AND/PND poll. Anti depressants in pregnancy, who took them and when

[HeinzSight]

Am considering this and want info!

AND, Prozac, 30 weeks. GP unhelpful, had to get referred to a psych to get prescribed them.

Was offered them from 36 weeks to prevent PND 'crash' but refused.

TotalChaos, where did you see psych? There doesn't seem to be a specialist in my area, so I'm thinking of a private app in London or something

Scorpio, why did you refuse?

Because i wanted to adopt and wait and see approach - and thankfully i haven't needed them this time round (dc3).

(We want to know about your scan on the other thread!)

Is your GP unhelpful about this?

last 2 pregnancies, severe ante-natal anxiety and insomnia. Last two pregnancies ended up on diazepam and sleeping pills. This time had been on sertraline for 6 months for depression and anxiety when I fell pregnant. I have decided to stay on them and so far so good, I am sleeping and the anxiety is far better than it would be normally. My gp said it is better not to take them but if I need it, better to be on Sertraline than have to take something stronger like diazepam later on. TBH, the diazepam was a godsend at times (like when I hadn't slept more than 15 mins without waking in panic for over 2 weeks) but I did feel the baby slow down and she was obviously affected by the drugs as well as me. It's so hard, last time I ended up seeing the psychiatrist but as usual, the second the baby was born I feeling fine again.

Took sertraline from 12 weeks. Went to GP who immediately referred me to a psych. Not sure it was AND or PND, more ordinary depression that came to a crisis during pregnancy

Hi Scorpio, tbh I was reluctant to mention my scan on our thread because of Kat's troubles. I'll come and post in a sec My GP is brilliant, he's so lovely and is pretty obliging. I guess I want to know from an expert in this field what the safest AD is.

Hangingbelly (love you name!) my PND seems to have got worse after each pregnancy, I'm having no.4 now. It was AWFUL after my last, I think I'm suffering a bit with post traumatic shock tbh because I keep getting flashbacks to how bad it was, these really bring me down. It's put a real downer on this pregnancy so far

I was just referred to the bogstandard psych at the community mental health team, he was very nice, and double checked about ADs and PG with the pharmacist who worked for them. Because the hospital obs/gynae sorted out the referral, and flagged it as urgent, I got seen within about 2/2.5 weeks.

That's good to know total, I'm still waiting for my referral to come through for our community mental health team, hopefully they can do the same for me.

anyone else who can join poll?

The psych I saw said from his experience, sertraline was a "good" AD, especially as I intended to bf (and did).

I got seen by the GP on Wed and the psych on Friday - I think I was worse than I realised IYSWIM.

I'll look up sertraline, I've never heard of that one.

When I had DD I was put of Lofrepramine because I was still BF, it didn't work AT ALL, when I switched to Prozac, the change was dramatic.

Anyone else?

I take Prozac for depression and a history of bulimia and have done for about 10 years. I am now 29 weeks and have reduced my dose from 60mg daily to 40mg. I was worried and discussed it with my GP prior to getting pregnant and they weren't great but did say that it was far better for me to be stable during my pregnancy and to continue with my meds than to stop.
I have tried therapy in the past without success and I do worry about the baby and withdrawal and getting PND but will have to cross that bridge when we get there. I am planning to bf so hopefully we can do it gradually without too much trauma.

Usually take 20mg Citalopram for hormonal depression. Cut it down to 10mg 2 months before TTC and falling pg.

Feel million times better than last pg when I stopped them altogether

Thanks Wilk, I posted on other thread too.

I took sertraline all the way through and when breastfeeding.
One of the GPs at my surgery is dead against it, (but then he is a total misogynist who thinks woman should suffer, pg or not)but my own GP (also male) was far more realistic and understanding adn spent a lot of time contacting various psychiatrists who deal with AND and PND and was happy that I take it. I was on it before becoming pg, btw. post partum, a lovely registrar looked into safety in bfing for me and was happy that I could continue.
I was on 100mg, cut down to 50 when I found oout I was pg then back up to 100 mg from about 14 weeks, until ds was 2 yrs! Now on 50 mg and though I would prefer to be off them before baby no.2 is concieved, I would have NO WORRIES about going back on.

Fwiw, and thought this is by no means scientific, lo, ds is a veyr happy little chappy so far.

Lofepramine for SAD (used it for 13 years) from 2 months before conception to 2 months after. And from 5 weeks after birth, while bf.

Had discussed with GP before ttc and agreed it would be fine - lofepramine is an oldfashioned tricyclic which means there's loads of research going back to the 1960s. Seems to have fewer side effects than SSRIs - except one big side effect is it's fatal in overdose.

V glad I get free scripts atm as I changed GP and understandably they didn't want to give me much at a time until they knew me and that I wasn't going to take them all at once.

So far my depression this winter has been less bad than usual despite A being born in Sept - did have a couple weeks of being very miserable and exhausted though!

Heinz - my GP was brilliant and got guidance from a specialist for me, free of charge - they wrote to a specialist in the field and gave me the letter that they got back.

I think you have to weigh up what is more important: your mental health whilst pg and the health of your unborn child. Ethically, they can never test drugs on unborn babies so they will never be 100% certain that drugs don't affect babies BUT I know how dreadful I felt last pg that I am willing to take the calculated risk of 10mg Citalopram.

Speak to your GP in first instance and take it from there IMO.

Thanks everyone so far.

Wilk, I'm still waiting for an appointment to see the community mental health team, I spoke to my GP about a month ago but still haven't heard anything Am struggling along with the Omega 3 fishoil they seem to help a bit

Totally agree with Wilkie - my mental health is paramount, especially as I have two other dd's. I can't afford to totalll lose the plot for their sake as well as mine. I feel quite confident being pregnant and breastfeeding on Sertraline and I just hope that my current dose keeps me stable enough to cope. It's constantly at the back of my mind.

Depression truly is crapolla

Heinzsight - i think you should ring your GP and chase up. there is no way you should have to wait a month to hear from them while you are pregnant.

Sorry just realised that sounds very bossy but on your behalf that they havent helped you more quickly x

Fluoxetine at 13 weeks until delivery and then went onto sertraline as better for BFing.

GP was fantastic and gave me a referral to our local perinatal MH service which I attend as an outpatient. My psych there recommends prozac in pregnancy as it has the longest track record, however there are other suitable drugs. afaik it's a balance between mum being well and baby being safe and individual cases merit different approaches.

the fact you have been waiting a month is appalling . Can you get back to your GP and push for either a referral or some medication of this is what you feel you need.

As an aside, there is little understanding of the effects of drugs and Bfing among the general medical profession. I was being pressurised by the paed in hospital not to BF because of the drugs and had to stand my ground over it and demanded that they contact my psych at the perinatal unit; not easy after being awake for 48 hours and knackered/emotionally wrought after childbirth (DH was conveniently asleep in the corner!!)