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Thread: Taking medication

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
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    56

    Taking medication

    Hello
    I am a long time sufferer of anxiety and panic. I have been off tablets for 4 years now but the last year I have felt really bad and I think trying to fight the symptoms is not working and I'm just getting worse. I feel awful a lot of the time, shaky, nervous, panicky, breathless, dizzy and now today a numb nose. Anyway i am debating taking tablets again but not sure which ones to go for as I would like to have another baby, I know that none are really ideal in pregnancy and that's why I came off them the last time. However I'm now 43 and don't have time to come off then and go back on them and the doctor doesn't think I would even get pregnant now im so stressed so thinks I should just take them. They have not been very helpful with what ones and keep saying they will check but haven't and that was 4 months ago now. Every so often I think I can manage without meds but my work is beginning to suffer and I just feel exhausted and rubbish all the time as i feel like I'm constantly forcing myself to do things that are not comfortable. Would anyone
    have any advice of what they did when pregnant? Or even thoughts on whether I should keep battling or take the meds. Thanks for reading x

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Posts
    3,555

    Re: Taking medication

    With the exception of paroxetine (Paxil) it is unclear that antidepressants significantly increase the odds of birth defects or complications. Studies have reported higher incidents of defects, but there doesn't seem to be a common pattern to them which may indicate the studies aren't showing a real issue, but just reporting statistical noise. The problem is that the number of patients in each study tends to be low, the defects tend to be mostly the rare ones and the increases they report are often small.

    To complicate matters, there is evidence that maternal anxiety (and/or depression) can adversely affect the fetus, both immediately, and later in life. They tend to have lower birth weights, be born prematurely and have impaired neuronal development. As children and adults they are more prone to asthma, dyslexia and to have learning difficulties. They are also much more likely to develop anxiety disorders and/or depression later in life.

    Anxiety/stress can also increase the risk of miscarriage, however, it is unclear whether SSRIs reduce the risk as at least one study has found that the risk is still high for women treated with antidepressants.

    If planning to breastfeeding then sertraline (Zoloft) may be the best bet as very little, if any sertraline is expressed in the milk (Pinheiro E, 2015).

    Unfortunately, antidepressants and pregnancy is an issue where there is no clearcut 'right' answer. I suggest you discuss this thoroughly with your family doctor and obstetrician and/or gynecologist well before becoming pregnant and follow their recommendations.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Posts
    16,747

    Re: Taking medication

    Sorry but as the mother of 2 adult children with special needs this information really makes my blood boil.

    There are so many factors influencing the development of the foetus. There would be an epidemic of special needs children if anxiety/depression in the mother influenced neuronal development.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
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    3,555

    Re: Taking medication

    >There would be an epidemic of special needs children if anxiety/depression in the mother influenced neuronal development.

    I'm sorry that this has upset you, but the evidence is clear. It is well established that maternal anxiety and/or depression increases the risk of giving birth prematurely which affects fetal neuronal development to some extent as explained in the study I linked to. This doesn't mean all the children born prematurely will be in the special needs category. Some will be unaffected, the majority will likely only be very mildly to mildly affected, sometimes in subtle ways that we probably don't yet understand, and a few will be at the severe end of the spectrum. There will likely even be some who derive a benefit.

    Nor is premature birth the only way fetuses are affected. High maternal stress hormone levels also affect fetal brain development. In the late 1990s Ned Kalin at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, demonstrated that high maternal stress hormone levels during pregnancy also influenced the levels in their offspring which will likely have an affect on brain development. Another of his findings is that this is most pronounced in first borns, progressively diminishing with each subsequent birth. The explanation being that mothers are, naturally, likely to be most stressed during their first pregnancy, becoming less so with later ones.

    Epigenetic changes to DNA expression may also have an affect on fetal brain development and these can continue for several generations.

    So, to reiterate a point I made in my OP, there are no 100% safe options in this. There are risks in both taking ADs during pregnancy and in not doing so with the best/least risky option probably varying from woman to woman.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    16,747

    Re: Taking medication

    Oh well...at least I didn't take drugs or drink my way through both my pregnancies. My fault entirely.

  6. #6
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    Jan 2017
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    3,555

    Re: Taking medication

    Quote Originally Posted by pulisa View Post
    My fault entirely.
    You have no way of knowing this. 'Can' and 'may' are not 'will' or 'did' nor is any risk factor anywhere near 100%. The only certainty in life is that there are no certainties.

  7. #7
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    Jun 2014
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    16,747

    Re: Taking medication

    Precisely. That's why I avoid "studies".

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    302

    Re: Taking medication

    Hi
    I just want to say I feel similar to you minus the baby plans. I have come off Citalopram nearly 2 years ago after taking it for 5-6 years , but now I m sinking deeper & deeper into anxiety , depression and agoraphobia again. And don’t really know what to do , I hated the side effects on the other hand I did feel better on them.
    When it comes to pregnancy I think you have to weigh out what’s best for you ... be anxious / stressed mum to be or take medication feel relaxed and take the small risk of your baby being possibly affected in some way , but it might not be at all.
    There are some brands of antidepressant which are safer than others so perhaps talk to your GP how you feel and what your plans out about having baby , I m sure they can give you more educated advice x

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2019
    Posts
    601

    Re: Taking medication

    I know zilch about this subject.

    What I do know is that an extraordinary high number of mental illness sufferers inherit it from a parent.

    If I was a woman who wanted a child, I think I'd need to think long and hard about the consequences of my action.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Posts
    16,747

    Re: Taking medication

    Does the same apply to men who want children though? They do contribute half the gene pool.

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