Life Inside Panic

I wanted to post something for all the new moms, or soon to be new moms, out there. Postpartum depression is a very real, very scary possibility after giving birth. You are exhausted, stressed, trying to adapt to a completely new life with a new person as your top priority, and on top of everything your hormones are dropping off drastically after 40 weeks of adjusting to the higher levels. If you are feeling any symptoms of this disorder, please talk to your doctor. It is so much more common that you think. I know that a lot of women feel ashamed that the are not blissfully happy after giving birth and don’t want to admit to it so they don’t seek treatment. This can be dangerous for both you and your baby. Remember how crazy you were during your pregnancy and how you accepted those wacky hormones as part of the process? This is the exact same thing; you’re reacting to abnormal hormone levels. Talk to your doctor and get the help you need so you can enjoy this wonderful time with your new child.

“Sleep Lack Worsens Post-partum Depression
United Press International
Published: Dec. 11, 2008
Post-partum depression can lead to poor sleep, and depression symptoms worsen in patients when their quality of sleep declines, U.S. researchers said. All new mothers experience some sleep loss following childbirth, as their estrogen and progesterone hormone levels plunge. They typically spend 20 percent more of the day awake than average during the first six weeks after giving birth.

Study author Bobbie Posmontier of Drexel University in Philadelphia compared sleep patterns of 46 post-partum women — half with symptoms of post-partum depression and half without. Sleep patterns were monitored for seven consecutive days.

Results showed that mothers suffering from post-partum depression took longer to fall asleep and slept for shorter periods. The worse their sleep quality, the worse their depression.

Sleep deprivation can hamper a mother’s ability to care for her infant, as judgment and concentration decline. Sleep-deprived mothers may inadvertently compromise their infants’ sleep quality because infants often adopt their mothers’ circadian sleep rhythms.

Posmontier recommends that clinicians treating women for post-partum depression address the importance of adequate sleep.

The findings are published in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing.”

“Postpartum Depression: More Than Just The “Baby Blues”
PotterWorldOnline

The earliest medical records about postpartum depression dates back to as far as the 4th Century BC. However, despite the early awareness about this form of depression, the postpartum sadness has not always been formally recognized as an illness. As a result, it continues to be under-diagnosed. There is no single cause for depression after childbirth. Physical, emotional, and lifestyle factors may all play a role. Unlike the “baby blues”, postpartum depression does not go away quickly. Very rarely, new moms develop something even more serious. They may stop eating, have trouble sleeping or develop insomnia, and become frantic or paranoid.

Postpartum depression affects 10-28% of new mothers. It can begin days, weeks, or months after delivery. Studies show that depressed mothers are less involved with their infant. They vending machine also shows signs of inconsistentcy in terms of how they respond to their infant. They can be loving and attentive one minute, and withdrawn the next. In addition to the signs mentioned, some other symptoms of postpartum depression may include:
Exhaustion
Excessive sleeping but still feeling exhausted
Loss of sexual interest
Crying spells without obvious cause
Feelings of guilt
Sadness
Anger
Feelings of despair and/or worthlessness
Forgetfulness
Difficulty making decisions
Poor concentration

Treatment for postpartum depression can be as varied as the symptoms. Some of the more common approaches to therapy or treatment include:
Creating a supportive environment for the mother
Self-Care
Joining a support groups
Counseling
Psychotherapy
Medication

More often, postpartum depression is not recognized or adequately treated because some normal post-pregnancy changes which cause similar symptoms in new mothers. Moreover, some women do not tell anyone vending machine their symptoms because they feel embarrassed, ashamed, or guilty about being depressed about their pregnancy and childbirth when the normal response would be that of elation or happiness.

Early detection and treatment of postpartum depression is critical not only for the mother but for the infant as well. It can also help if the father or another caregiver can assist in meeting the needs of the baby while the mom is depressed vending machine still recovering from depression. The less exposure the infant has to the mother’s depression, the lower the risk of long-term problems in the child.

