Does taking antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds affect fertility in people with ovaries?
There is little evidence to suggest SSRIs and benzodiazepines affect egg quantity, egg quality, ovulation, or chances of conception in people with ovaries:
Several studiesof people usingassisted reproductive technology(ART) like in vitro fertilization (IVF) to conceive suggest no effect of SSRI use on hormone levels, number of eggs retrieved, number of eggs that develop into blastocysts, number of embryos rated as "high quality," or number of embryos transferred. These studies have also not found statistically significant differences in pregnancy rates and live birth rates when comparing people who did and didn't take SSRIs.
While we have fewer studies to look to when assessing the potential impact of SSRIs on fertility outside the context of ART, the studies wedohave also suggest no negative impact of SSRIs.A study of almost 1,000 people with ovaries found no differences in menstrual cycle characteristics as a function of SSRI use, and no significant differences in pregnancy rates. Other larger studies have mirrored these findings, and report no differences in chances of conception between people using or not using SSRIs or benzodiazepines.
Some(butnot all) studies find that SSRIs increase prolactin, and very high prolactin levels may suppress ovulation. That being said, even the studies that do find a link between SSRI use and prolactin levels don't find that prolactin levels are elevated to a high enough point to affect ovulation.
Putting it all together, we don't have compelling reason to believe SSRIs and benzodiazepines affect ovarian function or chances of conception. However, there is one sneaky, indirect way these meds could impact chances of conception in people with ovaries - by lowering your sex drive