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Father Wonders if Paxil caused Two Holes in Daughter's Heart

. By
Lebanon, INMark's daughter was born with two holes in her heart. Although his wife was not taking Paxil during her pregnancy, he was. He wonders if the heart defects, which match the Paxil-related birth defects, may be related to his use of the antidepressant. He can find no other plausible explanation.

Paxil VictimMark has depression, and his doctor prescribed the selective serotonin receptor inhibitor (SSRI) Paxil, also called paroxetine, in the hope that it would help. Mark had been taking the drug for about 3 months when his wife became pregnant. "I started taking Paxil around April 2005, and our daughter was conceived in August," Mark said.
The pregnancy appeared to be going smoothly until an ultrasound showed that the fetus had a pinched aorta. The doctors didn't seem unduly alarmed however they did continue to monitor the situation. As the pregnancy continued and the doctors monitored the baby's aorta, another defect showed up. She had developed 2 holes in her heart.

While Mark understands that so far doctors believe that foetuses are exposed to Paxil through the mother, he can't help wondering if Paxil could be transmitted through the sperm as well. "I've been told it has to be the mother taking it because it's in the blood stream," he said." But if it's in the sperm –surely it could have some effect? It seems reasonable to me. A possible connection didn't even enter my mind until I saw the ads on TV. That was about 6 months after my daughter was born. Neither my wife nor I have any personal or family history of genetic abnormalities, nor anything to indicate that there could be problems that would lead to birth defects."

Mark saw the ads on TV in the fall of in 2006. In December 2005 the first public warnings emerged from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about the potential for serious heart defects in babies born to women taking Paxil during their pregnancies.

The warning was based on data from 2 studies which showed a 1.5 to 2 times increased risk of giving birth to a child with a heart defect compared with pregnant women not taking the anti-depressant. In addition to the warning, the FDA actually placed Paxil in its second highest category for risk of birth defects, advising patients that "this drug should usually not be taken during pregnancy."

In a later warning, the FDA said that Paxil "should generally not be initiated in women who are in their first trimester of pregnancy or in women who plan to become pregnant in the near future."

At this point Paxil had been on the market for 13 years – it was approved as an antidepressant in 1993. Paxil is among most heavily prescribed antidepressants on the market.

Not surprisingly, Mark has stopped taking Paxil, something he didn't find easy. "Coming off Paxil felt like I had the flu for 2 weeks. I felt terrible, it scared me. And it makes me think twice about taking any medication because it make take years before any potential side effects or problems are discovered with any drug – not just Paxil – and by then it's too late. " Certainly it's too late for his daughter.

READ ABOUT SSRI BIRTH DEFECTS LAWSUITS

READER COMMENTS

Posted by

on
This article is fake bull shit

Posted by

on
My partner has been taking g this drug for almost a year our first pregnancy ended in missed miscarage with heart failure. Now currently 24 weeks pregnant and baby has heart defects heart on wrong side of body and other underlying problem. We now have the difficult choice of what to do for the best. A really wish the warning signs for these tablets are made aware of, as the fathers sperm can carry this medication. Heart broken is not the word.

Posted by

on
My hubby and I had a perfectly healthy baby while my husband was on Paxil.

Posted by

on
So sad.

Posted by

on
My husband has been on Paxil for several years now. Last month we had a second miscarriage. I had brought this up to my OB and she said there are really no studies done that would point to Paxil being harmful. After reading all of this and many posts online, no way I believe that! I had no problems conceiving or carrying my son and now I can't carry even carry past 6 weeks??? Something is definitely wrong. And reading the withdrawal symptoms of this drug, how is one supposed to get through that and carry on a normal life?? This is all just so frustrating!

Posted by

on
I believe I was on Paxil while my then wife and I were trying/planning on having our second child. Our son was born a "blue bably" for starters and once he entered hiw teens he started showing signs of anxiety, depression and altered thinking. Looking back there are many times when he seemed to have difficulty focusing on anything; distracted easily. Without going into a long story of examples my question is, is there any connection between a father being on Paxil while empregnating his wife and the mental wellness or development of the fetal brain?

Posted by

on
I as well took Zoloft and my wife did not. Our daughter was born with a hole in her heart and had cranialsytosis (cranial soft spots fused together ). She had to have her scull removed twice and re-constructed. She is now 16yrs. old and is very healthy thankfully, but I am with you guys on this. It can be transmitted by the father.

Posted by

on
Me and my boyfriend have just recently found out from our ultrasound that our baby has a spot on his heart which the doctors said was called" Echogenic intraventricular focus (EIF) — a bright spot on the baby’s heart, which could come from calcium deposits." We both have no medical history on our sides or in our family histories about this condition but my boyfriend just started taking Paxil back in November last year (right before we conceived). We heard about the side effects that Paxil could have on a fetus and researched it so we decided to wait a little longer on trying to have a baby but we was already pregnant (not knowing.) But after looking back and when my boyfriend started his Paxil medication and the timeframe we got pregnant we strongly believe that Paxil is the cause of my babys EIF. Which I am now scheduled to see my doctor more often and have more ultrasounds done to monitor my son's heart. All of this has been a great concern and worry for us both. And I am hoping that when my son is born that he will be a healthy baby boy. I do have a question though..... My boyfriend is no longer on Paxcel but has switched to a different anxiety medication (but I dont remember the name of it) but if he is still taking the anxiety medication...Is that harmful to the unborn fetus in any way? Sorry this may seem like a silly question but I was just curious??

Posted by

on
I was on paxil for short while but was on it when my son was conceived and showing no problems when born but at 1 week old went code blue in hospital. Anyway Coarctation of the aorta. Hole in the heart 2 heart surgeries in first 6 weeks of life and then 6 weeks in ICU. Then at a year a shunt in His brain. I have 3 other kids no problems paxil surely affects sperm.

