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lexapro and pregancy

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Posted 6/5/2007 1:21 AM (GMT 0)
hi folks,
i know this is a topic that's come up in the past, but i'm looking for some reassurance and personal experience stories.
I'm 10wks pregnant.. (congratulations to me)..
i've been taking lexapro for a couple of years now, my quack has had me on double the usual maximum dosage which is 40mg per day. and it has for the most part been very effective.
i know that studies on ssri's and lexapro in general are pretty rare and not really informative, so can anyone help me with these questions..

have you taken lexapro while you were pregant?
if you took lexapro when you were pregant, did everything go ok for your baby?
did you stop taking lexapro at any stage during the pregnancy? (i've heard stopping in the last trimester is advsiable)
did you keep taking your med's if you breastfed?

any advice from personal experience most welcome and greatly appreciated.
i'm pretty sure everything is gonna be just fine but really would like some personal stories to support my theory.

cheers and love
Just Keep Swimming.
Posted 6/5/2007 2:01 AM (GMT 0)
Dear Justkeepswimming,
Congratulations on your pregnancy...............I have no experience with Lexapro and pregnancy. Sorry. I know it is always hard to find the answers to pregnancy questions as each person is different.
Best of luck to you.
Posted 6/5/2007 2:40 AM (GMT 0)

there have been many studies of antidepressants during pregnancy and most report no problems for mother or baby, howebver, IMO, all antidepressants are heavy duty industrail strength meds nono

although the babies seem to go thru a withdrawl type reaction after birth

sometimes just being pregnant stops all anxiety and panic attacks, no one really knows why, was thought to be different hormones but not now. but sometimes not and a pregnancy with no meds can be very difficult

if the lexapro is expensive, generic celexa is very similar if not identical

Posted 6/5/2007 3:02 AM (GMT 0)
Lexapro and Celexa are different.
Posted 6/5/2007 12:51 PM (GMT 0)
Hi I am pregnant too and going through anxiety bad. My drs made me go off zoloft when I became pregnant and I was off it 3 months with no problems. well then the anxeity came back full force and i have been in constant panic for 3 weeks. my drs agreed it was better for me and the baby to be back on my meds. so 2 weeks now I have been back on zoloft 50 mg. my dr said the baby could have withdrawal symptoms. but i have met alot of people who took antidepressants and had happy healthy babies. also a friend of mine was on a higher dosage of zoloft with all 3 of her kids and they are all fine! have u been to babycenter.com? they have a ton of support message boards including ones for depression during pregnancy and you can talk to other pg women who are going through the exact same thing. it really helped me see im not alone. and that my baby should be just fine. good luck. btw im 18 weeks pregnant. let me know if u want to talk more!
Posted 6/6/2007 2:14 AM (GMT 0)
Congratulations Keli927- 18wks.. you must be starting to pop.. well done! and thanks for the words, very helpful!

hoping to push you for a bit more info tho....
do you happen to know, if the friend of yours who took zoloft was able to breastfeed? or if there she noticed any withdrawals..?
i know obs are gonna say "what is good for mum is good for baby" and although that's a good philosophy, i'd really like to know a bit more about the experience of others.

anyone who's actually gone through this... i'd appreciate your input. (with all due respect, none of this business please... nono it doesn't help)

cheers to all the ladies with babies.
just keep swimming.

Hey Mr Grump Gills
You know what you gotta do when life gets you down?
Just keep swimming
Just keep swimming
Just keep swimming swimming swimming
What do we do we swim, swim, swim
OH HO HO How I love to swim
When you WAAAAAANNTTT to swim you want to swim

Post Edited (justkeepswimming) : 6/5/2007 8:26:41 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/6/2007 3:31 AM (GMT 0)

Hi justkeepswimming...I wanted to reply to your post as well to let you know that when I was pregnant with my daughter 6 years ago, I was on 60 mg of Paxil.  My daughter was healthy when she was born with no withdrawal symptoms and is still a perfectly healthy normal little girl today.  I also just had a baby boy 2 months ago and took 75 mg of Effexor XR my entire pregnancy as well and he was born healthy with no withdrawal symptoms either.  My PCP wanted me to go off the Effexor my last trimester too but my OB/GYN told me to stay on it because the benefits outweighed the risks.  Also, my pediatrician told me that us moms have to take care of ourselves when we are pregnant and the babies will do just fine! 

Hope this helps a bit as well.  Congratulations and good luck to you on your pregnancy!!!  Just remember, you are not alone and things will turn out fine!

Sylkn

Posted 6/7/2007 6:48 PM (GMT 0)
My wife and I are on lexapro and seems to take the edge off BUT when my wife was pregnant with the second child zachary they told her it was o.k. for 20mg and then she took 30mg with their approval. Well, to make long story short, my son was born with a condition called tetralogy of fallot which is serious. There is absolutely no heart problems and/or defects on either side of family hx. I would get off of it because it does cross the placenta. Big pharms know about these problems like with paxil and now lexapro is in the same family so the law suits are flying high. We have got the best law firm in the country whom testifies in front of congress about the ongoing hidden truth the big pharms don't relinquish. They know this through the documents they got from some of the defectors of the big pharm. So my advise, don't listen to anyone but your gut feelings. goodluck
Posted 6/18/2007 11:29 PM (GMT 0)
I'm sorry to hear that chiro.. you're the first person i've heard say anything negative about it.. I"m sorry to hear what happened!

we'll see how i go...

thankyou all for your support and thoughts..
xo
jks.

swim swim swim!
Posted 6/18/2007 11:56 PM (GMT 0)
CONGRATS to both

It is the last trimester they tell you is the most important one now as thats when Baby" brain is fully developing along with final developements
Some meds do cross the placenta NOT ALL do .........

PLease do talk to your doc about this
I was on Valium all thru my preggars andCait is A student ....type A personality and has always been very successful in all her endeavors

My thoughts heart and prayers are with you both

Again
CONGRATS to you's both

God Bless
LYN
Posted 6/19/2007 12:32 AM (GMT 0)
Chiro,

I am so sorry about your baby and I understand how upset you are.

For those that don't know Tetralogy of Fallot (fuh-LOE) is an uncommon condition consisting of four defects within the heart structures of infants. Together these defects cause reduced blood flow to the lungs and mixing of blood from both sides of the heart. This results in oxygen-poor blood flowing out of the heart and into the body. Consequently, infants with tetralogy of Fallot usually have blue-tinged skin (cyanosis).

I hope that you know we are here for you. Welcome to Healing Well.

Stay with us. Gentle Hugs
Posted 6/19/2007 9:55 AM (GMT 0)
yes, after reading chiro's message i went and did some more research on that specific problem.
and although i'm very sad for chrio, i'm also relieved to know the odds are still definitely still in my favour.

i think that the most comprehensive study shows odds increase SIGNIFICANTLY when you're taking lexapro during pregnancy..
but, still, the odds are STILL pretty low.
and it is still possible to develop that condition without lexapro..
eitherway, i've reduced my dosage a lot since reading all these comments just to ease my mind. i'm coping ok for the moment.

so i'm sticking with the lexapro for now, although, i may move away from them in the last trimester so my little one doesn't have to go thru withdrawals and i might be able to feed it myself for a few days which would be really nice, before returning to the meds when the inevitable post natal freight train comes to run me down..haha.

thanks all for responding to my queries...

iat first was really just looking for someone to say "yes, it'll be fine, i took it and it was fine"... but all advice is helpful and i really appreciate it.

xo
JKS.
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