This apathy began shortly after Sahar McMahon gave birth to her second daughter, Lenora, in November 2020. When he got home, he didn’t take Lenora anywhere as he did with her eldest daughter Ophelia. At the time, she justified the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for inaction.
“I could walk around. I could stay in the yard with my friends. I could go to the playground, but I wasn’t doing anything,” said a 39-year-old man from New York City. told TODAY.com. “When her husband comes home he’s like, ‘Why aren’t you dressed? The girls aren’t dressed. What did you eat today?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know.'”
McMahon began to wonder what the meaning of life was.
“I’m afraid there will come a time when I’ll go into a room and shut the door while they’re screaming, crying and crying, even though they clearly need me. It started to happen,” she says. “[I]was alone and I was like, ‘What is this for? Why?'”
She would often let her kids watch Disney+ while sitting alone in her room. This was a big difference from all the playgroups and mommy and me classes Ophelia enjoyed. McMahon began searching online for her explanation as to why he felt so “so-so.” She didn’t think it was postpartum depression at first because she didn’t want to hurt herself or Lenora, but she thought it was a symptom of it.
“I didn’t have a connection with her,” she says. She said, “I knew she loved her, but she was resentful of her nursing. I resented her crying. We just existed.” I was just there.”
She entered a clinical trial of a new medication for postpartum depression. At the time, she didn’t know if she had received the drug, zranolone, or a placebo. (The study was double-blind, meaning neither the patient nor the researcher knew who received the drug or who received the placebo until the end of the study.)
After one dose, McMahon noticed a change and was later confirmed to be taking zranolone. The drug’s maker, Sage Therapeutics, has filed an application for approval of zranolone with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is expected in early August.
“The next day I woke up and felt like I had work to do, like the dishes weren’t finished. I have to figure out what to do,” she recalls. “I felt like myself. I felt refreshed.”
She took the pills for the entire two-week course of treatment and felt even better after the treatment. “This was life-changing for me,” she says.
Postpartum depression and its treatment
of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Christina Derigiannidis, Ph.D., principal investigator of the Zranolone clinical trial, estimates that 1 in 8 women experience postpartum depression, which begins during pregnancy and lasts at least nine months after giving birth. said it is possible.
Postpartum symptoms (also called perinatal depression) mirror symptoms of clinical depression and include:
- intense sorrow
- loss of interest
- Increased feelings of guilt
- loss of energy
- loss of appetite
- Increased anxiety and irritability
- overwhelmed
- unable to form a bond with the child
“Their main complaint is that they feel overwhelmed and anxious,” Derijan Nidis, professor of behavioral sciences at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, told TODAY.com. Mr. Deligiannidis served as a consultant for the zranolone clinical trial and received a grant from Sage Therapeutics.
In a recent study published in American Journal of Psychiatry, Deligiannidis et al. randomly assigned 196 patients to two groups. One group received zranolone for 14 days. Another received a placebo. Both groups were screened for depression before and after the trial. Patients taking zranolone experienced fewer symptoms on day 15 than those taking placebo.
Furthermore, many patients reported “rapid relief of depressive symptoms” by day 3 of taking zranolone, whereas SSRIs take weeks or even months to produce noticeable changes in mood. There are cases, Derijanidis said.
The study found improvement in depression symptoms lasted for 45 days, Derijanidis added.
“There was no recurrence of depressive symptoms,” she explains. “Despite stopping the drugs…they continue to do well.”
Because neuroactive steroids can actually “transition brain networks into a healthier … more stable state,” the drug continues to work even after patients stop taking it, Dergiannidis said, why. Further research is needed to fully understand the
The most prominent side effects were dizziness and fatigue, according to the study, and no one experienced withdrawal symptoms or suicidal thoughts after stopping the drug.
Derjanidis said the pill could change the way postnatal depression is treated.
“Some women only need acute care,” she says. “Some women may have other mental health conditions that require longer-term treatment, such as chronic anxiety disorders or other types of mental health concerns.”
Dr. Catherine Tarjan, a perinatal psychiatrist at the Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved in the study, said zranolone is “a very exciting new treatment.”
She agrees that the study only included participants after 45 days, so it’s unclear whether some patients will need longer interventions.
“Symptoms can come back. We don’t know yet,” says Tarjan. “The strength of such therapy is that it breaks the actual vicious cycle that can occur in severe conditions and resets the patient, even if that means engaging in ongoing therapy.” Psychiatrist or a therapist. ”
She points out that current PPD treatments often take months. “I try to stress that with my patients and try to normalize it. It’s okay to need ongoing support,” she says.
Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody, who also participated in the study, said Zranolone was “very exciting” in terms of how quickly it worked. She is an investigator in her Sage Therapeutics clinical trial and receives research funding from Sage Therapeutics.
She hopes the pill may alleviate some of the stigma associated with postpartum depression.
“If there’s something[that’s fast-acting and]convenient to take for a short period of time, that would be a positive step,” said Meltzer Brody, director of the University of North Carolina Women’s Center. Say you have a mood disorder. “Most people will say, ‘I want to feel better within a few days,’ especially during the very vulnerable postpartum period.”
Still, postpartum depression is so stigmatized that some survivors push their feelings through without seeking treatment. Many people think their symptoms are normal or feel so guilty about experiencing them that they don’t seek help.
“Right now, only about half of women with perinatal depression are detected, and only 10% of them receive adequate treatment,” says Derjanidis. “We need better detection. We need better connecting patients to care.”
life with two toddlers
McMahon filled out a diagnosis of depression during a visit to the gynecologist six weeks after giving birth to Lenora, but suspected she had been tested during previous visits to the pediatrician. she is thinking She suspects she was downplaying her own symptoms.
“I can’t remember exactly,” she says. “I don’t think she got as much attention from me as ‘Is this kid healthy?'”
After participating in the study, McMahon had no other symptoms of postpartum depression. She’s been staying home until the girls can start school, but she wants to go back to work in sales or marketing. Since taking her medication, she has hit the gym and lost 40 pounds of her weight. Now she and her daughters are attending playdates and swimming lessons, and McMahon has some mom friends. She enjoys being her mother more, and she doesn’t feel overwhelmed or despaired when things get tough, like when she struggles with Lenora during potty training.
“She wants diapers on. She wants them off,” McMahon said. “It’s stressful, but it’s fun.”
4-year-old Ophelia has “variety of interests”, loving unicorns, dinosaurs and Venus flytrap plants. Two-year-old Lenora is a “stubborn and straight child.” she knows what she wants. “She feels she’s grateful to be able to participate and to have access to this drug,” McMahon said.
“I can’t imagine what would have happened to me if I hadn’t participated in that study,” she says.
