Back in time, pregnant women were strongly recommended against taking anxiety drugs during pregnancy. In fact, all psychiatric medications were considered dangerous for pregnant women and even if they were required, pregnant women were told not to take them. Claim Your 20 Free Pregnancy Tests – Click Here
It was a belief that these medications are very harmful and can cause adverse effects in the baby. However, there have been many studies in this field and recent studies have ruled out the dangers of a few anxiety drugs. Thus, doctors are able to prescribe anxiety drugs to pregnant ladies with ease these days.
However, you should never take drugs without the recommendation of and prescription by the doctor. There are a few drugs that can be harmful and it is important to steer clear of these. Listed below are some of the anxiety drugs, which you can take during pregnancy.
Prozac is essentially a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. If you must take anti-anxiety medication during pregnancy, this one is a safe choice. It has showed positive results and no side effects in pregnant women. Also, studies have found that it does not affect the health of the baby and the risks of malformations are not increased either. Hence Prozac is a safe choice of drug to take during pregnancy.
Under benzodiazepines come a number of drugs such as diazepam, lorazepam, and clonazepam. Findings have suggested that these drugs carry almost negligible risks of complications in the fetus especially when taken in the later stages of pregnancy.
However, it is not recommended that you take higher doses because they can be harmful. They can lead to problems such as decreased muscle tone and difficulty in breathing. Moderate doses don’t inflict the fetus with these problems.
There are many tricyclic antidepressants but those that you can take during pregnancy include nortriptyline and amitriptyline. Research carried out earlier showed that these medications were dangerous for the baby because they increased the risk of malformation of the arms and legs. However, recent findings have contradicted the older findings. In the recent findings, no such possibilities have been concluded.
This medication is a Category C medication according to the FDA. Category C means that these drugs have been tried on animals and adverse effects have been noted. However, studies on humans are not clear or they haven’t been carried out at all.
From the data available though, one can establish that Effexor comes with low risks of complications in the fetus. Complications include irritability, seizures, difficulty in breathing and so on. These complications were seen when the drug was taken in the final trimester of pregnancy.
Thus, experts have come to the conclusion that this drug must only be taken if the benefits are far more than the risks. In other words, the drug must be taken only when it is absolutely necessary.
As aforementioned, no drug must be taken without the recommendation of the doctor. The doctor will first assess your condition and determine whether you need to continue taking through pregnancy or not. If you do, he will recommend a drug for you. If he does not, you should not try taking some drug on your own. That can harm you as well as your baby.
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