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Pre-baby Blues
Depression Before Baby Arrives
By Shannon McKelden
She found the experience both humiliating and scary. It was worsened by the fact that her physician didn't take her seriously. "My doctor at the time struggled to diagnose me, then decided it was all in my head and washed her hands of the whole thing," Francine says.
Poor insurance coverage left her traveling from doctor to doctor, being charged high office visit fees to be told that they couldn't do anything for her while she was pregnant. "Years later, a different doctor told me I had experienced ante-partum depression and ante-partum psychosis, which were not correctly diagnosed at the time because they are uncommon," she says.
"Women are seldom asked about their 'level' of depression during pregnancy; it is left to the individual to be able to recognize the signs for herself and ask for help," Joseph says. "Sadly, the very nature of the way that we provide prenatal care is not always conducive to women being able to comfortably express their true feelings during their doctor visits."
"Many women have histories of chronic or episodic depression independent of pregnancy," Greene says. "In addition, if a woman did have such a history and was on maintenance [medication] prior to the pregnancy, she may decide to stop taking her meds to avoid harm to the developing fetus early in the pregnancy." Making this choice increases the likelihood of an episode during the pregnancy and also after the birth.
Amy feels that her symptoms increased to the borderline obsessive-compulsive stage. "I did not get any official diagnosis of anything at that time, but I do have a history of depression and OCD symptoms that predates the pregnancy," she says.
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