that’s just my personal experience.

I would book in with a GP so you can talk through options and allow you to make an informed decision that you feel comfortable with

I was recommended to take anti-depressant in my third trimester due to anxiety. I didn't want to and repeatedly declined but did accept referral to the perinatal mental health midwife who only saw me once a week or two before birth. She also then referred me to a specialist therapeutic service for young families. I had therapy with them, a few sessions prior to birth and a few sessions after and then discharged myself because by then I had PTSD and PND and couldn't engage with the service. I re-referred myself when my DC1 was 1 and had about 9 months of therapy then which was helpful. I'm not sure if I made the right call during pregnant or not and my desire not to go on ADs was due to my previous difficulty in coming off them in early pregnancy and the belief that my severe anxiety was situational and likely to resolve itself - this latter part was mostly incorrect as it didn't. Prior to birth my anxiety was mainly about birth, physical postnatal recovery, and how to cope with a newborn/lack of sleep. Afterwards the birth experience anxiety morphed into birth trauma and the anxiety continued but focused on different things such as my beliefs that I wasn't doing s good enough job given my DD cried all day every day and took me into a dark place that eventually became PND. Medication can be a useful tool and there are many pregnant women who take antidepressants during pregnancy safely. I would definitely consider it and if you're not wanting to go on them, try and line up as much other support and treatment as you can do you don't decline like I did.

This is something I have been considering talking to a doctor about. I have had bad anxiety for years and its been worse in lockdown and pregnancy. I have taken meds in the past but wanted to avoid it while pregnant but now Im worried the anxiety is harming the baby. Im 19 weeks pregnant. My anxiety isn't just about the baby either, I constantly worry about all sorts of catastrophic (but unlikely) things happening. Im wondering if risk to baby of taking meds is less than risk to baby of constantly feeling anxious!