Any type of sickness during pregnancy is most unwanted. A sickness related to your head is not at all welcome. With headache on, the whole thinking faculty slumps. You are just confused, and you do not know what to do.
In the state of pregnancy, you need to think twice and deeply before you take any type of medication. Because the medication affects you, and the growing baby within! Therefore, headache, during pregnancy, becomes the highly unfavorable experience. But all pregnant women have to undergo this suffering. This occurs during the first and the last trimesters.
If you get the headache during the first three months the reasons could be the initial stresses related to the pregnancy, increased blood volume and the obvious hormonal changes.
During the final three months, it is a different story. In this advanced stage of pregnancy, problems related to poor posture exert pressure on various parts of your body. You have the additional responsibility of carrying the extra weight. When your posture is not in tune with the normal laws of gravitation, you feel physical discomfiture and the brain gets continuous distress signals, which could be the reason for the headache during pregnancy.
Migraine headaches during pregnancy are to be treated on a different footing. Strange though, women may experience fewer headaches during pregnancy, but again a small percentage of them will suffer more migraine headaches. Any medication for this contingency of migraine headache will only be in consultation with the physician. If you plan to start a family, do consult the physician about your migraine problem.
Prevention is better than cure. The first and the foremost care to avoid headache during pregnancy is to avoid those items, the known triggers like cheese, chocolates, and spicy foods. Take plenty of fruits and vegetables. The balanced approach may avoid the contingency of headache altogether.
Don’t treat just headache, try to locate the cause of your headache. You must have had several headaches in the past, and you are rich with their treatment experiences. If you have the stress headache, don’t take the medication of the sinus headache. But, if you have any other complications, along with the headache, do consult your physician.
You need to take extra care if you have certain serious ailments. For example if you are a diabetic patient, you are not advised to take any over the counter medications, without consulting your physician.
Tow heads are always better than one! Do consult your physician! Don’t take your own decisions!
Tags: pregnancy headache, headache during pregnancy, pregnancy headache symptoms, pregnancy headache treat
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August 31 2008 | Pregnancy | No Comments »
In the 1980’s many in the healing professions were beginning to recognize how physiological processes such as heart rate, blood flow, pain thresholds etc. could be controlled via modalities such as hypnosis, visualization, meditation, humor and so on.
Out of these observations grew the new and exciting field of mind-body medicine also known as psycyhoneuroimmunology.
In this article I will address a new healing modality called the Mind Resonance Process
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August 30 2008 | Pregnancy | No Comments »
There has been awareness of postpartum emotional problems throughout recorded history. Although pregnancy and the difficulties surrounding motherhood are far from new, and despite our so-called advanced modern medicine, we as a society have a shamefully meager understanding of the postpartum experience, and in general, we pay astonishingly little attention to new mothers.
While society regards bringing a new baby into the world as an entirely exhilarating, blissful period, most women experience some form of negative transition, and many suffer from depression and loneliness.
At present there is much pubic controversy about the nature and treatment of postpartum mood disorders, with certain high profile celebrities such as Tom Cruise slinging derogatory remarks about the psychiatric and psychological treatment of postpartum depression.
As a society, we have a shamefully meager understanding of the postpartum experience, and in general, we pay astonishingly little attention to new mothers.
With an apparent baby boom on the rise, it is important for new mothers to recognize that pregnancy and the postnatal period which follows is often accompanied by a spectrum of challenges and confusing emotions that fit into the continuum of postpartum mood disorders. For their own well-being, and the welfare of their families and relationships, it is critical that women understand the symptoms, possible causes, and treatment options available to help ease them through this time of confusion and distress.
What Is Postpartum Illness?
Unfortunately, the nature and underlying cause of postpartum depression as a disease remains unclear. The term ‘depression’ is a rather vague and often imprecise blanket that has been commonly used to describe an entire range of (possibly unrelated) postpartum disorders, including the mild and very common temporary syndrome (which is characterized by feelings of sadness, emotional instability, weeping, irritability, and fatigue), as well as much rarer, more severe psychotic reactions.
Four basic forms of postpartum mood disorder have been identified:
Postpartum or Transitory ‘Blues’
Commonly referred to as ‘baby blues’, this describes the temporary weeping and emotional instability which occurs in 50 to 80 percent of new mothers within one to three days postpartum. Symptoms may last for several weeks and typically include:
Lethargy, lack of sleep, food cravings or loss of appetite; mood changes, a sense of vulnerability, anxiety, confusion, lack of confidence, sadness, feeling overwhelmed, not feeling like yourself, weeping, hyperactivity, oversensitivity, irritability, lack of feeling for the baby.
Postpartum Depression
More debilitating than the ‘baby blues’ this syndrome remains poorly defined and is estimated to occur at a rate of 10 to 35 percent of births. Onset may occur any time after delivery, and generally sets in after the woman has returned home from the hospital. Symptoms may last from a few weeks to several months and typically include:
Despair, tearfulness, headaches, hyperventilation, chest pains, physical numbness feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness, extreme guilt, anxiety, irritability, fatigue, loss of normal interests, thoughts of suicide, bizarre or strange thoughts, over concern for baby’s health, panic attacks, hostility, new fears or phobias, difficulty concentrating, hallucinations, nightmares, no feelings for baby, feeling out of control, feeling like you are ‘going crazy’.
This syndrome is probably the least studied or defined. Although treatable, many women suffering from postpartum depression do not recognize that they have the illness. Researchers estimate that only 20 percent of women with the disorder seek help; guilt and fear often prevent women from seeking treatment.
Postpartum Psychosis
Most medical and psychiatric literature is preoccupied with this severe, but relatively rare disorder whose symptoms are similar to general psychotic reactions. Onset is rapid and debilitating; 80 percent of all cases occur within three to fourteen days after a symptom-free period. Symptoms include:
Extreme confusion, memory loss, incoherence, bizarre hallucinations, refusal to eat, inability to control behavior, frantic excessive energy, irrationality and unfounded suspiciousness.
Postpartum Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome
A fourth category has been introduced in recent years, which accounts for a disorder defined as postpartum post-traumatic stress syndrome, which views Caesarian birth, death of the infant and other major traumatic stresses as triggers to postpartum illness.
Click here for more information on postpartum mood disorders and treatments: http://www.gkfa.com/health/body/pregnancy/Postpartum_Mood_Disorders_Causes_Treatment.asp
Johneen Manning is Editor-In-Chief of http://www.GKFA.com, a hip, savvy and fresh online magazine for the ‘Sex and the City’ generation of women.
Tags: pregnancy, postpartum disorders, depression, baby blues, postpartum illness, babies, doula, parents
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August 29 2008 | Pregnancy | No Comments »