I have hundred of links to sites related to my research but I could not find the one for this study so I cut and pasted for you to read.
It always helps to understand where someone is coming from when discussing a topic such as this. First, I want you to know that I think this case is incredibly tragic and could have been prevented if the psychiatrist in her case had done the right thing and committed her to protect her and her children but not only did that not happened he also took her off all the medication right before she killed the children.
When I was twenty four I had the my first of three psychiatric hospitalization that occurred while I was trying to have children. After this first hospitalization occurred as a result of a sever depression I experience which developed over the year following a very difficult miscarriage during the second trimester. I consulted a psychiatric who put me on an antidepressant drug by the name of Elivil. Shortly after he put me on the medication my mood started to change very quickly. I felt really good. Then my period was late and I discovered I was a few weeks pregnant. Well my moods became so elevated I could not sleep and very busy taking book out of library and becoming delusionnary. My husband at the suggestion of one of my friends called the psychiatric and they took me off to the hospital. I discovered during my research that a side effect of Elivil is mood swings. So after I got out of the hospital where I was diagnosed as bipolar, my psychiatrist told me that women become mentally ill during their childbearing years and I should not have children. I thought he was out of his mind. I knew that my pregnancies has something to do with what happened and I was not going to let some psychiatric tell me that I should not have children. My husband and I decided to try and have another baby. I had the doctor take me off the medication which took a few months. I was never concerned about having an issues because I had never had any kind emotional of mood swing issues prior to that pregnancy. Eight months went by and I became pregnant. This would be my fourth pregnancy. I had some bleeding and cramps in the beginning and my doctor told me that he felt I had a 50/50 change of having the baby. If I was unable to carry this pregnancy he was going to send me to see a fertility doctor in Boston. Well everything turned out well. I felt better than I had ever felt. I loved being pregnant and watching my body change. I had a great sense of becoming a real women during this pregnancy. I experienced a great sense of peacefulness as the baby grew. I had a very easy labor and delivery which took only 3 1/2 hours and I instantly bonded with my son. I was the only mother who breast. I loved being a new Mom and had a loving and supportive husband, family and friends. Then about six weeks after he was born I started to feel really good again. I was having a great time and then something changed. I recall being in a church parking in our car with my husband and my younger brother. I got out of the car because I was afraid of my husband. I thought he was the Devil because he had blue eyes. I never had any feeling about harming my son, thank god, but my life was in danger. I have a great deal of memory loss surrounding this time due to the shock treatments I had. I will be advocating the end of the use of shock treatments expect in the most severe cases because all they do is wipe out memory. I was in the hospital for 2 1/2 months. Even though I had experienced this type of episode before my husband did not have any idea this was coming.
You don't go through a pregnancy feeling the way I did and then end up in a psychiatric hospital at six or seven weeks after giving birth and not know that hormone changes are the core reason this happens.
When I read Andreas story in the book "Are you There Alone?" by Suzzane O'Malley who is a journalist that followed the case, it brought back so many memory for me. It's a very tragic story about what happened. She was on many drugs it's beyond me to understand why the psychiatric did not admit her. The book is very difficult to read. I just read it last summer when I also read Brooke Shield book. My son turned 29 yesterday. How could they have not done the research to prevent the deaths of women and children. I am not anger or do I want to point a finger because I received the best care that was avaialbe and it saved my life. I am passionate about changing the perception pregnancy. We are born with the gift of bring forth life. It's nothing less than a miracle and that's they way it should be perceived.
I have contacted the publishing company that published this book and they have forwarded and email I sent to her asking to speak to her. There are some question I would like to ask her that have to do with this case. There is more to this case than meets the eye. There is more I could disclose about a link that I have uncovered that is key to having a deeper understanding of other related links to the causes of PPD and PPP .
We all come into this life with a purpose. My purpose became clear to me when a psychiatrist told me that women become mentally ill during their childbearing. Did you know that the highest rate of psychiatric hospitalizations occur related to pregnancy. Did you know almost every day in this country women kills themselves or their children in a post partum state. I would like to see this end and the only way that can happened is if women stop being afraid of loosing their children because of their thoughts and seek out help. Had I been alone going through what I went through of course my son and myself would have been at great risk. Though I was traumatized by my psychiatric hospitalizations, no one died. I am advocating for change in the perception.
Did you know the reason Andrea Yates kept on getting pregnant was not only based on religious reasons she also stated she was symptom free when she was pregnant.
I hope what I have shared and this study provides you with some insight.
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. ]]>[email protected]]]>
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.
