Zoloft and Pregnancy Blog

Any parent would not want his/herchild to suffer from any birth defects. This could be painful especially to themother who carried the child in her womb for 9 months so. This could cause somewomen to experience post-partum depression. Fact is, women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and circumstances such as birth defects may evenpredispose the woman to the condition.  Women who are depressed prior topregnancy are more at risk and these birth defects may happen to their babiesdue to the antidepressants that they should take.

The Pregnant Woman and Depression

Pregnancy is viewed as a happy timefor women but some won’t agree. Depression is suffered by 1 out of 10 women.With a lot of things to think about, the pregnant woman is at a very delicatephase of her life. One might ask, what are the factors that can put a pregnantwoman to depression? The risk factors below can contribute to depression.

•            History of Depression

A woman’s underlying condition maybe exacerbated with pregnancy. {Others who’ve had minor manifestations ofdepression may feel that that it could worsen during and after thepregnancy. 

•            Hormonal Changes

Pregnant women were believed to beprotected by pregnancy hormones in the past. Experts only suggested that womenare susceptible to depression only after giving birth where pregnancy hormonesare at low levels. However, it has been observed that the when the hormones areincreased during pregnancy, it tends to cause an imbalance in the brain whichcan lead to depression.

•            Stress

Stress is good if it is in smalldoses as it can increase focus and awareness. However, it can disrupt functionwhen at high levels. Pregnancy is indeed a risky condition for a woman and theadditional stress cannot be helpful. Research has shown that stress has a bigfactor when it comes to mental disoders including depression.

Antidepressants are usually thefirst line of defense for depression but physicians are now being carefulbecause it has been linked to the development of birth defects when takenduring pregnancy. SSRI’s in general have been under study and a connection betweenbirth defects has been established. Zoloft birth defects can be cited as examples asZoloft belongs to the SSRI drug class.