antidepressants

[bellybliss130]

Hi Elaine,
it
So I am now 23 weeks along with my pregnancy. All is going well except I have had a lot of anxiety from my 3 miscarriages last year. My dr recently put me on 10mg prozac which I only took for a week because I am going to try to get through the rest of my pregnancy without it and perhaps start up near the end for the postpartum benefits. But now I am worried because I have read that antidepressants can cause pphd in newborns if antidepressants were taken in late pregnancy. You dont think I have to worry about that or other birth defects since I wasn't on them for a long time do you? Thanks.

[Elaine Brown, MD]

Hi!
I hope I know you well enough by now to tell you that you ARE over-reacting.
Your baby is already fully developed and just growing at this point.
The stories about the anti-depressants are also greatly exaggerated.
If you were my patient, I would probably recommend NOT taking them however.
Can you do something like yoga for relaxation/anxiety control instead?
Good luck!
Dr B

[bellybliss130]

Oh I forgot to ask if these antidepressants cause miscarriage or stillbirths? I know I'm probably overreacting but ever since my miscarriages I am worried a lot. Thanks for your time.

[Pipamonium]

I don't know about anti-depressants specifically but I am on anti-seizure meds which also cause various birth defects. I was told that it isn't 'if you take this med your child will have this problem' or even mean you'll be lucky if you're child is fine. It only increases the likelihood that your child will have a problem - by a percentage or two - nothing drastic.

As was also explained to me - yes there is a risk that the medication could harm the baby but they (the doctors) felt that it was an acceptable risk as NOT taking the medication ran a risk of (in my case) me having a seizure and falling and injuring the baby - or injuring myself. So if your doctor feels you should be taking the medication you should, if you're not sure you want to take it go back and talk to your doctor again and see if there's something else that can be done. You really shouldn't start and stop any medications without doctors approval.