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I have hundred of links to sites related to my research but I could not find the one for this study so I cut and pasted for you to read.
It always helps to understand where someone is coming from when discussing a topic such as this. First, I want you to know that I think this case is incredibly tragic and could have been prevented if the psychiatrist in her case had done the right thing and committed her to protect her and her children but not only did that not happened he also took her off all the medication right before she killed the children.
When I was twenty four I had the my first of three psychiatric hospitalization that occurred while I was trying to have children. After this first hospitalization occurred as a result of a sever depression I experience which developed over the year following a very difficult miscarriage during the second trimester. I consulted a psychiatric who put me on an antidepressant drug by the name of Elivil. Shortly after he put me on the medication my mood started to change very quickly. I felt really good. Then my period was late and I discovered I was a few weeks pregnant. Well my moods became so elevated I could not sleep and very busy taking book out of library and becoming delusionnary. My husband at the suggestion of one of my friends called the psychiatric and they took me off to the hospital. I discovered during my research that a side effect of Elivil is mood swings. So after I got out of the hospital where I was diagnosed as bipolar, my psychiatrist told me that women become mentally ill during their childbearing years and I should not have children. I thought he was out of his mind. I knew that my pregnancies has something to do with what happened and I was not going to let some psychiatric tell me that I should not have children. My husband and I decided to try and have another baby. I had the doctor take me off the medication which took a few months. I was never concerned about having an issues because I had never had any kind emotional of mood swing issues prior to that pregnancy. Eight months went by and I became pregnant. This would be my fourth pregnancy. I had some bleeding and cramps in the beginning and my doctor told me that he felt I had a 50/50 change of having the baby. If I was unable to carry this pregnancy he was going to send me to see a fertility doctor in Boston. Well everything turned out well. I felt better than I had ever felt. I loved being pregnant and watching my body change. I had a great sense of becoming a real women during this pregnancy. I experienced a great sense of peacefulness as the baby grew. I had a very easy labor and delivery which took only 3 1/2 hours and I instantly bonded with my son. I was the only mother who breast. I loved being a new Mom and had a loving and supportive husband, family and friends. Then about six weeks after he was born I started to feel really good again. I was having a great time and then something changed. I recall being in a church parking in our car with my husband and my younger brother. I got out of the car because I was afraid of my husband. I thought he was the Devil because he had blue eyes. I never had any feeling about harming my son, thank god, but my life was in danger. I have a great deal of memory loss surrounding this time due to the shock treatments I had. I will be advocating the end of the use of shock treatments expect in the most severe cases because all they do is wipe out memory. I was in the hospital for 2 1/2 months. Even though I had experienced this type of episode before my husband did not have any idea this was coming.
You don't go through a pregnancy feeling the way I did and then end up in a psychiatric hospital at six or seven weeks after giving birth and not know that hormone changes are the core reason this happens.
When I read Andreas story in the book "Are you There Alone?" by Suzzane O'Malley who is a journalist that followed the case, it brought back so many memory for me. It's a very tragic story about what happened. She was on many drugs it's beyond me to understand why the psychiatric did not admit her. The book is very difficult to read. I just read it last summer when I also read Brooke Shield book. My son turned 29 yesterday. How could they have not done the research to prevent the deaths of women and children. I am not anger or do I want to point a finger because I received the best care that was avaialbe and it saved my life. I am passionate about changing the perception pregnancy. We are born with the gift of bring forth life. It's nothing less than a miracle and that's they way it should be perceived.
I have contacted the publishing company that published this book and they have forwarded and email I sent to her asking to speak to her. There are some question I would like to ask her that have to do with this case. There is more to this case than meets the eye. There is more I could disclose about a link that I have uncovered that is key to having a deeper understanding of other related links to the causes of PPD and PPP .
We all come into this life with a purpose. My purpose became clear to me when a psychiatrist told me that women become mentally ill during their childbearing. Did you know that the highest rate of psychiatric hospitalizations occur related to pregnancy. Did you know almost every day in this country women kills themselves or their children in a post partum state. I would like to see this end and the only way that can happened is if women stop being afraid of loosing their children because of their thoughts and seek out help. Had I been alone going through what I went through of course my son and myself would have been at great risk. Though I was traumatized by my psychiatric hospitalizations, no one died. I am advocating for change in the perception.
Did you know the reason Andrea Yates kept on getting pregnant was not only based on religious reasons she also stated she was symptom free when she was pregnant.
I hope what I have shared and this study provides you with some insight.
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. ]]>[email protected]]]>
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]
May 12, 2008 - 1:55pmThis Comment
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