Health Network News

Do you feel like you are on the roller coaster of emotions during pregnancy? Few minutes of happy thoughts and after a second a move towards the dark and deep depression cave. 14 percent and 23 percent of pregnant women will experience depressive symptoms while pregnant and it is a well known fact that depression is common during pregnancy.

In 2003, approximately 13 percent of women took an antidepressant at some time during their pregnancy. Dr. Kimberly Ann Yonkers, one of the lead authors from Yale University said “Depression in pregnant women often goes unrecognized and untreated in part because of concerns about the safety of treating women during pregnancy.”

Both depression symptoms and the use of antidepressant medications during pregnancy have been associated with negative consequences for the newborn. Infants born to women with depression have increased risk for irritability, less activity and attentiveness, and fewer facial expressions compared with those born to mothers without depression.

Depression and its symptoms to a very large extend are also associated with fetal growth change and shorter gestation periods. And while available research still leaves a lot of questions unanswered, some studies have linked fetal malformations, cardiac defects, pulmonary hypertension, and reduced birth weight to antidepressant use during pregnancy.

Depressed women are more likely to have poor prenatal care and pregnancy complications, such as nausea, vomiting, and preeclampsia, and to use drugs, alcohol, and nicotine. Identifying depression in pregnant women can be difficult because its symptoms mimic those associated with pregnancy, such as changes in mood, energy level, appetite, and cognition.

Two main hormones, estrogen and progesterone cause mood swings during pregnancy. Emotions are always unstable and feeling of depression is normal as any other body changes during pregnancy. She may move from great joy to deep despair within fraction of time. This is no psychological problem but; a clear picture of hormonal changes. A pregnant woman may feel tearful with little cause or no cause at all. She may even find hard to express the reason of joy or despair.

Mood Swings are most common during the first trimester that is between 6 weeks to 10 weeks of pregnancy. However the fluctuation resides during the second trimester. This is the period when she first feels the baby move. The feeling is great so is her emotions.

The third trimester is the most anxious one. This is the period when she worries about everything and anything that she can think of. However her major cause of anxiety lies not just on the labour and delivery process but also in baby care and parenting in general. She will feel physically uncomfortable with the growth of the abdomen and will feel irritated with the lightest noise as she lacks sleep in general. It may be more extreme if she is single without a partner. The hard-core fact of being a single mother can make her feel stressed and isolated. Pregnancy is the important period of any women’s life. It is during this time she is very vulnerable both, physically and mentally. Even if a pregnant lady doesn’t ask for help, she indeed is in need of it. One should try help a pregnant women during all possible times.