Anxiety/panic attacks

[Chloe2022xz]

Hi I’ve had anxiety for years now and been on Sertraline. I’m 25 weeks pregnant the past week I’ve been waking up in the night with panic attacks :( also my anxiety is worse than it’s ever been. Midwife said too do counselling which can take weeks. Dr doesn’t want to up my dose as it’s a risk to baby.. I’m not worrying about anything it’s just the anxiety feeling all over my body I hate it especially panic attacks. Anyone else in the same boat

Sertraline is very safe to take during pregnancy, actually one of the safest anti depressants for pregnancy, there would be no harm in upping your does. I am also pregnant and taking sertraline. Hope you're feeling more yourself soon xxx

Sorry you're feeling this way OP.

I did a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy course when I was pregnant with DS as my anxiety got out of control (always had a bit of anxiety but pregnancy seemed to set it off massively for various reasons).

It helped deal with the physical feeling of anxiety that you're describing, so maybe look into it.

Depending on where you live, you may have access to an NHS Healthy Minds programme. They also prioritise women who are pregnant or have a less than 1 year old on their waiting list. Time from referral to being seen for 1st time for me was about a week (around June 2020). You can usually self refer too, so no need to go through your midwife or GP.

Hope you feel better soon!

I'm so sorry you're experiencing this.
Like you I've dealt with anxiety for a while and have been in and out of counselling for years. When I was pregnant with my first baby last year I definitely noticed that the anxiety increased, though it felt mostly manageable. Sadly we lost our little boy during the pregnancy, and I am now pregnant with our rainbow baby and the anxiety this time has been unbearable at times.
I was referred to IAPT, though I personally found my counsellor useless (he really didn't understand pregnancy after loss), so I stopped it.
I could be worth seeing if your midwife will put in a referral though because there is plenty of useful perinatal mental health support out there.
Remember that pregnancy is bloody difficult, and the effect it has on your hormones is crazy. Well done for battling with your mind whilst also growing a little human 💙

Sending calming thoughts.. I suffer from anxiety, particularly at work or social situations where there’s any pressure for me to perform. I just completely panic. I’ve been on and off propranolol for it but managed to go without during pregnancy last time. Now thinking of having another and just dreading work etc without the help of a mask to hide behind if I can’t take propranolol when pregnant. Ive seen a lot about sertraline being safe, I’ve just put off starting it but I should maybe do that instead of worrying about it