Posted by Laurie Beth on February 15, 2006, at 19:51:21
In reply to Re: Depression and use of antidepressants in pregn, posted by joslynn on February 12, 2006, at 20:58:55
"I would want to protect the health of my baby at all costs."
I think most moms feel this way. However, it's far from clear that going off antidepressants and becoming very depressed or very anxious does protect the child. There is a fair amount of evidence that depression or anxiety during pregnancy or during infancy may cause short- and long-term cognitive and emotional problems in the exposed child.
Which of course, isn't to say that no one should discontinue an antidepressant in anticipation of pregnancy or after getting pregnant. The long-term, more subtle effects of prenatal SSRI-exposure are not known, so if the med may not be necessary (or may not even be helping), a trial off the medicine prior to pregnancy or once a pregnancy is established may make sense for some moms.
But this isn't a simple issue of mom's welfare versus baby's welfare.
poster:Laurie Beth
thread:608632
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060212/msgs/610046.html