perinatal mood disorders

[Guest guest]

Dear Cheryl;

THere is need for many such advocates, in every town and neighborhood.

TLC is the #1 piece and starting place, of course, yet there are some

very simple and powerful pieces known by cultures around the world

that don't have problems postpartum. Warm food and drink is one of

them, freshly cooked food not leftovers the next day, lots of good

fats...the list begins. It looks opposite to what most people in our

culture believe and do, so I really honor your willingness to look

into the theory behind it. This has to be (and is really) easy to

understand and share given the tendencies and beliefs about what is

healthy which don't take into account postpartum physiological

conditions. From that is where the unique though very similar

depression postpartum mothers experience unfolds, and it is such a

blessing that because her heart is already so opened with her baby,

taking care of mom's physiology saves the psychology from self blame

and also creates rapid turnarounds when correctly observed.

 

THe challenge is with clients who have so many practioners giving them

advice and costing them so much, and the mothers go onto the meds,

which exacerbate root cause imbalances while covering them up, results

are not so quick and they tend to be less willing. For this reason,

I'm especially encouraging those of you who have recognized licensure

such as nurses, midwives, docs and dietitions, to learn this work

carefully.

 

So, in answer to your question, I would like to refer you first to

midwife Robin Lim's book, After the Baby's Birth, with a couple

cautions. Robin's book is a wealth of wisdom and good advice, except

that her understanding of the specific type of vata balances after

childbirth is lacking, creating a few misunderstandings and recipes

that can contribute to emotional as well as colic problems (discussed

below).

 

Because overall her book is so well done around the postpartum mother

and baby, I feel it may be a good place for you to start/resource. If

you want more depth, I offer 7 (actually 10) inexpensive home study

units, mostly specific to postpartum and 3 general ayurvedic ones -

email me for the list at AyurDoulas (at) sacredwindow.com. One is

called Foundations of Postpartum Care and Cooking, the main postpartum

theory unit.

 

In the betweens of those two sources are many books, and many good and

less useful resources online. For books, you may choose from many

including Dr. Lad's cookbook for self healing (Indian style recipes

and wealth of theory and culinary herb/food medicine makes it rich) or

his textbooks, or his intro primer I forget the name and not all my

books are unpacked. Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf et al - A Woman's Best

Medicine is easier for westerners perhaps, more general and more women

specific rich in interest. Dr. Deepak Chopra, Perfect Health, is a

classic also on Ayurvedic medicine, good depth and as he is always,

well spoken. Robert Svoboda, Maya Tiwari (Swamini Mayatitananda),

Kummuda Reddy, John Douillard and many other authors provide good

introductions in their publications, it sort of depends on your angle

and depth of interest.

 

This lovely article comes from the excellent journal, Light on

Ayurveda, written here by Candis Packard on the 6 stages of disease.

It illustrates many principles of Ayurveda applied to imbalances

according to each dosha (metabolic principle) out of balance:

http://www.loaj.com/articles/basic_ayurveda.html

 

and this page by one of our group members,

http://www.ayurveda-florida.com/Newsletters_ayurvedist_ayurveda_medicine_science\

_topics/The_Ayurvedist_Newsletter_January_2005.htm#Disease_Modeling

(this is a long url - copy and paste for best effect) gives some

foundational definitions for before the first link is read.

 

another member, Dr. SHirish Bhate, has many articles at

http://health.ayurvedaarticles/Dr.%20BhateFi\

les/

Members here may be especially interested in the incompatible foods

and food properties articles as continuation of this enquiry.

 

How to translate this info into PPMD is another level discussion for

many of the readers; however familiarity with the ideas therein will help.

 

Here's my suggestion to this question - Start with Robin's chapter on

The Ayurvedic LIfestyle. It is a good very simple intro to some basic

concepts including the 3 doshas, ojas, digestion (however she does not

introduce or define the important concept, agni). The subsection on

the science of eating is good general intro/advice. The food

guidelines for vata dosha include things not appropriate postpartum so

you can come back here and/or visit my website www.sacredwindow.com

for more specifics. The Ayurveda for Postpartum Women is mostly good,

except for advice not to take long baths and the Raita recipes are

best avoided first 6 weeks. The Making Friends with Food chapter

unfortunately has mostly innapropriate recipes for the first 6-8 weeks

after birth, yet lots of wisdom is found there too.

 

THe chapter on PPD suggests to eliminate several things including

sugar - the thing to qualify that is moms need extra carbs including

healthy sweets not cooked honey and for most, minimizing the refined

white sugar is noticably helpful - and advises lots of exercise - not

appropriate in first couple months. (Self massage is strongly advised

to help move things thru the body, soothe and integrate, according to

ayurvedic principles - Ysha). THere is also the statement that

" PRedicting who will suffer from PPD is impossible. " and another that

says they (midwives) don't know what causes colic. Ayurveda differs

here. Specific to PPMD, there are good intro discussions also to

several ayurvedic herbs in this book; best effects come with trained

formulation specific to the individual for many reasons.

 

ENjoy your journey, and I look forward to unfolding our conversation

in mutual service to more mothers.

 

Ysha

 

> So, I will probably gain a lot of understanding by reading. Do you

have a suggestion of something I can review before reading the

groups posts to help in my understanding of the terminology used

within your group?