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Pregnancy and Klonopin

Hi, I'm currently taking a low dosage of Klonopin (2mg/day)to treat anxiety/panic attacks. I've been taking it for 2 months (it started out of the blue.) Is there anyone who was on it before they got pregnant? I'd really like to have a baby soon but am terrified of what will happen when I stop taking the medication. Wondering if there's a similar drug that's safe (know that's unlikely) or if anyone's been in the same circumstance? thanks!
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Avatar universal
Hi - if I may ask, how much Klonopin were you taking during your pregnancy?  Like mg's and how much per day/week?
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Avatar universal
I'm nineteen wks pregnant and I quit taking my kolonopin in the beginning but now I'm taking it once a wk the ob said that would be fine I hope it is
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hello i need help im 6 weeks pregnant what happens if i only take one pill of clonazepam 0.5mg will something happen to my baby
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Avatar universal
You just want want to have multiples . And taking meds or quitting cold turkey good luck at your appointment. They will die. Were trying again and eating very healthy and quit smoking and absolutely no meds at all and I don't ever drink. I was on meds and docs said quit cold turkey and I trusted them so I did and now my babys dead. I was 12 weeks and it died at 8.5 week. Been for 4 weeks inside. Decided to have a natural miscarriage at home and thought I did with mild bleeding with little clits but no cramps went back to the doctor and she said nothing has changed and after examination she said infection has set in and wanted to do a emergency d&c so I had surgery within a few hours that day. Went for my post of appointment and she said I was all healed my cervix had completely closed and uterus had gone to normal size but for a week and half since the d&c I couldnt urinate so I called the doctor again they told me since after 15mins of trying to urinate that I needed an ultrasound and it showed my doctor was completely unsuccessful at the surgery. She never even removed the baby or the sac and I was very angry at how she could have possibly missed something that big cause it did enlarge in doulcle size. My doc was out of town so I saw a different doc and he said you can do another d&c or wait and see your doctor and made an appointment for the 12th of this month 2013. Well by friday morning I had severe cranps and kept getting worse and it was constant and my husband said call the doctor but wouldnt cause I figured they would just say wait it out your having a miscarriage but by 3:30pm I couldn't even walk or stand at all my husband insisted I call the doctor cause he had never seen me in that much pain and I do have a high tolerance of pain and never show when im in pain but I couldnt help it I was curled up in a ball like a fetal position making so much noise from the pain. I explained to the nurse what was going on who talked to the doctor on call cause mine was still on vacation.  Well the doctor said come in immediately so I was there in 5 mins and after a quick examination she said this is severe we have no time to waste. You have a severe infection and a fever. She wasted no time and rushed me to the operating room for another emergency surgery only this time it almost killed me. Every doctor and nurse knew that my pain was so severe they kept saying sorry and were so nice and wonderful.  I had never eced felt like that in  my enentire life. The pain was so bad I was hyperventilating and making lots if noise and was close to passing out from the and really just felt like I wanted to kilk myself to just get rid of this pain. Well they rushed me to the OR in less than a hour and a half.  I was impressed and doctor did great after I was put under. I never felt a any pain. Some after the surgery but the nurse gave me lots of morphine and fentyl and I was very comfortable ater that. They wabted me not to be in any pain cause of what I went t get rough all. They did an ultrasound just to make sure sho everything and tgere was no damage to the uterus so she ke me gk home that night. If the ultrasound didnt look good then I would have had to spend the night for observation.  Was sent home with antibiotics and pain meds. But I have no pain an no bleeding at all.  The doctor said that if I had waited any longer and especially till the next day I would have died and would be dead and that my husband would be planning my funeral instead. He is my everything and has been my great support through all this and has been taking such good care of me. I am so blessed that God gave him to me. Im all recovered even though it just happened on February 8th 2013. Sorry for rambling. Im very lucky to be alive and that I went to the doctor wgen I did and when she told me to come in she told us. From my fate miscarriages
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Avatar universal
