Advocating For Postpartum Depression
I am passionate about advocating for change in the perception of post partum depression and psychosis. It's very important that young women provide support for one another.
The experience I had during my childbearing years caused me to change my whole life when I was 30 years old. I made a promise to myself at that time that I would do anything and everything to prove that hormones, not a mental illness causes this condition. I vow that when hormonaltides.com is launched in August, a tidal will hit the entire medical community. My web design person is a 29-year- old mother of four who has experienced postpartum psychosis. The 20-year-old woman who will serve as my PR person has a mother and her two sisters also experienced postpartum psychosis.
I am well connected, have done the research and am not afraid to challenge the mental health system in this country. There is a quote I found in one of the hundreds of books I have read during my research.
"It's the isolation of trauma that's more damaging than trauma itself."
Women have suffered in silence because they fear loosing their children because they’ve thought of harming them. Women have taken their own lives and their children's lives during these hormonal events. Family members, men and children's lives also change dramatically. This has stop and the only way that will happen is by young women sharing their stories.
The research that has been ongoing in Europe clearly indicates the link between estrogen levels and these conditions. I felt better than I ever felt during my only full-term pregnancy. I ended my childbearing years at 30 because of what happened. I knew then and can prove now that no matter how many drugs they put you on or how many shock treatments they give you, women will continue suffer from these conditions until the hormone imbalances that cause the condition are treated.
The book “The Estrogen-Depression Connection” by Karen Miller is a must-read book for every young woman. I am in the process of contacting the author of this book to ask for her support of my site. I will be linking to a natural compounding pharmacy at www.bpharmacysolutions. They are treating women, who are experiencing post partum depression, with natural hormone replacement. It much safer than taking antidepressant medications that cause mood swings and possible suicide -- but that's a whole other topic I will be discussing. Unfortunately, post partum psychosis is a bit more challenging to treat at this time. I hope to change that in the near future.
Be Well. The tide is about to change.
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Hi, Sheila,
It's so great to hear what you're doing to help spread awareness of PPD and PPP!! I'm always encouraged when I learn about others who are trying to make a difference with this crucial issue.
Women have been suffering, and dying, since the beginning of time from perinatal mood disorders. Even though we've made great strides in recent years towards increasing awareness and educating the medical community, we still have a long way to go.
I completely agree with you on the hormonal connection to PPD and other postpartum mood disorders. How did you come to this realization and make the connection?
Warm regards,
Kristin
Kristin Park
http://ppdsurvivor.blogspot.com
I came to this realization because I have been a hormonally challenged women since puberty. From the moment I got my period until most recently having my ovaries removed due to what turned out to be borderline ovarian cancer, having suffered with all the symptoms that women suffer during each of the significant hormonal events that occur in our lives puberty, childbearing and menopause, I discovered through my research that all of this was caused due to the miscoding of progesterone at puberty. I look at what I have been through as a gift. I am a very strong women, probably because that progesterone problem that caused estrogen dominance my whole life most likely provide me with a bit extra testosterone. You know what gets me the most Kristin. The answers to our health problems are looking us right in the eye. To me conditions such as post partum depession and psychosis are so obviously hormone driven not only because of what I went through but also because during my research I discovered there has been an utter lack of research in the area of the effect of reproductive hormones on brain function and development. At this point I want you to know that I did a research paper in the 9th grade on the birth defects caused by thalidomide. I have always been interested in science. I remember what I learned in biology, chemistry and physics. I know there are drugs out there that help people but my concern is would we be this sick if our hormones were in balance. It hard for me to give simple answers at this point. My head is stuffed with so much information. I will tell you though that the event which caused me to take on this cause of post partum depression and psychosis lead me down a path I could never imagine. This all started back when Andea Yates killed her children. I was stunned that 25 years had gone by since I had changed my whole life because of the nightmare my childbearing years turned into and this could happen. Did you know that there was never a single study done to determine a treatment or even a cause of PPD and PPP in this country until the death of Andrea's children. When the case was going on, I called her lawyer and told them they were misrepresenting her. Why had they not spoken to other women who had experienced this. I was outraged when she was tried for murder. Back in 1973, in the UK PMS was successfully used by the defense in a murder trial. In the UK, when a woman kills a child within the first year of life, when it's hormone related, the maximum sentence is manslaughter. The majority of the cases are decided with suspended sentences with counseling. You would not believe the studies I have found that have been ongoing for ten years in Europe using estrogen in the treatment of PPP. They also are using estrogen in the treatment of schizophrenia. I hope I answered your question. I am looking into doing a video because all of my research is related. All I did was reconnect the mind to the body and study the entire endocrine system in an effort to prove PPD and PPP are hormonally driven and I opened a can of worms that makes my head ache. I guess someone had to do it. I am going to need a great deal of support as I begin to present all that I know. All you have to do is follow the money to figure out why this research has not been done. If most every condition and disease we suffer from could be treated naturally, how much money would the pharmacutical companies loose. The tide is about to change. That will be my theme on my site hormonaltides.com when it's launched in August. Be Well.
One thing that really bothered me when doing my research is that all studies that are related to women's hormonal health are and have been done in psychiatry. I would have thought these studies would would have been done in reproductive endocrinology. The reason, being ladies, is PPD and PPP are considered to be mental illness. It's my contention that these conditions are hormonally driven and you will see by this study that is the direction European researches are head. There are other links to this condition that I will discuss when hormonaltides.com is launched in August. Be Well. The tide is about to change.
Psychiatry. 2000 Mar;61(3):166-9.Links
Positive treatment effect of estradiol in postpartum psychosis: a pilot study.
Ahokas A, Aito M, Rimón R.
Department of Psychiatry, Helsinki City Hospital, Finland. antti.ahokas@kolumbus.fi
BACKGROUND: Postpartum illnesses with psychiatric symptoms and serious adverse sequelae are highly prevalent during the childbearing years. Despite multiple medical contacts, these illnesses often remain unidentified and untreated. To study the association between estradiol and puerperal psychosis, we measured serum concentration of estradiol and performed an open-label trial of physiologic 17beta-estradiol in women with this disorder. METHOD: Ten women with ICD-10 psychosis with postpartum onset consecutively recruited from a psychiatric duty unit were studied. Serum estradiol concentration was measured at baseline and weekly during sublingual 17beta-estradiol treatment for 6 weeks. The treatment effect was evaluated by a clinician-rated psychiatric symptom scale (the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale [BPRS]). RESULTS: The baseline serum estradiol levels (mean = 49.5 pmol/L; range, 13-90 pmol/L) were even lower than the threshold value of gonadal failure, and the patients exhibited high scores on the psychiatric symptom scale (mean BPRS total score = 78.3; range, 65-87). During the first week of 17beta-estradiol treatment, psychiatric symptoms diminished significantly (BPRS score decreased to a mean of 18.8, p < .001). Until the end of the second week of treatment, serum estradiol concentrations rose to near the values normally found during the follicular phase, and the patients became almost free of psychiatric symptoms. CONCLUSION: The reversal of psychiatric symptoms in all patients by treating documented estradiol deficiency suggests that estradiol plays a role in the pathophysiology and may have a role in the treatment of this condition. There was a rebound of psychotic symptoms in the 1 patient who discontinued estradiol treatment. Given the small number of patients, this area deserves further study.
PMID: 10817099 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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I wanted to let you know that hormonaltides.com's launch has been delayed. I am working with a web design company which is taking much longer than I anticipated. The new launch time frame is November. Be well. The tide is about to change.
Due to a job loss in October, the launch of hormonaltides.com has unfortunately been delayed until late Spring. I assure you it will be worth the wait. Be well. The tide is about to change.