when did you know you were ready to come off ADs for PPD?

mssaint

I've been taking zoloft for PPD since LO was about 8 or 9 weeks old and it has helped me a lot. I think it has helped generally, too, as I feel like I don't get angry as easily as I used to and that I'm a little calmer overall. I wouldn't say that I was necessarily depressed prior to having PPD, but I definitely had some anxiety issues and problems with frustration and anger.

I am not necessarily ready to get off the meds, but I'm curious about how you knew you were ready? Or if you decided you weren't ready, how long are you planning to stay on them?

Hey Jellisy

I wasn't on them, but a good friend was.  She stopped them when she was TTC since many anti-depressants are not advised during pregnancy. 

mommmyz

Probably not the best person to respond, since I've always had some anxiety issues, but I came off Zoloft in February, when DS was about a year, and we were almost ready to TTC. Zoloft was relatively easy to come off of for me, but I do plan on going back on it once this baby is born, hopefully for the same amount of time but we'll see.

 I made sure that when I went off things were going to be pretty "normal" for a while - no big job issues, housing issues, etc. Now that I'm in the middle of a very crazy group of first graders, moving, and being pregnant, I could use some I'm sure! My docs all assure me it would be fine to go back on but I'm not quite okay with that. It is fairly mild stuff that I can work through without meds for right now. They do monitor me pretty closely and ask about it at every appointment, even though it was never really severe PPD, just mild issues, but I appreciate them being proactive since it can be a hard thing to admit at times.

Useonfire

I didn't have a prior history of depression, and went on Zoloft (and various other things for sleeping and such) when DS was a little over 3 weeks old.  I knew something was very wrong, very quickly. Around the 6th week, I switched to Celexa, which I stayed on until DS was 5 months old (so I stayed on SSRI's for about 4 months total).  However, given that I didn't have a prior history, I didn't find it necessarily helpful to stay on them, and I noticed no change when I weaned. 

That being said, my professional opinion (and I'm not a doc, but I am a Psychotherapist) is that if SSRI's significantly improve your mood, there's no real harm in staying on them.  There are even a couple that are ok for pregnancy. However, most docs would prefer that you don't take them unless the benefit outweighs the risk.  

vtmezzo

I've taken Zoloft (lowest dosage, 50 mg) for 4 years, through both pregnancies and nursing both kids. I don't plan on leaving it anytime soon! My docs said it was fine and it was better to just stay on it. That probably doesn't really help you much, but I would guess just start weaning yourself off and see how you feel?