Meds and infirtility

[northernsunshine]

Dear Dr. Brown,

I have been on Celexa 20mg/day for panic attacks for a few month now.  I had advised my doctor that we were trying to concieve but i was told that my attacks could be more damaging to the baby's health if i didn't take the medication.  So in other words the pros out weigh the cons.  We have now been trying for 7 months to get pregnant without any luck.  I've noticed that with this medication it is extremely hard for me to reach orgasm and am wondering if this could be the reason for us not being able to concieve? What do you think?

[Elaine Brown, MD]

Hi!
Celexa can certainly cause sexual dysfunction.  It does not cause infertility though, unless the fact that sex is not as pleasurable is causing you to have less sex. (That would be the case for many people!). Celexa is one of the safest medications around for use during pregnancy, so if you need to take something, it is a good one to take.
If you were my patient, I would begin checking some things such as:
a semen analysis
a TSH and Prolactin level
a cycle day 3 FSH
a CD 21 progesterone level
a hysterosalpingogram
and ovulation predictors.
If you have the opportunity--discuss some of these tests with your doctor before stopping your medication.
Good luck!
Dr B

[northernsunshine]

Doctor Brown,

Thank you so much for the information you have provided.  Now i feel much better about trying to conceive while being on the Clexa....it was one of my biggest worries.  My doctor had also mentioned that it was the best one to be on but....a second professional opinion is always reassuring.

We have just completed the semen analysis last Friday and are waiting for the results this week...keeping our fingures crossed that all is good.

My husband and I have been using diffrent ovulation predictors such as the saliva ferning test, temp tracker, OPK tests as well as trackers and such.  I know i ovulate between CD 13 and CD16 each month and my period is very regular at between 28 and 30 days. We bed every other day from CD11 until a few days past ovulation day when my temp has gone up for at least 3 days in a row.  I had a complete CBC and some sort of bacterial analysis blood test done a month or so ago to make sure that my levels were good.  I guess once we get the semen analisys results back and if everything is ok then we will commence with the tests for me that you speak of.  

Thanks again for all the information that you have provided.  It is very much appreciated. :)

Sincerly,
nothernsunshine

[northernsunshine]

Thanks for the info...i'm new at this.  

I really appreciate any advice I can get from anyone as I'm now slowly loosing hope that we will ever conceive....I've used diffrent ovulation predictor kits, kept trac of temperature and charted everything and i even feel ovulation occuring around the same time each month so we are definitly on target with that....so why haven't we concieved yet???  It's very heartbreaking to go through this every month just to have AF show up again.

[JoyRenee]

Orgasms have nothing to do with conception. It can take a healthy couple 6-12 months to conceive. There are many misconceptions when trying to conceive so definitely re-evaluate your strategy if you think what you're currently doing is not working.

Remember- not every woman ovulates 14 days after her period starts! She ovulates about 14 days BEFORE her next period.

Good luck to you.

[Lance06]

This is not the doctors forum hun, you may want to go to that forum if you are looking for advice from an actual doctor. This forum is full of women trying to conceive or are already pregnanct or who have been pregnant. We can give you the best advice we have for women who have been through what you have, but we are not doctors.