Hi.
I havent been to this site that often in the past few months as my anxiety hasnt been that bad. I am on effexor xr and clonazepam and that along with therapy has helped me get on with my life and be able to manage the symptoms that I do still have.
I just recently got engaged (about 5 months ago) and both my partner and I wanted to have a baby. Married or not we were excited to find out that I had concieved. Im about 6 or 7 weeks along at this point.
I have asked my family doctor what he thinks about me being on this medication while pregnant and he thinks thatI will be ok and that the baby will be fine.
I trust him but I am so worried... Im worried that Im going to do harm to my baby with these drugs but I am also worried that I wont do well off of them...
I dont know what to do.
has anyone been pregnant/had ababy while on effexor xr and/or klonopin? and what was the out come...
thanks...

*STAR*

I am NOT a dr or in the medical profession. I dont want to scare you but it is still early enough for you to minimize the effects on you and the baby.

My daughter is on the same meds and the dr told her NOT to get pregnant on them. She has decided to wait a few years. The dr told her that the baby would experience the same withdrawl side effects after its born, that we suffer when we miss a pill. I found this on the FDA government site:

FDA pregnancy category C. Effexor may be harmful to an unborn baby, and may cause problems in a newborn baby if the mother takes the medication late in pregnancy (during the third trimester). Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant during treatment. Effexor can pass into breast milk and may harm a nursing baby. Do not use this medication without telling your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.

She tried to go off her meds but couldnt take it, and she said it was not worth putting an infant through that. I was also on effexor (150 mg). When I went off mine, I stepped down over 3 months instead of weeks.

If you step down very slowly, it should limit your symptoms and problems with the baby.
Also, I saw a commercial from an attorney that ask, "Did you give birth to a baby with heart problems while taking the medication effexor? If so call...." So there must be some problems with the meds. I would talk to you OBGYN and not the family dr. and do your own research and talk to the dr with what you find... then follow your heart.

I took Effexor the whole time I was pregnant. I was on 75mg daily. My little boy is healthy and we have never had any problems with him. The Klonopin I would think twice about. I myself would probably not take it while being pregnant. It states in the Effexor website that iff you are pregnant to talk to your doc. It is important to take the Effexor if you can't deal without it. Like I said we have a healthy happy 3 year old and he did just fine through the whole thing. Hope you have a great pregnancy! Good Luck!
Heather

Hi there -

I am trying to get pregnant right now and talked with my Dr. about this specifically. He told me there are no conclusive tests about what the effects are on the SSRIs, but that the most important thing to weigh is what the impact on the MOTHER is going to be, because if you are depressed/anxious etc. that could ultimately be worse for the child. It's really up to you and your OB/GYN to decide.

And I still haven't decided what to do, so good luck!

WELL I GOT PREGANAT WITH MY THIRD CHILD, I WAS ON PAXIL ONLY TOOK IT FOR A MONTH.GOT PREGANAT TWO MONTHS AFTER THAT VERY HAPPY AND VERY NEVORUSAND I MISSED CARRIED AT 12 WEEKS.I THINK IT WAS DUE TO MY ANXITY.

Star, I am on Klonapin too. 1.5mg 3x's a day. I became very addicted to it. Before I had my daughter I went to the ob and said what can I take while I'm pregnant and she said that zoloft was the best. I went on that and had a healthy baby girl although I had toxiemia and postpartum depression she came out just fine. She now has asthma and chronic bronchitus. Was this due to the meds or was it due to her being born a month early. I don't know. All I can say is that I think about haveing another one and I absolutley refuse to be on klonapin if I get pregnant again. for one, what would you have to fall back on if your already anxious and depressed and you have postpartum depression and are having panic attacks because you like me-think your will accidently hurt or kill your baby. I had those reoccuring thoughts because I ran over my Dog and have never gotten over it. He was my baby!!!!! He was loved so much more then I can express and I hurt and killed him on accident I ran him over. This happened while I was "worked up" over a move to a new house and the sellers were giving us a hard time about the deal that was suppose to go through and it didn't on a friday, the sellers had plan tickets to leave on saturday for flordia they couldn't redeam. they blamed us for our house not selling, it wasn't our fault the buyer of our houses funds fell through. I was so worked up I wasn't payint attention to what was going on around me. I wasn't on klonapin when I was prego but I went on xannax after she was born because of the oCD thoughts. I believe in God and that ultimatley he'll decide how the baby will look and grow but all the research i've done says that klonapin will cause a cleft palete. Not to scare you but maybe to help, if you can wean yourself off the klonapin I think you'd be better off. I've after a million tries have weaned myself down to .5mgs three times a day. In as little as two weeks. you can't go cold turkey or you might have seziers. But look at it like this you are prone to postpartum depression/anxiety because you already have problems when the baby comes you might want to be able to go back on xannax or kloapin to help if you get postpartum anxiety/depression/psychosis. I know this post is late but let me know your decision and how it goes. I'm interested in what happens and concerned for you and the baby. Keep me informed and if you decide to wean off the klonapin let me know and we can compaire notes of withdrawl symptoms and how we handle them!
As a mother I support whatever decision you decide is best for you and baby.
Lacy

Also NOT a doctor, but I read online that Clonazepam is not okay while pregnant, and I did have an unexpected pregnancy and miscarriage while taking it, but have no idea if they were related or not...