I am so glad you are doing wonderfully on the Zoloft! Anxiety and panic, while fairly common, feel terrible. Of course you would “calm down” if you could. The nature of the illness is that you cannot just calm down. It would be helpful if your husband and family could learn a little more about anxiety/panic so you could get more emotional support. No one would think to tell a diabetic, “Just lower your blood sugar,” or tell a menopausal woman “Just make more estrogen and you won’t have hot flashes!” Support is very important!
What is known about taking the antidepressants during pregnancy? First, I must say that I hope you have a strong trusting relationship with your doctor. She or he would not prescribe something if they thought it was dangerous or unsafe.
Several articles appearing in the highly respected New England Journal of Medicine in 2007 stated that use of SSRI medications (like Zoloft) in the first trimester (when organs are developing) did NOT seem to significantly increase chances of birth defects. This agrees with earlier research that also showed no increased risk of major birth defects or miscarriage. Children were followed at 7 years of age, and tested for IQ and development. All the kids were normal. Warning labels are put there to protect the drug companies (and scare moms and doctors). There has never been a lawsuit that I know of, and I’m pretty sure there would have been one if there were a problem.
Occasionally at birth, babies whose moms were on an antidepressant have a little jitteriness or trouble breathing. NO baby has died from this, and these symptoms go away in a few hours or a couple of days at most. Many experts feel the evidence shows that discontinuing clinically needed antidepressants in women near delivery is not necessary. Stopping medications that are needed can put the mother at an unjustified risk of an increase in symptoms and illness. Symptoms in the baby occur in a minority of cases and do not need treatment.
It is important to always weigh the risks of medication (which seem small) to the risks of exposing the baby to anxiety/panic. We now know that having an anxious mom is bad for babies (before and after delivery). In my way of thinking, you’re a great mom for getting treated and taking medication. With the level of distress you were describing, I’d be more worried if you weren’t on medication! I work with many women who are on medication during pregnancy, and have not seen any negative outcomes. I have seen women who were not on medication have bad outcomes. Having a baby (like life in general) carries some risks. I think you have to weigh all the risks. Not eating or sleeping doesn’t provide a healthy environment in which your baby can grow. In my mind, being well makes you a wonderful parent!
Zoloft is considered compatible with nursing. Once the baby comes, it is important to get stretches of uninterrupted sleep (take turns with night feedings). Get plenty of emotional support and practical help.
I would also like to encourage you to seek counseling and learn about some tools that will help your anxiety. You can find lots of information and locate someone trained in working with pregnant/postpartum women on the following websites:
www.postpartum.net
www.mededppd.org
Take a look at my article, Mental Fitness for Labor and Delivery
Check out the book, Beyond the Blues, A Guide to Understanding and Treating Prenatal and Postpartum Depression (2006) by Bennett and Indman (we do cover anxiety, too).
I‘m 37 weeks pregnant and suffer from severe anxiety. I’ve been taking 100mg of Zoloft for the past three months and it has worked really well for me. But now I’m starting freak out because of all of the warnings on the label. Am I a bad parent already?
