Usually women think about taking Klonopin during pregnancy, if they are affected by panic disorder.
The same medication can also treat different kinds of seizures. Generally speaking, it isn’t considered to be safe to be taken by pregnant women.
According to the animal studies, the medication increases the risks of birth defects.
FDA studies
Most probably you know that the FDA has a special category system to assess the risks of different kinds of medications. According to this category system Klonopin is of category D.
When it comes to taking Klonopin while being pregnant, this means that there is clear evidence showing that the risks of birth defects increase if the medication is used.
This category suggests that the medication is more dangerous than the ones of category C. However the medication could be given to pregnant women by their health care provider, if he or she believes that the benefits outweigh the risks.
The category D was given to the medication based on the results of the animal studies. According to these results taking the medication could cause different kinds of birth defects, such as limb defects and cleft palate.
Nonetheless we have to add that the results are quite controversial because some of the human studies have shown that the risks are relatively small.
Your choice
There are some other problems as well that you could be faced with if you use Klonopin when being pregnant, such as signs of withdrawal in case of the baby.
If you are taking the medication for epilepsy, you also have to take into consideration that the uncontrolled seizures could also be very dangerous for the baby.
In this case the risks of these seizures should be weighed against the risks associated with taking the medication. In the end it is your decision to take the medication.
