Anxiety Meds & Pregnancy

stokesm21 · November 2016

I was diagnosed with GAD a little over a year ago. I've never been a drug person but at the time it was so bad, I needed it. I am currently on ecitalopram (Lexapro in the US/Cipralex in Canada) and it works wonders for me. I'm on a very, very low dose - only 5mg. If you read online it will say 10mg is the lowest dose to be effective but everyone is different. I considered for a long time, going off them while pregnant but I've heard time and time again that anxiety can get a lot worse post-partum. The hell I went through adjusting to these meds is not something I ever, ever want to experience again let alone when I have a newborn. I was a useless lump who laid in bed for 2 weeks wanting to die!

At this point, if I miss a pill 1 day I feel a bit anxious while before I was pregnant, I could miss 1 or 2 days and still be okay. I'm not anxious about baby. We were actively trying, ovulation testing and everything and once I got my BFP I was super excited and I still am. I can honestly say I have zero anxiety about having a child so I'm chocking it up to my hormones being out of whack.

My Dr said that I am on such a low dose that she's not concerned. She also said they would much rather you be on them if you need them, then off as the stress of the anxiety can be bad for baby. I guess I'm not really looking for advice. Just wondering who stayed on their meds?

tsarina-2 · November 2016

I weaned myself off Effexor before my first pregnancy and did not take any meds during my first pregnancy. I suffered from bad depression throughout and then major postpartum anxiety. Went on Zoloft and have taken it ever since, including through my second pregnancy and now am taking it during my third pregnancy.

My doctor told me that on the one hand you have a theoretical, unproven risk to the fetus from the medication, and on the other hand you have a very real risk to both the fetus and the mama from untreated anxiety and/or depression. To me the choice was clear.

Anyway, just wanted to reach out. It is always nice to hear from others who can relate.

ddvj79 · November 2016

I am staying on my meds. I am on Wellbutrin and Lexapro (5mg also). I see a provider who specializes and only sees pregnant women. She says that babies born from mothers who are high anxiety and not medicated tend to be super anxious themselves. I also got to talk to a few different women who were off meds for one pregnancy and stayed on their meds for the next one. They have convinced me to stay on my meds. Hope this info makes you feel better

I know talking to others really helped me.

stokesm21 · November 2016

tsarina said:

I weaned myself off Effexor before my first pregnancy and did not take any meds during my first pregnancy. I suffered from bad depression throughout and then major postpartum anxiety. Went on Zoloft and have taken it ever since, including through my second pregnancy and now am taking it during my third pregnancy.

My doctor told me that on the one hand you have a theoretical, unproven risk to the fetus from the medication, and on the other hand you have a very real risk to both the fetus and the mama from untreated anxiety and/or depression. To me the choice was clear.

Anyway, just wanted to reach out. It is always nice to hear from others who can relate.

This is exactly how I feel. And thank you for reaching out. As you said, it's nice to hear from others who know what this horrible illness is like. My best friend also suffers (and has 2 kids) so I'm thankful to have someone in my life who has been through it all and who can be there to support me when others just might not understand.

Did you BF your kids or no? My sister has a friend with anxiety as well and she went off the meds for her pregnancy and to BF which got me thinking whether I could or not.

tsarina-2 · November 2016

@stokesm21 I breast fed both my daughters, the second for over a year, and took an antidepressant throughout. Different medications are excreted in breast milk in different amounts, so you could see how your particular meds are, in terms of infant exposure via breast milk.

Postpartum can be a challenge for people with depression and anxiety, so I would be careful about stopping medication after giving birth. Your new baby needs a mentally ok mom, you know? My understanding, personally and via my doctor, is that the benefits of breastfeeding are well established, and the theoretical impact of a small percentage of medicine ending up in breast milk shouldn't prevent you from breastfeeding if you want to and are able. But that is me. I'm sure your doctor can advise you, too, if you have concerns.

tmpedroza · November 2016

I was on Lexapro for a couple of years before it stopped working for me. the doctor then put me on Prozac, but it made all of my symptoms waaaaay worse! I've been on zoloft the for almost a year now and it has been perfect me for. in my experience, SSRI's are so diverse in what works for each person. don't be afraid to say something to your doctor if you feel it's not working well.

stokesm21 · November 2016

tmpedroza said:

I was on Lexapro for a couple of years before it stopped working for me. the doctor then put me on Prozac, but it made all of my symptoms waaaaay worse! I've been on zoloft the for almost a year now and it has been perfect me for. in my experience, SSRI's are so diverse in what works for each person. don't be afraid to say something to your doctor if you feel it's not working well.

I have been doing very well on the Cipralex. Adjusting to the meds was complete and utter hell for me. I'm not a suicidal person but the constant anxiety made me literally want to die. I got over that hurdle and felt back to normal after a few months. I'm on a really low dose as well so if I feel it losing its effectiveness I can still bump up. I have noticed that I'm more anxious but I'm contributing that to the pregnancy as opposed to the meds as it didn't happen until I got my BFP. I have some education in mental health so I'm quite "in the know" so-to-speak. I do plan to get off them one day with some intense CBT but for now, I think it's the best thing for baby and me.
Thanks for the support. This is a terrible illness and I know I don't suffer alone. There's too many of us out there!

stokesm21 · November 2016

tsarina said:

@stokesm21 I breast fed both my daughters, the second for over a year, and took an antidepressant throughout. Different medications are excreted in breast milk in different amounts, so you could see how your particular meds are, in terms of infant exposure via breast milk.

