Planning for the future: pregnancy and mental illness

I have panic disorder, severe depression, and generalized and social anxiety disorder. I have been on Xanax for four years, antidepressants don’t really help me, and I take Gabapentin to sleep. Dependent on it. Before I get pregnant I want to be off all of this but I have read that anxiety can negatively affect a growing fetus. I am terrified. My anxiety is very hard to get under control without medication. When I was unmedicated I had panic attacks CONSTANTLY.

Has anyone here taken ANY meds while pregnant? What was your personal experience with that and mental illness during pregnancy?

Thank you.

There are some meds that are safer than others during a pregnancy.

Ideally you need to get a handle on your struggles way before you start trying for a baby.

What coping skills are you using to help ease your struggles?

We are waiting until I am in a healthier place, but I want to plan ahead of time and hear what meds (if any) others were on during pregnancy.

I am using meds, therapy, exercise and meditation. I have tried TMS for treatment resistant depression but it did not help.

Bump...

I was not on meds while pregnant. I will share, though, that my niece has crippling anxiety. She remained on Ativan during both of her pregnancies. All was well, and the kids are just fine.

hey @LittleEarthquakes:
The biggest issue I had was the "baby blues" extending beyond the birth of my third child. She was born in August and I had been off meds ( I shouldnt have been) and in October I was hospitalized for four days and the cocktail they gave me saved my life,

When I was considering having a child my pdoc said I had to stay on meds no matter what the whole time and into breastfeeding. I’m on abilify...it’s category C.....the whole class of APs is category C with the exception of latuda which she said was just too new to have the same warning. While I have not had a child and probably won’t she said others who were bipolar did and their kids turned out ok on the same regimen.