Posted by

on
My son was born 14 months ago with multiple abnormalities (ventriculomegaly, everted feet, 11 ribs, IUGR, mild kidney and heart defects, other brain malformations) and is extremely developmentally delayed today. The reason reading this frustrates me so much is that I tried to come off of the Paxil that I had been taking for years before my wife and I tried to get pregnant. I was off for 8 months, but started getting anxious and depressed and almost ended up checked into a mental health facility. When I told every Dr who asked why I had stopped taking the Paxil in the first place they reassured me that me taking Paxil will not cause any birth defects if we were to get pregnant. I went back on 40 mg of Paxil and around one year later my wife was pregnant... My son has undergone every genetic test the dozen or so specialists could think of that we've seen and we still have not found a reason for his health issues. To say that I am upset to now learn that my taking Paxil could be the reason is a huge understatement.

Posted by

on
I was not taking Paxil but my husband was when I conceived our son. Our son has extreme mental problems when my other children do not. I can't help but wonder if our sons mental problems and my husbands use of Paxil are not connected. We were blessed that our son does not have heart problems but the mental problems are more than bad enough. I would like to know if there has been any research about the problems children have after a father takes Paxil.

Posted by

on
My son was born with a coarctation of the aorta, pulmonary hypertension, and pulmonary interstitial glycogenosis (extremely rare). Initially, in utero, they thought the ultrasound showed hypoplastic left ventricle, then they thought it was double outlet right ventricle, when he was born it was neither. I have 3 boys and the only one that had problems at birth was conceived while I was using lexapro/Paxil. I have asked several physicians about the chances of this causing his defects but, always get the same answer "not likely". I have always thought this could have been the cause of his issues. I am sure it would be less likely but, has there been adequate testing for this scenario? I bet the answer is no. My son is luckily doing exceptional these days but he has plenty of battle scars from multiple thoracotomies and chest tubes. He also has 3 ribs which have fused on his left side caused by the surgeries.

Posted by

on
I have been on effexor xr since 2003, my wife and I lost our son on april 24th 2012. He had heart problems. Anyone with any information would be helpful...

Posted by

on
Please help I am looking for additional information and have found this post very interesting. I have three children and was also taking a SSRI (Celexa) while we were trying to conceive and throughout the first two pregnancies. My first child was diagnosed with problems with the kidneys which forced the child to be on a strong antibiotic treatment for the first six years of life and then was diagnosed with a condition in which the two ankles were fused together. My second child was diagnosed with cranialsytosis (cranial soft spots fused together )at 6months of age and was forced to have cranial reconstruction at 6 months and then 2 years. He is still having a couple of learning disabilities. If anyone else has any additional info on the father and the transfer of SSRI please forward the information.

Posted by

on
I am going through something similar. I was not taking Paxil but I was prescribed both Zoloft and Prozac together about 8 months or so before my son was conceived. About half way through the pregnancy an ultrasound found lesions on his brain but the doctors said that would probably go away, so I wasn't too worried about. I thought it would be fine since me and my wife have no family history of genetic disorders or anything similar and our daughter who was only a year and five days older was perfectly healthy also. But when our son was born they said that he had several holes in his heart as well as coartation of the aorta and several heart valve defects that his cardiologist just explained as being, "way too narrow." he was born July 8, 2010 and has been on blood pressure medication since he was about a month old. He's also had two heart surgeries already and he has to check in with his cardiologist often. His cardiologist doesn't know if he'll need a 3rd surgery yet or even if this is something that we will have to keep an eye on for the rest of his life. But I had seen an ad on tv asking not just mothers, but fathers also who had taken different ssri drugs to call. I wasn't sure if it was a mistake or not but now seeing that similar things have happened with several other fathers...I, too, think that it can travel in sperm.

Posted by

on
I, the father, had taken paxil on and off for seven or eight years. My daughter was born with hypoplastic left heart as well as several septal defects. She passed away from her birth defects at 15 months after four open heart surgeries. These drugs have made me sterile, almost no sperm and low motility, so why couldn't they be passed through sperm. It obviously make them not function properly and kills them. Someone needs to look into this as well as the mother passing it along!

Posted by

on
Doctors are legalized drug pushers. They work for the pharmaceutical companies, dispensing their products for profit. The pharmaceutical corporations are billion dollar companies and they really do not care about patients. There are many cases which prove this point. Check out the case of Dr. Olivieri, from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who tried to halt a drug study because it was killing children. Apotex became very litigatous and threatened the young doctor, informing her that she could not stop the drug testing.
Pharmaceutical representatives make the rounds of doctors offices and give out free drug samples to encourage the use of their products. All in all, drugs have incredible side effects and yes, the father's sperm can be affected as much as the mothers ovum.

Posted by

on
My husband has taken paxil for 4 years or more now, and our daughter, well the doctors said that they thought she was a female, was born with genital malformation, no kidneys and three holes in her heart. She also have some bone malformations and missing parts of her brian, also side effects from the drug paxil. I have recently had another miscarriage and we are thinking the same exact thing. has anyone heard if they have proved or disproved that it can been transmitted from the father.

Posted by

on
i am a father that took that same drug paxil .My child also has a heart condition.Do you think thats why my child had to go through 3 open heart surgeries and has 2 holes in her heart and has wolf parkinson white syndrome.scarce all over her body. Shes almost a teen ager poor thing. thanks DOC! a license to be a drug dealer.thats what them doctors have.they only care about how many people they can get hooked on pills. The more they sell the more money they make. just like a drug dealer. And them pills sure are addictive and hard to get off of. But lets put the nice quite will not hurt a fly pot smoker in prison. thank you. if any one has any info for me i would really appreciate it

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