United States: A condition that is expressed by profound sadness, anxiety or despair in women shortly after childbirth, impacts as much 20 percent of women.
In such a case, the woman remains bedridden for five months postpartum, noted Dr. Misty Richards, the medical director of perinatal psychiatry at the Maternal Outpatient Mental Health Services Clinic at UCLA Health, who shared the details of the case with NBC News.
About a postpartum depression case
When a new mother of age 42 had just given birth at age 42, within a week, she developed postpartum depression.
Richards added, “She wasn’t taking showers. She wasn’t eating,” as NBC News reported.
Similarly, Richards’ clinic has assisted hundreds of such patients, as evidenced by this research. Initially, she recognized the woman in an intensive outpatient treatment, but the patient was actively suicidal even when she was attending, according to Richards.
That is when Richards offered zuranolone, the first pill that helps in postpartum depression.
More about postpartum depression drug
This antiviral Medicine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August, however, whose supply took months to be made available.
Some psychiatrists expressed that they have only recently begun to put the first time in the form of writing prescriptions, which is due to the fact that time has been spent in an attempt to identify good subjects that are suitable for the experimentation of the drug.
In this case, the scientists believed it would be a ‘game-changer’ due to its swift response and the fact that it can be administered from home.
Richards explained that the woman who took zuranolone, the first among her patients so far, described her depression symptoms as starting to lift about the third day in. Patients reported significant improvements starting from day eight, but the elimination did not cause any side effects, NBC News reported.
Postpartum depression symptoms
Postpartum depression (PPD) has potentially serious ramifications for both the mother and her children. In mothers, it may be affected by increasing the risk of suicidal tendencies, high blood pressure, diabetes, or a stroke.
Moreover, postpartum depression, schizophrenia, and other forms of mental disorders often contribute to suicide and intentional drug overdose, among other causes of death, within a woman’s first year of childbirth.
It should be noted that until zoranolone, there was only one way to treat the disease – an intravenous injection approved in 2019.