Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses with 10-15% of people suffering from depression at some stage in their lifetime. The general symptoms of depression include irritability, difficulty to concentrate, feelings of guilt or helplessness, reduced appetite, anxiety, loss of interest in activities and personal appearance, difficulty sleeping, difficulty getting up in the morning, constant tiredness, lack of energy, changes in weight and headaches.

Depression is a form of what is known as a mood or affective, disorder, because it is primarily concerned with a change in mood.
Depression is a very complex illness. No-one really knows for certain what causes depression, and everyone’s experience of depression is different.

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Post partum depression is a condition that manifests itself in women following the birth of a child. The most notable symptoms experienced by sufferers of post partum depression include sleeping disturbances, recurrent sadness, loss of appetite, loss of energy, hopelessness, frustration, exhaustion, guilt, low self esteem, social withdrawal, and many other negative experiences.

The key symptom contributing to the classification of this type of depression is feeling lack of affection for the new born baby. Experts contribute a variety of views regarding facts that you should know about post partum depression.

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At first there was thought that a pregnant woman could not suffer from depression. Nowadays it has been shown, that it is possible and even dangerous.

More women suffer from depression while pregnant than we could imagine.

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I was left by my “boyfriend” after I refused to terminate the pregnancy. I do not have any relatives here and no support whatsoever. Ever since I was about 22 weeks I have had depression. The worst of all are the attacks of panic/extreme anxiety that come about weekly epecially at night when I cannot sleep and contemplate my miserable situation, usually cry excessively etc. These are followed by uncontrolable fear for baby’s health. I am convinced that she is going to be damaged by all this, that such strong panic attacts cannot leave her unaffected. This makes me cry even more because at this point I love her beyond anything. My midwife tells me that baby’s health cannot be affected by my emotional state and it calms me for a few days or even a week and afterwards, the same thing starts all over.
I eat well, take care of myself physically but emotionally – I am a ruin. Has anyone been through hell like this and still had a normal healthy baby? what are the possible effects?
I regret not having taken medication but I am already 37 weeks and whatever harm is done, its done.

Your body’s need for thyroid hormone increases dramatically during the first half of your pregnancy. This increased need may begin as early as one week after your missed period. Women with hypothyroidism need to increase thyroid hormone drugs as soon as they conceive. As soon as you know you are pregnant you should increase your levothyroxine dose by about one third (usually an extra 25-50mg a day) and see your doctor soon. Your thyroid function will be checked often in early pregnancy and your medication adjusted as needed. Appropriate management of hypothyroidism during pregnancy is very important even borderline low thyroid hormone levels may impact your baby’s neurological development. Screening for thyroid function is recommended in women over 35 with any autoimmune condition such as SLE or diabetes or in women with a strong family history of thyroid disease.

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I had post partum depression with my first son who is now almost 3 years old. It went away when I started taking thyroid meds. as well as vitamins and progesterone to regulate my female hormones. Then I got pregnant again and started feeling depressed again. The doctor advised me to take the progesterone every day for the first 3 mos. of pregnancy because thats when your body may not have enough. It really helped me and I didn’t know exactly how far along I was because I couldn’t get to a prenatal doctor so I ended up taking it well into my 4th month. When I found out how far along I actually was I stopped taking the progesterone and about a week later my symptoms came back, not full force but still there. Blue mood, fatigued….I’m just confused because I know the cause of ppd and the depression in the first trimester was because of low progesterone but now that I’m almost 6 mos. arent’ I making lots of progesterone?( I heard all pregnant women do)… I was also thinking it could be my thyroid getting sluggish again but my test came back normal from the prenatal doctor.

Has anyone gone through this before? I am 30 weeks preg and have been really depressed. Is there anything I can do about it? Any medications or what did you do to help yourself?

Medicines that contain the interferon beta are similar to the natural interferon generated by the body in case of activation of the immune system when it needs to fight a disease. These medications proved their efficiency in case of viral infections and were also very helpful in problems involving the immune system. But the information related to their effect on MS is poor. But one of its widely known effects is the anti-inflammatory action. Interferon -beta also maintains the myelin. .

Interferon-beta seems to annihilate the effect of a very dangerous factor that activates MS symptoms: gamma interferon.

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Many mothers during pregnancy face extremely stressful circumstances. Pregnancy is a nine month journey for both you and your baby. Pregnancy typically lasts 40 weeks (about 9 months). Stress-related changes in a pregnant woman’s heart rate and blood pressure, along with chronic anxiety, can affect the heart rate of her developing fetus, a new study concludes. Maternal stress during pregnancy is also found to cause of asymmetry in coordination of ears, fingers, feet, elbows, etc. Maternal stress is also linked with imperfections in the developing nervous system which can lead to problems of perception, thinking, and memory. These mothers experience constant stress, shame, loneliness and, sometimes, clinical depression during pregnancy or after giving birth. Their partners or families may not encourage them to seek help because the problem it is not seen as a medical one. There are many negative side effects of stress during pregnancy. Very high levels of stress may contribute to an increased risk of premature delivery or low birth weight babies. Still other studies suggest that overly high stress levels can increase your heart rate, blood pressure and produce chronic anxiety.

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Learn how to differentiate between types of depression, signs, causes and treatment. This is the first step toward understanding depression, getting the appropriate treatment and taking that step.

Alcohol Depression

As the name implies, alcohol depression is the lows that follow periods of excessive drinking. Guilt, remorse, and shame play a huge part in this type of depression, and nothing short of a long period of sobriety can begin the alleviate it. With alcohol depression, the normal hangover is much more than not feeling well.

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