Medication for anxiety while pregnant

[AnnieBonany]

I've had anxiety and depression since I was little. I am now 25 yrs old and I'm 11 weeks pregnant. I've gone on and off anxiety and depression medication for my whole life, and I was medication free for a few months before I got pregnant (I didn't want to deal with pills anymore- needed a break). Now I am experience shortness of breath, I feel like I can't breathe in all the way like I'm suffocating- it makes me tingle and dizzy. I went to the ER, they gave me a small dose of Ativan. Now my primary has me on .5 mg of Ativan daily as needed, but it doesn't keep the panic attach at bay for the whole day. I've looked around online and it sounds like there are other families of medications that would be safer for me to  be taking other than Ativan. I see my doctor tomorrow morning, and my OB is out until Jan 6th. I can't cope without medication, I just want to know I'm taking the safest thing possible, and I don't feel like Ativan is it. Has anyone else dealt with this? What worked for you?

[All1Spirit]

The problem that any drug that crosses the blood brain barrier (all psyche drugs) also crosses the placental and mammary milk barriers. So your baby is developing while on the drugs you take and the are getting huge doses relative to body size.

[RubyWitch]

I'm sorry you are having anxiety issues while pregnant.
You might want to post on one of our pregnancy forums as I'm sure there are other women who have had this same experience.
For now, I would urge you to call your OB/GYN and request an urgent visit. Only your OB should be prescribing medications for you at this time.
Ativan is contraindicated during pregnancy and your GP should have known that. If you are seeing him/her tomorrow, please ask them why the hell they gave you something you absolutely should NOT be taking while pregnant. Unless their answer is "I'm a stupid moron too lazy to bother looking up if I should prescribe this drug to a pregnant woman...." find another doctor.

This might be a great time for you to get into therapy to figure out WHY you've had anxiety and depression since you were a young girl. Medication is very useful and often necessary, but it only masks the symptoms of the root cause of what we're running from.
I wish you the very best.
Peace
Greenlydia