Miscarriages Twice as Likely for Women Taking Effexor

By December 6, 2010July 9th, 2019Uncategorized

As if the constant fears and risks that taking antidepressants like Effexor weren’t bad enough, studies show that women taking the drug while they are pregnant are twice as likely to suffer from miscarriages than women who don’t.

The new study, published by scientists at the University of Montreal in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, has found that expectant mothers who take antidepressants like Effexor in their first trimester of pregnancy were more likely to suffer from a miscarriage than those that didn’t. In fact, the chances were 68 percent higher. It also has been reported that women taking Effexor specifically were at a higher risk than if they were taking other antidepressant such as Zoloft, Prozac, Lexapro and Celexa.

This research used information provided in the Quebec Pregnancy Registry and studied all of the pregnancies from 1997 until recently. The study made comparisons in those that miscarried in their 20th week and those that lost their babies earlier in the pregnancy. The results showed that miscarriages were almost double with the women that were taking venlaxafine (Effexor).

The major damage to the babies seemed to be cause by malformations in the babies’ vital organs. Some of the birth defects that were common in these cases where the mothers took Effexor were heart defects, craniosynostosis (which is an abnormal skull shape), lung defects, club foot, cleft lip or palate and abdominal wall defects.

“Women who take antidepressants like Effexor while pregnant are unknowingly putting their unborn babies at risk,” says the law firm of Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman. This firm has handled more client lawsuits on behalf of injuries caused by antidepressant injuries than any other law firm in the United States.