My psychiatrist recently put me on Celexa and lorazapam for depression. I didn't tell him I am actively trying to conceive. In fact, next month I'm going for fertility treatment. I'm almost 40 and me getting pregnant is the most important thing in my life right now. Because I will know so early if I get pregnant. I feel that will give me a chance to go off the meds before it can impact the baby. I definitely want to stop them. I want to offer my psychiatrist other ways I can manage my depression. Any suggestions? I'm thinking psychotherapy or stress and anxiety classes. I just want him to be on my side regarding this. I have been diagnozed with major depression and general anxiety disorder.

Just bear in mind that you can not stop these medications cold turkey when you find out you are pregnant. They must be slowly tapered off, so you need to factor that into your planning.

Some people can taper quickly, some cannot. It took me 10 months to taper off my ADs.

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad you posted!!! Please keep in touch. I just tapered off of lexapro because I just had 3 miscarriages (all blighted ova) and I just turned 39 years old! It's as though we were meant to meet on this board!!!!
I have studied all the literature regarding antidepressants and pregnancy. Mostly it's safe to be on these meds when pregnant with respect to healthy live non-deformed babies, but there is some evidence that babies born to moms on AD tx have problems later in life with regard to emotion and cognition. That's not great news but still it could be genetic and environmental because babies born to depressed mothers experience different lives altogether than those born to nondepressed. Anyway, after the 3 abortions, I knew that lexapro and celexa were rarely studied and there was slight evidence that abortions were elevated under AD tx so I quit so I could try one more time. The doctors all think there's a chance since I get pregnant easily but I have the problem that my body won't let go of a bad conception. I don't know if the drugs had anything to do with the miscarriages, but I'm giving this one last try. I'm glad you are here to commiserate with. :jester:

By the way, some drugs are safe with more well documented research (prozac and zoloft) for pregnancy. I don't know if you can tolerate those. I can't take prozac. Zoloft is really ideal for breastfeeding because it has a very low breast milk secretion and you can waste breast milk from the high peak plasma levels following dosing.

Hi there,

Would you consider asking what your doctor's input is about TTC on meds? There is a cost/benefit to being on and being off meds while TTC & pg. If you look at Mass. General Hospital, in their Womens Health there is a lot of information about hormones, mental health, ttc, pg, postpartum and medications. They aren't all one side or the other about it. They have some of the country's top perinatal people.

What has been found, from what I've read, is that it is better if mom is not depressed or anxious. (obviously). And if that means antidepressants then the outcome is generally better than if mom is depressed or anxious. There's something about the cortisol levels and baby development, startle reflex, and soothability, even attention challenges later on in school if mom was left untreated.

There can be some "discontinuation syndrome" in some infants from some moms medications. But I know at least three moms who have been pregnant without meds and got bad preg or postpartum mood disorders and later went on (after treatment for these) to get pg again while taking meds throughout pg then giving birth and avoiding anything like the PPD they experienced the first time around. With infertility and previous depression/anxiety you may be more at risk for some reoccurrance with pg& postpartum, according to statistics.

By all means, give it a shot (with your doctor's input) med-free. AND know that taking meds is not the worst thing that could happen. It just seems weird to consider taking them when all the info we get as moms includes even avoiding the seemingly-harmless tylenol.

Here's to you not needing meds.
And if you do, yay for the 21st C.

My general practice doc swears babies are better off with the medication. I don't think she's reading enough of the literature, though. My OB/GYN who is super excellent admits they still don't know enough about drug effects on the baby. And she said she'd support my decision either way, but was sure to insist that I call for help if I find I'm in trouble now that I decided to go off the meds. I actually had a meeting with a psychiatrist who specialized in pregnant women and she wanted me to try to get off them because I hadn't been off drugs for 10 years and maybe I might be OK. I was a little upset about that advice because I told her that my mother committed suicide and described in unambiguous terms how severe my depression was. This meeting was after the first miscarriage. After the 3rd I thougt I'd try what I could to maximize my chances, so that doctor's advice didn't bear on my own decision.

Hi squeakytoy,

oh goodness, hon, 3 miscarriages, I'm so sorry. I had one and that felt devestating at the time. Three? {{{{{{hugs}}}}}}} What helped me through the next pg was my OB giving me an ultrasound every single time I went in for an appointment--that way I could see baby growing and safe. I didn't have meds at that time, and no warning that miscarriage or other depression could put me more at risk for postpartum (or pg) depression/anxiety.

