Hi Dark Lilac

Firstly, congrats on being pregnant!
Pregnancy can be very hard with depression and up until you are 12 weeks pregnant, is where you need to be extra careful, as the baby is still forming.
I do not know much about meds and I am not a professional, but please don't take any medication without the permission of your doc, as far as I know there are many AD's that you can't take while pregnant. Please go to your doc and if you are desperate, you can always go to the closest ER and tell them that you are pregnant.

Trace

Call your doc right away! I believe I have read that there are a couple of antidepressants that are considered relatively safe for use during pregnancy. Long term studies are not yet available as to the affects on the child, but I do think that they have found at least a couple of AD's don't cause any OBVIOUS problems. On the other hand, severe depression during pregnancy can have awful effects on the baby that have been fairly well documented. Never mind the fact that you have to SURVIVE the pregnancy. My wife's emotional issues that arose with pregnancy greatly aggravated MY depression, at times threatened our marriage, and even contributed to a suicide attempt on my part. After talking to your Doc, spend some time Googling....... lots of people have been where you aRE........... PEACE
-ws

Thank you both...I am actually feeling better now, and I talked to my doctor about it yesterday...she said it's best not to but if I needed to take something zoloft would probably be good...I'm only gonna take it if I absolutely have to though; hopefully I'll continue feeling better.

Please, before you take any meds, check your nutrition.
You are "eating for two" in terms of, you now need twice as much of some of the vitamins. (Too much vitamin A in pregnancy can be harmful, this does not mean avoid it, as too little can cause autism)
In particular your need for B vitamins has just shot up-especially folic acid.
So, start eating wholegrain everything. Lots of vegetables-organic or very very well cleaned, as close to raw as possible. Youre best off steaming vegetables for the minimum time in order to preserve nutrients.
Cut down on refined sugar, as it can be harmful to foetal development due to is affect on the blood vessels. And avoid caffeinated drinks as they will just mess with your moods.
It may also be worth going to your local health food shop and asking about a good quality, NATURAL source prenatal multivitamin/mineral. A normal multi will have higher doses of Vitamin A-which as I said earlier, you want to get the balance right on that one. Dont buy a synthetic one in a pharmacy. Just like theres no long term studies on anti depressants during pregnancy, theres also no long term evidence of what synthetic vitamins do to us, some of them ave been found to interfere with real vitamin absorption already.

And CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
Is this your first? Oh who cares, its great news whatever way you look at it!

Hi Dark Lilac,


I have two daughters, one 10 and one 8. With my first pregnancy, I went off of Prozac because it seemed like the thing to do. However, I became very anxious and eventually depressed, and decided to take a second look at meds. What I found from research and talking to Doctors was this; There is not a lot of long term research on the effects of taking antidepressants while pregnant, although some are considered safer than others. I guess drugs can be classified as a,b, or c, where a-types are known to be harmful, c types are known to be safe, and b types are thought to be safe, but not proven by research. I may have the letters mixed up, but you get the idea. Prozac is of the type that is thought to be ok, but not researched.

What is known, however, is that stress hormones do cross the placenta. If you are stressed, then your baby is getting those same biochemical messengers that are messing you up. In addition, you need to be emotionally ready and sane when that baby comes as well. Being a new mom is emotional enough without the addition of post-partum depression. You may need the help of your antidepressant so that you can be available to bond with your baby!!!


I made the decision to go back on Prozac. I decided that I would bet that keeping me emotionally healthy would in the long run better for my child. I still believe that to be true. By the way, My daughters are brilliant, wonderful, funny, well adjusted and well bonded kids. (Can you tell I am biased?) My older daughter has dealt with some depression of her own, but we have a strong genetic component in our family, and I believe that is the culprit rather than my taking meds while pregnant. I think Celexa is an SSRI like Prozac, but obviously, talk to your doctor about it.

Good luck, hang in there. I'm a mom, not a doctor, so take my advice with that in mind.

gmolacek