Depression, Anxiety during pregnancy?
Monday, April 5th, 2010 at
11:16 am
Anyone struggle with depression or anxiety during pregnancy? If so how did you deal with it?
cioby- so touching!
cioby- and so true!
~13 wks along with baby #4~- I have had panic attacks and nigh time has been very difficult for me too. Unfortunately, I know all about Ativan. It’s a lifesaver!
Tagged with: anxiety • Depression • during • Pregnancy
Filed under: Depression during Pregnancy
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i did with my first.. i regret this now but it did help me a lot.. but my dr put me on zoloft.. i real low dose.. my son is perfectly healthy at 2 yr old now..but i wish i would have toughed it out like i did with this pregnancy. My hormones must really make me depressed in the beginning of pregnancy untill about week 15 or but with this pregnancy i had my son to cheer me up and i toughed it out.. it will go away!! Good luck
I did struggle a little bit. My ex-partner did not help with things. He threw me out of the house when I was 11 weeks pregnant with twins. I found comfort with friends and family and I even contacted a social worker at the hospital where my twins were born. I never took any medication as I did not want to harm my twins. The best thing for you do to is find a close friend or your husband/partner etc to help you. If you can’t do that then contact your hospital and ask for some support. It really helped me. Take care
Being depressed during pregnancy is normal,you get upset because you’re getting fat,you’re clothes don’t fit you anymore,can’t stay up late and drink till you drop…..thank god I get through all of that,I just think of my baby and told myself that it’s for her sake…if you really love and care for you’re baby you’ll be willing to sacrifice everything for her…just pray and tell yourself that no matter what you’ll be both healthy and beautiful….go gurl…^^
I do and did I am 29 wks with #2 and with both pregnancies I have suffered depression and a ton of anxiety. the best thing you can do is to tough it out and hang in there when I start to feel depressed I write or try to draw or pray
Ya i had and and still do 5 mos after birth
I dont do anything about it. I just keep doing what im doing, i dont let it bother me.
Yes I have anxiety. When I am not pregnant occasionally I can take an Ativan and that helps. But when you’re pregnant there isn’t much you can take for a panic attack (xanax, ativan..etc) that is safe. Now once you are out of your first trimester your Dr can give you medication like Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac..etc. These are controversial and some say they are safe and some say they aren’t. I personally wouldn’t take it bc I didn’t want to take the chance. But some people take them and everything is fine. I see a counselor sometimes, that helps. Most of my anxiety is a night and I can’t sleep, so if it is really bad, I take 2 Tylenol PM to help me sleep. It is perfectly safe to take (it is only Benadryl and Tylenol) That helped me with my last 3 pregnancies. Just talk to people that helps me. Try to keep yourself busy and your mind off things. (I have gotten addicted to answering these questions..lol) And when you are having anxiety just keep telling yourself “I am ok, this is just my anxiety” Try to talk yourself out of it. If my husband isn’t home, I call my mom or sister and just talk to them. Best wishes!!!
I currently am a little over 36 weeks pregnant with my first and I’ve been struggling with depression and anxiety before and during my pregnancy.
I started becoming very depressed before my pregnancy due to a miscarriage at 7 1/2 weeks. I decided to start seeing a psychiatrist to help deal with the sadness of losing our first pregnancy and struggling to conceive again. It helped me out a lot to talk to someone about my feelings.
When I became pregnant again I was extremely nervous in the beginning because I had severe cramping and heavy bleeding and I really thought I was going to lose this baby too and I just didn’t know if I could deal with another loss. I wasn’t able to relax with my current pregnancy and really enjoy it until after we saw our baby on the ultrasound actually looking like a little baby at 11 1/2 weeks kicking and moving her arms.
I also suffered from severe morning sickness and had to be hospitalized 3 times during my first trimester and was on a 24 hour IV Picc Line for 2 months and was incapable of eating or drinking and even getting up to walk from one place to another was a struggle because I was so weak. I relied on the support of my husband and family to help me get through this time. It was very important to share openly and honestly with my husband how depressed I was because he did a lot to help me out and cheer me up. A good support system is vital and it’s important to know that it’s okay to feel depressed even while you are pregnant.
My father in law is a total and complete jerk and on father’s day this year we met up with him for lunch at a resteraunt. In the middle of dinner he started screaming at me out of nowhere about how he warned his son not to marry me and what an awful person I am and how disappointed he was that his son was having a child with me (this is the same guy who celebrated our miscarriage and said it was the best thing in the world us losing our baby), and some other just terrible things about me and my family.
This caused me to become very very depressed and I started getting a lot of anxiety about him showing up and doing something crazy while my husband was at work. My OB prescribed me Zoloft and I continued seeing my psychatrist.
I wouldn’t suggest taking any medication unless you just really can’t deal with things on your own, but my OB said that it was okay as long as I got off of it by 36 weeks to give the baby a month to get it out of her system, because failure to do so could cause her to be a drug baby and be addicted to the medication and cause her to be a very upset baby.
I actually never ended up taking the pills because my father in law has never even contacted us since that day… which I’m thankful for, because he doesn’t deserve to be a part of our little girls lives.
I’ve noticed in the last week or two I’ve become increasingly depressed and filled with more and more anxiety the closer to time it gets to have my little girl. I think it’s partially due to hormones and also due to all the pressure I’m receiving from my mother in law. She has been driving me crazy with phone calls saying how hurt she is and how awful I am for not allowing her in the delivery room and criticizing me for wanting to breastfeed my daughter. She’s also mad because I requested that no one be at our home when we return from the hospital for at least 2 days so we can get settled in at home and after that people could stop by and visit but to respect our privacy. She said that I’m excluding her and that I’m going to try to keep my grandchild from her at all costs.
I told my husband to inform her to not speak to me until after the baby is born and that I will not contact her until my daughter is delivered because she has caused me nothing but stress.
I personally am dealing with this last month by avoiding anyone who is causing me any added stress and focusing on doing things that make me happy.
I seriously though think the best thing anyone can do if you are seriously depressed or have anxiety is to see a professional to just talk. It really helps me out a lot and I know that it’ll help me out in the weeks to come as I go through this major life change.
Good luck to you!
Negative emotions (like sadness, stress, anger, etc.) causes your Serotonin production to be low; when your Serotonin level is low, you are more prone to getting Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Depression, etc.
Medication like Antidepressants (SSRI – Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) helps to boost Serotonin level.
But there are natural ways to do it without medication. There’s this strange herb called “St John’s Wort” – it is said to be more effective than Prozac. No, it is not for mild depression only and ignore those sayings. In fact, it does help anxiety and panic-attacks as St John’s Wort works like prozac. Other natural ways will be exercise, diet, more exposure to light, etc.
The problem is that, even if your Serotonin is balanced… you have that “learned behavior” in your mind. You need to break that initial cycle to destroy that learned behavior – Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) does this. A technique that you can use without CBT will be Distraction… There are several other techniques to help cope them!
Ok, to use Distraction: Firstly, try to….
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