Counselors for perinatal mood disorders and LA area mom in depression

[Guest guest]

HI Vicky;

I think she is in the south beach area, not sure. But I'm really

hesitant to send any early pp mom to a counselor when what she needs

is to stay home, minimize activity and input, and be cared for so she

is soothed and grounded, rejuvenated and centered by her nourishment,

the specialized warm oil massage, basic and special needs herbals,

essential oils, and resting when baby rests. Especially as she is

going thru baby's first growth spurt needs right now too!

 

Does anyone know an ayurvedic herbalist in the LA area there where her

sister can pick up a nasya and I can call in an herbal formula for her

to be picked up?

 

She is dealing with the discomfort and inconvenience on top of it all

of 12-14 days wearing a catheter and urine bag strapped to her leg,

from the doc nicking her bladder, which it is the second time that has

happened, poor woman. Naturally she has some anger around the

mismanagement. It was a Scheduled C for this and previouis birth

after unintended one with her first baby. I do not know any specific

ayurvedic supports for this except the rest and warm oil applications

and hot water bottles to bring better circulation and comfort. She is

not allowed to be in a hot bath yet, but can shower.

 

Coming out of major surgery and being responsible for a newborn, the

catheter bag, and two older children (in spite of a very helpful

husband), her system is simply on overwhelm and extreme vata, so much

so that it is difficult to rest when she has the chance. The nervous

system can get very confused as in this woman's case, for a while with

all this, on a physical level. I've encouraged her husband to diaper

and rock the baby at night for a couple nights at least also to give

her more rest; she is very sleep deprived.

 

Her sis took notes during our call and will be implementing many

things right away. After initial overwhelm just listening, the mother

called her sister and said she felt hopeful about the understanding

and tools offered, which did appeal to her and help her understand and

accept herself better, especialy as the sister is managing it for her.

She will be sending the already in place food chain better information

- which they had requested but no one knows what is really needed in

our communities so they are ready and willing!; copies of some

guidelines for foods by weeks postpartum (they had been sending

incorrect foods/leftovers from Thanksgiving etc, bound to increase

depression and lower appetite).

 

Sis has the essential oils I have found most helpful to use (we

discussed accupressure points of application with the Joy blend oil

for anxiety, as well as using it over heart chakra, after two others

are used for centering, grounding, and opening receptivity to these

higher vibration oils. She will be getting her on the hot spiced milk

tonic (which increases serotonin), hot cereals with ample ghee, stewed

spiced fruit or hot mulled cider for snack sometime, a 2 quart

thermous to keep nearby with hydrating/lactation/digestive weak fennel

fenugreek tea, researching where to get Ayurvedic herbs locally if

possible, and they are adding more ginger and agni enhancing spices to

her foods to bring the appetite up as well as looking for some daily

care. I hope someone shows up soon for that.

 

Mom is way undernourished, also because her appetite did not get

properly kindled in the first 10 days. We all know how our emotions

and energy can get very down when we are undernourished and

overworked. We talked about a few quick and easy alternatives to the

foods she was doing: eggs or cold yogurt for breakfast, leftover soup

with toast for lunch, and as she put it, " Picking at whatever my

friends bring over " for dinner because of her weak appetite, while the

rest of the family ate it. Unfortunately this is common fare for

many. And she really needs someone there to cook for her, or at least

fresh suitable meals brought in. Patti, are you nearby and is your

service designed for this kind of help even temporarily?

 

It was very comforting, encouraging news to the mother that the

anxiety, depression, fears, obsessive thoughts in the postpartum time

are all driven by her phsyiological imbalances and that many tools to

restore balance can be found by simply embracing something warm,

oily,moist, sweet, sour, salty etc in her environment or food/drink

that appeals at the moment, and it takes a lot of the fear away

knowing these simple things we all sometimes automatically use, are

central for her right now. She is ready and willing to take special

herbal formulas as soon as we can get them to her.