You just want want to have multiples . And taking meds or quitting cold turkey good luck at your appointment. They will die. Were trying again and eating very healthy and quit smoking and absolutely no meds at all and I don't ever drink. I was on meds and docs said quit cold turkey and I trusted them so I did and now my babys dead. I was 12 weeks and it died at 8.5 week. Been for 4 weeks inside. Decided to have a natural miscarriage at home and thought I did with mild bleeding with little clits but no cramps went back to the doctor and she said nothing has changed and after examination she said infection has set in and wanted to do a emergency d&c so I had surgery within a few hours that day. Went for my post of appointment and she said I was all healed my cervix had completely closed and uterus had gone to normal size but for a week and half since the d&c I couldnt urinate so I called the doctor again they told me since after 15mins of trying to urinate that I needed an ultrasound and it showed my doctor was completely unsuccessful at the surgery. She never even removed the baby or the sac and I was very angry at how she could have possibly missed something that big cause it did enlarge in doulcle size. My doc was out of town so I saw a different doc and he said you can do another d&c or wait and see your doctor and made an appointment for the 12th of this month 2013. Well by friday morning I had severe cranps and kept getting worse and it was constant and my husband said call the doctor but wouldnt cause I figured they would just say wait it out your having a miscarriage but by 3:30pm I couldn't even walk or stand at all my husband insisted I call the doctor cause he had never seen me in that much pain and I do have a high tolerance of pain and never show when im in pain but I couldnt help it I was curled up in a ball like a fetal position making so much noise from the pain. I explained to the nurse what was going on who talked to the doctor on call cause mine was still on vacation.  Well the doctor said come in immediately so I was there in 5 mins and after a quick examination she said this is severe we have no time to waste. You have a severe infection and a fever. She wasted no time and rushed me to the operating room for another emergency surgery only this time it almost killed me. Every doctor and nurse knew that my pain was so severe they kept saying sorry and were so nice and wonderful.  I had never eced felt like that in  my enentire life. The pain was so bad I was hyperventilating and making lots if noise and was close to passing out from the and really just felt like I wanted to kilk myself to just get rid of this pain. Well they rushed me to the OR in less than a hour and a half.  I was impressed and doctor did great after I was put under. I never felt a any pain. Some after the surgery but the nurse gave me lots of morphine and fentyl and I was very comfortable ater that. They wabted me not to be in any pain cause of what I went t get rough all. They did an ultrasound just to make sure sho everything and tgere was no damage to the uterus so she ke me gk home that night. If the ultrasound didnt look good then I would have had to spend the night for observation.  Was sent home with antibiotics and pain meds. But I have no pain an no bleeding at all.  The doctor said that if I had waited any longer and especially till the next day I would have died and would be dead and that my husband would be planning my funeral instead. He is my everything and has been my great support through all this and has been taking such good care of me. I am so blessed that God gave him to me. Im all recovered even though it just happened on February 8th 2013. Sorry for rambling. Im very lucky to be alive and that I went to the doctor wgen I did and when she told me to come in she told us. From my fate miscarriages
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Avatar universal
Thank you so much for sharing your story! I am 46 and soooo was not planning another child. I am worried about birth defects and her going through withdrawals. Not as much though after reading your story! Thank you so much for sharing !!!!! I am 7 mths and I do take no more than 2 ml in a day but usually I can get away with .25 to .5 and occasionally I can go a day without any. I can deal with the panic attacks what I have a really hard time with is the withdrawal. It's my system that is use to it which forces me to take something. hen I don't I can really feel it bothering her more than me and that scares me. I just don't want her to go through withdrawals when she's born or have to stay in the hospital for a long period of time and of course I really don't want her to have any birth defects. But I am also scared that CPS will take her from me even though the klonopin is prescribed to me by a Dr. and I actually take a lot less than prescribed however CPS doesn't care about that, I think they are so screwed up in what they do that they actually need more training for what they do. They take children who shouldn't be and leave children in dangerous situations. But again I cant thank you enough!!!!