Research shows that infants of depressed mothers are at increased risk of behavioral problems, emotional difficulties, and delays in growth and language development. If the mother’s depression is not treated promptly, the baby vending machine be greatly affected. Women with postpartum depression may feel like they are bad or inefficient mothers and might become increasingly reluctant to seek professional help. It is crucial to remember that hope and treatment are available to them. With a combination of proper medication and therapy, a woman can overcome postpartum depression and regain the ability to love and care for her newborn child.”

I have been looking for any new info to give to you guys but there really just not anything worth posting. Everything seems to be the same recycled info we’ve all read a hundred times. I did find this article and it explores a concept that seems both obvious and sad at the same time. Of course depression is going to have a profound effect on a marriage. It’s hard to be around someone who is depressed, especially if you can’t understand why they are always so sad. I know that when I’m really down, I can’t even stand myself. I sleep to avoid having to deal with my constant crying or over dramatic overreactions. I don’t even want to think about what the people around me are thinking. That being said, what ever happened to “in sickness and health”; Key word there being sickness? I was under the impression that a marriage is a partnership and not one you bail on when things get rough. Would you want someone to leave you if you developed diabetes? That disease also requires major lifestyle changes and, often, daily medication. People need to take their promises a little more seriously. In my grandmothers time one didn’t think about divorce unless things were so bad that there was no other option. Try counseling, talk to a friend going through something similar, talk to your preacher, look up info on the web, but most importantly talk to each other. Relationships are work; there’s no such thing as a perfect life with no complications.

“Depression Can Have Major Impact On Marriage
By Bill Mitcham / Mooresville Tribune
Published: December 12, 2008

Nothing plays havoc with a marriage relationship like the depression of one spouse. It can be a gradual impact or it can be a sudden broadside of a marriage that was fun and fulfilling for both partners.

There are two kinds of depression. One is situational depression and the other is clinical depression.

Situational depression can surface over any loss or tragedy. It can be the loss of a job, the inability to get pregnant, the death of a parent or even the death of a pet. Chronic marriage problems that never seem to get better, like reoccurring conflict over the same issues, can lead to situational depression.

You can tell the difference between situational depression and clinical depression when you can detect the source or cause of the depression.

People can get clinically depressed when things are going well in their lives and thus there is no “reason” for the depression. Situational depression responds to exercise, rest, new experiences and conflict resolution, if it is a marital problem. However, many people do not know that situational depression, caused by chronic marital problems, can turn into clinical depression, a much more serious depression.

It is the same pattern I have seen in working with families who have a child with a disorder like autism or Down Syndrome. The depression starts out situational due to perpetual stress and hardship, as parents try to care for a child with special needs. After a while, the situational depression begins to affect the parent’s body chemistry. This is the major difference between clinical and situational depression. Another term used to describe clinical depression is “chemical depression,” since scientists have discovered an imbalance or malfunction in the brain of clinically depressed persons.

Our brains have a complex network of neurons (nerve cells) that send and receive messages. Each neuron sends chemical and electrical signals, allowing communication within and between neurons. The chemical messages are called neurotransmitters. When they function properly, they regulate all the brain activity, including our moods. When they dysfunction, our moods can depress or accelerate. We call the depressed moods major depression and accelerated moods manic episodes. A combination of both is called a bipolar disorder.

Individuals who get depressed (1 out of every 10 adults) have no control over this chemical malfunction. It is the same medical issue with a person who has diabetes. The body malfunctions. It has always puzzled me that society has a stigma for a depressed person but not for the person whose body does not regulate sugar properly.

The effect of depression on marriage can have devastating consequences. Untreated depression can cause a person to lose interest in life. Things they used to enjoy and take delight in are no longer desirable, including sexual intimacy. The other spouse tries desperately to help his/her depressed mate by encouraging them and suggesting that they snap out of it, think more positively, but all the suggestions are received as criticism and this makes the depression worse. Untreated depression can undermine a marriage and lead to divorce. Depression, on the other hand, is the most successfully treated mood disorder there is. Many marriages can be saved, if the depression is properly treated.”

