Anyone on anti depressants? if so need advice.

[brightandshiny]

Which ones are you on and what are the side effects to the baby?
Anyone had good experiance with anti depressants? or suffered the side effects? I've heard the could cause premature birth?

I'm 7 months with my 3rd and I feel like I'm hitting rock bottom. can't sleep and when I do I have terrible nightmares. Ifeel the weight of the world is on my shoulders.

I been diagnosed with depression since I was 12 and have struggled with it ever since, counciling didn't help nor did the psycologists. tried serveral types of tablets but haven't been on any regularly for the last 5 or 6 years

I've tried taking citalopram in the past (just after I had dc1) but due to an allergy to yellow colour coatings I vomit them almost immeadiatly.

Please any advice would be really apreciated.

Hi bright.
I've been on lots of different SSRI types, including during pregnancy. There are ads you can use during pg and bfing. Obviously, the 'ideal' is to be on no meds, but who is ideal? lol.
I really think you should seek help - good on you for posting. There is appropriate help out there. What kind of therapies have you tried? CBT? Psychotherapy? Psychotherapy worked for me as my depression was linked to deep seated probs from way back.

Hi, thanks for replying.

I'm not sure what cbt is? I have had counciling (singularly and group) and psycologists.

I was a victim of abuse as a child and the courts would not allow anyone to help us till the cases had finished, By the time we were allowed to see the psycologists and councilors I had found my own way of coping.

I already have an appointment with the doctor on friday. I was wondering if anyone (or their babies) had any experience of the side effects of being on them and if they were as severe as some websites seem to make out?

CBT is cognitive behavioral therapy - it is flavour of the month and not much good imho!

I was also abused as a kid and as well as psychotherapy I found the Rape Crisis Centre helpful. Obviously, that's only any good if it's sexual abuse.

Some people do have bad side effects on ADs and these tend to be the ones you hear about. Lots of people use ADs with no ill effects on themselves or their los.

It was long term sexual abuse.

I honestly don't think I will ever be ready to talk about it again. I was really let down by the ones I saw. I felt they were bullying me so I'd say what they wanted to hear. It has made me really phobic about talking to anyone even anonymously.

That is such a shame, bright. You need to talk about these issues to help get over your depression. Have you read any books on the subject? I found "The Courage To Heal" very helpful. It also has a work book and you can go through it at your own pace. Try Amazon if you don't want to buy it in a book shop.

It's by Ellen Bass and Laura Divis, btw.

Davis

I refused to take ad's while pregnant but relented while BF ing eventually. I took setraline.
I should have taken them...pregnancy was the lowest time of my life.
However, I am sentitive to the pregnancy hormones and once the baby was born I was absolutly fine both times...it just lifted away only to return once the baby was eating solids at 6 months and I was not making as much milk and periods returned.
Something to think about anyway.

Thanks for the book referal nicky. I'm not kidding when I say I can't talk about it, I can't even read a story about it in the news paper or watch a telly program without being in floods of tears. I'm afraid I deal by repression. I only get bad when it surfaces through wanting people wanting to talk about it. which has happened a lot recently as I have to explain to consultants and midwifes why I don't want lots of internal exams.

bottlebinberrie: thanks for reply. I've been reading about setraline. I think I'll make a request for that one as it's abotu the only one I haven't tried.

sertraline is a good one, I generally stop antidep's during preg and restart post natally (and breast feed). I find lofepramine to be fine. It is an older style antidep so there is a lot of experience with it, but it doesn't tend to make you drowsy or have dry mouth etc like other older ones. You could try that if sertraline no good.

Is this your first baby? if so it could stir up a lot, might be better to try talking now if you can, if you can't write it down then shred it/burn it maybe?

I took Prozac whilst PG from 30 weeks onwards. No problems re:birth etc - DS born at 39weeks 4 days, fine at birth, no breathing problems. He had some feeding problems/jaundice but I really think that was due to ventouse if anything, not the Prozac. I think these days they prefer sertraline while breastfeeding.

It's not my first baby. This bump is my third. I have a daughter who's two and a son who's one. I was bad with my daughter but I had a difficult pregnancy, I was told she could be blind, stillborn have mental difficultys and all sorts so it kinda took my mind off of having a girl (though I did cry for a long time when I did find out it was a girl). my son I had no problems with. I found out two weeks ago that this is another girl (90% the sonographer said) so now I think I have become doubly panicy as I worry about keeping one daughter safe let alone two.

