doctor refused to prescribe me zoloft

[JamieB]

SO my doctor refused to prescribe me any meds at all until I weaned my baby. I was leaning toward treating this naturally anyway, because I feel I have a very mild case of PPD and also because I was concerned about all the side effects of the meds. The only symptom I really have in losing my temper. I've read that depression can come out as anger sometimes so i'm assuming that's what this sis.

I don't have another doctor I can see. Not even a walk in clinic in town. I guess I will try natural remedies for now and go back for meds after my 11 month old is weaned, or in a bit and I can lie and say I weaned him

I did tell my doctor that I wasn't very happy and that this is why people don't get help. They make it so hard sometimes.

[Amatullah0]

[K-Mom3]

That's rotten. Why does this doctor think he knows better than so many others in the industry? I like to hear that doctors are being judicious about prescriptions but when they are so clueless about breastfeeding?

Anyway, I recommend the book The Mood Cure and I recommend light therapy--do it with natural light whenever you can.

[kdaisy]

Personally, I would lie to my dr. and say I had weaned.

I wish I had started zoloft sooner with my first. I started it when he was 8 months and I think it literally saved my life (that and therapy). He still nurses and I am still taking it. I also took it through my next pregnancy, and am nursing her as well.

My drs. and midwives never told me to wean and encouraged me to take it during pregnancy.

[shelbean91]

Originally Posted by kdaisy

Personally, I would lie to my dr. and say I had weaned.

I wish I had started zoloft sooner with my first. I started it when he was 8 months and I think it literally saved my life (that and therapy). He still nurses and I am still taking it. I also took it through my next pregnancy, and am nursing her as well.

My drs. and midwives never told me to wean and encouraged me to take it during pregnancy.

Yep! I needed a med (don't remember which one) and the doc wouldn't prescribe it until I weaned. My ds was 3ish mos at the time and I don't wean until well past a year. I called back 2-3 weeks later, said I weaned - they gave me the rx. Stupid games to play, but we do what we ahve to. If you've researched the med and decide the benefits outweigh any risks - do what you have to do.

[JessicaS]

What was their reasoning for this?

Zoloft is supposed to be safe for breastfeeding, do they feel they know more than everyone else?

Can you get Thomas Hale's book from the library and show it to him?

It is really unfortunate you do not have other choices for health care providers, is this because of the size of your town or your insurance being difficult? If your insurance is difficult I would complain to them about your dr not being very helpful or knowledgeable

[mom0810]

A new doctor may be in order, if this one does not understand the latest medical information that zoloft is indeed VERY safe while nursing. It's way safer than a baby having a depressed mother, that's for sure.

Please ask for a referral to a psychiatrist who will be better able to help you with this.

[JamieB]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I just want to say that I am feeling A LOT better. I think just deciding that I needed help made things a lot better

Originally Posted by K-Mom3

That's rotten. Why does this doctor think he knows better than so many others in the industry? I like to hear that doctors are being judicious about prescriptions but when they are so clueless about breastfeeding?

Anyway, I recommend the book The Mood Cure and I recommend light therapy--do it with natural light whenever you can.

I just got The Mood Cure today. Hopefully it will help.

Originally Posted by kdaisy

Personally, I would lie to my dr. and say I had weaned.

I wish I had started zoloft sooner with my first. I started it when he was 8 months and I think it literally saved my life (that and therapy). He still nurses and I am still taking it. I also took it through my next pregnancy, and am nursing her as well.

My drs. and midwives never told me to wean and encouraged me to take it during pregnancy.

I would definitely do this if I still felt as bad as I did when I first went in. I am realy feeling alot better now and worry about having to bring my son in and lying about still nursing him. I wish I had started something when my older DS was born too

Originally Posted by abimommy

What was their reasoning for this?

Zoloft is supposed to be safe for breastfeeding, do they feel they know more than everyone else?

Can you get Thomas Hale's book from the library and show it to him?

It is really unfortunate you do not have other choices for health care providers, is this because of the size of your town or your insurance being difficult? If your insurance is difficult I would complain to them about your dr not being very helpful or knowledgeable

There are no studies showing it is safe, the CPS book says not to prescribe ti nursing mothers, and he doesn't want to be the ony doctor doing it. Those were his reasons. Oh and my DS already got the colostrum. That's the important part you know I think I wil get that book and print out some info from Dr. Newman. I had decided to let it go and I think I *just* decided to raise a stink about this. This is why people have a hard time asking for help. Can you even believe he told me he would look into things and make a decision and then call me and I never heard from him? That was three weeks ago!

I can't get another doctor because they keep leaving town. We have two doctors here for a population of six thousand, not including all the outlying communities. We live in rural Northern Ontario.

Originally Posted by mom0810

A new doctor may be in order, if this one does not understand the latest medical information that zoloft is indeed VERY safe while nursing. It's way safer than a baby having a depressed mother, that's for sure.