Postpartum can be a challenge for people with depression and anxiety, so I would be careful about stopping medication after giving birth. Your new baby needs a mentally ok mom, you know? My understanding, personally and via my doctor, is that the benefits of breastfeeding are well established, and the theoretical impact of a small percentage of medicine ending up in breast milk shouldn't prevent you from breastfeeding if you want to and are able. But that is me. I'm sure your doctor can advise you, too, if you have concerns.

Thank you! I would like to breastfeed obviously. I'm assuming if it's not hurting baby inutero then it probably won't with breast milk either. I don't think stopping after baby would be a good idea either. My sister had a friend that stopped for her pregnancy and continued to stay off to BF. She was an absolute mess.

At the same time, I'm not dead set either way. I'm a pretty laid back person. I don't have birth plans. Mine is a simple, I would like to give birth vaginally, preferably with drugs (haha!) but baby is going to do what baby is going to do and I have to respect that. Same with breast feeding. I would love to. I think most Mom's hope for that but I also know my sister tried with both and it just didn't work out. Her first one ended up beginning to lose weight so for his health she gave up and the second wouldn't latch either. It's not the end of the world for me. If it works, then great and if it doesn't, well, I don't see any kids all messed up because they were formula fed haha! And I think it's an overall good approach to have because of my illness.

I have my first Dr's appt tomorrow so I am going to ask her about it regardless.

tsarina-2 · November 2016

@stokesm21 It sounds like you have a great attitude. Breast feeding is such a 'thing' now, with moms judging each other. It's really unfortunate. If you can breastfeed, great! If not, that's fine!

With my first, she refused to nurse for more than a minute, so I ended up pumping for 4.5 months. Then my supply dropped and I switched to formula. Pumping around the clock for months was so hard for me, and I would probably not do it again. I was lucky that my second was a good nurser, but if she hadn't been I would just moved to formula. Like you say, your baby will be who he or she is, and you can go from there.

stokesm21 · November 2016

Ate my words last night. I wasn't feeling well and nausea is a trigger for my anxiety. I must have had 3 or 4 attacks in a row. It was a rough night to say the least. Then I was so exhausted from them that I passed right out, thankfully! I was a bit anxious again this morning but seemed to be fine once I took my meds. *sigh* I really hope the nausea part of pregnancy spares me for this reason. Part of me actually just wants to throw up so I can get it over with and see that there is nothing to be afraid of. I know there's nothing to be afraid of but my irrational anxious thoughts don't. Almost as if exposure would make the fear go away ya know?!

tsarina-2 · November 2016

@stokesm21 Oh no! I understand that kind of anxiety. I get migraines, and I'm not supposed to take my migraine meds during pregnancy, so if I feel a migraine coming on, I panic.

I'm not someone who hates throwing up (I mean I don't like it or anything, but I'd rather do it and get it over with, if it's inevitable). My mom would rather be nauseated all day than barf once - I'm the opposite. Maybe it would be better if you did throw up so you can see that it's unpleasant but that's it. Like you said, takes away your fear of the unknown, you know?

Of course, the best would be if you just weren't nauseated anymore.

edit: words

stokesm21 · November 2016

tsarina said:

@stokesm21 Oh no! I understand that kind of anxiety. I get migraines, and I'm not supposed to take my migraine meds during pregnancy, so if I feel a migraine coming on, I panic.

I'm not someone who hates throwing up (I mean I don't like it or anything, but I'd rather do it and get it over with, if it's inevitable). My mom would rather be nauseated all day than barf once - I'm the opposite. Maybe it would be better if you did throw up so you can see that it's unpleasant but that's it. Like you said, takes away your fear of the unknown, you know?

Of course, the best would be if you just weren't nauseated anymore.

edit: words

I got my first real migraine the other day. I was worried at first but my Dr said, "classic migraine." Hopefully that doesn't happen again. And yes, I too would just rather throw up and get it out of the way. No way in hell would I want to feel sick all day and have nothing come of it haha!

I'm in that prime morning sickness stage but I'm doing okay. A bit nauseated in the morning but that's about it, so far, hoping it doesn't get worse. It happened while driving today. There's a lot of construction on my highway with little place to pull over so I was just begging, saying to myself, "Not here! Not here!" Haha! But it passed and all is good in the world LOL!

alm52386 · November 2016

I am on 20mg of Celexa and my dr said the benefits outweigh the risk with my level of anxiety. The nausea is for sure making my anxiety way worse!! I actually had cut back to 10mg in the summer and not long after my BFP I went back to 20mg because of increased anxiety. I've been having small panic attacks nearly every night thinking about where I have to go and what I have to do the following day! I found taking 12.5mg of Unisom and 50mg of B6 twice a day has drastically reduced the nausea but the anxiety hasn't gone away yet!! Even worse is that we have to fly from WI to AZ next week and flying is one of my big triggers. The dr did say taking an Ativan for each flight wouldn't do any harm. I'll try not to but I'll feel better knowing it's an option vs not being able to take it at all.

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