An Allopath recommends Alternative medicine!

[Guest guest]

This list was hot with discussion on C-section. The list has a number

of posts on foods to be avoided and taken during pregnancy. While

there are special groups devoted to pregnancy and childbirth,

midwifery etc, we at ayurveda can discuss ayurvedic herbs,

yoga etc benificial for fetus and mom both.

 

While coming across patients belonging to family of an allopath but

seeking alternative therapies is now common, medical researchers

openly recommending alternative therapy is something unusual. Having

come across such a noting, the author felt that group should also

know. Another objective of this post is to seek answers to a question

wheteher fetal distress can also be due to anti-depressants taken by

mom during pregnancy. The movement against anti-depressant SSRI

medicines is well known.

 

Infants of women who took antidepressants while pregnant, might

experience symptoms of withdrawal, including convulsions, according

to a study published in the Feb. 4 issue of the journal Lancet. Dr.

Emilio Sanz of La Laguna Medical School in Spain and colleagues

analyzed a World Health Organization database on adverse drug

reactions recorded since 1968, specifically looking for reports on

newborns who had been exposed to antidepressants in utero and

experienced symptoms at birth such as fever, quickened breathing

and "heightened agitation". The researchers found more than 100 such

cases in the WHO database and concluded that 93 could be "linked

strongly" to antidepressants based on original medical reports, as

reported in (Carey, New York Times, 2/4). In 13 of the 93 cases, the

infants also experienced convulsions -- a reaction that has not

been "widely" documented in adults who cease using antidepressants,

according to the Times. The researchers concluded that the recorded

symptoms were "more common than would be expected by chance". Paxil,

known generically as paroxetine, was most commonly associated with

withdrawal symptoms, but Celexa, Prozac and Zoloft also were linked

to withdrawal symptoms.

 

Recommendations, Reaction

 

According to Sanz, Paxil "should not be used in pregnancy, or if

used, should be given at the lowest effective dose" (Peres, Chicago

Tribune, 2/4). Approximately 10% to 15% of women experience some

depression during pregnancy, and about 25% of those women take

antidepressants, according to the Times. If left untreated, women who

experience depression during pregnancy also might be at an increased

risk of postpartum depression -- a potentially "devastating"

condition than can "cloud the relationship between mother and child"

and "interfere with the child's social development," the Times

reports (New York Times, 2/4). Therefore, some doctors "reacted with

caution" to the study, the Tribune reports. In an accompanying Lancet

opinion piece, Dr. Vladislav Ruchkin, a child psychiatrist at Yale

University, writes that a "precipitous shift away from widespread

prescription of [antidepressants] is not called for and would do much

more damage than good." However, he adds that "doctors should be more

careful" in prescribing such medications to pregnant women (Chicago

Tribune, 2/4). Dr. Patrick O'Brien, a consulting obstetrician at

University College London Hospital, said, "My advice is that if you

can avoid medication in pregnancy do, but without a doubt there will

be women who should be taking medication for depression during their

pregnancy" (BBC News, 2/4). Until further research is available, Sanz

and colleagues said that doctors should use alternative therapies to

treat depression in pregnant women and review prescription doses

(Reaney, Reuters, 2/4).

 

This author has discussed various simple remedies to be used in case

of depression in past. A cured case who followed these, is also

reported on the archieves earlier. Indian pregnant women are very

reluctant to take any medicines during pregnancy even herbal, and

they are well cared by joint family system, with daily showering of

love and advise by elderlies. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, if

they have sore relationship normally, the sourness and soreness melts

during pregnancy. Due to this, depression during pregnancy or even

Post-partum, is relatively unheard in India. Time has come for rest

of the world to follow either simple herbal regime or contented love-

filled lifestyle of oriental culture.

 

Dr Bhate