It’s time for me to fill everyone in on D. I always had this image as a little girl of the guy I would end up with. He would be smart, funny, outgoing, strong, tall, with dark hair and eyes, mysterious, and from another place that I knew nothing about. I met D in a bar (not exactly my fantasy) and he was everything I had dreamed of; standing about 6 foot (I’m 5′3 3/4″ so that’s tall for me), black hair, dark brown eyes, olive skin. He was also extremely opinionated, intelligent, and had a brutal honesty about him. He made me feel truly safe for the first time in I don’t know how long. All I had to do was look into his eyes and I knew everything in the world was as it should be. He used to do these little things that would make my heart flutter, like running his hand down my cheek as he walked past me or dancing with me in the dining room. I loved him more every second we spent together. After about 6 months things started to change, He suddenly became very critical and would fly off the handle for no reason. His drinking had always been extreme but now it was even worse. I had to drag him off the floor and to bed most every night after he had passed out. Through all of this my love never faded. There were a couple of occasions where he drank so much he became violent but never when he was sober. When something would go wrong I would always end up begging for his forgiveness, no matter who was at fault, because I loved him so completely. I knew that the things that were happening were not him but the anger and pain that surfaced after he had too much to drink. All I wanted to do was hold him and swear that everything would be ok in the hope that he would believe me. I tried. I held on as hard as I could and he still ripped free of my embrace and continued down his path of self-destruction. Our relationship had a lot of hurdles due to cultural differences but I could have compromised if he would have done the same. He is 11 years older than me and that was always his excuse as to why he wouldn’t budge. He believes a woman’s responsibility is her home and family and I agree unless both people are providing equally for the household. If you share the traditional “man role’ (ie bringing in money) than the traditional “woman role” (ie housework) should also be shared. And if it goes to the other extreme and the woman is sole provider for whatever reason then the man should take care of the house. This is not acceptable for a Romanian man. The house is the woman’s to maintain, period. And the decisions are made by the man. So here is what I have learned if you would like to sustain a relationship with this sort of old world man….

1. His word is final. If he wants the tv hooked up a certain way, let it be.

2. Keep up your house. If it is a mess then he will not be embarrassed about the mess but rather of you.

3. Most of these men will treat you as queens but only if you act as their servant. (I know this doesn’t make much sense but it will if you find yourself in this situation.)

4. Never second guess anything he is trying to fix/build/adjust. Just like asking for directions they would rather spend 4 hours figuring it out than 10 minutes reading instructions and it’s a major blow to their manhood if you figure it out first. Offer support not direction.

5. Most of these men will give you anything you ask (within their means), as long as you ask in a way that makes them feel like a man providing for their woman.

6. Respect them as not just your man but a man. Old world men need to know that you respect their position in the family. This is probably the most important thing to remember.

I tried to change him and ended up losing him. He is still here as a roommate and I hope everyday that we spend together that it will be the day he realizes that we are not wrong for each other. I cry myself to sleep every night that I sleep alone. I pray for the day he can end my suffering and I can fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat as opposed to the sound of my sobs.

