Postpartum Depression

Postpartum Depression questions and answers

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Q: Postpartum depression?
I am currently 33 weeks and was wondering if postpartum depression is genetic? I know that my mother had it really bad and im worried that I might get it. I've been very emotional though out this pregnancy. I have a tendency to cry half the time for no reason. I know this is hormonal. I was going to talk to my Doctor about it on Thursday do you think its a good idea or should i just wait and see what happens?

A: It is unclear exactly what causes postpartum depression, but research has shown that genetic risk, situational stresses, changes in a variety of hormones, and changes in certain chemicals in the brain may all play a roll in triggering this disorder. If you mother had it really bad then I would suggest you talking with your doctor before your baby is born just to be on the safe side. I have 4 children and never suffered from this disorder but my sister did..very badly. And coming for an outsiders point of view ..it was horrible! So please for your well being and that of your child talk with your doctor. After all having a baby should be a joyful ,happy and exciting time..not a sad one!! Good Luck to you and Congrats!!!

Q: postpartum depression?
I had a baby about 3 weeks ago , I think I have postpartum depression and my husband think I should see a doctor . Should I call my obgyn ?? has any had this and what type of treatment helped ?

A: Hello, many people are affected by postpartum depression, and i am one of them. For me it didnt come on until my baby was 9 months (she had been very ill for that time and it suddenly hit me). For some people it can come on in the first few weeks. Its important to not get PPD confused with the 'baby blues'. Most women feel very emotional for a period after the birth. For me it was about a week. You should make an appointment with your doctor, who will discuss your feelings and decide with you what the best course of action would be. Im guessing that your doc will want to wait a few weeks before starting any treatment to see if your symptoms improve. Please dont beat yourself up about this, its a chemical imbalance that is taking place in your brain, and you have no control over it whatsoever. It took me a while to get it sorted, but i am currently taking a low dose of anti depressants and undergoing therapy... i feel like a new person, the old me! You are taking the first steps to being a happy and contented mom, and your husband sounds very supportive. Good luck! This website is very useful http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/depressionpostnatal.htm

Q: postpartum Depression?
Hello, I wanted to get an advice .Recently I had a baby now 3 months .I have begun to get really sad because of lack of sleep and also Domestic problem .I cant really sleep at night unless i eat 4 her herbal sleeping med.I also have a 4 year old son who i cant handle(tantrum problem) I am begining to really hate this motherhood experiance.Could it be i have postpartum depression is there a natural way to cure it

A: if you believe you have postpartum depression my advice to you is go to a doctor and explain your situation. mothers have made awful and painful desisons because they didnt get the treatment they needed. i dont believe there is a natural way to cure a depression, medications and counseling though, do help. please get the help you need now, before you do something you might regret later.

Q: Can you experience postpartum depression up to 9 mos after giving birth?
I had a c- section to deliver my son and I became ill after and wasn't felling myself for about 3 mos. Also I went through a lot of hardships soon after. My son is now 9 months and I feel really depressed, perhaps I have a little the whole time, but now it seems to be unbearable. I feel like driving far away, but most of the time I stay in my room in the dark and sleep sometimes cry. Could this possibly be postpartum depression?

A: Yes. Cesarean births are often traumatic, and the depression can linger for a long time. It's best to focus on the positive, and talk to someone. In the future, please consider hiring a Doula. They really help women and families have a positive birth experience and lower the rate of postpartum depression. "Do You Doula?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvmB96cRnaU

Q: How do you know the difference between postpartum depression, baby blues and PMS?
I had my baby four weeks ago and starting about a week ago my hormones have been insane and I've been having horrible mood swings. Everything drives me crazy, one minute I'm happy and the next I'm crying. I don't feel any bond with my baby at all and I'm just not happy. How do I determine if it's just simple PMS, or something more serious like postpartum depression?

A: If it lasts more than 6 weeks it's more than baby blues or pms. If you feel like you might hurt yourself or your baby then it's something more and you need to talk with your doctor. I didn't feel a real bond with my son either but I felt a connection. I didn't feel comfortable having him away from me so I knew there was something there. I didn't feel totally in love with him for months, it really took me a while.

Q: What are the signs of postpartum depression?
i already suffer from depression. is postpartum depression the same? are there different signs? is there a way to overcome it without medication? i'm afraid because i have 3 children, and their fathers are no where around (2 have the same father). my youngest is 3 weeks. i just don't want to get frustrated and take it out on my 2 older kids.

