Deciding to have a baby (or another one) is a big step for anyone.
Is it safe to be on those medications during yourpregnancy?
Is it safe tostoptaking them?
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The answers arent always clear-cut, so talking to your doctor is essential.
Heres a primer that may offer some insight before your appointment.
First, lets recap why antipsychotics are sometimes used to treat conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Psychosisis a state of becoming detached from reality.
This can happen with certain mental health conditions, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Schizophrenia can often cause a difficulty interpreting reality, according to theMayo Clinic.
(Or shorter than that if the symptoms are severe enough to warrant hospitalization.)
And someone experiencing a mixed mood episode would have persistent symptoms of mania and depression at the same time.
Whenever a persons depressive or manic mood episodes get severe,they may experience psychosis.
Antipsychotics are designed to help with the detachment from reality that illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can cause.
Antipsychotics can be broken into two groups: typical (first-generation) and atypical (second-generation).
Research shows that antipsychotics may make conception more difficult.
If this happens to you, your body may not release eggs for potential fertilization, Alan explains.
Translation: Simply taking antipsychotics or having increased prolactin levels doesnt automatically mean you will have trouble conceiving.
Even with those caveats, we know this might sound discouraging.
Some research has indicated that antipsychotics can indeed contribute to birth defects, according to theNIMH.
(Especially in the first trimester, which is whenmany important organs and structures form.)
Its ultimately hard to tease out how much of an effect antipsychotics may have in regards to congenital defects.
But researchers are still looking into how other antipsychotics might impact pregnancy.
The only possible exception was the atypical antipsychoticrisperidone, for which study authors found a small increased risk.
Again, the medical consensus is not that all antipsychotics are contraindicated during pregnancy.
Its that sometimes the benefits of taking antipsychotics during pregnancy might outweigh the risks and vice versa.
That needs to be the deciding factor.
you could only know where you fall if you talk to your doctor.
Same goes for schizophrenia.
