When I went to the doctor the other day, the midwife, Michael, encouraged me to begin to ramp down on the Effexor. At the time, I felt positive, but as I thought about it, I decided that I wouldn't scale down. I didn't think pregnancy, especially as anxious as I been, would be a good time to come off the Effexor.
Having done a little research and thought through it, I've changed my mind again.
While Effexor seems to show no signs of causing long term problems or birth defects, when taken during the last trimester, Effexor can cause the newborn baby to suffer from withdrawl and have side effects at birth such as lethargy, crying, not sleeping or feeding well.
So, I have decided that the best choice would be to slowly ramp down from my current dosage of 75mg daily to 37.5 mg daily and from there, slowly ramp down to nothing. I have to admit I'm pretty scared to do this. I dread the withdrawal but I don't want my baby to have this stuff in her bloodstream.
I was put on this med on the day that my mom passed away - am I holding on to it as a crutch? Or do I really need it?
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Wait a sec. Stop right there! Please discuss with your doctor any decision to go off anti-depressants/anti-anxiety meds. There are new studies coming out all the time about safety of different drugs during pregnancy and nursing, so make sure that you and your doctor make an educated decision.
ReplyDeleteIf Effexor turns out to be not the right drug, you may want to try Zoloft (which has been tested a lot and is safe for pregnancy and nursing).
Please don't let anyone bully you into going off necessary medications. OK?
Email me if you want to talk some more about it. (jendeisATaolDAHTcom)