So, you were pretty disappointed and upset with the psychiatrist-specialist's recommendation to go off meds, huh? Understandable! I wonder if MAYBE being off for the first month, 6 weeks, 2 months...would help avoid m/c? I don't think I"ve seen lit. about meds specifically causing m/c but who really knows. They can't do human experiments.

I meant the previous post for whatismylife, but it can apply to you as well for sure. I hope if you read it as meant for you, you weren't offended. Take care all.

Thanks for replying! I am so sorry for your three miscarriages. I can't imagine how you dealt with that. I had one chemical pregnancy that was hard for me to take. I really didn't think anyone would respond to my post or I'd get a speach like from someone else that I should deal with my depression first. I think lexapro and celexa are kind of like the same meds, aren't they? If so, then I definitely want to stop it. I am paying doctors to help me get pregnant, I wouldn't want to risk a miscarriage because of meds. I don't think the celexa is working that well anyway. It's been three weeks and I'm still tearful and feeling about the same. Thanks for the info on prozac and zoloft, I'll discuss them with my doctor. I hope you get preggo again soon and have a healthy baby! I'm diagnosed with unexplained infertility. :dizzy: This TTC adventure is so frustrating and I believe contributing to my depression.

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad you posted!!! Please keep in touch. I just tapered off of lexapro because I just had 3 miscarriages (all blighted ova) and I just turned 39 years old! It's as though we were meant to meet on this board!!!!
I have studied all the literature regarding antidepressants and pregnancy. Mostly it's safe to be on these meds when pregnant with respect to healthy live non-deformed babies, but there is some evidence that babies born to moms on AD tx have problems later in life with regard to emotion and cognition. That's not great news but still it could be genetic and environmental because babies born to depressed mothers experience different lives altogether than those born to nondepressed. Anyway, after the 3 abortions, I knew that lexapro and celexa were rarely studied and there was slight evidence that abortions were elevated under AD tx so I quit so I could try one more time. The doctors all think there's a chance since I get pregnant easily but I have the problem that my body won't let go of a bad conception. I don't know if the drugs had anything to do with the miscarriages, but I'm giving this one last try. I'm glad you are here to commiserate with. :jester:

By the way, some drugs are safe with more well documented research (prozac and zoloft) for pregnancy. I don't know if you can tolerate those. I can't take prozac. Zoloft is really ideal for breastfeeding because it has a very low breast milk secretion and you can waste breast milk from the high peak plasma levels following dosing.

I will discuss it with my doctor. I would like to feel better, but I'm going through a lot to get pregnant that I don't want to risk it. I'll go to psychotherapy if I have to, but at age 39 I can't put it off another year according to fertility specialists. I know that some women's hormones guard against depression when they are pregnant. My sister also has GAD, but when she was pregnant with her child, she said she did not feel anxious or nervous the entire time. Hopefully, that will happen with me.

Hi there,

Would you consider asking what your doctor's input is about TTC on meds? There is a cost/benefit to being on and being off meds while TTC & pg. If you look at Mass. General Hospital, in their Womens Health there is a lot of information about hormones, mental health, ttc, pg, postpartum and medications. They aren't all one side or the other about it. They have some of the country's top perinatal people.

What has been found, from what I've read, is that it is better if mom is not depressed or anxious. (obviously). And if that means antidepressants then the outcome is generally better than if mom is depressed or anxious. There's something about the cortisol levels and baby development, startle reflex, and soothability, even attention challenges later on in school if mom was left untreated.

There can be some "discontinuation syndrome" in some infants from some moms medications. But I know at least three moms who have been pregnant without meds and got bad preg or postpartum mood disorders and later went on (after treatment for these) to get pg again while taking meds throughout pg then giving birth and avoiding anything like the PPD they experienced the first time around. With infertility and previous depression/anxiety you may be more at risk for some reoccurrance with pg& postpartum, according to statistics.

By all means, give it a shot (with your doctor's input) med-free. AND know that taking meds is not the worst thing that could happen. It just seems weird to consider taking them when all the info we get as moms includes even avoiding the seemingly-harmless tylenol.

Here's to you not needing meds.
And if you do, yay for the 21st C.