When my alarm sounds at 6:30, I roll my 32-week pregnant body onto its side and use my arms to push myself up to a sitting position, as the experts recommend, so that I don’t overly strain my core muscles. I plod down the stairs, gripping the rail to lighten my steps so as not to wake my two toddlers. The following 30-45 minutes of alone time are a treasured commodity.
After letting the dog out and feeding him (because even with the kids asleep, I still have another creature’s needs to consider before my own), I settle into my desk chair with my coffee, water and toast. I glance at the calendar ― just two more weeks until my mom flies in town to help with the kids. Changing and lifting my 2.5-year-old and 15-month-old had begun to feel like an Olympic sport with the 40 pounds of extra weight I’d been carrying.
Next to my calendar hangs the ultrasound photos from my most recent scan. I say a silent prayer that my husband will get home from deployment before baby No. 3 makes his debut.
And then, I pop one of my precious pink pills into my mouth ― my SSRI, which has been part of my morning routine for the last nine years, and I brace myself for the long day ahead.
This story is part of HuffPost’s commitment to fearlessly covering the Trump administration. You can support our work and protect the free press by contributing to our newsroom.
Before heading back upstairs to get the kids, my heart skips a beat when I learn of the Food and Drug Administration’s recent panel on antidepressant use during pregnancy.
It will come as no surprise to mothers that perinatal women experience high rates of mental health disorders. In fact, medical organizations like the AHA, APA, ACOG, and NCRP agree that maternal mental health disorders ― including depression, anxiety, OCD and psychosis ― are the leading cause of complications during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, affecting one in five women.
But these facts were sorely overlooked during the FDA panel’s discussion on SSRI use during pregnancy. With a known antidepressant conspiracist like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. overseeing the FDA, the misrepresentation of facts is par for the course.
The panel, made up of primarily academic professors and only one practitioner who actively treats pregnant patients, exaggerated the risks of antidepressants to the fetus while diminishing the risks of untreated depression and anxiety to mother and child. Several panelists mentioned a link between…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Women…