Please ask for a referral to a psychiatrist who will be better able to help you with this.

I wish I could get a new doctor. There are none. And no psychiatrist either. I would have to travel for that which I will in the future, when my babe is a little older.

[JessicaS]

Does your Dr not read medical journals? Wouldn't that interfere with his work?




here is a link from Jack Newman

http://www.drjacknewman.com/help/Bre...edications.asp

[mom2tig99Nroo03]

sorry you have a sucky dr. my ob called in zoloft for me without even having to go in after she talked to me on the phone for a couple minutes.

[SleeplessMommy]

One thing to say is "my pediatrician is totally OK with this." In theory, it is the ped's "domain" to decide if the baby will be OK with 2nd hand zoloft.

I hope you can find a friendly midwife or other medical provider locally.

[smeep]

Do you have a copy of Hale's book, or is there a copy you can borrow from someone? I would take it in and show it to him and let him know about Hale's work so he can do some actual research instead of assuming it's safer to not breastfeed than nurse on meds.

[smeep]

Originally Posted by JamieB

There are no studies showing it is safe, the CPS book says not to prescribe ti nursing mothers, and he doesn't want to be the ony doctor doing it. Those were his reasons. Oh and my DS already got the colostrum. That's the important part you know I think I wil get that book and print out some info from Dr. Newman. I had decided to let it go and I think I *just* decided to raise a stink about this. This is why people have a hard time asking for help. Can you even believe he told me he would look into things and make a decision and then call me and I never heard from him? That was three weeks ago!

I would also let him know that there are SERIOUS risks to not breastfeeding, and that it's not just the colostrum, meaning there are risks to not nursing for the first 2 years of life. You can easily find a list of "benefits" and switch it around (so instead of bf "reducing" cancer, NOT bf "increases" cancer, which is really how they should ALL be worded, but no one wants to "offend" anyone and, besides, formula is the norm...right???...gah!).

The question for each med is, "Do the risks of breastfeeding on the med outweigh the risks of not breastfeeding?" Most often the answer is a big fat NO! The risks of not breastfeeding FAR more often outweigh the risks of breastfeeding on a med. And the older your infant, the fewer risks (if any) of nursing on the med.

[JamieB]

Originally Posted by SleeplessMommy

One thing to say is "my pediatrician is totally OK with this." In theory, it is the ped's "domain" to decide if the baby will be OK with 2nd hand zoloft.

I hope you can find a friendly midwife or other medical provider locally.

I don't have a pediatrician and midwives here don't handle this type of thing.

Originally Posted by smeep

Do you have a copy of Hale's book, or is there a copy you can borrow from someone? I would take it in and show it to him and let him know about Hale's work so he can do some actual research instead of assuming it's safer to not breastfeed than nurse on meds.

I am going to try to get this from the library. Gonna make a date of it with my boys soon

Originally Posted by smeep

I would also let him know that there are SERIOUS risks to not breastfeeding, and that it's not just the colostrum, meaning there are risks to not nursing for the first 2 years of life. You can easily find a list of "benefits" and switch it around (so instead of bf "reducing" cancer, NOT bf "increases" cancer, which is really how they should ALL be worded, but no one wants to "offend" anyone and, besides, formula is the norm...right???...gah!).

The question for each med is, "Do the risks of breastfeeding on the med outweigh the risks of not breastfeeding?" Most often the answer is a big fat NO! The risks of not breastfeeding FAR more often outweigh the risks of breastfeeding on a med. And the older your infant, the fewer risks (if any) of nursing on the med.

I tried to tell him all this and he wouldn't listen to me at all

[harli]

I've had a similar problem with my GP. He didn't want to prescribe me antibiotics for a case of mastitis while I was BF'ing because it was 'just too risky for the baby' and he refused to treat me. (yeah didn't happen)

One thing that really bothers me that your doc told you is that there are no known health benefits past 1 to the BF'ed baby. Why is it that doc's always seem to forget about the benefits to the Mom? Maybe he needs to be reminded of those.

When I told my Lactation Consultant about my GP not ordering antibiotics for my incredibly bad case of Mastitis. She told me that one of the big jobs that LC's do is to consult with doc's on which drugs are safe for women to take while BF'ing. Maybe you can talk with an LC and have your doc talk to her?

I really hope you get some help. GL

[delfin]

im going to give another point of view and say that maybe you can try other things before medication, since those are going to mellow the symptoms without addressing the cause. I know that sometimes the symptoms are serious enough that is necessary to treat them first in order to go for the deeper issues.
I trained as a post partum doula, but here its more of a therapyst, with an author called Laura Gutman. Her work explains how motherhood is a breaking point in our life and this allows our shadow aspects to manifest(shadow as explained by CG Jung)
She wrote several books on this subject and im sure one at least is edited in english, "Maternity: coming face to face with your own shadow". There is a website where there are articles and you can have skype consultations as well. www.crianza.com.ar.
She is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
good luck!