Has anyone been on benzodiazepines throughout pregnancy?

[[Buddie]]

Hi,

I have been taking (prescribed) 1 mg Lorazepam / daily for about five years. I take it for dysautonomia and mast cell activation syndrome. For the past four years, I couldn't get off of it, due to the severity of symptoms, although I was tapering off about 1-3% at a time.

Due to my age, I am running out of time to try to conceive and start a family. Thus, my question is for anyone who has been pregnant while on benzodiazepines : How did it affect your child?

Having read about the risks benzodiazepines pose during pregnancy, I am not inclined to do it. At the same time, my body would not be able to carry a pregnancy to term, without the benzodiazepine, or alternative medications.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[[Buddie]]

You can do a search for posts on pregnancy on the boards. Here's a thread explaining how to do a Google search which is better than our search function http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=251991.0

[[Buddie]]

Thanks. I have already read some posts on here, though none mentioned someone being on benzos from start to finish of the pregnancy so I thought I'd ask.

[[Buddie]]

If it were me, I wouldn't get pregnant while taking a benzo or Z-drug or any other type of psyche drug.  Once you taper off of it, maybe then?  I'd do my research if I were you about taking benzo's during pregnancy.

[[Buddie]]

There is research on this topic, so you can check studies. But it would be prudent to a doctor about this subject, since there may be risks to the baby that you'd want to know about before getting pregnant. The baby can be born in withdrawal if the mother is taking certain kinds of medications during the pregnancy.

[[Buddie]]

I also read that it's not good to get pregnant while on benzo's.  Babies are born addicted to them and then go through hellish withdrawal.  I also read that they can have respiratory problems too.  I would never get pregnant while taking benzo's.