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What are your experiences with Bipolar and pregnancy?

I’ve had 4 pregnancies, 2 of which ended in loss and I was diagnosed Bipolar II at age 18, well before the pregnancies. I took medication through each pregnancy, but I felt the hormonal change combined with my disorder, was incredibly hard to balance, especially after the births.

I have been stable for about a year now and have lately been doing very very well with my mood. One of the barriers I still struggle with is hygiene. I was able to turn bathing into self care, but I can’t seem to brush my teeth. It’s been so long that when I went to, my toothbrush has been thrown out. I have no idea when that happened. What advice would you have for someone trying to overcome that struggle?

I will look into them. And yes, my gums are pretty sensitive. I also went to a new dentist recently for a root canal (big surprise) and they were very nice and kind. My husband’s new insurance for us covers basically everything so I don’t have to stress. I think that will help me too. Thank you for the advice!

Yeah, I had a really horrible psych for my first two pregnancies. She went on to prescribe me medications not meant to be together and it caused a mixed episode and I ended up attempting suicide. That’s another story though that thankfully ended with me finding a fantastic psych. When I found out I was pregnant, she told me all about the cleft palate issues and I was told lamictal wasn’t an option at all. Honestly, lamictal was not my favorite med. I feel that it caused me significant and long term memory issues. Lithium has worked miracles for me and I have a hard time being open to another pregnancy because I would need to change medication. On top of my losses, it just all terrifies me.

I was on lamictal when I found out I was pregnant with my first (2014) and I was taken off of it and placed on abilify with a low dose. I reported back after the pregnancy that it had been safe.

I was on lamictal again when I found out I was expecting my second (2016) and was again taken off and placed on latuda, which had recently been deemed safe for pregnancy and I was told it was rated the most safe for bipolar medications in pregnancy. I chose to stay on this medication after the birth because it had worked so well during the pregnancy and that is when adverse effects began for me.

My subsequent losses have no known connections to the medications as a cause. I was taking lithium prior to discovering the pregnancies. The first loss was TFMR at 13 weeks and the second was a miscarriage at 4-6 weeks. The defect of our TFMR was anencephaly and no cause is known for the miscarriage.