Posted by Laurie Beth on January 23, 2006, at 18:46:58
In reply to Re: Here's an article, posted by summerflowers on January 23, 2006, at 12:31:27
"I was on prozac with 2 pregnancies and I miscarried"
I am sorry for your losses.
I don't disagree that there's some risk in taking any med during pregnancy (although some of the antidepressants have apparently been more studied in pregnancy than any med other than acetominophen). I do, however, think it's well-established that the mother's depression and anxiety during pregnancy can cause harm to the unborn baby and even more established that a mother's depression and anxiety can harm her newborn's development. As you say, it's a trade-off, to make these decisions. For my part, the decision to take meds and breastfeed was much easier, because so very, very little of the meds I was on pass to the baby through breast milk (1-3% of the weight-adjusted maternal dose) and because I could monitor to see if there were obvious effects. (I was at least as worried about the Ambien and Percocet that she got from me during the first week after my C-section, since the amount of those drugs passing through milk is not known, and since clinicians seem to agree that receiving these drugs through breastmilk can cause a baby to be excessively sleepy.) Antidepressants during pregnancy can be more of a concern because the baby is getting through the placenta the weight-adjusted equivalent of the dose the mom is taking. I wouldn't have taken antidepressants during pregnancy for mild or transient difficulties, despite the fact I believed they were reasonably safe (probably as safe as the Zofran I had to take for persistent nausea and vomiting).
poster:Laurie Beth
thread:601154
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060122/msgs/602186.html