A: If you have postpartum depression, you have had five or more depressive symptoms (including one of the first two listed below) for most of the past 2 weeks, including:1 * Depressed mood-tearfulness, hopelessness, and feeling empty inside, with or without severe anxiety. * Loss of pleasure in either all or almost all of your daily activities. * Appetite and weight change-usually a drop in appetite and weight, but sometimes the opposite. * Sleep problems-usually trouble with sleeping, even when your baby is sleeping. * Noticeable change in how you walk and talk-usually restlessness, but sometimes sluggishness. * Extreme fatigue or loss of energy. * Feelings of worthlessness or guilt, with no reasonable cause. * Difficulty concentrating and making decisions. * Thoughts about death or suicide. Some women with PPD have fleeting, frightening thoughts of harming their babies: these thoughts tend to be fearful thoughts, rather than urges to harm.

Q: How do you know how bad your postpartum depression is?
If you thought about throwing your newborn baby into a ceiling fan would that be considered as postpartum depression? How do you handle the guilt of wanting to do that to a helpless baby?

A: OMG, please get help for this as soon as you possibly can, once you get that help, the guilt for feeling that way will stop. Its not your fault, its all the hormones and changes to your lifestyle and everything else on top. Good Luck

Q: What happens if you never get help for postpartum depression?
Like what if the "bond" never forms? Do you eventually get over postpartum depression if it gets left untreated? my child is 14 months old and i still feel the same.. like i'm a drone. i never got medication for it or saw a doctor. my health insurance wouldnt cover it.

A: I don't think you'd get over it. PPD is serious and I think that it would spread out to other parts of your life...to your partner, your job, your family...until you were genuinely clinically (seriously) depressed. you would probably be at an increased risk for anxiety too. it's all about hormones and mood shifts - and that's chemical - NOT something you can control, unfortunately. eta; it's nice some people don't understand it; I don't have it, but seriously...

Q: Does anyone know where I can find on line videos that I can download about postpartum depression?
I am doing a research presentation on postpartum depression. I am looking for video clips that I can download of Andrea Yates, as well as other cases that have had mass media attention, or maybe just informational videos about ppd. Can anyone give me a site?

A: For any kind of Videos there's YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ To download videos from YouTube and any other site : Get Firefox from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ And then install the Download Helper extension from https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3006/ It works great for me. Since the videos are in the .flv format you need to get a flv player. You can get a very good one (and completely free ) here http://www.download.com/FLV-Player/3000-2139_4-10505954.html?tag=tab_pub Also you can use this site http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php and copy/paste the url's from the page with the video there but personally I'd recommend using Firefox Firefox is the best !!! And for movies and anything else use http://www.torrentportal.com/ and http://www.bittorrent.com/ and http://www.torrentspy.com/ To download from this site you need a torrent program like these : BitComet http://www.bitcomet.com/ or Azureus http://azureus.sourceforge.net/

Q: Question for women who had postpartum depression?
I just had a baby 1 week ago and told my doctor how I was feeling and he gave me a medication for it. For you women who had postpartum depression and were prescribed something how long were u on the meds and how soon did u see it take effect? I'm scared that I won't get better.

A: I didn't seek help for my post-partum depression until about 3 months after I had the baby. I think I was in denial about it. Honestly, after talking about it with my family and doctor, I started feeling better knowing that I wasn't alone. My doctor prescribed Lexapro (10mg). I started feeling more like myself about 1-2 weeks into the meds. Things will get better-the first step is getting help! Best of luck to you!

Q: Could I have postpartum depression even though I am already taking Lexapro?
I have been taking Lexapro for two years and I just had my baby four weeks ago. She is precious and I love her with all my heart. The problem is, I cry all of the time and feel so overwhelmed..I feel I am an emotional wreck! My question is, shouldn't the lexapro have prevented me from experiencing postpartum depression this time? It helped me overcome PPD after my last pregnancy and I was thinking it would prevent me from having the condition this time. Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

A: Of course. You may want to talk to your doctor about switching your SSRI or supplementing it with a secondary antidepressant. It's a trial and error process, but your doctor knows which SSRI is most likely to treat which symptoms.

Q: Did you have postpartum depression after a c-section and how did you cope?
I had a c-section 7 months ago and I'm having so much trouble finding help. I finally got an appointment with a counselor but it's not for another month. I'm not so interested in taking medication; I just want to feel better about myself and what happened to me. Just wondering if anyone else had postpartum depression and what helped? Thanks in advance.

