When I got pregnant with Claire I was on medication for panic attacks, which I was able to go off of right away with no withdrawal symptoms and was able to continue in the pregnancy just fine. About a week after Claire was born I developed a pretty serious case of PPD. I immediately went back to my psychiatrist who put me back on the previous medication along with an anti-depressant that I have been on since Claire was about two weeks old.
Well when I found out I was pregnant this time I immediately went off all of my medication thinking that it would be no big deal like last time....boy was I wrong. I was only off of the anti-depressant for three days when serious withdrawal symptoms set in......tremors, shaking,heart racing, essentially feeling like I was loosing control and constant crying. Come to find out that cold turkey is the absolute WRONG way to come off of a SSRI. I had missed doses before and had similar symptoms so I knew they were not pregnancy related. After scouring the Internet I was made very aware that going cold-turkey can seriously harm me as well as the baby.
I felt like I was doing the right thing because the last thing I would want to do is hurt in anyway the baby that we waited so long for...I guess that I don't get to call the shots on this one. Luckily I have an amazing fetal medicine & maternal medicine doctor that I saw very early in my pregnancy with Claire that I have an appointment to see again. He deals specifically with women that become pregnant that are on any type of medication. He devotes most of his time to studying all the latest and greatest information out there on fetus/medication interaction.
For now I of course have cut out the panic attack medication which I have been fine with, but I will be continuing on the anti-depressant until we see Dr. B. Of course the best way to go in any pregnancy is as drug free as possible but for some of us that is just not an option. I will continue to do what I feel is best for the baby AND myself with the best advice I can get from as many doctors as I can.
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