Child Exposed to Celexa "One of a Kind"

Wapato, WAStudies have shown that babies who are exposed to an SSRI prior to birth are at an increased risk of birth defects including congenital heart defects. Usually, there are certain heart problems that go along with SSRI exposure. However, what about the child who is one of a kind, who has a heart defect that has not been seen before?

"I took Celexa for the first 10 weeks of my pregnancy," Shealynn says. "I had taken it before I knew I was pregnant and I took it for a while after I found out I was pregnant. I was told that there wasn't a risk with Celexa.

"I had a normal pregnancy. Dalton was born about 4 weeks early. We didn't know anything was wrong until birth, but once he was born we knew immediately that there were problems. He had a heart murmur that the doctors described as being like a washing machine. It was extremely loud, so they knew right away that something was going on. Also, his color was not good.

"We saw a cardiologist the day after Dalton was born. The cardiologist and the tech argued about they saw on his echocardiogram, which was done when he was one day old. It turns out, Dalton is one of a kind. He has a non-functioning partial valve off the aorta. The tech saw this on the echocardiogram, but the doctors didn't confirm it until Dalton was 11 months old, when he had his first surgery. He is the only child in history that has a third valve."

"Dalton was in congestive heart failure for the first 11 months of his life. They didn't do surgery immediately, but they watched him closely. We saw the doctor once a week for almost the first year of Dalton's life."

Shealynn says Dalton has been diagnosed with a long list of heart problems. "He has an unusual double outlet right ventricular with accessory aortic valve. He has undergone operative repair of his various defects, which included relief of aortic stenosis, patch augmentation of the pulmonic valve stenosis and closure of the ventricular septal defect. He also had oversewing of an accessory aortic valve. There is a grade 3 harsh systolic ejection-type murmur at the right upper sternal border and there is a grade 2 long diastolic murmur heard along the left sternal border."

After doctors performed Dalton's first surgery, they thought everything was fine. However, Dalton had a blockage above and below his valve, so surgery was required in June 2007, [just prior to his fourth birthday] to take the valve out. Dalton requires at least 2 and possibly 3 more surgeries on his heart.

The good news for Dalton is that he has so far, aside from his heart complications, been able to live a fairly normal life. Shealynn says that developmentally, he is right where he should be. Although he was a little delayed before his first surgery, following that surgery he progressed well and has caught up with his peers. He also has no restrictions—doctors want Dalton to live as normal a life as possible, especially so that his parents can learn to recognize when something is not right with Dalton. To that end, Dalton is a fairly active child.

Shealynn says she asked a cardiologist if Celexa could have caused Dalton's heart problems after she saw something about it on television. "He said, 'It could be Celexa.' I have six kids and he's the only one with any kinds of problems, and we don't have a history of these problems."

Doctors are currently hoping that his most recent surgery can hold him off from further surgeries until he is an adolescent. If that happens, then chances are he will only need 2 further surgeries. However, if his next surgery is required before Dalton hits adolescence, he will likely undergo at least 3 more surgeries. That's a lot of heart surgeries for anyone to go through, let alone a child.