A: Counselors often recommend combination therapies, which offer drug treatment and therapy treatment. However, many studies show that the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) used to treat depression works as well as combination therapies. This is because drugs often create dependence, or when the person tries to stop using the drugs, they relapse more easily. CBT teaches you new methods of thinking that help eliminate the depression altogether. Basically, you will likely be taught that you have depressive errors in your thinking patterns right now and what those errors are. Treatment usually consists of correcting these cognitive errors and substituting more positive thought processes. You may be given special activities to do as homework to test your faulty thinking patterns (hypothesis-testing activities). But it is really up to you and your counselor to work as a team and figure out how best to go about treating this because it is a very serious and a very real issue you are having. Let them know you prefer not to go on medications, and if you are breastfeeding then they will agree that is best. Also, one other point is that it will only be diagnosed as post-partum depression if this is the first time you have had a major depressive episode before and if it occurred for the first time within the first four weeks after having your baby. Otherwise, it is just the common major depressive disorder. Good for you for getting that appointment, try to hold out until then. There's not a whole lot for you to do while you wait to meet with your counselor, but definitely find some support systems. Have close family or friends available to talk to when you are feeling down, and maybe someone who can help with the child care when you are having a particularly bad day. Keep reminding yourself that this is a real problem and you are a great mother, only a great mother would seek help for this. Take some time for yourself every day, even if it's just 15 minutes to sit down and flip through a magazine or lay back on the couch for a bit. Exercise also releases natural endorphins that can help with feelings of depression. And remember that you just need to hold out until you meet with your counselor, then you will find that things start getting easier! Best of luck to you and congratulations on your new baby! Keep taking care of yourself!

Q: how can someone recover from postpartum depression/psychosis?
If a woman suffers from severe postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis, are there things she can do to treat herself and recover on her own (without prescription medication like antidepressants)? For example, is there any evidence that marijuana can be used to treat postpartum depression? What about meditation or diet?

A: "severe postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis" Recovery from severe depression and postpartum psychosis seldom happens without equally serious medication ... prescription anti-depressants and careful monitoring and counseling. The ability of the depressed person to function well enough to actually do meditation and make diet changes is just not there. After some time on anti-depressants, the chances of being able to exercise, eat right and meditate increases. Sait John's Wort, which is quite useful for mild depression, doesn't work well enough on severe depression. Marijuana has no significant, clinically observed anti-depressant effects. It's a mild anti-anxiety drug.

Q: I just want to know if after giving birth to your child did you experience postpartum depression?
I hear alot of women who have experienced postpartum depression after giving birth. Some cases are severe and others subside. I was wondering has any ladies ever experienced postpartum despression if so how did you handle it.

A: after have my first daughter i didn't, but with my third child i had it bad, it scared me at first because people didn't talk about it as much as they do today. i cried a lot and i slept a lot too. the problem was i didn't know what was wrong and all my doc did was put me on vitamins and iron, because i had three young children 1 and 3 when i had my third everyone assumed it was just natural. but i new something was wrong with me i finally convinced my doc to put me on anti depressants which help a lot. so i would say today the best thing to do is talk to your doc and read as much about is as you can. following my doctors directions on coping really helped even if some of them sounded silly.

Q: How Can Adoptive Mothers get Postpartum Depression?
I heard it here in an answer that adoptive mothers can get postpartum depression - how??!!! is that like a phantom pregnancy or something? Postpartum: In the period just after delivery, as with postpartum depression. Postpartum refers to the mother and postnatal to the baby. From the Latin post, after + partum, birth.

A: Well, sort of. According to some web sites. But it's not technically postpartum depression. It's called Post Adoption Depression Syndrome, or PADS. When I first stumbled across this term, I thought it referred to the ADOPTEE'S experience after being placed in a new environment. And I thought, "Finally, someone recognizes that adoption can have an impact on adoptees, too." Instead, I found PADS is about adoptive mothers' post adoption 'let down'. "...which is not yet a distinct illness recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. Psychologists often link new mother's depression to the sudden overwhelming demands of an infant and new financial responsibility, as well her loss of professional identity, social networks, and personal freedom. Sometimes depression is simply about not getting enough sleep or time to oneself." It makes sense that some of the same non-hormonal causes of PPD might also affect new adoptive moms. The lack of sleep, the overwhelming responsibility, the (temporary) loss of regular contact with friends, etc. However, I wonder. Could one cause of PADS be delayed (or supplanted) grief? When infertility plays a part in the decision to adopt, infertile parents may not take the time to fully grieve their "loss". Instead, they run headlong into the arduous process of adoption expecting that once they get a baby, their only emotion will be joy. Yet their grief is still there lingering in the background, buried, overlooked, denied. Below are some web sites that explain PADS. Or google Post Adoption Depression Syndrome.