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Date Posted: 12:02:05 04/10/03 Thu
Author: Pauline
Subject: About anti-depression drugs and breastfeeding....
In reply to: ginger 's message, "Anyone know if you can take Paxil while breastfeeding?" on 09:50:50 04/10/03 Thu

First of all, all drugs are approved by the FDA before they can be sold in the US, so you don't have to worry about that. That's one reason that drugs are actually safer than herbal supplements, which are NOT regulated. Anyone, Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac -- they're all FDA-approved.

However, there is a difference between what they're officially approved for (which needs the FDA okay) and where they're actually safe. None of the anti-depressants are actually approved for use by nursing mothers. However, MOST drugs are NOT FDA-approved for use by nursing mothers but some of them could in fact be perfectly safe. The problem is that, to get FDA approval to say that the drug is safe for nursing mothers, the company has to do a clinical trial to prove it and then get the FDA approval. Well, what nursing mother is willing to risk that it might NOT be safe? So, it's basically impossible for a company to run a trial because where would they get these patients?

Once a drug is approved for sale, however, physicians can use it however they like. Some physicians are more conservative than others. So, over time, enough physicians have prescribed a drug for their nursing patients that there's a body of evidence showing that it is or isn't safe. The newer a drug is, the less of this evidence there is. Physicians can then publish their results in medical journals. So, over time, your individual physician will review the information available in medical journals to determine what the risk is for you.

From what I can tell, there is now enough evidence that Paxil is pretty safe for breastfeeding mothers. But it is always important for a physician to make that determination for an individual patient because it depends on a patient's history, lifestyle, overall health, other medications, etc. etc. There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to drugs.

Pauline

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  • Read Pauline's post and talk to your Dr. (m) -- chattyf, 16:40:09 04/10/03 Thu
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