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Taking Clonazepam, Want To Conceive. Can It Be Taken During Pregnancy Safely?
Question: Hi, my name is XXXXXXX and I am taking Clonazepam 0.5mg as needed but general take it once in the morning. I want to become pregnant but have concerns about what the drug may do to the fetus. I have tried antidepressants in the past and they have never seem to help with how severe my anxiety is. I have also tried changing to some class B drugs such as Buspar, and tried a class B pregnancy, I feel like every doctor has been giving me different advise.
Brief Answer:
Beacuse there are no conclusive findings yet
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXXX and thank you so much for this query.
I am so happy to see a to be mother do so much research to make sure she gets all in place to stay clear of preventable causes of fetal abnormalities. Congrats and hope we help you achieve this goal.
I perfectly understand your concern about getting different opinions from different doctors. Truth be told, there are no studies/data that clearly states what the consequences of clonazepam use during human pregnancy are. All the information as of now is an extrapolation of what has been noticed with sister drugs from the same class.Some people have made comments like it is less severe at causing malformations compared to others, but these are not well controlled studies that one can based major decisions like these on.
As of now, the FDA has classified this drug as category D not because of any direct evidence but because of the other observations. This drug is strongly discouraged during pregnancy and only advised in cases where the risk is clearly less than the benefits.
Using this drug is highly subjective depending on the surrounding circumstances. One of the few articles that tried to look into this found no direct consequences as a result of using this drug during pregnancy. You may take a look at WWW.WWWW.WW
Hope this sheds more light on this very gray area. If you want a firm doctor's recommendation as of now, an honest doctor wouldn't. That decision boils down to you. You should make the informed decision after having received a lot this information that we have provided and you must have read on the internet and assume responsibility. I wish you well.
Please, feel free to ask follow up questions if any clarifications are needed.
Dr. Ditah, MD
Beacuse there are no conclusive findings yet
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXXX and thank you so much for this query.
I am so happy to see a to be mother do so much research to make sure she gets all in place to stay clear of preventable causes of fetal abnormalities. Congrats and hope we help you achieve this goal.
I perfectly understand your concern about getting different opinions from different doctors. Truth be told, there are no studies/data that clearly states what the consequences of clonazepam use during human pregnancy are. All the information as of now is an extrapolation of what has been noticed with sister drugs from the same class.Some people have made comments like it is less severe at causing malformations compared to others, but these are not well controlled studies that one can based major decisions like these on.
As of now, the FDA has classified this drug as category D not because of any direct evidence but because of the other observations. This drug is strongly discouraged during pregnancy and only advised in cases where the risk is clearly less than the benefits.
Using this drug is highly subjective depending on the surrounding circumstances. One of the few articles that tried to look into this found no direct consequences as a result of using this drug during pregnancy. You may take a look at WWW.WWWW.WW
Hope this sheds more light on this very gray area. If you want a firm doctor's recommendation as of now, an honest doctor wouldn't. That decision boils down to you. You should make the informed decision after having received a lot this information that we have provided and you must have read on the internet and assume responsibility. I wish you well.
Please, feel free to ask follow up questions if any clarifications are needed.
Dr. Ditah, MD
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Can you tell me if you would personally prescribe it to a pregnant women if it helped her the best.
Also are there any risks of extreme anxiety attacks to a fetus.
Also are there any risks of extreme anxiety attacks to a fetus.
Brief Answer:
Yes
Detailed Answer:
Hi and thanks for the follow up.
If my patient is pregnant and presents with extreme anxiety that can only be remedied by clonazepam, be rest assured that she would receive the prescription. The life and health of the mother at anytime takes precedence over any other concerns during pregnancy. It is a little different in your case because you are still anticipating to get pregnant.
Risk never means for sure it is going to happen. Even without risk factors, there is no guarantee what the outcome would be like because there are so many different things that we have no clue to and simply don't ever try addressing them.
The risk of severe anxiety in fetus is rated from mild to moderate if it does occurs. However, it is not a constant observation and absent in a greater proportion of patients who use this drug during pregnancy.
Unfortunately, we have not had great experience with this drug and prefer being cautious while we hope to get to understand more about this medication and pregnancy.
I hope this helps and provide guidance. Feel free to keep the conversation going if more clarifications are needed. I wish you the best and hope you get a definite solution on how to manage both the anxiety and pregnancy without the constant worry of the possible complications.
Dr. Ditah, MD
Yes
Detailed Answer:
Hi and thanks for the follow up.
If my patient is pregnant and presents with extreme anxiety that can only be remedied by clonazepam, be rest assured that she would receive the prescription. The life and health of the mother at anytime takes precedence over any other concerns during pregnancy. It is a little different in your case because you are still anticipating to get pregnant.
Risk never means for sure it is going to happen. Even without risk factors, there is no guarantee what the outcome would be like because there are so many different things that we have no clue to and simply don't ever try addressing them.
The risk of severe anxiety in fetus is rated from mild to moderate if it does occurs. However, it is not a constant observation and absent in a greater proportion of patients who use this drug during pregnancy.
Unfortunately, we have not had great experience with this drug and prefer being cautious while we hope to get to understand more about this medication and pregnancy.
I hope this helps and provide guidance. Feel free to keep the conversation going if more clarifications are needed. I wish you the best and hope you get a definite solution on how to manage both the anxiety and pregnancy without the constant worry of the possible complications.
Dr. Ditah, MD
Note: For more detailed guidance, please consult an Internal Medicine Specialist, with your latest reports. Click here..
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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