Lexapro during Pregnancy
Depression is an extremely common mental disorder and in varying degrees can be found in every other person. Age is a not a criteria for this disorder as it is found among adolescents and middle aged people alike. During depression the individual experiences mood and behavior changes and also a loss of interest in activities that were previously enjoyable. A great plunge in the individual's self esteem and self confidence is observed. Depression can interfere with many aspects of a person's life such as sleeping habits and eating habits, regularity at school or work, relationships personal or social and the general productivity of that person. A common type of depression period occurs among women in their post pregnancy stages.
When the depression exceeds, many a people are prescribed with antidepressant medications in order to increase their quality of life. One such popular medication is lexapro which is taken by a variety of people. However, like many other antidepressant medications, lexapro and pregnancy have aroused quite a lot of issues. It has been known that lexapro and some other popular antidepressant medications have been associated with the development of major birth defects infants, which have been exposed to these drugs during pregnancy. Lexapro functions by re-establishing balance to the level of serotonin in the brain, thereby improving mood turmoil and alleviating depression. The dynamic ingredient in lexapro is escitalopram and the medicine comes in capsules and as syrup. It is an approved treatment by FDA for anxiety and major depressive disorders among adolescent and older people.
Although being approved for normal conditions, lexapro pregnancy usage has become seriously hazardous for the fetus, according to the recent research reports. Women who use Lexapro while pregnant may raise back shoulder pain their risk of giving birth to infants with major birth defects including:
- Hearts Defects
- PPHN
- Craniosynotosis
- Anal Atresia
- Limb Defects
- Neural tube birth defects
- Omphalocele
It has been proven Lexapro pregnancy usage after the twentieth week of pregnancy has six times more chance of the infant to develop Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn. According to research twelve out thousand infants under study developed PPHN right after birth as compared to general population out of which only one or two develop this disease. After this study a warning was issued by the FDA on the usage of lexapro and pregnancy. Additional research has recognized an increased risk in heart rates, unusual sleeping patterns, disrupted neurological development, and alertness problems in infants that are born by women who have continued their SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) antidepressants, such as lexapro. Also, it increases the risk of the infant to develop severe congenital heart defects, predominantly atrial septal defects and ventricular septal defects. Some of these heart defects have been known to require multiple surgeries and sometimes a complete heart transplant. In the result of all these research studies, FDA has classified Lexapro as a pregnancy category C medication, meaning that this drug may cause harm to human fetus if taken during pregnancy. If you are taking lexapro already and have become pregnant, consulting the physician is advisable before continued intake.