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FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

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Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#141

Post by ineedasername »

techie128 wrote: post #105

This is a uniquely American problem and an American solution. American healthcare and society fails new mothers. Others have done a great job of pointing out the physical and emotional distress a new mother goes through. However, I'd like to point out the social aspect. New mothers in America are not supported by paid family leave. Vast majority of women are required to go back to work in about 2 weeks after birth. F…

> This is a uniquely American problem and an American solution.

No, it is trivially easy to find out that PPD is neither uniquely American, nor does the US appear to be the country with the highest rates of occurrence.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#142

Post by xyzzy_plugh »

Since every top level comment here is a borderline tire fire, let me be the first to say:

This is great news. We need better treatments for PPD, which is real and very serious that can cause long term lasting effects in serious cases without treatment, and can sadly even be fatal.

Quality of life has risen steeply over the past several decades but mothers still walk an unpaved road. It's deeply worrying the lack of support and proactive care new mothers receive from medical professionals, though it is getting better, just very slowly.

I hope this helps many new families survive and thrive.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#143

Post by topato »

ksenzee wrote: post #63
roody15 wrote: post #30

[flagged]

If you are not a researcher, or a physician, or some other expert, and if you have not given birth yourself, please don’t throw out this kind of ill-considered opinion. Post-partum depression (and anxiety for that matter) is more severe than just the effects of sleep deprivation and lack of support. Anything we can do to treat it, even partially, is worth doing.

I don't think he was trying to downplay the severity of postpartum symptoms.... In reality, it does take months for oral psychiatric drugs to cause a state of homeostasis in a patient, so perhaps, while it's another option in an arsenal, there are more serious healthcare industry related issues that need fixing as well

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#144

Post by khazhoux »

patmorgan23 wrote: post #58
nocoiner wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes. The good ol’ “Well, have you tried not being depressed?” Works every time.

That's not what they're saying at all. They're saying we should make sure expecting mothers are well informed on the effects pregnancy and birth has on their body. Not give them unrealistic expectations that pregnancy will be easy and that everything will go back to being the same after they give birth. A miss match in expectations can help drive someone into depression. Prevention by supporting new mother's. I think…

> Not give them unrealistic expectations that pregnancy will be easy and that everything will go back to being the same after they give birth

Do you really think that expectant mothers are so naive as to think that pregnancy and birth and keeping a newborn alive will be easy?

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#145

Post by Madmallard »

nobody9999 wrote: post #35
Madmallard wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Likely far more of the former than the latter per medicine's track record in the last couple decades

>Likely far more of the former than the latter per medicine's track record in the last couple decades I'd say that "medicine" has advanced quite a bit over the last few decades. Five year survival rates for cancers are up 40%[0] since 1975. AIDS treatments, when administered properly, extend the lives of infected persons by more than 500%[1] over those who don't receive such treatment. Advances in orthopaedic (especi…

I'd argue you're far more forgiving and optimistic than what's realistically happening with respect to ""medicine" is more than just Big Pharma, insurance companies and healthcare conglomerates"

My experience with a semi-edge-of-medicine chronic condition has been absolutely atrocious nearly across the board and even with the absolute experts. And there's multifactorial reasons for it.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#146

Post by haldujai »

standardUser wrote: post #85
linuxftw wrote: post #17

[flagged]

It sounds unethical to conduct human trials on babies when the mother could simply stop breastfeeding while taking the medication. I wonder if doctors recommend that for this or other drugs? I'd hope they inform the mother at the very least.

It is entirely unethical to conduct lactation safety trials on children.

It would also be a violation of HHS regulations for pediatric research which clearly state the research must be of minimal risk, not unknown, or present direct benefit to the children which this does not.

https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/regulations/...

> ... simply stop breastfeeding while taking the medication. I wonder if doctors recommend that for this or other drugs?

Yes, all the time. It was part of the study protocol too.

> I'd hope they inform the mother at the very least.

