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| Causes &Treatment Depression During Pregnancy |
You are also at increased risk of postpartum depression and having difficulty bonding with your baby.
Depending on the severity of your depression, treatment options might include psychotherapy or antidepressants in addition to psychotherapy.
Causes &Treatment Depression During Pregnancy
If I take antidepressants during my pregnancy, will they hurt my baby?
talk to your doctor first, before stopping any medication.
Some newborn babies may have symptoms such as irritability, fast breathing, tremors and poor feeding if their mothers took antidepressants during pregnancy.
These symptoms are almost always mild and pass quickly, usually within 2 weeks. Serious problems are very rare.
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What causes depression?
We’re not exactly sure. It may be a combination of things, like changing chemicals in the brain or changing hormones.
Hormones are chemicals made by the body. Some hormones can affect the parts of the brain that control emotions and mood.
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Women with depression may not recognize they have it (especially if they have never had depression before).
Depression can have serious consequences for both you and your baby.
Early treatment is the most effective, and screening can detect symptoms early.
Ten to fifteen percent of women will be diagnosed with depression during pregnancy and in the postnatal period.
The most likely time for depression to begin is in the first few weeks after the baby’s birth. Common symptoms and signs of depression during and following pregnancy include:
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feeling depressed or miserable consistently for most of the day and for most days of the week
feeling irritable, angry or anxious a lot of the time
increased crying, sometimes for no apparent reason
reduced interest in things that you would normally enjoy
not able to sleep (even when your baby is sleeping) or sleeping more than usual
reduced appetite or over-eating
excessive fatigue and tiredness
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difficulty concentrating and being forgetful
preoccupation with morbid thoughts or being anxious about multiple things, such as bad things happening to you, your pregnancy, your baby or your partner
feeling disconnected from your baby, that your baby is not really yours or that you do not have a bond with your baby
excessive feelings of guilt and/or failure, that you are a ‘bad mother’
thoughts of harming yourself
thoughts that things would be better for you and your baby if you (and your baby) were dead, leading to thoughts of suicide.
What causes depression?
There are many things that can contribute to, or make you vulnerable to depression, including:
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a history of depression or anxiety
family members who have had or have depression or anxiety
stress during your pregnancy or if it was unplanned
your expectations of motherhood are unrealistic and you can’t meet them
a traumatic or complicated birth
relationship/marriage difficulties
lack of social support
your baby is sick or unsettled.
Causes &Treatment Depression During Pregnancy
Depression also may be caused by genes. Genes are parts of your body’s cells that store instructions for the way your body grows and works.
Genes are passed from parents to children. Depression is more common in people whose family members have depression. This is called a family history of depression.
Risk factors for depression during pregnancy include:
You’ve been physically or sexually abused. Or you have problems with your partner, including domestic violence (also called intimate partner violence or IPV).
Your pregnancy is unplanned or unwanted. Or you’re single or pregnant as a teenager.
You have stress in your life, like being separated from your partner, the death of a loved one or an illness that affects you or a loved one. Or you’re unemployed or have low income, little education or little support from family or friends.
You have diabetes. Diabetes can be preexisting diabetes (also called pregestational diabetes). This is diabetes you have before pregnancy. Or it can be gestational diabetes. This is a kind of diabetes that some women get during pregnancy.
You have complications during pregnancy, like being pregnant with multiples, birth defects and pregnancy loss. Multiples is when you’re pregnant with more than one baby. Birth defects are health conditions that are present at birth.
They can change the shape or function of one or more parts of the body. Birth defects can cause problems in overall health, how the body develops or how the body works. Pregnancy loss is when your baby dies before birth.
You smoke, drink alcohol or use harmful drugs. Anxiety and Life stress, family history of depression and Poor social support.
If I’m depressed, will it affect my children?
Depression is treatable. But if it is not treated, it will affect your children.
Depression can also affect attachment, which is important for your child’s development. Attachment is a deep emotional bond that a baby forms with the person who provides most of his care.
A “secure attachment” develops quite naturally. A mother responds to her crying infant, offering whatever she feels her baby needs—feeding, a diaper change, cuddling.