 

Her fears around immune protection with the older children getting

coughs and colds from school were allayed a great deal knowing her sis

could come over that afternoon and help her begin protocols to protect

all family members from repeat performances like that, and that there

are things she can easily do as needed to correctively support them. I

referred them to the " mothers' flu stories " collection on the

sacredwindow.com website to see some simple ways different mothers

have found make the difference whether their kids bring home sickness

from school. She is not ready to begin some of the simpler and less

expensive measures of " kitchen medicine " so the eoils her sister

already has are a major gift for that as well as emotional and

hormonal front line support.

 

Another story: Today a friend - not a mother, a young yoga student,

ate a vegetable soup with me and complained about feeling so heavy and

lethargic afterwards. She knows she has candida, and thought that was

the fault. I explained the root was more around her low

agni/digestive fire. We put 3 drops of a strong agni enhancing blend

on her belly, and in 5 minutes, (we were all up from the table and

going back to work) she exclaims she is hungry, more than for the

meal! They can work that quickly, and this demonstrated to her and

others how basic was the issue around digestive " fire " .

 

I believe/have seen that the amount of going to see specialists on top

of all the other responsibilities is often counter productive,

disempowering, exhausting and confusing, particuilary if these basic

things are not in place first, though of course, without other support

some loving understanding and emotional hand holding along with being

able to see that her emotional state is not something wrong with her

mind or heart. At this time something/s out of balance with her body

is a much more important focus.

 

All that said, it of course is in this country professionaly wise to

refer her to someone of more " training " and licensure than we are, who

is not so likely to slap her with meds immediately. This is what even

her nutritionist is advising and she deeply wants to avoid. So

gratefully I will pass this backup information of leads to, I expect,

APPAH members or? to her.

 

Thanks and Warm Regards;

Ysha

 

> Ysha, LA has some really good counselors who specialize in perinatal

mood disorders, which neighborhood does she live in?

[Guest guest]

Hi Ysha,

 

Just read this, and the timing is good. I should be going to LA

sometime this week. I'd be happy to meet her, cook, get/deliver

herbs, etc. Tell me how I can help.

 

What herbs are you looking for? I have a good stash. Also, Mas at

Dancing Shiva is a good resource. Who else, who else....oh, I would

try James Bailey in Santa Monica, Dr. Mishra in Northridge, and Mark

Vinick in Redondo Beach.

 

This darlin' needs some TLC!!!

 

xo

Patti

--

 

 

Patti Garland

Ayurvedic Chef and LifeStyle Coach

Bliss Kitchen

http://www.BlissKitchen.com

(760) 902-7020

 

 

 

On Dec 2, 2007, at 9:11 PM, Ysha Oakes wrote:

 

Patti, are you nearby and is your

service designed for this kind of help even temporarily?

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Ysha, I agree she needs the nutritional support and mothering and all the

wonderful care she will get, and in fact I believe it to be more important than

counseling. A good PMD counselor, though, will give her some help on the phone

and perhaps only need one visit for now. She needs validation that perinatal

mood disorder is an illness and that she is not alone with it, that she is not

to blame (so many moms blame themselves for feeling sad or obsessive) and that

she will get well. She may have anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder which

may be treated differently than depression, and maybe treated entirely with good

ayurvedic treatment or may eventually need drugs to treat the " hard " symptoms

and get her through the crisis. I just wrote an article for Birthkit (Midwifery

Today) which explains more about it. But part of PMD is not being able to sleep

even when given the opportunity and having no appetite even when beautiful

nutritious food is offered. Most women with PMD would do so much better if they

had the ayurvedic doula treatment and would not need drugs, since it really is a

contributing factor not getting support for this special time in a woman's life,

I believe. but it is good for her to at least have that lifeline of a counselor

with extensive experience with the topic who she can call when she panics. She

needs practical help (help with the house too) and a follow up plan for some

time. I have a friend who is the area coordinator for PSI for a name in that

area. She'll have it if she is interested.

Meeting with other mothers who suffer from it may be in order in a few months.

Vicky York, IBCLC, CPD

Postpartum Care Services

Rogue Valley Area, Oregon

http://mypeoplepc.com/members/vmyork/

http://vmyork.ikarma.com/id269