Does anyone know the safest anxiety medication to take during pregnancy?
I am/was on Lexapro for anxiety, and just weaned my self off of it, this past week b/c my husband and I are TTC. I was on 10mg, then went down to 5mg for a week then took my self off of it. I did a lot of research and talked to my doctor. And from what the doc told me the benefits would have to outweigh the risks in order to stay on it. Meaning, if you have severe anxiety disorder and you can’t function day to day without it, then you should stay on a small dosage while you are TTC and pregnant. However there are risks. Although there hasn’t been much research on the effects of mediaction and pregnancy, since most women aren’t willing to experiement. Studies show that women who were on medication, the baby did have some respriatory issue at birth. If you can I would slowly wean yourself off of it. You will notice side effects from weaning, tiredness and slight dizziness but if you really want to be healthy and have a healthy baby and no risks, it’s best to wean off of it and then stop.
Your doctor would be the best one to discuss this with. More research needs to be done to determine whether effexor and pregnancy can happen at the same time. Current data suggests that effexor and pregnancy are a bad mix. There is no hard data to prove that effexor is completely dangerous for a pregnancy or a nursing baby, but there is no evidence that effexor and pregnancy can safely take place at the same time. The manufacturers of effexor caution patients to tell their doctors if they are pregnant, nursing, or considering becoming pregnant. Most doctors recommend that patients stop effexor doses well before trying to conceive, and no doctors suggest taking effexor during a pregnancy. Expectant mothers should avoid anti-anxiety drugs. Since these anxiety medications cross the placenta, their use during pregnancy can lead to dependence in the baby. Following birth, the baby will then go through withdrawal, with symptoms such as muscle weakness, irritability, sleep and breathing probl
The safest and most responsible thing you can do is either try to take yourself off the medication or hold off on having a baby until you do. It can even be a reward. In any case, anxiety is something you have to work on either in therapy or on your own. The medication is supposed to be a short term treatment to help people in the beginning with panic attacks that just get out of control to a point where the person can’t function at all. All too often people take medication for too long without proper additional treatment. If you have a therapist and they are not helping you, please change or try to find a useful self help book about treating anxiety.
