Hi, I was hoping I might be able to get some advice.

I'm getting married this month & promised my husband to be that as soon as we are married we can try for a baby, he's been wanting kids since we got together. My problem is I suffer from an anxiety disorder, OCD & depression. With counselling & 20mg citalopram for last 4 years, i've kept it under control and had a relatively normal life. As it draws closer, i've been getting more and more anxious and am struggling to eat and feeling ill all the time. I am worried the effect this will have on a pregnancy.

I have tried to come off my tablets before and weaned myself down from 40mg to 20mg a couple of years ago, but any further attempts have just made me incredibly ill. At the moment I feel like my doseage will need to be increased, but will this be detrimental to the development of a baby or cause it withdrawal symptoms when born? It says this medication can cause lung problems and withdrawal symptoms in babies and shouldn't be taken in third trimester unless absolutely necessary. It also states you cannot breastfeed on citalopram, which i'm fine with as they have good formulas out there.

I honestly don't think I could cope without the medication. Before I started taking it I had so many panic attacks I couldn't leave the house. I'm also worried if I came off the tablets the stress would have a detrimental effect on both myself & a baby. My husband to be is desperate for children and i'm terrified. Any advice?

Hello welcome! First of all you are NOT alone. There are lots of us on here who suffer from mental health issues and are WTT. It's perfectly normal to be scared - but don't worry about your medication. Coming off it may be something you don't have to do. Every drug has a pregnancy category as to how safe it is in pregnancy. Speak to your Dr about it, as it will probably be fine to take during pregnancy. If you do have to come off it the Dr will be able to find something else for you - don't try and live without medication if you need it. Depression and anxiety are long term conditions and many people are medicated for life

This is the beauty of BnB, when you think you are the only person in the world feeling this way, you visit the site & discover your not alone.

I'm in a similar situation to you, but sounds like I'm not as poorly as you are.
Last year I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and attended a course of CBT in the run up to my wedding. I was determined not to let my illness ruin the wonderful experience and I'm so lucky that it didn't - we had the most wonderful day.

I finished my CBT treatment in January and have had a tough couple of months so my GP has just prescribed me a course of Propranolol. One of the first questions I asked was it safe if I was to get pregnant & he confirmed we would need to talk about it, but I could continue to take it if needed when I get my BFP.

I just wanted to say - your not alone.
Your going to have a busy couple of weeks ahead of you, take as much rest as you can and let other people help you with the planning rather than doing all the hard work yourself.
My CBT taught me to ask whats the worst that can happen, I used to go through all the awful scenarios that could go wrong on the big day and my therapist went through all the possible solutions. On the day itself nothing could have ruined our special moment, nothing else mattered apart from me & my husband standing in front of our friends & family telling each other how much we loved each other. Even the rain didn't spoil it - it just created a funny story & some lovely photos!

I'm sorry I can't help with your questions about pregnancy but I wanted to reassure you everything will be fine with the wedding & also congratulate you on reducing your medication.

I hope my post helps.x

Thank you very much for your advice. I have just completed a round of counselling and started cbt today. It's a long process, but I think my husband to be is equally stressed about the impending wedding. With us both working so much it's a little hard to get everything done, but most things will be done by end of next week I hope. Managed to eat a meal this evening without being ill or anxious, so hopefully this will continue. My anxiety has a huge effect on my appetite, so trying to eat something each day, but the stress of the wedding and baby talk is making it rather difficult to keep the anxiety at bay. It's nice to know i'm not alone. I found this site through google and shall definitely be recommending it to other friends in a similar situation.

Hi and welcome!

Congratz on getting married! We had an April wedding as well and it was lovely. I agree with what the other posters said that if you're having trouble organizing things and it's causing unnecessary stress, ask for help. Believe it or not, family and friends want to help! We learned that the hard way when we got married. My BIL and SIL both had very high-maintenance stressful weddings before us, so we tried to get everything planned and sorted so our families wouldn't stress for ours. Then they started asking what they could do, but they had an edge in their voice as if offended for not being allowed to help!

I have depression and general anxiety disorder as well. I was on citalopram for a long time until my dr. switched me to wellbutrin. He didn't realize I'd go through an SSRI withdrawal by switching to wellbutrin, so he didn't have me wean. Going cold-turkey was very hard and I thought I was losing my mind! It was an extremely hard time, but I got through it. Now that I'm WTT, I have to wean off clonazepam (for anxiety) and divalproex (often prescribed for bi-polar disorder, but in my case prescribed for anxiety). I've had some very hard days, but I keep going forward with it at a pace my doc and I are comfortable with. What I find amazing is my anxiety seems to be better with fewer meds than when I was taking my full doses! Anyhoo, I'd suggest talking to both your doc and your pharmacist (I'm always amazed at what my pharmacist can tell me that my doc can't) and see if there's an SSRI that would be safer for pregnancy. When I was on SSRIs, I switched kinds a few times and never had any withdrawal problems. Good luck with your wedding! I hope you'll keep us posted.

I don't personally have to cope with this or medication but I've known several women who have done it! I'm also in school to be a clinical mental health counselor, so I tend to have more experience than one would normally who does not have a mental health diagnosis.

There are medications that can be taken during pregnancy, so talk to your pharmacist (as Kismet suggested!)- it is their job to be up-to-date on information about medications and they can suggest some that would be okay in pregnancy. Then speak w/ your medication prescriber and your counselor, get their input and make an informed decision about which medication to use. If you feel like you can't go off of it, there are routes to take- you don't have to suffer through!! They may keep you on a low dose, but I'm sure your counselor would increase your session number to help you adjust.

Also, talk to your OH! Let him know how hard this will be on you and that you'll need his unwavering support! Don't feel pushed into having children before you're ready mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Good luck!!

Titchy you are far from being alone and it was joining this forum that made me realise that. There was a mental health thread called "the honey nut loops" that was all girls sharing thru experiences. It made me realise that lots of women have anxiety and depressive disorders and are great mums. Its makes is stronger people to live with such things. I'm currently weaning from citalopram to TTC in May. It's tough but in getting there. There are meds you can take in pregnancy which my GP reassured me of but it's best to start with a clean slate if possible. I have recurrent depressive and anxiety disorder and I've been terrified I'd make a crap mum. I think it makes me realise that if my child was to get depression one day I'd know what to do. There are many ways if managing mental health and pregnancy so don't let it hold you back. Talk loads about it and chat to the girls here. They offered me great support when I was first cutting down my citalopram. I'm now on 10mg every 3rd day!