Celexa And Pregnancy

one of the newer anti depressant drugs on the market; celexa who's active ingredient is citalopram, has proven itself to be a good weapon against depression, however, it is also an SSRI which can be extremely harmful if you are a pregnant woman or are breast feeding. Citalopram is primarily metabolized to demethylcitalopram and it is only 1/8 as potent in the inhibition of serotonin reuptake as citalopram. What this means is that when studies of the drugs were tested on the reproductive system on animals, it was shown to have adverse effects on the embryo and fetus and postnatal development when it was given in a dosage that were higher than what is generally given to humans. Celexa decreased the embryo and fetal growth and survival. It also showed an increased incidence of fetal abnormalities such as cardiovascular and skeletal defects; which were observed in the rat at a maternally toxic dose (18 times the maximum recommended human dose (MRHD) of 60 mg/day on a body surface. Citalopram was also found to be in the breast milk of a breast feeding mother which can cause the baby who is feeding to experience withdrawal symptoms. However, when the same studies were conducted on rabbits as were conducted on rats, there were no known problems or abnormalities in the fetus or embryo. This has caused major rifts in the celexa and pregnancy studies in humans. The FDA has placed the medication celexa in the C group when the drug was approved which means that it is not completely known whether or not the drug is harmful to pregnant women and the fetus or embryo. Basically what this means is that no one can say for sure if the drug is harmful to an unborn baby. Celexa has been proven to have side effects to non-pregnant women however and some of these side effects can be very dangerous. Some side effects to taking celexa are: anxiety, panic attacks, difficulty sleeping, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, severe restlessness, and mania which is a great deal like hyperactivity or ADD like behaviors, low blood pressure, high blood pressure, seizures, nausea diarrhea, the list is endless. These reasons alone should tell pregnant women and those who are planning to get pregnant not to take the risk at all. If you are absolutely certain that you want to take an anti depressant during pregnancy, you might want to consider a safer alternative such as Duprex which is a natural alternative to celexa and doesn't have any side effects to it.

Discuss It!

Nicole said:

It's easy to say to not take the risk of harming the fetus unless you have suffered from extreme depression before. This article seems very one sided.

Jen said:

true..I have taken celexa and it helped alot but I was also taking it in my first tri. because I was told it was safe..my baby was born with TAPVR and 5 days after being born she had to have open heart surgery and we almost lost her...makes me wonder about this drug

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