Did you take your meds while pregnant?

I'm not pregnant but we do want kids in the future. I got pregnant (miscarried) about 5 years ago and my pdoc at the time said "people like you shouldn't have kids". I lost it. Anyway, I always wondered what I would do if I wanted to have kids. I can't imagine NOT being medicated but I don't want to harm a baby.

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Beuller? Anyone?

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I wasn't dx when I had my son. If I had another I'd do med free partial hospitalization.

I wasn't diagnosed until after pregnancy. In fact, pregnancy was just fine and a happy time but birth of my girl ignited genetic bipolar

I've heard that lamictal is not too bad to take while pregnant. Plenty of women take meds while pregnant. I think you just have to have a good team of doctors.
My shrink is old school and said he will take me off meds if I get pregnant. I have mixed feelings about it. I'm terrified of post partum psychosis.

I took Lamictal and Abilify early in my last pregnancy and added Lithium late in my second trimester because I was very unwell. While I am aware it was ultimately my decision, I had been so sick just before my pregnancy that my doctor's didn't give me much of a choice.

With my first two babies and with the one I lost (12 weeks), I did not believe I was bipolar and therefore did not take meds. With those pregnancies, I was extrememly overly emotional with my first, fine with my second, and out of my mind manic with the one I lost (but I was very manic even before I was pregnant...I believed God had told me this child would be a chosen one so I was very lost and confused when I miscarried).

I had post partum psychosis and was hospitalized at 7 weeks postpartum with my youngest baby and that is while I was medicated. I wouldn't change it though. My pdoc just made sure we were prepared. She was seeing me regularly (sometimes weekly), she made sure that I had a family member with me as constantly as possible, and she openly communicated with my husband, sister, and therapist. It was horrible, but I survived it and so did my family. I will say, there is no way I would have made it without my psychiatrist and my amazing support team.

Luckily, right before I found out I was pregnant, I had weaned myself off lamictal, so I just had to stop alprazolam (at the time I was only on lamictal and alprazolam). She was a surprise and I became very depressed and anxious so the person I was seeing then put me on 25mg of sertraline, and I started feeling much better and my pregnancy was probably, moodwise, the best I have ever felt.

Anyway, so I don't know what other meds are safe to take, but if you're on something that isn't I'm sure there is a replacement that is safe.

I am pretty sure I had post partum psychosis. I was told I'd be a great mom so my family suffered in scilents. I wasn't allowed in the room with my son alone. My husband quit his job to care for us. We made it through.

I got ppd pretty bad, as well as anxiety. I was inpatient a week after she was born. Never want to go through that again. When people ask if we're having more kids I'm like yeah no.

I took lamictal while pregnant with my second. I had postpartum depression/anxiety after my first which resulted in my eventual bipolar II diagnosis. Lamictal is a "safer" med to take while pregnant/breastfeeding, it has a longer track record for safety research because it has been used in women with epilepsy for a reasonably "long" time compared to some of the other bipolar meds.

Taking any drugs while pregnant is insane. The psychiatric drugs can cause preterm birth, low birth weight, and the likelihood of neonatal hospitalization. Not to mention the sky rocketing cases of autism. And of course there is the problem of a baby going through withdrawal, a baby that screams and cries non-stop and no one knows why.

I realize if you suffer from any form of MI that going without your drugs can can be devastating but maybe you should still try going off your drugs BEFORE you get pregnant (if possible). If you can't handle it without your meds than don't get pregnant.

If you used psychiatric meds while pregnant and your baby is born healthy and happy than you were just very lucky.

I've had 3 kids and never been on meds while pregnant. I actually feel better during pregnancy. (But I'm not doing it again, haha. I'm too tired for more kids.)

The only med I know for sure is bad is lithium, it can cause heart problems for baby.

I was not diagnosed with Bipolar when I got pregnant. Looking back, I had boughts of hypomania during the pregnancy but overall I did very well.

Some things I did well when I was pregnant:
1). Diet, exercise, lifestyle choices were impeccable.
2). Went to see a psychologist once a week b/c I was very nervous about motherhood.
3). Went to bed at the same time, woke up at the same time in the morning.
4). I had an OBY/GYN who I adored.

From what my doctor has told me, Depakote and mood stabilizers that are anticonvulsants can cause serious side effects in pregnancy- so you definitely want to have this conversation with a p-doc and possibly find a high-risk OB/GYN that you love. Literature does suggest trying to go med free during the first trimester if you have the proper support system in place.

A few things from my own experience- my mom is a paranoid schizophrenic. She tried to go med-free during her first trimester, but she ended up being hospitalized. Her OB/GYN dropped her as a patient because he didn't support the risk. She had to take her medicines as normal. I was 6 lbs, 7 oz. My Mom fed me formula.

When I was younger- I had a number of learning delays. Didn't walk until 18 months- I was significantly delayed on speech, didn't learn how to read until I was in the 3rd grade. Until I was in 9th grade, I routinely tested two grades behind my level (except for reading). School was a serious struggle for me, especially in elementary school. My C's were hard earned. I was in speech therapy until I was 11.

Once I got to high-school, things got easier and my C's became B's and C's. College- I did it & got B's. I've never been an A student. Fast forward 32 years later, and people compliment my intelligence all the time. I didn't give up.

As a bipolar parent- I've decided that I can only handle one bio child. However, I absolutely love being a parent. It is the most challenging yet most rewarding thing I've done. I would hate for the fear of the medicine to hold you back from making the decision to have a baby. My mom had me even when all the medical providers around her told her it would be a bad idea.

Message me if you have any questions.

I think it is worth talking with your pdoc about it now while there isn't a feeling of pressure. My pdoc brought it up with me as I got a little later into the childbearing years, just asking if I wanted children. I told her that I had promised myself that I would not have children if I were diagnosed bipolar so no. (I have personal reasons for this and am not criticizing anyone else. It runs genetically strongly on both sides and I grew up with an untreated bipolar parent and a child of an untreated bipolar who did a lot of damage as my parents plus other junk). She said that this was probably a wise decision for me but that if I ever changed my mind to talk to her, that pregnancy would be incredibly difficult because it is so hard to find meds that work for me without factoring meds that are safe during pregnancy. She warned me that I would probably spend chunks of pregnancy hospitalized and that PPD would be likely. Then she talked more about how she was glad I wasn't planning pregnancy.

A few years later I had a hysterectomy. Before the surgery she told me again that since I was about to give up my chances of pregnancy that I needed to know that if I chose to try that prior to the surgery that she would support me. I told her that I hadn't changed my mind and she again said that this was really difficult she knew but also probably for the best given my situation.

I just know that had I wanted to get pregnant having had that conversation first would have been helpful in making decisions about timing, financial planning for a year or more of my being unable to work in all likelihood, etc.

During my first two pregnancies not too many psych meds were even invented/available. During my first pregnancy, even though I was absolutely over the moon with happiness about the pregnancy I struggled mightily with severe depression. The post-partum depression was horrible. But meds just were not an option back then.

My second pg was much easier, but my depression and anxiety was still marked.

I breastfed for a couple of years after each pregnancy. No meds.

Third time I was pregnant I had been on meds for many years. The pregnancy so sadly ended in a miscarriage right at the 12-week mark. I have considered that meds might have contributed to that loss. For one thing, meds have raised my blood pressure- not a good thing during pregnancy.

My niece was on Ativan during both of her pregnancies and everything was fine.