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Anxiety Sufferer and Pregnant

March 30, 2010 Aimee White

I had an extremely shocking and surreal day yesterday. I had a suspicion, and it took a couple of tests to come up with conclusive results. Mr. T is out of town all week, so I had to tell him over the phone. I couldn't keep this to myself for so long. I found out that I am pregnant.

pregnancy_test_resultIf all goes well with this pregnancy, it will be our second child. It was neither planned, nor prevented, and I am thrilled and nervous at the same time. I feel very blessed to be trusted to raise and care for another little one. So what does being pregnant mean for my anxiety?

Managing Anxiety While Pregnant Without Anxiety Medication

I have stopped taking my Sertraline (Zoloft) cold turkey and will definitely not take any more Clonozepam until after I am done nursing. Even though my doctor said Sertraline or Zoloft is okay during pregnancy, he also said it is best to not take any psychiatric medication if you can help it during the first trimester. (Read "Effects of Taking Psychiatric Medications During Pregnancy")

With my first pregnancy, I was lucky enough to be mostly anxiety free and medication free the entire time I was pregnant and for about the first 10 months of nursing. My mother was the same way. She always felt better when she was pregnant. I am hoping it will be the same with this one.

The Risks of Antidepressants and Anxiety Medications During Pregnancy

I am nervous about any side effects of suddenly stopping my antidepressant, anxiety medications. Usually if I forget to take my Sertraline for more than a day, I get horrible stomach aches and cramps. I don't remember feeling any side effects last time I stopped for my pregnancy, so I am hoping again for the same. It is not okay to take Clonozepam during pregnancy or nursing. Besides possible birth defects and withdrawl symptoms in the newborn, it can cause your baby to have gray teeth!

When I was deciding to get pregnant the first time, I didn't know if I should wait until I "recovered" from the anxiety before getting pregnant or not. This is partially why I have the feelings I do about being cured from your anxiety. If you feel that way, you can put off these life decisions for who knows how long. Instead, I decided that this may be something I need to learn to live with, and therefore, when I felt I had the social anxiety under control, I felt comfortable getting pregnant.

I consider myself lucky that I do so much better with my anxiety when I am pregnant, but that doesn't mean you will be the same way. Some women find their anxiety symptoms get worse after being pregnant. So if you are contemplating this decision, my advice would be to wait until you feel you have successfully learned and used the tools to manage your anxiety and then go for it.

APA Reference
White, A. (2010, March 30). Anxiety Sufferer and Pregnant, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, December 23 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/anxiety-panic/2010/03/anxiety-sufferer-and-pregnant



Author: Aimee White

Cheryl Brister
April, 20 2010 at 10:27 am

I also suffered from a outrageous amount of anxiety during my most recent pregnancy and would like to congratulate you for handling yours so well.

Meredith
March, 31 2010 at 1:28 pm

Congratulations Amy! It sounds like you did good managing your anxiety last time you were pregnant and I don't see why this time would be any different. Even if your anxiety does flare up you have gained all the skills you need to handle it. Not to mention you have a great support network of people to help you through. Congratulations on your wonderful news! I really look forward to hearing about how your doing. : )

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