Understanding Pregnancy and Depression

Relevance of pregnancy and depression should be closely studied so that it remains a memorable period free from any worries. Becoming pregnant is always a special moment in the life of a woman. This is the time when women go through a kaleidoscope of emotions, from elation to depression. With the onset of motherhood, depression should be last thing happening to women. Pregnancy and depression do not seem to mix, so what creates depression in pregnancy?

It has never been easy being a woman, to begin with. Since puberty onwards, women have been tackling 'hormones' issues. Hormonal changes incite dramatic mood changes in women; medications interfere with their ovulation; and birth control pills cause other bio-chemic problems. Women have hardly got used to tackling these problems when pregnancy and depression also get thrown into the cauldron.

What Causes Depression In Pregnancy

It is generally held that during pregnancy, nature creates a complete new mix of hormones that help protect women during this emotional period. Unfortunately, many women do not conform to this theory, and face depression. Pregnancy . . . and depression, what brings these two together?

It is usually considered that hormones, stress, health, in addition to money matters, kids and husbands, and a recent period of infertility, among many others, contribute to depression during pregnancy. You know you are depressed during pregnancy when you increasingly feel low, and increasingly feeling helpless. You find sleep difficult to come, you are continually irritable, you are quick to lose temper, and equally quick to cry. Your energy levels yo-yo between high and low, and you continuously feel restless. You are not interested in what you eat, and worst of all - you feel like hurting your baby. At times you also feel like hurting yourself, and there may arise suicidal tendencies.

Pregnancy And Depression, And Medication

The medical community is not very sure of the pre-existing use of anti-depression medicines and its relation to pregnancy and depression. How do anti-depression drugs, such as Valium, Xanax, Prozac, and similar drugs of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) family of drugs, being taken prior to pregnancy affect pregnancy, and depression during pregnancy? These drugs are known to affect the neurotransmitters in the brain, altering certain signals.

These drugs may cause your brain to function differently, and can affect your mood adversely. These changes in mood could lead to depression during pregnancy. Such anti-depression drugs could adversely affect your growing fetus by causing breathing difficulties, seizures, and cardiac malformation, among others.

Medication to take care of your depression during pregnancy may not be the way out, if it is seriously going to affect your baby. Is it worthwhile taking medication for depression during pregnancy if it is going to increase the pulmonary breathing hypertension in your baby by over 6 times?

There may be a need to explore natural options to manage pregnancy and depression, in place of depending on medication that could be harmful to your fetus.

Postpartum Depression

Depression may occur in women immediately after child birth also. This occurs due to hormonal changes in the body after delivery. Levels of estrogen and progesterone - the two female hormones - rise during pregnancy. These hormones drop rapidly to the pre-pregnancy levels in the first 24 hours after childbirth. It is thought that the sudden changes in the levels of these hormones cause postpartum depression.

Even the drop in levels of thyroid hormones could trigger postpartum depression in women. The blood pressure, the immune system, and metabolism, all change after childbirth, and this is thought to cause physical and emotional mood swings. Postpartum depression can occur immediately after childbirth, or within the first year after childbirth.

If you are breastfeeding your baby, consult your doctor prior to taking any anti-depression medication.