Mental Health for Moms

jean1stpreggo

Hi all,

To anyone who has had previous children or experiences anything under than constant anxiety during this time, SHARE YOUR TIPS! I deal with anxiety and ADHD, and cutting out ADHD meds has only heightened the anxiety. Would love to hear any advice y’all can offer to help me chill for my little nugget’s sake!

knottie92c7518cf70ff453

I am in the same boat. I was on adderdall 60mg a day. Very high dose. I cut myself down to 20mg a day and hope to stop all together next week. It’s very difficult though. I feel your pain! 

dvmpow

For some reason I found that the pregnancy hormones actually chilled me out most of the time apart from a very occasional panic attack. Talking to my baby helped too. Breathing (4 sec in, hold 4 sec, out slow as long as possible) when the anxiety was causing physical symptoms. Wishing you the best mama, you got this!

breezi711

I have generalized anxiety and always quit my meds during pregnancy. My midwives are supportive and told me to keep them updated if the anxiety gets out of hand—they said that there are some meds are considered relatively low risk. But aside from that, I have had wonderful success with counseling to help me manage my anxiety. Best of luck to you!

knottie054ee2966b5f42f6

breezi711 said:

I have generalized anxiety and always quit my meds during pregnancy. My midwives are supportive and told me to keep them updated if the anxiety gets out of hand—they said that there are some meds are considered relatively low risk. But aside from that, I have had wonderful success with counseling to help me manage my anxiety. Best of luck to you!

This is really great.

elevensies

I have avoided taking anxiety medication because I don’t like the side effects so I’ve spent years figuring out what works for me. These may not work for you but you never know. 

Taking a walk in nature definitely helps my anxiety but even a walk around the neighborhood helps. I have to be consistent about it. Before being pregnant, working out 4-5x a week was really helpful but I don’t have the energy for that these days so I just walk and do gentle yoga

Also avoiding all social media and the news especially in the morning is crucial for me. I tend to have worse anxiety on days I use social media or read triggering news. I think it has something to do with the dopamine and cortisol spikes they trigger. 

Eating a whole foods diets of home cooked meals has a big impact for me

Those are my general anxiety tips but I need to do more for times when anxiety is really bad like right now being in the first trimester with my (hopefully) rainbow baby. I haven’t had my first ultrasound yet and I had 3 normal ultrasounds last time before my 4th one had no heartbeat. The only ways I’m getting through this right now is 1) keeping myself very busy with reading, cooking while listening to music, cleaning while podcasting 2) if I’m on the verge of an anxiety attack I listen to a guided meditation track on Insight Timer app