Eighty percent of women experience some level of the baby blues after giving birth, and symptoms usually clear up on their own. One in eight-to-ten women experiences postpartum depression. When symptoms don't go away in a few weeks, women should seek help through health care providers and licensed counselors. Treatment may include talk therapy, medication, support groups, or a combination of these.
In recent years, a mass spectrometry process that can detect the amounts of drugs in a biological sample, such as blood, has become a powerful diagnostic tool for helping medical professionals identify and monitor levels of therapeutic drugs in patients, which can cause unwanted or dangerous side effects.
Jerry Guintivano, PhD, of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, led an exclusive transcriptome-wide association research that showed substantial changes in B-cells in women with postpartum depression, with pathway observations indicating modified B-cell activation and insulin resistance.
Exposure to phthalates-; a group of chemicals found in everything from plastics to personal care products to electronics-; may disrupt an important hormone needed to sustain a healthy pregnancy, according to a Rutgers study.