I am 25 weeks pregnant with my second child.  I've had generalized anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder for most of my life.  I have had to be on medicine for it sometimes and sometimes I have been fine off of it for long stretches.  With my first pregnancy I didn't need medication and it was important to me to be off of it.  I wanted to do it again with this pregnancy.

I was off medicine when I found out I was pregnant, and I stayed off of it for a long while.  But each month I had some kind of obsessive, anxious episode that lasted several days.  And then I'd work through it and be okay.  Then at Thanksgiving it happened again and it didn't go away.  I got sick, (severe anxiety makes me nauseous and vomit as a response) stopped eating and wasn't sleeping well either.  Through my whole pregnancy my OB had been saying "if your anxiety gets too bad there are medicines you can take that are okay for baby."  But I was so stubborn about it.  I mean I had done it once and everything was okay.  I could do it again.  But then I got mad at myself because I wasn't doing it again.  I became like a shell of myself.  

I let this go on for 2 weeks before I finally went to talk about medicine.  My husband and I went to my doctor and I asked a bazillion questions.  She answered them all and said, "Listen, if you were my best friend, I'd tell you to take this.  If you were my sister, I'd tell you to take this.  If it were me in your situation I would take this medicine.  Your baby is okay, she's fine.  But you are not and you've got to get better."

So I started 50mg of sertraline about 2 weeks ago.  This is the same medicine and dosage I took in January when my anxiety flared up.  After about 5 days I began to feel better in January.  This time though I felt almost manic at first.  My anxiety got a little worse, or so it felt.  Now I'm about 2 weeks in, and I feel calmer but the anxious thoughts aren't going away.  It's like my body isn't responding to them as much but they are still there.  And before when I've gone on medicine they all go away.  So I'm a bit frustrated.  I want to feel normal again and I'm not.  I realize that I let it go on too far before I got help, and that could be a large part of why it's taking so long.  But I'm also afraid that this starter dose isn't strong enough to help and that I'll need more, which will make me worry about effects to the baby.

Once I started the medicine my OB suggested I see a psychiatrist so they can team manage my meds.  I have an appointment for tomorrow, and I'm going to talk to her about all this.  But I was hoping to get some reassurance from others who may have been in similar situations.  Did anyone take Zoloft during pregnancy?  How high was your dosage and was it safe for your baby?  This has been so incredibly difficult, and I just want to feel better for my baby and my son, my husband, my family, and myself.  I'm also doing therapy to help address the anxiety past the medicine.  I'm meditating, praying, everything.  I'm sorry for the long post, and would appreciate any help.  Thanks