I'm fine for the most part and get through day to day I just don't want to be a crying bundle of nerves infront of my two kids, it really made me want to go on them when I burst into tears infront of my daughter and she's hugging me saying "it's ok mummy, you alright mummy?" I should be the carer not her.

Dear brightandshiny,

I actually have exactly your problem. I have huge difficulties with sleep and then nightmares, if I do sleep. The nightmares are exacebated by hormones. I have found taking time off work helps. I also went to the doctor and discussed medication. He has given me Pirition which is apparently safe to take in pregnancy. It's an antihistamine but it has a drowsey propery. I don't take it every night but I find that if I am having a bad night I take it. Then I relax and it helps enormousely. Incidently, relaxing (and for me that's often vegetating in front of vallium TV as I call it, any reality TV show going) can help the nightmares. The more relaxed I am the less likely I am to have them.
I hope this helps because I know how miserable this is. I have had a complication with the pregnancy (deep vein thrombosis and a bad reaction to that medication). Nothing has been worse for me than the nightmares and lack of sleep. If you can sleep I think you will find that you will feel much more human.
Good night NS XXXXX

I take Dothiepin, and took it all through pregnancy and while bf. It's also one of the older style ad's, a tri-cyclic. I've never had any side effects, and no effects on dd. I have worked for a psychiatrist in the past and she reassured me about continuing to take it.

i took prozac from 30 weeks with my last pregnancy, and have just been given some more at 13 weeks with this one. My GP said that prozac has one of the longest/best known track records for pregnancy use. I know of someone else who took it and had no probelms with her or the baby.

I think the first trimester is the critical time for NOT taking anything.

I was warned that DD might suffer possible withdrawal symptoms and they kept a close eye on her in the first 48 hours, but she was absolutely fine.

what the GP did say to me is that you have to weigh up the side effects against the benefit to the mother, so it;s definatel worth talking things over with your GP in the first instance. I've also had a referral to the peri-natal unit at the local psychiatric hospital which was good as they deal with pregnant and nursing mums all the time and are more clued up than GPs.

hth

Thanks guys,

I am feeling much better about going on them now. I've been on prozac before but they seem to take ages to kick in. I'll ask the doctor if I could take the occassional piriton.

I keep saying I need a day off but everyone just laughs, even when I go to my sister & mums or inlaws I'm running round after both (with spd not helping) as they have "clean" houses, I ask them to visit me but no one does. (maybe cause my house looks like I have two children!
doesn't help I have both kids teething too, their last four baby teeth are coming through. Thankfully I have them almost timed right down to when the wake up. though have just been panicing over dd as she's picked her nose till it bled a bit(something I'm used to as her dad has spontanious bleeds too) so have been on the phone to mum while cleaning her up (shes a nurse, who needs nhs direct!)

Sorry prattling on. I have no RL friends and dh is at work, lol even when he's home he does the whistling ear thing whenever I try to hold a conversasion.

Maybe a part of this is I'm lonely.

Another dothiepin user here - took it all through pregnancy and breastfeeding, dd is fine. HTH

Hi B&S,

I have suffered with depression since my late teens and have been on & off depressants the last 10 yrs (seroxat - don't believe all the bad press, it did wonders for me).

I came off last summer but when I told my midwife about it she referred me to the peri-natal service at my hospital. Like Lacadaisy, I've found this a huge help. I've only been to one workshop where I met 2 other mums with similar concerns & the Dr discussed how they might be able to help if/when we needed it.

They also gave me a big leaflet about taking anti depressents when pg or bf - basic gist was that they haven't done any research so they can't know for sure but it looks like it doesn't harm the baby.

The best about it was that I don't feel guilty/ashamed/alone any more. So PLEASE PLEASE find out if there is a similar service in your area. Normal Dr's can be rubbish at dealing with depression. I had an antenatal appt this morning where I was obvioulsy tearful and told the Dr I felt I was falling apart (backache & eczma, no biggie in scheme of things) but she just wanted to get me in & out as quick as poss.

Hope this helps to make you feel less alone xxx

Also - Can you try extreme tactics and dump the kids on your mum or SIL for an hour rather than staying there with them? Make up some excuse about needing to do something v important and not being able to take them with you. Sometimes people need to be left alone with kids before they can properly take responsibility for them.

Thanks for the advice. I am going to the doctors tomorrow to get some help.

