NEWS - Pregnant women warned by FDA to avoid Paxil

[Guest guest]

Pregnant Women Warned By FDA to Avoid Paxil

By Marc Kaufman and Shankar Vedantam

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, December 9, 2005; Page A03

The Food and Drug Administration warned pregnant women and their doctors

away from the antidepressant Paxil yesterday because of an increased risk of

heart defects in newborns.

With the warning, the agency for the first time placed a popular

antidepressant -- one in the same drug class as Prozac and Zoloft -- into

its second-highest category for risk of birth defects. The agency did not

say Paxil could never be used by pregnant women, but it did say the FDA " is

advising patients that this drug should usually not be taken during

pregnancy. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/08/AR2005120802118.\

html

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org