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Avatar universal
I am in that same boat you were in, however I am 46 and so was not interested in having anymore children not at my age. I am 7 mths and I am doing my best to be off of the kolonopin by the end of January and pray she isn't effected by the meds and is not born addicted to it. Would you mind sharing how everything turned out? I pray okay!!!!!! Thank you.
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Avatar universal
I am in that same boat you were in, however I am 46 and so was not interested in having anymore children not at my age. I am 7 mths and I am doing my best to be off of the kolonopin by the end of January and pray she isn't effected by the meds and is not born addicted to it. Would you mind sharing how everything turned out? I pray okay!!!!!! Thank you.
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Avatar universal
hi there. i just wanted to share an update with anyone who reads(my previous post is up there) because I know how scary these situations can be especially when most the stories you hear are just horror stories and people can judge when they don't understand. when i found out i was prego i was on 2 mg klonopin, 2 mg xanax and 4 mg subutex for anxiety and pain. I didn't find out til I was 4 to 5 months because of being on nuvaring. I managed to ween myself down on the subutex to .5-1mg a day and klonopin .25 mg as needed for panic attacks towards the end. I stopped the xanax completely. but for a great deal of my pregnancy I was on a lot of medication. My child was born 7lbs 11 oz, scored 9 on her apgars and is extremely healthy at 8 days old. No respiratory issues. She had a fever/infection because I had one when she was born. they had her in the nicu for 2 days just to watch her for withdrawals and give her antibiotics. She was a bit irritable for the first 12 hours(from the subutex look it up if you don't know anything about it) but she was also running a fever from her infection and that played a part in it as well. So even if I hadn't been on meds she STILL would have been in the nicu. I just hope this helps anyone who happens to be in the same situation I was in because i know how hard it is especially when you can't just stop takint things cold turkey for the safety of your child. don't put yourself through hell, just do the best you can and be open and honest with your doctors. you are not alone.
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Avatar universal
i went thru my first pregnancy on klonopin ..i was on a very low dose...but the side effetcs and my emotinal state were horrible..i suffered from severe panic attacks and my doctor decided it was safer for me and baby to stay on a lo does..i also was on effexor....but my daughter was healthy and fine....i cant say that i was just lucky ..i know it can slow respitaory down ina baby..but i guess when it coomes to the chance of miscarrigae or having a succesful pregnancy...my doctors opted i stay on  a  low dose...
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Avatar universal
i went thru my first pregnancy on klonopin ..i was on a very low dose...but the side effetcs and my emotinal state were horrible..i suffered from severe panic attacks and my doctor decided it was safer for me and baby to stay on a lo does..i also was on effexor....but my daughter was healthy and fine....i cant say that i was just lucky ..i know it can slow respitaory down ina baby..but i guess when it coomes to the chance of miscarrigae or having a succesful pregnancy...my doctors opted i stay on  a  low dose...
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Avatar universal
Thank you all for your posts. I feel much better now. I could be pregnant and have been taking 0.5mg Klonopins off and on and was SO worried. I have seen women smoke weed, meth, pop pills, ect. and their babies came out perfectly fine, but that doesn't take my worries away. All HPTs I have taken have came up negative, but I got (what I think was) my period and it only lasted 2 days. Totally unusual for me. I do believe I will try and ween myself off of the Klonopins. I am not addicted so I know I can quit cold turkey, but that kinda scares me too. Anyways, I feel much better after reading all these posts. Thank you all. Good luck!
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Avatar universal
This helped me a great deal i have such bad panic attacks with my OCD that i freak out and start twitching almost like im convulsing my body contracts and i hit myself. my OB took me off the medication i have been on to control this problem cold turkey and i was horrable i was on the luvox for 15 years without it i am a wreak and was so scared when they told me to start the kolonopin 3x a day and then ambian at night to sleep i started all this close to 4-5 months pregnant with my first and now i have the same problem with my siatica and scared to be on all this while pregnant.   did you ever take the klonopin at the same time as the vicodin i feel like i have to choose between pain and sanity can you take both at the same time?