I wish I could dump them on someone sometimes. Mum works she does insurance medical so she's in and out all day. MIL and FIL both work full time too. My sister has epilepsy and I am her main carer when my mum isn't there so not really a good idea to leave my terrors with her when I have to take care of her ds sometimes, though he is 7 and loves being DD's and/or DS "babysister" while I'm making tea or changing bums.

doesn't help non of our family (other than me and my 86 grandma) are maternal in the slightest, so am very dubious about leaving them for too long. When i have left them with the inlaws they have "forgotten" to feed them anything other than sweets, put nappies on inside out (they're disposables too fgs) and let them play in water then left them in cold wet clothes, DD was shivering. God I hope dh doesn't read this rant.

I do feel less alone on mumsnet. your all always here when someone needs someone shoulder to cry, laugh and moan on. Thank you so much everyone.

hi, took Prozac from 4mo pg with DS (born naturally at 37 weeks, breathing problem after birth related to birth stress, not the ADs, is fine now at 2yr). Took it again for entire pg with DS (born by elective CS at 39 weeks, healthiest baby i've ever seen).

the way my GP put it I think was right. She said, the risk of being depressed and NOT taking the meds is much worse for the baby than the risk of anything from the meds themselves.

i really wish you luck. come back if you need us!

B&S; I don't know how old your DCs are, but the local children's centres here (Leeds) have a stay and play, where you can leave your DCs for a few hours. You have to book it in advance as it is understandably very popular. It might be worth looking into what is available locally....try the surestart website. A few hours away from the DCs can be a real tonic, especially if you are feeling depressed.

I also know a few centres run special creches especially for women who are suffering from depression. Ask your Health visitor as she should have access to what's available. I'm thinking of seeing my local HV team about running a PN group for women with depression as it can sometimes be very difficult to actually get out of the house and mix with womeon who, tat least from the outside, appear to be coping better than you. I know I quite often feel inadequate at these things because I'm not enthusing with life about everything like some of the women.

children can be very isloating in the best of circumstances; add depression to that and you can feel really shut off from the world.

I hope you get on well at the docs tomorrow. come and let us know won't you

will do.

My kids are two and one (non of my prenancies have been planned with no2 and 3 I was even on the pill). I'm a carer for my sister and grandma (me and mum alternate) so don't have much free time. I'm currently scraping everything I can get together to send DD to a preschool group near to my sister for two afternoons a week, as she absolutley adores going. ds is too young to go at the moment

I havn't seen my health visitor since my son turned one (about six months ago)though I do have to take him to clinic in a few weeks for his jabs so may ask whats available if the doc is clueless.

no wonder you find things tough; it sounds like you have a lot on your plate at the moment.

{{{hugs}}}

Been to the doctors, fat lot of use that was, wouldn't give me any advice and has refered me to the communitiy psyciatric nurse. Last time I saw one of them I was in tears infront of her and all she said was I was "a bit miserable".

He said he didn't give anything to pregnant women even though I said I was scared of hurting my baby and the effect it was having on my kids. He asked if I was suicidal! so the only way to get any help is to say I'm going to end my own flaming life. I'm not that bloody selfish. I may have been when I was a teenager but I have a family and responsiblities now. If I was chuffing suicidal I just flaming do it, no pissing about going to the effing doctors.
Sorry I don't know if I'm angry or upset. I think upset as i'm in tears.

Will go and have a glass of low alcohol wine. try to clam down.

Brightandshiny,

Just a quick message I'l write more tomorrow. This happened to me in Ireland and I had to come back here to get help. I really feel for you. Can you not change your doctor? There are things that you can take in pregnancy. Personally I have found a low dose of Piriton a God send. It's just at the right level to take the edge of my anxiety and baby kicks all the way though it, there has never been any problems when I have been put on a foetal monitor. After taking it I can get back into a good night routine and I feel heaps better. A couple of good nights and some support can work wonders. I sometimes think there is a fear of prescribing medication though lack of knowledge, all you were trying to do (like me) was the best for your unborn baby and that's an acto of love.

I get v. angry when practitioners refuse to listen...many of thenm don't have to deal with exhaustion and hormonal changes in pregnancy. And lets face it, midwifes can prescribe pethidine for women in early labour ansd that's an opiate!

Speak to the CPN though. it might help. I have counselling at the maternity hospital and I have found it a lifeline.

Lots of love,

NS XXX