Postpartum Voice of the Week: Meds, Placentophagia, and Mamas! Oh My!

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To take meds or not to take meds. THAT is the question so many moms with a Perinatal Mood Disorder face with a heavy heart. I hope it is a decision you take seriously, educating yourself about the risks, the benefits, talking with your doctor before changing a dosage level if you do decide to take medicine, and involving your pediatrician as well if you are nursing and decide to take medicine. Pharmacological treatment of a Postpartum Mood Disorder should involve a team of professionals – and the most important person on that team is YOU.

Stacey over at Maternal Ramblings wrote a wonderful post simply entitled “PPD” in which she opens up from a mom’s point of view about a severe case of PPD that led her to take medicine. She didn’t want to take medicine at first as she feared it would control her life. Stacey came to realize that a good day on meds was better than a bad day without. She’s enjoying feeling normal again and looks forward to the day when she won’t need the medicine anymore.

Kate Kripke, a fellow Postpartum Support International Coordinator in Colorado, wrote a great post from a professional standpoint entitled “What if I have PPD and I don’t want to take meds?” It’s well worth the read as she offers some invaluable insight when it comes to alternative or complementary approaches.

Ruta Nonacs, MD, Ph.D over at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Women’s Health offers a Quick Review of Non-Pharmacologic Options  for the Treatment of Antenatal Depression. Understandably, a pregnant mother may want to avoid meds on a personal level even more so than a postpartum mother. Ruta quickly sums up several options but does caution that all of the studies associated with these methods only reviewed their effectiveness with mild to moderate depression. If you have severe depression, these options may not work for you. Remember, your health and mood is paramount. Depression crosses that placenta too.

Finally, Kate Kripke also offers a great piece on Placentophagia. If you are not quite sure what that is, it’s the ingestion of the placenta after birth. Many mothers have begun to encapsulate this after birth. To read more about a mom who did just that and how she did it, a great post is offered up by Emma Kwasnica, a passionate natural birth advocate in Canada. (There ARE pictures.) If a mom wants to ingest her placenta after birth, I feel she has the right to do so. Where I run into a problem is with the promotion of Placentophagia as a prevention for PPD. As laid out by Pec Indman as part of Kate’s post, much of the research quoted by those who practice Placentophagia is outdated and much of it does not focus on actual placenta ingestion but instead on the depletion of iron after birth. To date, no known human study has been completed which specifically focuses on Maternal Mental Health and the practice of Placentophagia. If you happen to know of one, please share it with me. I, and other PSI Coordinators, would love to read it.

In the end though, we are all on our own paths and so must our journey to wellness reflect our own hearts. I believe whole-heartedly in supporting a mama in whatever decision she may make as long as it is a well-informed decision reflecting her true sense of self and her family philosophy. No mother should ever be judged for her decisions when it comes to her mental health or the well-being of her family.

Whatever Wednesday: BlogHer in New York City? I’d rather be in Austin, TX!

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I have to pack for my flight on Friday. It’s the first flight I have taken in over ten years. I am a little nervous. But I am a whole lot excited.

For the first time since I started advocating for and supporting families through Postpartum Depression, I get to meet a family I have only chatted with via email and Facebook.

And I am not doing it at BlogHer. (insert gasp and sucking of teeth here)

Nope, I am heading Southwest when every other respectable blogger is heading up to NYC!

I will be attending a Golf Tournament held by Luminant Technologies down in Austin, TX. This tournament is a fundraiser for Postpartum Support International. Why are they holding it? A year ago, one of the Diversity Council Board members’ daughter had some issues with a Postpartum Mood Disorder. He sought out information and support. Through an email group I belong to, he ended up with me! This fundraiser is his way of saying “Thank You.” If that’s not absolutely humbling……

I promise to take pictures. More than likely I’ll be doing some live tweeting too.

So that’s it. Short and sweet. Yet oh so powerful and meaningful.

I will not be at BlogHer because I am going to TEXAS for Postpartum Mood Disorder Fundraiser.

I think the blogosphere will forgive me.

Just Talkin’ Tuesday: How can you tell when “normal” is returning?

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Every Friday, I am the volunteer on duty for Postpartum Support International’s warmline. (That’s right – you can call for them for help and I’ll actually call you back on Fridays! It’s staffed every day of the week by amazing volunteers though!) A few months ago, right after I started volunteering, a woman named Joan phoned the warmline. We talked and she used the term “Warrior Mom.” If you read Katherine Stone’s blog, you know that’s how she refers to Postpartum mamas. I asked Joan if she read Katherine’s blog. She said she did. Somehow we ended up talking about my blog as well. Turns out she reads mine as well. By now, we were both practically in tears. I had never spoken to someone who actively read my blog before. To hear the emotion in her voice as she talked about how much it meant to her truly blew me away. Joan and I have kept in touch via email since then. It is with her permission I share her story with you.

Joan emailed me today to ask a question of me. As soon as I read it, I asked her for permission to post her words to my blog. She agreed and I hope y’all will provide some good feedback for her current concern. Without further ado, here’s Joan’s email:

Hi Lauren:

I hope all is well with you. I have contacted you in the past, and I hate to be a burden, but was wondering if you could shed some light or your perspective on something I have been thinking a lot about lately. During the recovery process, how does a mom know if she is getting “better” versus the normal adjustment period to motherhood. PPD/PPA throws you all off and it’s hard to remember what “normal” is, especially when nothing is normal anyway after the birth of a baby. I have started a new med (2 weeks in – gradually increasing and so far – knock on wood- no weird side effects) and I know I need to be patient with it for sometime still, but I’m stuck in that conundrum. Is this PPD/PPA or is this a normal feeling? I think when you become a mother you give up so much naturally of yourself and you become someone else (for example I will forever be Joan plus J’s mom plus working Joan plus friend Joan, etc. etc. ) and need to merge all of those identities together. It’s hard when PPD (and the darn anxiety that about kills me at times) makes life so unbearable at times. It would be hard without the evil beast mixed in to straighten that all out in my head.

If I can ask, what were signs for you that things were returning to “normal”? Or, is there a common theme amongst survivors about when they knew that they were beginning to get well? I have read a lot of blogs, but am looking for any kind of advice if you are willing to share with me (if you don’t mind).

Any words of encouragement/advice/insight you can provide are always appreciated! Thanks for everything you do!

Warmest Regards,

Joan

My husband and I cajoled each other about our “new normal” after the birth of our second daughter. NICU, Cleft Palate, crash course in at home neo-natal care, both of us on antidepressants before it was all said and done, yeah, there was no going back to our own normal life. Hell, I think Normal may have even sprouted wings and flown to Jamaica. Not that I blame it at all, just wish it had offered a ride or at least one last romp before bailing.

I know my new normal settled in slowly. At first there was a routine of what I did when I first got up in the morning. Then I would add a new thing the following week. I stopped obsessing about how much milk I pumped because instead I was munching on chocolate. I began to think of pumping as me time instead of “I have to do this” time. I had more days of happiness versus irritability. I began to realize slowly that a bad day did not mean a downward spiral. I knew my signs and triggers and more importantly, I knew how to stop them. The world around me seemed to brighten. For me, recognizing my arrival at better involved my ability to take better care of myself WITHOUT guilt or anxiety about those around me not being able to function if I did take time away from them to do so.

What did “better” look like for you? Do you still struggle with adjustment to motherhood? What’s the most challenging for you as you journey/journeyed to better? Let’s get to Just Talkin’ and help a mama out in the process!