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Avatar universal
Hey there.  I read your post, and what I can say from my extensive research as a nurse is that the Klonopin you exposed your babies to in utero is very unlikely to be associated with the depression they are experiencing in puberty.  There is no evidence that your children have depression as a result of Klonopin use while pregant.  Many teens are depressed.  Especially nowadays. There are most likely other causes for their depression. I have many depressed family members who were never exposed to even one Tylenol, while in utero.   In my personal experience, taking my meds during pregnacy was a much better option than getting off of them.  Nobody can prove they cause deformities , or behavioral problems later in life. My two children are brilliant and very happy.  I don't know what the teenage years will bring, but many many teens are depressed these days because of the stressful word we Live in!
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Avatar universal
*ultrasound came back completely NORMAL. is what that is supposed to say
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Avatar universal
hi there. like all of you, I'm on the verge of losing it completely because of the stress that comes along with taking medication and being pregnant. I have been on birth control and for the first 3 months i did not know I was pregnant. I was taking 2mg Klonopin, 1 mg xanax and a small dosage of subutex(about 2 mg) I have been on his medication for 5 years now(most of it at least) for severe anxiety, and pain. On top of that I could not get into a doctor for almost 2 months to get a blood test, ultrasound, etc. I had an appointment made but the day before I called to confirm and apparently they had no such appointment in their records :) not something you want to tell to a pregnant lady. I have 5 different doctors right now for my medication and they have all looked at my ultrasound which i got at about 25 weeks and everything came back completely . I have called them so many times just to go over what they said to me because I feel like it just can't be right and I have gotten the same response. I cut down my xanax when I found out and it took me 2 weeks to be off of that completely. now i am down to .5 mg of klonopin a day. all of my doctors have told me the same thing, if you can possibly get off of it completely then do it. but if its going to cause serious problems then take it as needed(i have had seizures from going off my klonopin cold turkey so I know how scary it can be). I really wish i would have found out sooner because I feel like whatever damage couldve been done is already done. but looking at my ultrasounds and everything else there are no physical abnormalities and the brain and heart are developing normally. everything appears as it should be at this point and my doctors have been monitoring me closely.  its hard not to think of the the things they cant see but at this point all you can do is try your hardest and be positive. and know you're doing your best for you and your baby. I know this isnt a straight answer but I hope it helps anyone who is as freaked out as i am.
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Avatar universal
I need to make a comment.  I had to take  clonazepam. (klonopin) during both my pregnancies.   I had no choice but to take it as I have a seizure disorder.   The point I want to make as my children hit puberty, they both became depressed.  Major depression was something I had not anticipated. My sister, who did not have a seizure disorder had a child who did not develop depression.    I would caution all of you who are pregnant or considering to not use this drug unless you have no choice.  I have no scientific proof that this drug contributed to their depression but only my experience with children who were physically normal but developed a mental disorder later in life.  I could find no other cause for there depressive symptoms.  There is no drug proven 100% safe to use during pregnancy.  I hope my story helps.
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Avatar universal
I need to make a comment.  I had to take  clonazepam. (klonopin) during both my pregnancies.   I had no choice but to take it as I have a seizure disorder.   The point I want to make as my children hit puberty, they both became depressed.  Major depression was something I had not anticipated. My sister, who did not have a seizure disorder had a child who did not develop depression.    I would caution all of you who are pregnant or considering to not use this drug unless you have no choice.  I have no scientific proof that this drug contributed to their depression but only my experience with children who were physically normal but developed a mental disorder later in life.  I could find no other cause for there depressive symptoms.  There is no drug proven 100% safe to use during pregnancy.  I hope my story helps.
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Avatar universal
I've been taking xanax and kolonopin for 7 years. I started out on 1 mg of xanax a day and went all the way up to 4 mg a day. I knew there was going to be no other way to get myself off the medication besides rehab so i detoxed off totally in about 14 days.  A few months after i started taking kolonopin because i obviously have horrible anxiety. Well i was taking 1 mg a day then when to 3. I found out i was pregnant at 5 weeks so i weened myself down to .5 mg a day. I miscarried at 9 weeks.  I hate that i take this medication, and i wish i would have never heard of it or started taking it.  I can't help but think i caused my own miscarrige. I would never recomend anyone start taking this unless they desperatly need it.
