I was wondering if anyone had any insight on antipsychotics & anti-depressants, while trying to conceive and becoming pregnant. I know the best answer would be to talk to my doctor, but I though someone may have some knowledge. I take 300mg of Seroquel XR, and 200mg of Lamictal daily. My boyfriend and I decided to start planning for a pregnancy. I just stopped taking the birth control pill, and I'm really excited. I just keep getting scared because I've heard of birth defects due to taking these meds. I'm kind of stuck in this situation. I've heard that many women stop taking their meds in conception and the 1st trimester, which seems to be a good answer. My only concern is, since I have been on birth control for so many years, its definetly not going to be a fast occurence (getting pregnant) So that could mean I would have to be off my meds prior to conception? That could end up being an awful long time to be manic/derpessed. Any insight is helpful, thank you.
Hi I am trying to plan to conceive as well (hopefully we can try in September). I was wondering if I could receive an update on your situation. For about 6 months the doctors have been weaning me off of my meds (200 mg Lamictal, 100 mg Seroquel, and 30 mg of Cymbalta). Believe me the best thing to do is to get off the medication responsibily, if possible. Through all the research and counseling I have done this is the Best #1 situation. I too am scared and in fact I believe I am currently going through a mini episode for I am only taking 25 mg of the seroquel. But I am trying to remain calm, remove myself from the stressor and keep entertained but with limits set. I have learned that keeping busy isn't interpret by my mind as a small project. rather I seem to submerge myself into so many project that I find my self lost, lazy, or worse manic towards the end.
If you are to do this all I can say is Keep Calm, Bring Peace into yourself, and think that if something goes wrong there is halp out there to make it RIGHT.
I am bipolar and my husband and I also want to start trying to have a baby soon. I talked to my psychatrist and he said that I would have to come off all my psych meds a couple of months before we started to try. I am taking Lamictal 100mg twice a day and Geodon 50mg once a day. I asked him what would happen if I had an episode while I was pregnant and he said that the only medicine that he could give me then would be, I think, Haldol. I am very scared to get pregnant for that reason. But I have also heard that when some women that are bipolar are pregnant, that there hormones sort of balance everything out. I guess it will be different with everyone. Good luck to you. I am sorry I couldn't be more help. Amanda
I was in your situation was I was 33, 22 years ago. I stopped taking meds. I was married. I prayed a lot. I took vaginal temperatures and charted them for 4 months to predict ovulation. I got pregnant on my first try. I was absolutely fine during the pregnancy. I was absolutely fine during the year I nursed. Then mood swings set in again. I have had a life of mood swings before and after, but those two years were symptom free and very happy. I had a home and a baby. Then the problems in my marriage came to the fore again. When my son was 6 we separated and I had to enter 5 years of litigation to keep him. I underwent 3 psychiatric tests. Strong moral underpinning kept me going as my 'boat' nearly capsized many a time. During the 8 years alone I prayed a lot. My prayers changed from demands to asking Gd to stand by me and guide my thoughts words and deeds, to turn me into the kind of woman who could attract the kind of man I wanted to be with. Now I am very happily married for 5 years. My son is doing well. Getting well and staying well is a 3 legged stool for me; family dynamics, therapy and medications. Throw in taking good care of yourself in sleep, stress, diet and exercise. Stay around good people. Save yourself first, not the world. From there you can help others too. Hope this helps.
your doctor is mistakin abou the all the way off the drug thing and you should find a new doctor. My husband has bi-polar and i am a theripist. We took a lot of steps to get him down to 250 mg of Depekote once daily. Prayer, meditation, alot of support and talking about the reality of feelings and stress are key. I had to take Clomid to get pregant. and since our son was born 2 years ago. My husband is about to step down his meds again. So there is hope and alternative to medication.
I am bipolar and when I wanted to conceive the best advice I could use was to go off meds completely. I was on 800 mg of Valporate. I stopped taking the medicines 3 months before planning and during preganancy and post pregnancy 6 months down the line I was fine until I joined back office. The stress took me down and I had to re-start the meds. Since I have strong manic episodes I was literally terrified of leaving medicines but the will to keep the baby healthy kept me going. However now after 10 months of my first baby I have accidentally conceived again. Since I was not prepared I am on meds. I wish someone out there could help me identify how much damage I could have done to the foetus as I have been taking 750 mg. I intend to stop taking medicines now. But I am afraid if the baby will be abnormal.
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Hello there, I was diagnosed with Bipolar dissorder well over a year ago, and I recently got married, and my husband and I are trying to start a family. I think that you should really talk to another medical professional aside from your psychatrist, because when I was talking to my doctor about what meds would be safe for me to take during pregnancy, she gave me the number for MotherRisk, which is an info line/system run thru a childrens hospital that has all of the latest information and studies done about everything affecting pregnancy and what not. They can tell you everything from what shampoo to use, to whether or not to wax your legs lol.. they have everything... and it was really helpful for me because its all confidential, and when I read them the list of medication options that my doctor gave me they told me that lamictal was by far the number 1 choice if you are pregnant, they said that the studies of that drug showed that the risk of birth defect was very very very low ( meaning, the risks not really higher then they would be for a normal person not on meds).. So, if your psychiatrists says you HAVE to stop taking all or your meds , look up the number for MotherRisk on google... they can tell you everything you need to know about what medications would be safest and all kinds of other stuff...