[BNLsMOM]

Has anyone done this safely?

Thinking about having another child and I am looking for first hand experiences.

How high risk would I be considered?

Also, what to do about meds...?

[Eliza Jane]

It's hard to want pregnancy and deal with BP. I know that ECT is something they do with pregnant women. I myself haven't researched it much because I decided to pursue TMS instead during my (ill-fated) attempt to go med free prior to trying to conceive. (TMS was helpful but I still needed to add Lamitcal.) Have you looked into TMS? It has the upside of not causing memory issues but the downside of probably not being covered by insurance.

I can tell you that my pdoc and OB both said that while they would find TMS during pregnancy acceptable (magnet is strength used in MRI) they wouldn't schedule maintenance tx during pregnancy. There just isn't that much known about it so far, so better safe than sorry. On the other hand, since ECT has been around forever-ish, I would suspect that MD's have a lot of info on benefits and risks.

Good luck!
EJ

Pregnancy is one of the reasons ECT is sometimes used as it is not as potentially damaging to the baby as many oral meds are. I'd personally be hesitant, not so much because of the ECT itself as for the repeated exposure to anesthesia, but I'm not particularly knowledgeable honestly with the effects of anesthesia on a fetus; it just seems like it could be an issue.

[BNLsMOM]

Originally Posted by farmergirl

Pregnancy is one of the reasons ECT is sometimes used as it is not as potentially damaging to the baby as many oral meds are. I'd personally be hesitant, not so much because of the ECT itself as for the repeated exposure to anesthesia, but I'm not particularly knowledgeable honestly with the effects of anesthesia on a fetus; it just seems like it could be an issue.

That is my main concern, that the anesthesia might be dangerous to a fetus. Right now I have treatments every three weeks, so that is less exposure than daily oral meds. I don't know anything about it other than there are different mixes of anesthesia that they can use. I will need to talk the idea over with the team at ECT. I have a lot of health related things to get lines up before I could get pregnant safely anyway. There are the bipolar meds, the ECT, the thyroid med, and my unusually high prolactin level making it impossible to get pregnant as it has inhibited my cycle. That is med related, for sure. My antipsychotic is the culprit.

Then there is the weight loss. I need to be well into losing my added 65lbs. before my body can handle a pregnancy.

[HappiestGirl]

Excuse my ignorance but what is ECT? I wasn't even aware you could take bipolar meds when you are pregnant. I'm just so scared by the whole thing and don't know how I could handle a baby without any meds.