Anencephaly is a neural tube defect found at birth where a large part of the babys skull and brain are missing. A number of risk factors have been identified on why some women give birth to babies with this condition including the use of the Paxil, an antidepressant. When one is pregnant and diagnosed with major depression, she is usually given an antidepressant medication to manage the condition. However, this might also mean that she might risk her pregnancy and her baby might develop complications such as birth defects. With this, she should watch out for side effects or talk to her physician about this. If a woman just found out that shes expecting a child, she should however, not stop taking the medication immediately as
abrupt discontinuation of Paxil can cause withdrawal syndrome.
What is Paxil?
Paxil, with the generic Paroxetine, belongs to the SSRI drug classification of antidepressants. The FDA has released a warning regarding its use on pregnant women as it has been linked with the occurrence of birth defects. This medication was also reclassified from Pregnancy Category C to Category D. Medications under Category have shown significant risks for the growing fetus in studies done to pregnant women but the benefits may still outweigh the risks so the physician must carefully weigh down the options before prescribing the drug. Anencephaly was one of the reported birth defects for this medication.
Some Facts on Anencephaly
Anencephaly is one of the most common neural birth defects which occur in 1 of every 10,000 births. This happens when there is a failure on the closing of the babys upper neural tube. A child with anencephaly has no skull and some parts of the brain such as the cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum are missing. Facial deformities are also noted and heart defects may also be present with the condition. Anencephaly has no current treatment but you can ask your doctor for palliative measures. This is a very serious condition and prognosis is usually not good as death results a few days after birth. There are no known causes for the said condition but low levels of folate and toxins like medications have been considered as causes. This condition has been mentioned in one study as a Paxil birth defect which prompted the FDA and GlaxoSmithKline, Paxils manufacturer, to release a warning on using the drug during pregnancy.
