Pregnancy and SSRI's

[i-square-jere.livejournal.com]

Hey friends!

So my husband and I have had plans for awhile to conceive this fall. He'll be starting graduate school, I'll have a year off until I start my grad program next fall, and we'll have health insurance through school. And we've both wanted kids for a while, and we definitely feel emotionally and financially prepared for a tiny human.

I'm also taking an SSRI, 10 mg Celexa q.d., and I have been for about a year. I remember when I went to get a rx renewal back in February, I mentioned to my doctor that we were interested in getting pregnant before the end of the year. She told me about a recent study that looked at a correlation between SSRI use within a year of delivery and autism, and said that the results were fairly significant. I kind of took it with a grain of salt (because seriously everything causes autism, amirite?), and didn't really find anything conclusive. But it still kind of freaked me out that my doctor was concerned enough to tell me about it.

I'm usually pretty level-headed about things, and am pretty good at deciphering actual statistical data from news extrapolation, but I can't help but worry about this. Also, since neither one of us are in school right now, we don't have access to a journal database, which is kind of what I rely on to see original studies.

So does anyone know anything more about the SSRI/pregnancy/autism connection? How much should I trust my doctor on this? I could get off of my Celexa, but I've worked on tapering off before and it seems like 10 mg is the lowest dose I can take while still keeping my head above water, and I'm hesitant to get off of it completely because I think I owe it to my future progeny to offer them a mentally healthy mom.

Thanks!

Comments

[kimie-catclaw.livejournal.com]

This. I believe Wellbutrin is the antidepressant of choice for pregnant women (considered the safest) and Zoloft is safest for nursing.

I was encouraged to wean off of Cymbalta before getting pregnant, and fortunately I was able to be okay unmedicated, but if I'd needed something, I wouldn't have hesitated to explore my options with my doctor.

[gryphonwing.livejournal.com]

The trick is that Wellbutrin isn't an SSRI or really anything like them - so if your depression responds well to an SSRI there's no real reason to believe switching to WB is a good idea. Might be better than nothing, though, and it's definitely worth a try - it's not as much of a commitment as the SSRI/SNRI types, as you can basically just start at a therapeutic dose and stop it whenever. It's really a different kind of drug.

Another thing to keep in mind, OP, is that for some people pregnancy itself changes the depression picture - emotionally, hormonally. Some people find that depression vanishes during pregnancy (and returns with a vengeance after, yay) and others that it worsens. So it's probably best to have a plan in place about how to best manage depression during and after pregnancy rather than assuming that the same med and dose you're on now will be the best choice then anyway.

You can definitely find a way to manage your depression *and* the risks to your future little one. Lots of people have. :)