Secure attachment helps protect against stress and is an important part of a baby’s long-term emotional health. It makes a baby feel safe and secure, and helps him learn to trust others.
Can depression be cured?
With treatment, most people recover from depression. Treatment can include one or more of the following:
Social support: Community services or parenting education.
Family therapy: With your partner and/or children. This can help when children are older.
Individual therapy: Talking one-on-one with a family doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, or other professional.
Medication: Drugs used most often to treat depression are SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).
What is the treatment for depression during pregnancy? If you feel you may be struggling with depression, the most important step is to seek help.
Talk with your health care provider about your symptoms and struggles. Your health care provider wants the best for you and your baby and may discuss options with you for treatment.
Treatment options for women who are pregnant can include:
Support groups
Private psychotherapy
Medication
Light therapy
Are there any safe medications to treat depression during pregnancy?
There is a lot of debate over the safety and long-term effects of antidepressant medications taken during pregnancy.
Some research now shows that certain medications used to treat depression may be linked to problems in newborns such as physical malformations, heart problems, pulmonary hypertension and low birth weight.
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| Causes &Treatment Depression During Pregnancy |
But if a pregnant woman is dealing with severe depression, a combination of psychotherapy and medication is usually recommended.
Women need to know that all medications will cross the placenta and reach their babies.
There is not enough information about which drugs are entirely safe and which ones pose risks.
But when treating major depression, the risks and benefits need to be examined closely.
The medication that can offer the most help, with the smallest risk to baby, should be considered carefully.
If medication seems like the best treatment for your depression, forming a collaborative treatment team is the best course of action.
This would include your prenatal care provider and your mental health provider.
Ask both health care professions about what treatments will be best for you and your baby.
Find out if you have options for medications and do research on them.
What long term effects do they have? Is your baby likely to deal with withdrawal symptoms after birth? Is this medication linked to health problems in the newborn or developmental delays in the future? Also, always remember that you need to weigh the possibilities of problems in the future versus the problems that can occur right now if your depression is not treated appropriately.
Are there any natural treatments?With the controversy regarding the use of some antidepressants during pregnancy, many women are interested in other ways to help treat depression.
As mentioned above, support groups, psychotherapy, and light therapy are alternatives to using medication when treating mild to moderate depression.
In addition to these, you may want to talk with your health care providers about some of the other natural ways to help relieve the symptoms of depression.
Exercise – Exercise naturally increases serotonin levels and decreases cortisol levels.
Get adequate rest – Lack of sleep greatly affects the body and mind’s ability to handle stress and day to day challenges.
Work on establishing a routine sleep schedule that has you going to sleep and getting up at the same time.
Diet and Nutrition – Many foods have been linked to mood changes, the ability to handle stress and mental clarity.
Diets high in caffeine, sugar, processed carbohydrates, artificial additives, and low protein can all lead to issues regarding your mental and physical health.
Make a conscious decision to start fueling your body with the foods that can help you feel better.
Acupuncture – New studies report acupuncture to be a viable option in treating depression in pregnant women.
Causes &Treatment Depression During Pregnancy
Omega-3 fatty acids – For years it’s been known that omega-3 can help with a number of health issues, but the newest studies are showing that taking a daily supplement of omega-3/fish oils can decrease symptoms of depression.
Pregnant women would want to make sure to take a mercury-free version of fish oil and check with their care provider or nutritionist on a recommended amount.
Herbal remedies – There are a number of herbal and vitamin supplements known to affect moods and the hormone serotonin.
Talk with your health care provider and nutritionist/herbalist about whether to use St John’s Wort, SAM-e, 5-HTP, magnesium, vitamin B6 and flower remedies.
Many of these can not be used in conjunction with antidepressants and should be evaluated on the dosage for pregnant women.
If you do not feel comfortable talking with your health care provider about your feelings of depression, find someone else to talk with.
It is important that someone knows what you are dealing with and can try to help you.
Never try to face depression alone. Your baby needs you to seek help and get treatment.
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| Causes &Treatment Depression During Pregnancy |
