Sheridan Smith says she suffered mental health decline while pregnant after stopping medication
Sheridan Smith has opened up on how her mental health suffered when she temporarily came off her medication while pregnant as she feared it would harm her unborn baby.
The new mum appeared on This Morning on Tuesday to discuss her upcoming documentary on motherhood where she spoke on the anxieties she experienced.
During the making of the documentary, she found out from a doctor that stopping her medication wasn't the right course of action to take as some drugs can often be taken safely by expectant mothers.
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“I went and spoke to a psychiatrist in the documentary called Dr. Alan Gregoire and he told me that there is actually a lot of medications that you can take during pregnancy, but a lot of women won’t admit to their doctors that they’re on medication, and will try and just stop. And he said that’s not the right thing to do and you can actually be pregnant on some of these medications. I didn’t know that either…" she shared.
“I’ve been on medication since my mental health issues in the past and I stupidly thought I’ll stop them, because it’ll harm the baby and then I started having panic attacks again, and my mental health started declining.
“There are a lot of people who are against taking medication for mental health issues but for me it’s important that I’m on them,” she went on.
Reflecting on her much-publicised struggles, Smith said her father's 2016 death caused her to experience a "big explosion mentally" and that it had been "a long time coming".
She's recently opened up on how her personal battles lead to Graham Norton joking at her expense at the 2016 Baftas, which triggered her quitting her anxiety medication.
The mother-of-one said she suffered five seizures as a result and was rushed to the hospital.
Read more: Sheridan Smith shares rare photo of baby son
In her This Morning appearance, Smith described the Baftas experience as "the straw that broke the camel's back" but emphasised "it was no one's fault".
Smith welcomed son Billy back in May with fiance Jamie Horn. She said of Horn: "He just knows how to calm me down and talk me off the ledge a bit, just keeps me calm, so it’s just amazing that I’ve got such support in him."
Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum airs tonight at 9pm on ITV.