It's in both the patient and physician handouts to discuss the risks/benefits and alternatives. Formula is available as are breast milk donations in certain regions.

This is neither the first nor last medication that may be excreted in breastmilk we have to deal with in medicine and there are systems and processes in place to address these situations.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#147

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

nemo44x wrote: post #15

> Use of Zurzuvae may cause suicidal thoughts and behavior. Zurzuvae may cause fetal harm. Might be better off just smoking a joint.

Cannabis can also cause fetal harm. And fetal harm is also irrelevant here because this is a treatment for postpartum depression, I.e depression after birth, at which point there is no fetus to be harmed.

There's also no credible evidence that cannabis is an efficacious treatment for postpartum depression.

But sure, why even bother with science? Just smoke a joint...

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#148

Post by astrange »

haldujai wrote: post #136
astrange wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The FDA mostly harms the population by not approving drugs fast enough.

For drugs approved between 2011 and 2015 the FDA approval time was a median 303 days, faster than the EMA at 369 days.[1] For drugs approved between 2000 and 2010 (for all 3 agencies, the FDA gets more applications) the FDA approval time was a median of 268 days, faster than the EMA at 356 days and Health Canada at 366 days.[2] Based on your assertion and the data this means that you think all three of these agencies…

Here's an article from 2014 about how the EU has approved twice the sunscreens the US has:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...

It's still true, we still don't have them. Obama even passed a law about it and it didn't help.

> Based on your assertion and the data this means that you think all three of these agencies are harming the population, with the FDA being the lesser of all evils, by not approving drugs fast enough. Do you have a source for this claim?

This is obviously true. Are Americans, Canadians and Europeans all different species? No. Are all three countries slash political unions capable of running clinical trials? Yes. Do the FDA or Health Canada trust each other enough to allow things the other approved? No.

Although the FDA is sometimes surprisingly relaxed - here's a nootropics company selling drinks with at least two unapproved medications in them, adrafinil and omberacetam: https://www.trubrain.com/products/drinks.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#149

Post by haldujai »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #142

Since every top level comment here is a borderline tire fire, let me be the first to say: This is great news. We need better treatments for PPD, which is real and very serious that can cause long term lasting effects in serious cases without treatment, and can sadly even be fatal. Quality of life has risen steeply over the past several decades but mothers still walk an unpaved road. It's deeply worrying the lack of s…

The only valid reaction to this news is "Wonderful, we have a new tool in the arsenal to treat a very difficult to treat and potentially serious illness."

> It's deeply worrying the lack of support and proactive care new mothers receive from medical professionals, though it is getting better, just very slowly.

Agree, I don't treat or interact with PPD patients in my professional practice but my closest friend is an OBGYN and we've had many discussions about this over the years.

At least in most academic practices all patients are provided with education during the later stages of pregnancy and prior to discharge postpartum with typically one routine follow-up visit planned.

It's better than when I was a medical student but it seems a significant gap still exists between that and transitioning back to the patient's primary care provider who also tend to be more heterogenous in availability and knowledgeability about PPD.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#150

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #142

Since every top level comment here is a borderline tire fire, let me be the first to say: This is great news. We need better treatments for PPD, which is real and very serious that can cause long term lasting effects in serious cases without treatment, and can sadly even be fatal. Quality of life has risen steeply over the past several decades but mothers still walk an unpaved road. It's deeply worrying the lack of s…

Thank you. I'll never understand why there's such a dominance of luddite thinking, bad takes and conspiracy theories on HN, when it comes to the topic of mental health. Especially when it comes to drug treatments.

Psychiatry no doubt has a lot of problems with it. But it's also the only game in town for a huge amount of people. What's the alternative? Prayer circles? Ayahuasca tourist traps? Cannabis? Homeopathy? Give me a break. Conventional medicine has always been imperfect, and has always improved over time. That's no less true of psychiatry than any other subfield. Whatever "alternative" therapies are truly effective tend to be incorporated into it eventually. In psychiatry we've seen this with meditation, and we're seeing it now with psychedelics.

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