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2100224 tn?1333461234
I am trying to get pregnant, and I am now from 2mg a night, to .5mg. The problem is I can't sleep on .5mg a lone. I drink wine to help me sleep. How did you come off of Klonopin that high of mg's without withdrawals? Did the doctor give you something or did you take something herbal to help you. I would really like your advice.  I have never read of a person taking 20mg.

thanks
Ana
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Avatar universal
Hi there. In response to your question soulcandybt, I NEVER tapered off the lexapro or Klonopin during both of my pregnancies.  In fact, I had to increase the doses with my second pregnancy because I was experiencing a great amount of anxiety due to pelvic pain I developed. I also had to take narcotics toward the end, as he was sitting on my Sciatic nerve causing horrific pain.  Even though I took all these so called " bad" meds for an unborn child, both of my babies were born 100 percent healthy with no withdrawals. Not even from the Vicodin I had to take as needed.  I carefully weighed the risks and benefits with my OBGYN.  to all the women out there who are terrified while taking these medications while pregnant, I hope my story of 2 healthy and exceptionally smart children can offer you comfort and hope.  I would advise to stay on the meds.  My psychiatrist who specializes in anxiety meds and pregnancy had never seen 1 case of a baby with deformities or addiction problems in her entire 20 year career. I hope I can reassure all you moms that it's ok to continue your mediations.  It's most likely better to take the meds, then have continuous elevated stress hormones.  Everyday, I'm blown away by how intelligent each of my children are.  And both of them were exposed to Lexapro, and Klonopin.  My son also to Vicodin. Please don't stress.  Take your meds, and trust your babies will be fine.
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Avatar universal
I was wondering how you tapered off of the 20 mg of Lexapro when you got pregnant with your 1st? and the outcome with your 2nd? :)
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Avatar universal
hello, it is such a relief that your babies are ok. i have been worried to death that i am doing the wrong thing. i was on 2 mg a day and i found out i was pregnant and i have dropped to 1 mg a day... i have been going through serious withdraws. my doctor insists that i get off it completely and has put me on a very aggressive kick. almost too difficult... did anyone suggest this for you? to stop taking them?

again reading your post made me cry. i am so happy that you had healthy children

please email me ***@****

thank you so much
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Avatar universal
I am 5 weeks pregnant with what will be my 5th child. I have SEVERE panic attacks and have been diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorders (among other things). I've been on klonopin for 9 years and have had several pregnancies (seven) during that time, and carried only three of them to term. I am high risk to say the least, for several different reasons including seizures and frequent anxiety/panic attacks. i am prescribed klonopin for anxiety and seizures because that is the medication that works best for me. During my most recent pregnancy,I was told by my OB to stop taking kolonipin in the first trimester, b/c this is when the fetus is forming all major organs and is the most critical time of development. By the 2nd trimester, or 13th week the fetus has completed the most critical period of development. I was told that I could resume taking my medication, as prescribed at that time. In my previous pregnancies, I suffered terribly from severe anxiety, stress and panic attacks. Doctors felt that this (and high blood pressure) may have contributed to my children being born prematurely. I took 4mg daily of Klonopin in my last pregnancy from the 14th week until I gave birth to my baby. I have a healthy and very perfect little girl who is now 14 months old. She had no delays or birth defects of any kind. She also did not go through withdrawl of any kind. We were both closely monitored because of other issues. However, everyone is different and you should discuss the use of any drug with your doctor. make sure the benefits outweigh the risks. You should try not to take any medications in the first trimester (if you can), I can't stress that enough. If you are on medications, discuss how and if to decrease or taper off. It is not recommended to suddenly stop taking these types of medications, so discuss this with your doctor as soon as you discover you are pregnant. Good Luck, and GOD bless.
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