2023-08-10 08:54:00
Instead of great happiness, some women feel deep sadness shortly following giving birth. In the USA, a drug once morest this postpartum depression has now been approved, from which researchers have great promise.
After the birth of her daughter Leonara, Sahar McMahon has felt down and anxious. She looked at her daughter and thought: “Get out of here!” Her daughter cried and McMahon himself just went into another room, she said in the CBS interview.
Like Sahar McMahon, many women in late pregnancy or following giving birth feel the same way. Around half a million women suffer from postpartum depression every year in the USA alone – commonly referred to as postpartum depression. It’s an underestimated, misunderstood disease.
No normal hormone fluctuations
“This isn’t regarding the baby blues,” said Kristina Deligiannidis, a professor at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York. Deligiannidis explained that postpartum depression is not a normal, temporary hormone fluctuation that can affect mood following childbirth and then disappear on its own.
The New York scientist was involved in the research of the newly approved drug: Zurzuvae from Sage Therapeutics and Biogen is the first approved oral pill specifically for postpartum depression.
Tablet to take at home less stigmatizing
Scientist Patricia Kinser conducts research on postpartum depression at Virginia Commonwealth University. She calls the new drug groundbreaking. Experience with other mental health medications has shown that having a pill that you can take at home makes it more accessible to women and less stigmatizing.
She knows from her work with pregnant women or women who have just given birth and are suffering from postpartum depression that they often do not want to talk regarding it.
Drug might spread knowledge regarding disease
That’s how it went for Krystian Mitryk. She told Fox: “I didn’t know anything regarding postpartum depression. I thought I was crazy, so I didn’t want to say anything.”
For this reason, the scientist Kinser hopes that the new drug and the information regarding it will have another positive effect – namely that family members or friends will also become aware of what these symptoms of depression and anxiety can mean. So that they might then support the new mom to seek help.
With risks and side effects
The Zurzuvae pill for the treatment of postpartum depression is to be taken once a day for two weeks. The drug has not been approved for the treatment of clinical depression – and there are also side effects.
“Drowsiness and dizziness seem to be the most common side effects,” Kinser said. “As with all medications used to treat mental health, we also see a slightly increased risk of suicide.”
On the US market by the end of the year
Whether Zurzuvae is also suitable for breastfeeding women is not yet clear and needs to be researched further. Sahar McMahon, the mother of little Leonora, who once cried in the other room, is glad that she was able to test the drug. She immediately felt like herself once more.
The new drug is expected to be on the US market by the end of the year. It has not yet been clarified what it will cost and whether the health insurance companies will cover it.
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