Dr. John's Health Matters
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The articles posted here are from various sources who are duly acknowledged. I would appreciate being immediately notified, if any copywritten material needs to be removed. This blog is not intended to replace the qualified advice of a licensed health practitioner. Readers should exercise their own judgment. Enjoy, subscribe, participate and tell others :)
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Posts tagged "postpartum"
Monday, Aug 31st, 2009 ↓Home birth with midwife safe as hospital →
Aug 31, 2009 (Cbc.ca)—Giving birth at home with a registered midwife can be as safe as a hospital birth for the infant and the mom, according to a Canadian study released Monday.
Midwives provide round-the-clock care for women during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum in hospitals, birthing centres and at the homes of women.
The rate of deaths was about two per 1,000 for planned home births involving midwives as well as deliveries in hospitals involving either midwives or doctors, the researchers found.
“Women planning birth at home experienced reduced risk for all obstetric interventions measured, and similar or reduced risk for adverse maternal outcomes,” such as electronic fetal monitoring and postpartum hemorrhage, Dr. Patricia Janssen from the University of British Columbia and her co-authors wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: pregnant birth safety midwife hospital infant mom mother delivery fetal monitoring postpartum hemorrhage
Depression Poses Pregnancy Risks →
July 20, 2009 (Therapytimes.com)—Thanks to high-profile celebrities like Brooke Shields, postpartum depression is out of the closet and discussed as something to recognize and treat.
But less well known is depression during pregnancy — a common problem as well, and one that also can be risky for the unborn baby, experts now know.
A depressed woman, for instance, is more likely to give birth early, increasing health risks for the baby.
Depression during pregnancy is more common than most people believe, agree Dr. De-Kun Li, a reproductive perinatal epidemiologist in the research division at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., and Dr. Diana Dell, a psychiatrist and obstetrician-gynecologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
One or two of every 10 pregnant women have symptoms of major depression, according to the March of Dimes. Those who have had a bout of depression before are more likely to get it again. And Li said that others might have depressive symptoms — short of clinical depression but still bothersome and unhealthy.
For full article see link above.
Poor Sleep Independently Linked to Postpartum Depression →
July 8, 2009 (Medscape.com)—Poor sleep is linked to postpartum depression independently of other risk factors, according to the results of a cross-sectional, population-based study reported in the July issue of Sleep.
“It is important to ask a new mother suffering from tiredness about how poor sleep affects her daytime functioning and whether there are other factors in her life that may contribute to her lack of energy,” lead author Signe Karen Dørheim, MD, PhD, a psychiatrist at Stavanger University Hospital in Stavanger, Norway, said in a news release. “There are also helpful depression screening questionnaires that can be completed during a consultation. Doctors and other health workers should provide an opportunity for postpartum women to discuss difficult feelings.”
The goals of this study were to assess the prevalence of and risk factors for concurrent postpartum maternal sleep problems and depressive symptoms, to identify factors independently associated with either condition, and to examine associations between specific components of postpartum sleep and depression.
For full medical article see link above.
Yoga Alleviates Postpartum Depression →
Feb 09 09 (NaturalNews) Recently a study (conducted at the University of California, Irvine) suggesting that postpartum depression is the result of hormonal imbalances has made news. Postpartum depression is a common condition affecting women in the days after childbirth. It has also been suggested that Yoga potentially holds the key to alleviating this condition. Here is why.
Stress induced hormone release is considered normal when the brain discharges minute amounts of Corticotropin-releasing hormone, or CRH, to help the body cope with the stress. During pregnancy, however, the brain could potentially release copious quantities of CRH to help the mother during labor and thereafter drastically reduce the production of this hormone by contrast. This sudden rise and fall of hormonal levels can cause the endocrine system to behave abnormally and create havoc for the mother, during the postnatal phase.
For full article, see link above.
In-Home Counseling and Peer Support Keep Postnatal Depression in Check →
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 15 - In-home counseling by health visitors trained to identify depression in new mothers reduces the prevalence of postnatal depression at 12 months, according to a trial in the UK, while a Canadian study indicates that telephone-based peer support is also effective in preventing postnatal depression among women at risk.
Both studies are reported in the January 16 issue of BMJ Online First.
For full medical article, see link above.
Postpartum Depression can be Prevented without Drugs →
(NaturalNews) It’s not unusual to have some mood swings after giving birth. After all, new mothers are usually sleep deprived for a while and they can be extra tired from the rigors of childbirth, too. But for some women, serious depression occurs. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), postpartum depression affects around 10 to 15% of women a few weeks to a year after they give birth. Symptoms include feeling restless, anxious, sad, having a sense of worthlessness and sometimes worrying about hurting themselves of their babies.
Like actress Brooke Shields, who went public with her account of her own struggle with postpartum depression, many women are prescribed antidepressant drugs, usually SSRIs like Prozac or Paxil. But are those often side effect-loaded medications necessary?
According to a new University of Toronto study just published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), there’s an effective non-drug way to prevent postpartum depression in many moms after childbirth. The key is a common sense, practical strategy no doubt used by countless mothers throughout history — heart-to-heart talks with other women who have given birth and understand the experiences moms go through taking care of newborns.
For full acticle, see link above.
