Antidepressant Use In Pregnancy, And Child Development ?

Q: The use of antidepressants during and after pregnancy is a controversial issue. The potential exposure of the developing child to substances which might have adverse effects would always be something we'd want to avoid, if possible. But when illness coincides with pregancy, the choice must be made, to treat or not to treat. I want to be very clear, at the outset, that I am not expressing any kind of opinion about the appropriateness of antidepressant therapy during pregnancy. I will present information about what happens if antidepressant exposure of the developing child occurs. I will also present some corollary information that might have an influence on the decision-making process (much of that in part two).

A:There are no hits on Pubmed for the search terms "teratogen and SSRI". All relevant abstracts discovered using "birth defect and SSRI" as search terms are referenced here (1-4). The search terms "teratogen and antidepressant" revealed no further relevant information. A search using the terms "birth defect and antidepressant" turned up two more relevant hits among hundreds (5,6), but those are consistent with all other references. I can find no evidence that prenatal exposure to either tricyclic or SSRI antidepressants is associated with birth defects. Even multidrug exposure is not associated with increases in birth defects. You are wrong on this one. What he has done for a living you are mistaking as mania. That's all. He disagrees with so many people because so many people present inaccuracies...on all sides. There are no sacred cows when it comes to Larry. His search is for truth and accuracy when it comes to this stuff. If you don't understand the technical stuff, join the club. This is not a dig, because I know you also have a lot of med knowledge. I'm saying I sometimes don't understand all the technical stuff either. He is always willing to explain it to me. Eric, you and he have more in common than you realize. The struggle does not discriminate. That's not to say you can't disagree with him if you want to. But don't mistake him for being manic. He is not.

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