I think we're pretty clear now on the fact that not every pregnancy is rosy. Lots of moms-to-be have more than their share of prenatal troubles, not the least of which can be a troubling increase in symptoms of depression. Hey, with all those hormones floating around, it's no wonder, right? The enormous amount of change that women go through during pregnancy is astounding. If we stopped to really think about it all, we might never even go through a pregnancy at all. Oops, wait, that's me I'm talking about: four and I'm done.
Refuting a 2005 study that claimed that mothers who took anti-depressants (SSRI uptake inhibitors) during pregnancy incurred an increased risk in their babies being born with heart defects, a new study finds that the actual increase is much smaller than originally thought and actually represents less risk to the baby than leaving severe prenatal depression untreated. "However, the researchers did find a connection between using these
antidepressants and a two- to three-fold increase in three specific
birth defects -- an incomplete formation of the brain which results in
death, an abnormal development of the skull and a type of hernia in
which internal organs stick out through the navel." Wait, though: even with the increased risk we're only talking a less-than-one-percent risk of having one of these things happen.
Like with everything, you weigh the risks and decide from there. There's already a lot to worry about during pregnancy, but it appears that if depression is really a factor it may be better to take the slight risk of a birth defect over nine months of agony and the risks to your baby from that. Of course, only you know what works best for you and your baby, but I'm thinking it may be a relief to know that anti-depressants appear to be safer during pregnancy than we thought.
