You may have heard that postpartum depression is a major concern for women after delivery. But there are other mood conditions that may affect your pregnancy. Above all, anxiety during pregnancy is common. Almost 1 in 5 pregnant women or birthing people have it. All in all, pregnancy anxiety can lead to you feeling a range of emotions. As a matter of fact, it can be hard to know whether you can cope with your feelings, or whether you could do with some extra support.

“Great things happen to those who don’t stop believing, trying, learning, and being grateful.” – Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Pregnancy Anxiety Symptoms

Altogether, some degree of worry is natural during pregnancy. After all, the process may be entirely new for you. You may have faced situations in the past, like miscarriage, that give you reason for concern. But if these worries start to interfere with everyday life, you may have anxiety.

Symptoms include:

• feeling an uncontrollable sense of anxiousness
• worrying excessively about things, especially your health or baby
• inability to concentrate
• feeling irritable or agitated
• having tense muscles
• sleeping poorly

Occasionally, bouts of anxiety may lead to panic attacks. Basically, these attacks may start very suddenly with the symptoms above, and progress. During a panic attack, your symptoms may be very physical in nature, which can make the experience that much worse.

“The victory over our inner self is a daily struggle. Be strong and do not give up.” – Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind

Anxiety and Pregnancy

During high levels of anxiety during pregnancy are associated with a risk of developing conditions like preeclampsia, premature birth, and low birth weight.

 1st Trimester Anxiety

In length, I suggest taking a few simple steps that’ll help you curb the first-trimester fear and focus instead on how amazing this stage of life truly is. While speaking with a mental health counselor is definitely the best step if your anxiety is interfering with your day-to-day life, these simple, at-home steps may work wonders in reducing some of the fear you feel in the early days of your pregnancy.

• Talk about your pregnancy.
• Stop over-analyzing your symptoms.
• Stay away from Google.
• Ask your doctor about early monitoring.
• Get your zen on. The perfect time to give meditation a try.
• Know the rules. Pregnancy comes with a laundry list of rules.
• Stay busy.
• Lastly, listen to your body.

 2nd Trimester Anxiety

Consequently, maternal stress during the second trimester of pregnancy may influence the nervous system of the developing child, both before and after birth, and may have subtle effects on temperament, resulting in less smiling and engagement, as well as diminished ability to regulate emotions.

Subsequently, in a study led by UC San Francisco, researchers looked at the stress levels of 151 low-to-middle-income women who were between 12 and 24 weeks pregnant. Hence, the researchers followed the women throughout pregnancy and after delivery, and conducted a test to compare their reported stress levels during pregnancy with objective levels of stress in their 6-month-old offspring.

At length, the mothers reported the number of stressful life events they had experienced during pregnancy, which included illness, relationship problems, housing difficulties and legal issues. Furthurmore, the babies of mothers with the highest number of these stressful life events – 22 of the 67 who completed the testing – were 22 percent more “reactive” than the 22 infants of mothers reporting the lowest number of stressful life events. They also recovered less quickly from the stressor, demonstrating lower resilience.

 3rd Trimester Anxiety

Therefore, experiencing third trimester anxiety can be totally normal. In fact, more than 1 in 10 pregnant women experience anxiety at some point. Being that, third trimester anxiety can be attributed to a variety of things like changing hormones and worries about how your pregnancy has progressed to this point. Not to mention being nervous about your baby’s health and making sure delivery goes as smoothly as it can. Even more, anxiety can be exacerbated if your doctor has diagnosed any type of pregnancy complications.

Due to some of the stress you’re feeling may come from simply not knowing and leaving questions unanswered. Understanding what is happening to your body during the third trimester can put your worries in perspective.

“There are no negatives in life, only challenges to overcome that will make you stronger.” – Eric Bates

Benadryl For Anxiety While Pregnant?

Yes, Benadryl is considered safe to take during pregnancy. Moreover, Benadryl has been available for quite some time. This has allowed experts to study it thoroughly. Overall, multiple studies have shown that Benadryl and other first-generation antihistamines don’t cause harm to unborn babies.

Certain selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Hence, SSRIs usually are an option during pregnancy. These include citalopram (Celexa), sertraline (Zoloft), escitalopram (Lexapro) and fluoxetine (Prozac). Presently, risks include high blood pressure for the pregnant person and premature birth. These risks are small.

Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). Therefore, some SNRIs can be treatment options during pregnancy. These include duloxetine (Cymbalta) and venlafaxine (Effexor XR).

Bupropion (Forfivo XL, Wellbutrin SR). Most often, bupropion isn’t a first treatment for depression during pregnancy. Consequently, research suggests that taking bupropion during pregnancy might be linked with a small risk of miscarriage or heart defects.

Tricyclic antidepressants. In a word, this class of medicines includes nortriptyline (Pamelor) and amitriptyline. Most often, tricyclic antidepressants aren’t a first or second treatment for depression during pregnancy. In addition, the tricyclic antidepressant clomipramine (Anafranil) might be linked with birth defects in babies, including heart problems.

“Beautiful souls are shaped by ugly experiences.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

Anxiety and Panic Attacks While Pregnant

Though many women might think of pregnancy as a magical time, it is not always nine months of bliss. In brief, stress and anxiety may run high. And panic attacks during pregnancy are actually quite common. “Up to 10 percent of pregnant women struggle with panic attacks,” says Gina Hassan, PhD, a licensed psychologist in Berkeley, Calif., who specializes in perinatal health.

For the most part, the symptoms of a panic attack during pregnancy are no different from a panic attack at any other time:

• Rapid heartbeat
• Chest pain
• Shaking or trembling
• Breathing difficulty
• Dizziness

“People feel like they’re having a heart attack,” Hassan says. “Some women feel like they’re going to die.”

Therefore, women who have a history of panic attacks are more likely to experience panic attacks when they are pregnant. However, women who have never had a panic attack in their lives may find themselves experiencing them during pregnancy, Hassan says. On the other hand, some women who get panic attacks may find they subside when they are pregnant.

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” – Willie Nelson

Natural Remedies for Anxiety During Pregnancy

Surprisingly, therapies such as cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) demonstrate promise in the peripartum period (the period shortly before, during, and after giving birth). In essence, CBT focuses on challenging maladaptive thoughts, emotions, and actions, and it uses anxiety management strategies such as diaphragmatic breathing (adapted to pregnancy). Here are some more natural remedies for anxiety:

• Engage in regular physical activity.
• Ensure adequate sleep.
• Practice mindfulness.
• Journaling
• Schedule worry time.
• Yoga, massage, meditation, and acupuncture.

“It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.”– Robert H. Schuller

Conclusion

Unfortunately, two of the most common mental health screening tools in pregnancy (the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Screen and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale) are not great at detecting anxiety in pregnancy. Although underdiagnosed, anxiety disorders during pregnancy and in the postpartum period are common, and may affect up to one in five women. Many women suffer in silence.

When thinking about management of anxiety, it is important to consider both the risks of treatment as well as the harms of untreated anxiety. Although less studied than depression, research suggests that anxiety may negatively affect both the mother and the fetus. Anxiety increases the risk for preterm birth, low birthweight, earlier gestational age, and a smaller head circumference (which is related to brain size).

Well, I hope this gives you (expectant mother’s) the insight between anxiety from pregnancy. In other words, there are several ways (not just meds) that can help you when coping with anxiety in pregnancy. Until next time…

Articles

-9 Natural Remedies for Anxiety During Pregnancy

https://natalist.com/blogs/learn/natural-remedies-for-anxiety-during-pregnancy

-Medicinal Plants for the Treatment of Mental Diseases in Pregnancy: An In Vitro Safety Assessment

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9519192

-Antidepressants and Pregnancy: Tips from an Expert

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/antidepressants-and-pregnancy-tips-from-an-expert#:~:text=Benzodiazepines%3A%20Women%20should%20avoid%20using,for%20short%20periods%20of%20time.

Have a Good One,

Cindee Murphy, One Voice – Unstoppable

“A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.”– Wade Boggs

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References

https://www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/im-pregnant/mental-wellbeing/anxiety-and-panic-attacks-pregnancy#:~:text=Anxiety%20in%20pregnancy%20is%20common,do%20with%20some%20extra%20support.

https://monicaandandy.com/blogs/ma-edit/first-trimester-anxiety-during-pregnancy

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2017/11/409146/stress-pregnancy-linked-changes-infants-nervous-system-less-smiling-less

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-can-you-manage-anxiety-during-pregnancy-202106252512