Conventional wisdom has been for women who are taking antidepressant medication, to stay on it even while pregnant. Try to discontinue such medications can often be a long, slow process that has its own ups and downs. (Ask anyone who’s ever been on antidepressant for a year or more — it’s not fun trying to get off of it.)
It turns out, though, that conventional wisdom is largely wrong. Most infertile women who are taking popular antidepressants — such as Prozac, Paxil or Celexa — would help their unborn child by discontinuing the medication. With one exception — those women who are suffering from a severe depression (versus mild or moderate depression).
Why? Those women taking antidepressants nearly double the risk of a miscarriage if they stay on them during their pregnancy.
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Thank you for writing this post. I am so tired of both my colleagues and OB docs saying the exact opposite for the past 10 plus years and telling me I am putting women at risk by “denying” them meds. Hey, I am not the only guy in town with a Rx pad, but where are all these med proponents after I am wary to prescribe?
I’ll tell you my opinion, if not contacting their malpractice carriers, then just hoping to find a maverick to strap in to jump the canyon. It’s always easy to tell someone else what to do, eh? And where are all these therapists advising least to most invasive? Certainly not from a med school background.
Big pharma should be shamed into submission, but it won’t happen!
This study does not surprise me AT ALL. I’m so thankful I stopped taking my Effexor when I found out I was pregnant with my now six year old son. In addition to not having any withdrawal effects during pregnancy (when previous attempts to get off meds led to awful withdrawal), my depression also abated and didn’t return until my son was two or three.
I’m also so thankful to have been med free from months before this pregnancy began.
Too many doctors give women information that does not line up with common sense or research! Thanks for your willingness to share this information!
Finally, a study about psychiatric drugs that aligns with common sense.
Now, when will doctors bother to distinguish between mild-moderate depression and severe depression? Or stop reflexively throwing antidepressant prescriptions at women?