Pamela, I`ve been seeing how a slight drop in dosage effects me for the last 2 weeks or so as well, and I`m down to a single pill a day. I know I can always take another if I need to, but if I feel fine on just one, I won`t go past it. I just received a handbook on cog./beh. therapy this past week and have started working on it. I haven`t seen a ob/gyn yet, but my psych. is very supportive of what I am doing. I think you`re right...meds alone won`t replace active therapy; I became so fixed on my physical symptoms, I wasn`t doing the other stuff. I called the March of Dimes a while back about meds. while pregnant, but I didn`t follow up on a specific med. (I was still trying different things myself at that time). They have a connection with The Organization of Teratology Information Services (I think that`s right) which can help find out more specifics, it sounds like. I`m excited for both of us at the possibilities!!! ;p

Thank you for all your posts of encouragement...that one nagging doubt coming from a gp whom I knew socially has been hard to get rid of up until now. By the way, I went to see my psych. this morning, and she told me she`s had patients who found out they were pregnant or planned to be pregnant while on the same medication as I am on. Yes!!! "If there`s a will, there`s a way!" Thanks again! :)

amalthea, it is such a coincidence that you asked this question because I have a similar one I wanted some input on. My husband and I are considering having another child, we have always wanted a large family and now that we both are in our mid thirties we know time is running out so if we want 1 more now is the time. I mentioned this to my psychiatrist and she said that would be great, and zoloft is perfectly safe to take during pregnancy. It is the one she prescribes to pregnant and nursing mothers who are suffering from depression and GAD. When I went in for my GYN appointment recently, he said that he would want me to stop taking the zoloft before I became pregnant and try to remain off of it for at least the first trimester. I have been in remission with my panic for awhile, I have days where it bothers me somewhat , but I have learned and am still learning so many tools to cope that I'm able to get thru those days without much problem. So I decided today to cut my zoloft dosage back from 100mgs to 50mgs. Just wanted some advice and to see what others think about this. I played around with my meds dosage in the past and had a relaspe but that was before I had gone thru therapy and I had been depending on meds alone to solve my problem. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi there, At the time I got pregnant, I was housebound and things weren't good. Once I was pregnant, I felt absolutely wonderful, it was some of the greatest days I had ever had. Some doctors think that nature has a way of helping us through that and were not at all surprised when I went into remission on both my pregnancies. I agree with Nurseboy...the comment was absolutely inappropriate. Maybe she was trying to be "nice" but I don't know ANYONE who's life/health is perfect when considering having a child. Seek out a specialist, get a second opinion. My advice for what it's worth...don't base your decision on one person's personal (not professional) opinion. Good luck, Danielle

Thanks for the encouragement; I appreciate it! As for my gp, well...I knew her on a social basis somewhat as well before I started going to her as a patient, so granted, she probably feels free to insert a little motherly advice in there. I asked her honest opinion "if she were in my shoes", and she mentioned more about how my reaction to stress was the concern; I think she would be less concerned if I already had given birth before, but since this would be my first child, she had some concerns about becoming a new mother in this stage of my recovery. My father is of that opinion as well, so I don`t know; he tends to play "devil`s advocate" to me, so her intention could have been the same; then again, maybe not. My psyc I do agree that the specifics of anxiety disorder is not her speciality; she was upfront about that at the beginning and referred me to a clinical psychologist when she first diagnosed me. She was very helpful and professional with me when I was dealing with the early stages of panic and didn`t know what the heck was the matter with me. As for medical care where I live in Japan*, it is covered by national health care, works on a system of referrals, and doctors are in such a demand that it`s difficult to get a regular appointment, let alone a more lengthy session. (From what I`ve read from another post, it resembles Canada in many ways.)I`ve been considering finding an ob/gyn to get my yearly exam done, anyway (the gp doesn`t perform that exam), so this probably is on the list of priorities. Thanks for reminding me. I think specific treatments for anxiety disorder are just beginning to catch on here and to be talked about among the general public, thus more doctors who are probably are more knowledgeable about the current trends in prescription drugs than the specifics of other methods of treatment or patients` longterm experiences at this stage. *=(I live in an area comprable in many ways to my home town in the States--a city which is surrounded by smaller farming communities, where the freeways between two major urban areas run through.) Having said all that...I want to have a baby!!!! We are a couple years settled into our marriage, both in our early 30`s, and both want children. Anyway...maybe that explains my situatio

As a registered pediatric nurse and a sufferer of panic and ocd, i say your gp is an idiot and very inappropriate and uneducated in anxiety disorders...and YOU GO GIRL!!!! Live your life...that is how WE BEAT THIS ...by living and by not letting this **** get in our way of what we want to do in OUR life. I always worry that my kid will suffer panic or ocd but that IS life. All the kids at work that i take care of with bad hearts and cancer and abuse...they are living and people love them. You will love your child and that is the best thing that you will ever do for him! many meds cross the placenta into the child but MANY DON'T..ask an OB doctor and you tske care!

Amalthea, That would truly be a decision both you and your husband should decide together. Personally, I think your GP was wrong in stating what they did say- as I have no less heard numerous, and have met no less than 3 personally who have become pregnant, and their panic went into remission. Research this, you will find alot of evidence of this happening, Im truly surprised your general doctor is not more knowledge about the disorder. Of course anyone would try for the optimal pregnancy to be med free, however did you mean 4mg twice daily a total of 8mg? Or .25mg twice daily, I havent heard of .4mg. But your pysch is right in stating med can be adjusted, look at all the women who develop hypertension, anemia during pregnancy,etc that need to be medicated, that was otherwise med free to begin with. Nobody can state that a clean bill of health will guarantee a risk free pregnancy of anything. The bottom line- you are taking the right direction in discontinuning medication, but at a cost to ensure your not making your attacks worse, and also that it is a decision with your husband and OB/GYN truthfully. Trish

I am getting some mixed messages on this, so I just wanted to ask around: Do you think having an anxiety disorder would interfere with having a healthy pregnancy or being able to care for a baby? Here`s some of what I have been hearing: My family doctor has told me that if it was her, she would feel sorry for the baby, so it`s best to wait until "you`re better". The somatic psych. I`m seeing says that medication can be transfered to the infant, but treatment can be adapted to the mother`s situation at any stage of pregnancy. One of my aunts says a baby would do me good. My mother also had positive things to say, and says that there is no such thing as a "perfect time" to have a baby. My father thinks differently, particularly after having seen my mother struggle through post-partum as a new mother. No one is pushing me either way; they just told me their honest opinions. I am 31, and have been married for a couple of years now. My husband says that when I`m completely off the medication, he would feel more comfortable considering it, but would be all for it otherwise. (Right now, it`s .4 mg of alprozam 2 times a day...I`ve been off of Luvox since the New Year; I was taking it in tandem with alprozam for over a year.) I would appreciate any advice--thanks!