Deal with Depression During Pregnancy using these effective tips

Depression During Pregnancy

Are you planning to conceive a baby soon? Being physically and mentally healthy must be your priority. We are usually concerned about physical health during pregnancy, but an expecting mother can face mental blues as well. So the baby blues actually starts taking place regularly much before the pregnancy starts. The depression during pregnancy can even make you suicidal. An unanticipated feeling of misconduct can make a woman more vulnerable. Although many people experience such emotions in their daily life it can grow intensively with time and can be regressive for the pregnant woman.

The duration of such mood shifts can sometimes take months or at times, even years to end. This beautiful experience of becoming a mother becomes a bitter taste of mouth for some because their life fills with sadness and mood swings. There are symptoms that can help you understand either you are a sufferer or near to suffering from this problem soon. But let’s begin with understanding what depression during pregnancy is all about.

What is depression during pregnancy?

Depression can be a stage or a period during which a person undergoes millions of emotional shifts caused by hormonal misbalance sometimes. The depression and pregnancy can be a lethal combo for any woman because you might become vulnerable even for yourself during this time. You must be aware of the fact that depression is much more chronic than a low mood. It can turn into a mental condition very easily and can have a dangerous impact on your regular life. Generally, a woman who is facing this problem during their prenatal course hesitates to confront that they are suffering from any such problem which ultimately makes the condition worse.

Moreover, This whole situation can affect your baby and lead to premature delivery. As it affects your thoughts and the human body works on the nervous system, that means it can affect your actions also. It could disturb your regular sleeping and eating patterns. You might become habitual to sleeping and eating more than you regularly do. If you feel any of such sort, It’s not your fault you must go and seek a health care provider.

Signs and Symptoms of Depression During Pregnancy

Many pregnant ladies are subjected to floods of strong emotions like feeling sad, Becoming hopeless, Anxiety, and a general loss of interest even in yourself. There are some signs which can make understand if the problem is really chronic or just normal prenatal anxiety-

Change in your feelings

• Feeling sad for no reason required or becoming hopeless for the result of very usual things and maybe overwhelmed for tiny things.
• Feeling restless during the sleeping time or even when working, becoming mood restricted for going out or talking for human interaction.
• Crying can be a become a general task of your life, which can turn into loud crying for no or very small reasons.
• Feeling worthless or self-doubt could become part and parcel of your prenatal period.
• You are thinking about committing suicide or thoughts about your death.

Changes in your everyday life

• You are eating quite more than you usually do or having a disturbing sleeping life pattern.
• Taking a decision could become a tedious task for you, and you might face a problem in remembering things. You might not be able to concentrate like before.
• You are withdrawing yourself from family gatherings, walking away from human interaction.
• Losing excitement in things usually, you love to do.

Changes in your body

• Feeling less of energy all the time and every single day might become tiring for you.
• Headaches, stomach fullness, might become routine of your life.
• If you are going through any of these problems, you must consult your healthcare provider because these problems might cause some never-ending chronic health issues for your life.

Causes of Depression Pregnancy?

• The reason doesn’t have 100% assurance, but hormones control your emotions and mood swings. It might be a combination of two things- Change in brain chemicals and Hormone changes, which ultimately can affect your emotional health.
• Depression can also be caused by genes. Genes are passed from one generation to another. If there is some family record of early depression, it could be inherited by the children, which is called the family history of depression.
• Physical changes in the body during pregnancy can also cause depression. The weight gain, change in sleeping, and eating patterns can also affect the mood of the pregnant woman.

Risk factors of depression during pregnancy

Risk factors can help you understand whether you need to consult or not. This doesn’t assure of you having depression, but it helps you have an idea about if it exists inside you. Having risk symptoms also doesn’t mean that you’ll surely have it. You must go prenatal health care screening where your doctor will ask you general questions about your moods and feelings. This checkup will help you with your mental health. Here are some risk factors which will give you an idea about having depression during pregnancy-

• Your relationship issue with your partner can make you feel low if it becomes serious can lead you to depression. Relationship issues with your partners can make you feel worst
• Any sexual or physical abuse can become the reason for your depression soon. It cam becomes very- very serious during pregnancy. Its other name is intimate partner violence or IPV.
• The unplanned or unwanted pregnancy can make you feel a burden about the baby and lead you to towards anticipated mood shifts. It can become more problematic for a teenager.
• Your stress about your separation from the partner or maybe the death or illness of your person may affect your emotional health badly. The insecurity of not having an appropriate income to raise the baby properly or having less support from family and friends.
• If you are suffering from prenatal diabetes or an even more serious problem called gestational diabetes, it might affect you awfully.
• You are pregnant with multiples, or you are facing serious pregnancy defeats or the worst, you have a pregnancy loss. All these conditions can lead you towards depression very easily. Pregnant with multiples means you are pregnant with more than one baby, pregnancy defeats means the problems you are facing at the time of your gestation period. Pregnancy loss when you lose your baby before birth.
• Smoking, drinking, or consuming drugs can make you prone to depression during pregnancy.

Measures to treat depression during pregnancy

Some certain kinds of counseling or therapies during pregnancy can reduce your depression.  Counselor or therapist will help you understand your feelings during pregnancy, and They ease you to talk about the issues you are facing during your pregnancy. This person will help you overcome your fears, increase in stress-coping ability, and control the negative thoughts cross your mind during this phase. These people suggest tasks to the person who is at higher risk of these factors

• Current depression issues
• Low-income insecurities
• Pregnant as a teenager
• Victim of IPV
• Going through some emotional condition like losing someone very close etc.

Depression can be treated in many ways

It can be a combination of two or more different treatment style & Some of them are here

• Self-help Group- There are some groups created by some mental health concerned communities where like-minded people come and share their experiences and feelings. These groups are often suggested by health care providers.
• Medicinal process- Depression is treated with antidepressants by doctors generally. These medicines can be a combination of two different medicines which will help you overcome your depression. But you must not intake such medicines without a doctor’s prescription or proper concern.
• Electroconvulsive Therapy- This type of therapy has machines included in it. In this treatment, electric waves of current are being passed through the brain. Such treatment is considered safe during pregnancy, and chronic depression is treated by this method.

Natural ways of preventing Depression

There are many ways to treat Depression during pregnancy but many of them are higher at risk. The natural way of treating depression is most effective among all other treatment methods. There are some easy yet effective ways for reduction of your depression-

• Light Therapy: This involves exposure to artificial sunlight at specific times of the day. Light therapy has shown positive effects on pregnant women and can eliminate the symptoms of depression
• Acupuncture: In this method of treatment, they keep small needles at certain parts of your body, which helps in upliftment of your overall mood.
• Exercise: Regular exercise not only helps you improve your depression, but it also keeps your body super active during pregnancy.
• Diet: Consuming a diet rich with protein, minerals, and all the essential vitamins along with Omega-3, will boost your energy during pregnancy.

Summary

You should immediately consult a doctor if you start harboring some feeling of less interest in things. If you are struggling daily to be happy and feel good and failing at it constantly, you must seek a health provider who could help you.  Mood shifts, irritation, and feeling low are quite common during pregnancy, but you must watch out for the symptoms might become out of control.

Many times during pregnancy, a woman thinks of harming themselves or damaging the baby. In such cases, you must sit and talk with your family. You should seek a doctor immediately if you are facing a serious issue of obsession, concerns with your baby.

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