For every woman, get pregnant is a happy dream and exciting journey that full of different events, challenges, and feelings, but as you knew your body experience many changes in the physical, physiological and psychological behavior, what makes you feel different mood disturbances like depression, anxiety, and panic attacks.
So in this article, we will discuss depression in pregnancy and tell you how to deal with depression during pregnancy, so pay me your attention:
- Depression During Pregnancy
- Causes Of Depression During Pregnancy
- Signs Of Depression During Pregnancy
- How To Deal With Depression During Pregnancy
- Is Depression Medication Safe For Your Baby
- Natural Ways To Treat Depression During Pregnancy
- Can Depression During Pregnancy Affect Your Baby
Depression During Pregnancy
First, you should know what depression is? Depression during pregnancy is considered a mood disorder which makes you feel unhappy, uncomfortable and hopeless, this disorder is due to change in the level of chemical transmitters in your brain, which is responsible for the stability of your mood, but depression in pregnancy has many causes that worsen the symptoms and make it uneasy to control, let’s talk about the possible causes of depression during pregnancy.
Causes of Depression During Pregnancy
Change in Hormone’s Level
When you get pregnant, your body secretes high levels of hormones estrogen and progesterone, and these hormones are essential for preparing your body to pregnancy. Still, high levels of estrogen and progesterone are supposed to alter the chemistry of your brain, leading to depression and mood swings.
Physical Change in Body
Your body experiences different changes during pregnancy. Most of the time, you are tired, exhausted, and feeling pain in all your body, this limits your energy and making you uncomfortable. Finally, you will lose the desire to do anything that leads directly to bad mood and depression.
Fear of Responsibility
With no doubt that pregnant woman is in the real exam, and experience a significant life event, what makes it under pressure, and feel much fear from the New responsibility, she worries about her health, her baby’s health and if she has enough experience to be a good mother, actually the pregnant woman undergo series of constant fears and thoughts, from the early signs of pregnancy, that why she always feel down and give up to depression.
It’s important to say that the leading cause of depression is the chemistry of your brain, but these factors combine to increase the risk of depression during pregnancy.
Signs of Depression During Pregnancy
Depression during pregnancy is hard to diagnose as it overlaps with the typical pregnancy symptoms, such as loss of appetite and sleep disturbances. Still, there are other symptoms if last with you for more than two weeks, so you already have the depression symptoms. You should have at least five of them….
- Losing interest in your daily habits.
- Feeling extreme sadness all the time.
- Too much or too little sleep.
- Feeling guilt.
- Suicide thoughts.
- Loss of concentration.
- Change in usual eating habits.
- Feeling anxious.
- Feeling hopeless, worthless.
- The tendency of being alone.
If you feel these symptoms or any of them, don’t hesitate to ask for help and support.
How To Deal With Depression During Pregnancy?
Researches have shown that 10% – 20% of pregnant women are suffering from depression and anxiety in pregnancy, so it’s a significant problem that you should know how to deal with, first of all, if you are feeling depressed during pregnancy, you should ask your doctor or center for surrogacy and egg donation for help, and tell him all the symptoms you feel, sure he is the best one to give you the useful advice, I know to talk about feelings and psychological state is little awkward, but it’s essential to prevent you getting worsen,
Your doctor will suggest a lot of treatment options according to your state, either medication or group therapy, or teach you simple techniques that help you relax.
Is Depression Medication Safe For Your Baby?
Till now, there is not enough information for the safety of depression medications during pregnancy, and this still a point of debate, but if you struggle with severe depression and your doctor or surrogacy agency describe you certain medication treatment, don’t worry about that, as your doctor balance the benefits with harmful effects, so your baby will be safe.
Natural Ways To Treat Depression During Pregnancy
If you have mild to moderate depression, you can improve yourself by following these simple methods.
Do extra exercise
Physical activities and exercises are critical to your body heath and your mood too, they are supposed to increase circulation to your brain to deliver more oxygen, blood, and nutrition, what made you feel the energy and raise serotonin levels, so finally you feel better. Still, as a pregnant, you should be careful while doing exercise and avoid violent movements, read this article for more information about fitness during pregnancy.
Eat hearty foods
Eating healthy food is a must for any person. Still, here I am talking about specific types of food that boost your serotonin level and improve depression symptoms, also, to raise your energy levels and make you ready to do your activities, from these happy foods are, fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, coconut, eggs, chocolate also you should eat foods containing vitamin B and vitamin D, as researches proved that deficiency in vitamin B and D increase the possibility of depression.
Try Yoga techniques
Recent researches have shown that yoga is beneficial to make you relax and get rid of depression and anxiety. Many doctors approved it as the right way for depression treatment.
Never be alone
If you are feeling depressed during pregnancy, you should never stay alone, as being alone will let the bad thoughts control you and increase your sadness, try to talk with your best friends and your family members, this will help you a lot.
Can Depression During Pregnancy Affect Your Baby?
Sure, untreated depression has harmful effects to your baby, as a depressed mother will suffer from poor nutrition, health problems and suicidal behavior which can directly affect your baby and lead to premature birth or low birth weight or even miscarriage, that why you should try to treat depression immediately once you feel the symptoms.
Finally, our essential advice to you, never to be ashamed of getting depression during pregnancy, as it’s a common phenomenon between pregnant women, and you should know that we all care about your health, our dear mother.