Study Links Antidepressant Use and Miscarriage

[angi_is_altered]

Pregnancy is often fraught with complications, not least for women suffering from depression while carrying a child: new research suggests that women who take antidepressant medications during pregnancy may have an increased risk of miscarriage.

Scientists at University of Montreal report Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal

Comments

[daguerreotype]

This is really worrying..

Hopefully these kinds of reports will prompt more research & the development of safer/better ways to go about pregnancies on (or off) these types of medications. I do think there's a lot of potential for different therapies & alternative ways to help mothers through this though. I just worry that doctors & mothers won't be educated about this & more damage will happen.

[zer05ive]

So...stay un-depressed and miscarry or carry it to term and be depressed the whole time? Damn.

[lvsinsanity]

I thought you weren't suppose to be prescribed anti-depressants while breast feeding, contemplating getting pregnant or being pregnant?

I was on Effexor for a while, and it came with two long pages of DO NOT DO WHILE TAKING THESE and side effects

[poehleroid]

While that may be true, what about the women who are already on them and need them to function?

[varioussorrows]

I'm on Citalopram and have been told by my doctor that it's safe to take during pregnancy (I'm not pregnant but was asking for future reference). I damn well hope it's true because I want children some day and I'm pretty sure my depression is both reactive and chemical.

[lvsinsanity]

You might be right, I'm not sure. It's been over two years since I was on anti-depressants so my mind is hazy with all those yes and no lists.

I just thought that the medicine would go to your baby and mess it up, and this makes me wonder if it's been thoroughly studied or not.

I mean, I wasn't given a full low down for mine because an emergency room doctor shoved them on me and my pharmacist is who gave me a basic low down of it all.

[thalestral]

I'm pretty sure I've read reports before stating that women should stay on antidepressants while pregnant if they need them, which is pretty much what it says at the bottom of this report, because doctors aren't entirely sure what risks, if any, there are. Breastfeeding while on antidepressants is a complete no however (from what I've read).

My doc was surprised I was so anxious about the risk of falling pregnant without being able to tolerate hormonal birth control until I reminded him about the severe depression I was there about. My doc is awesome usually, but seemed to fall into the whole - oh young woman who isn't on benefits, let's assume she has money to spare and wants babies :|

I'm terrified that I fall pregnant accidentally and have to weigh up my health choices. I'm incapable of living a near normal life without a high dose of medication, and I can only imagine the anxieties of having people judge me for not breast feeding if I was somehow able to have a family.

[lvsinsanity]

I hear a lot of backlash for women who don't breastfeed. I just don't understand the hype about it. It's not like defects are going to happen, I was breastfed, but my brother was not (mom had told me once it was way too painful to).

[thalestral]

I can understand wanting to promote breastfeeding as it can be overlooked as an option, but the stigma around not breastfeeding is very ablist I think and really doesn't take into account the mothers feelings at all :/

[lvsinsanity]

I agree, I heard from mom that she was chastised from everyone for not breastfeeding my brother though, from her own mother to her mother in law.

[ennifer_jay]

I've always wondered what the effects on the child were like when a mother was taking an anti-depressant during pregnancy.

I'm currently leaning towards not having children, and if this is the case then I'm not having children. My anti-depressants are pretty much a necessity for me to be able to function.