Why I Quit Zoloft to Get Pregnant
22.05.12
Problems! (One woman actually said to me, dumbfounded, Its not as if you have cancer!) But as anyone whos dealt with depression and anxiety will attest, mental health issues can be as insidious as any cancer or physical disease.
The other night, over dinner at Tryst, a friend whos also on Zoloft (and contemplating pregnancy) asked me how I decided to abandon my pills for nine months. I told her Id blog about it. Maybe my experience can help her; maybe it can help you. Not to sound all Law & Orderbut this is my story.
It was September. Perched on my gynecologists examining table, it couldve been school picture day. Id shaved my legs to perfection. Worn makeup. Blow-dried my hair. Id even dressed up (Id forgotten about that whole paper gown thing). I wanted to look the part of a responsible potential motherbecause the reason I sat there in the first place made me feel, completely and utterly, that I wasnt.
I wanted to know if I could take Zoloft and Valiumtwo drugs that had controlled my anxiety and panic disorder for yearsif pregnant. Id read about the fetal health risks (persistent pulmonary hypertension, low birth weight, failure to thrive, a terrifying condition called anencephaly, in which baby is born without a forehead). Meanwhile, I felt fantastic on medication. How could I conceive a child and forgo something that brought me more peace of mind than a baby ever might?
Source: Boston.com (blog)