Is Taking Desipramine During Pregnancy Safe? -- An Overview
For women who are pregnant,
desipramine hydrochloride (
Norpramin®) may not be safe. This is based on animal studies that looked at the effects of using desipramine during pregnancy and a few reports of birth defects in humans.
Desipramine and Pregnancy Risk
The U.
S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) uses a pregnancy category system to classify the possible risks to a fetus when a specific medicine is taken during pregnancy. However, the FDA has not given desipramine a pregnancy risk classification, most likely because there is very little information about using desipramine during pregnancy. However, other sources have suggested that the risk to the fetus due to desipramine is low. There have been a few reports of
desipramine withdrawal effects in newborns, such as sweating, weight loss, blue skin, and a fast heart rate.
Most healthcare providers recommend using newer
antidepressants (which have been more thoroughly studied in pregnancy) instead of desipramine. However, your healthcare provider may recommend that you take desipramine during pregnancy if the benefits to you and the fetus outweigh the risks to the fetus. In fact, recent studies have suggested that not treating
depression in the mother may actually be more harmful to a baby than exposure to antidepressants.
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