Your doctor wouldn't keep you on a medication if there was a chance that it could harm the baby

Yes...this is true...I should stop worrying and trust my doc...TY

Every new mum worries. I ost count of the amount of times i called my midwife asking her some of the most random questions

I was taking Effexor for nearly 3 years, and I loved it...it literally kept me sane. When I found out I was pregnant, my doctor, who is incredibly knowledgable about anti-depressants, told me I needed to drop the medication immediately. He told me (and additional research has verified this) that in the first trimester anti-depressants can cause fetal development problems. And in later pregnancy the baby can become addicted, and go through withdrawal after birth.
Please, do additional research, and maybe get a second opinion. Not all doctors are very knowledgable in regards to anti-depressants.

To jeni_m: I am a little over 6 weeks pregnant on 225mg. of Effexor. Unbelieveable! The pregnancy wasn't planned since I wanted to be off it before getting pregnant. The information my fiancee and I have found is astounding on the birth defects. Of course there are no long range neuro studies on the children born to mothers who have taken Effexor. Anyhow, my OB said right off, this is out of my realm of practice and has referred me to a high risk consult that has no experience with this. I found a Dr. in NYC that is willing to evaluate me. The FDA and CDC will not advise either way regarding possible birth defects. I am facing a serious choice and serious risks moving forward here. Its soo tough to find support regarding this issue.

To uberadtx: I know there are other anti-depressants that have been proven to be safe during early pregnancy (I think Zoloft might be one). It's just that there hasn't been enough studies done on Effexor for them to deem it safe or unsafe. Perhaps a hospitalized medication switch is something for you to look into? (That way they can play with higher doses and keep you monitored.) The withdrawal is awful, no way around that, but with my morning sickness it barely made a dent! I've heard Effexor is safer in 2nd and 3rd trimester...it's just that first bit that is so dangerous. My doctor is one of those "I don't believe anything is safe enough to take during pregnancy" doctors, which is good, I guess. Except that I'm going to have to go back on something soon, but that's a whole other story. Best of luck, whatever you decide. If it's any consolation, you only have approximately 7 weeks until 2nd trimester!

i have a question.
i was on effexor for about 6 months. stopped taking it bc we want to have a baby.
I am having really bad withdrawal symptoms from effexor, and my question is this:

does effexor withdrawl have an effect on the baby very early in the pregnancy? i am not taking effexor and stopped completely about a day before we started trying. before i stopped i was on 150mg, which i reduced to 0 within a week prior to trying.

please respond

I went through withdrawal from Effexor while still in the first trimester. It was awful for about 3 months, but my baby didn't seem to have any problems. She's now a healthy one-year-old, despite my Effexor use (was on it until 7 weeks), and a different drug that I was put on at 7 months. I even breastfed, and never noticed any problems with her. She didn't appear to go through withdrawal when I weaned her either. In fact, the only thing I noticed that affected her was that she was a little cranky when I finally came off the Advil/Tylenol combo I was on for my stitches.
Because antidepressants like Effexor stay in your system for a couple of months, there is always a chance that it could affect the baby. My experience was great, although I crashed really hard once it was completely out of my system.
Get a doctor you can completely trust, and talk about all of your questions. If you don't get answers, try another doctor. And I wouldn't have ever dropped Effexor cold-turkey if I hadn't gotten pregnant...you might want to have a doctor monitering you closely through the next few weeks...withdrawal is painful.
Good luck!