Every day I feel my sadness and loneliness growing. I do what I am supposed to; take my medication, go to my therapy, pretend to feel human but on the inside I am screaming out in pain. For the last couple of weeks I have not been able to contain my tears. I don’t understand what I have done to deserve this kind of life. I know that I have made mistakes but I have always thought I was a basically good person. I keep waiting to wake up one morning and have had some great epiphany on how to be happy but it never happens. I swear every night that tomorrow will be different, I will get up and do the things I need to do. But every day it’s the same. I drag myself out of bed, get a cup of coffee, and try to hide the emptiness I feel and make it through the day without breaking down in tears or yelling for no understandable reason. I know my greatest source of sadness comes from my failed relationship with D but I should be feeling some sense of closure by now. I long to feel his arms around me, to hear his heartbeat as I fall asleep, to see that smile and know it is for me. I miss him so intensely that some days I can actually feel the pieces of my heart shattering into even smaller fragments. I wonder if there is even enough of it left to ever feel joy again. My life is a pointless disaster. I have managed to become a 29 year old bitter, lonely, broke, unemployed, burden on every one I have ever loved. I thought my depression was chemical but I have been on my medication for over two months and though I no longer feel suicidal, I still have this hopelessness that is so intense I feel physical pain from it. I have an appointment with a new psychiatrist tomorrow and maybe he will be able to help me. I just want one morning where I am actually happy that I woke up instead of feeling dread to have to face another day.

I can’t believe people are actually even thinking of this. It brings to mind using shock therapy to treat patients in a mental hospital. Wow! I don’t even know what to say to this one.

From the Associated Press…

“Study: Brain stimulation may ease anxiety disorder

By STEPHANIE NANO

NEW YORK (AP) — The same kind of deep brain stimulation used to treat some patients for Parkinson’s disease also helped a few people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, French scientists reported.

Their study involved only 16 patients, but in four of them, symptoms nearly disappeared. However, many patients had serious side effects, including one case of bleeding in the brain.

The treatment involved an experimental brain pacemaker, and it reduced repetitive thoughts and behaviors in some of the patients — just as it blocks tremors for some Parkinson’s sufferers.

The researchers came up with the approach after noticing that two Parkinson’s patients who got the treatment also saw an improvement to their obsessive-compulsive disorders. Other small studies have targeted a different part of the brain for that disorder and depression.

In the French study, symptoms were reduced more than 25 percent, the researchers said.

The results are “very encouraging,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Luc Mallet of Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris. In an e-mail, he said the procedure should be used only in medical studies at the moment because of the possible side effects.

The findings are reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

About 2.2 million American adults have obsessive-compulsive disorder. It involves recurring, unwanted thoughts, such as a fear of germs, and people who have it engage in rituals such as repeatedly washing their hands or checking on something again and again.

Standard treatment, antidepressants and psychotherapy, doesn’t work in everyone. The patients in the French study were severe cases who didn’t respond well to treatment.

All had surgery to have the pacemaker — similar to a heart pacemaker — implanted in their chest and connected to electrodes inserted into their brains. Each patient had the pacemaker turned on for three months and turned off for three months. Neither the patients nor their doctors knew when the device was on or off.

The researchers used different tests to measure changes in symptoms. In one evaluation, after three months of stimulation, the severity of symptoms overall had dipped to 19 on a 40-point scale, compared to a score of 28 after three months of no treatment.

Eleven patients had serious side effects; one had bleeding in the brain and two had infections from the surgery. For some patients, the stimulation resulted in a mild form of mania and other problems that went away when adjustments were made.

Mallet said the area of the brain they targeted — the subthalamic nucleus — deals with motion, thinking and emotion. Previous studies for obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, focused on regions involving mood and anxiety, he said.

“We’re still not exactly sure where the sweet spot is in the brain to reduce the symptoms of OCD,” said Dr. Wayne Goodman, a psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health. “Even if you think you’re in the right neighborhood, you may be one block off. And one block off in the brain may be just 1 millimeter.”

Goodman said he was initially alarmed by the serious side effects but noted that many were temporary and others were not unexpected. He said the challenge will be deciding whether the risks are worth it for individual patients.

Another French researcher, Dr. Antoine Pelissolo, said the patients in the study, who now all have their pacemakers turned on, are still being followed. Researchers are also testing stimulating two areas of the brain at the same time, he said.

The pacemakers used in the study were bought from Medtronic Inc., which had no role but paid for the researchers’ meetings. Some of the scientists have received consulting fees and grants from Medtronic.”