Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

fda.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 299 posts

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#241

Post by AndrewThrowaway »

zpeti wrote: post #222
ShivTheShiv wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This particular drug is about post partum depression. Sleep deprived women, often functioning as milk machines, while experiencing major hormonal changes and possibly recovering from major abdominal surgery. These are not people “taking the easy route”. Save the bootstraps talk for other patients.

Sorry, but no. I have two children. I as a father probably had mild PPD, and so did my wife after our second child. You know why my wife had PPD? Because being a mother is hard, and she also had a lot of unresolved anger and issues towards her own mother, and she was reminding herself of her own mother and causing quite a bit of anxiety. We were also at an extremely difficult part of our relationship, we basically ha…

You did the right thing no doubt.

However your experience seems to prevent you from seeing the bigger picture.

"Popping pills" is probably chosen not because people don't want to solve problems and change their lives. It is probably because it is only available solution at that time to actually function as a person and member of the society.

It is great that you had money and event time to go to therapy for 6 months as new parents. A lot of parents of newborns will simply not be able to afford it both financially and because of time constrains. Did you bring your new born to the therapy? How much did it cost? Would every single mother be able to afford 6 months of therapy? Some middle-lower class family? Some family in very rural area? Please try to see a bigger picture here and befriend more people from different paths of life.

People take pain medication for back pain not because they don't want to fix their backs. If anybody could fix their back today instead of taking pills they would do it.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#242

Post by thinkharderdev »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #168

I don't normally like to talk about matters this personal in a forum like this—especially given that I use my real name as my username here, but if it ends up helping one person then I think it'll be worth it. My son was born a little over 9 months ago. He's healthy, delightful, and utterly normal—and yet I, his father, still ended up with postpartum depression. I think it's underreported and under-appreciated that f…

Sorry to hear that you had PPD but glad you were able to get help and feel better. I had a child around the same time and I can empathize with your experience. It's a wonderful time but can also be very overwhelming, especially for a first child (which is the case for me). It's like you take a major life change, natural anxiousness about your kid (are they hitting all their development milestones, eating enough, getting enough sleep, sleeping too much, etc, etc, etc) and mix in a big dollop of sleep deprivation.

> New dads: if you feel unusually down, anxious, frustrated, angry, or depressed, consider talking to your PCP about treatment. Taking medication is not an admission of failure. Being a father is tough, but it shouldn't feel impossible.

Amen. Being the internet, people are going to be jerks but I for one appreciate you sharing your experience.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#243

Post by thumbuddy »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #168

I don't normally like to talk about matters this personal in a forum like this—especially given that I use my real name as my username here, but if it ends up helping one person then I think it'll be worth it. My son was born a little over 9 months ago. He's healthy, delightful, and utterly normal—and yet I, his father, still ended up with postpartum depression. I think it's underreported and under-appreciated that f…

You're a good human. Continue being willing to put yourself in the line to help others. You will be remembered and admired for it.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#244

Post by Tade0 »

rs_rs_rs_rs_rs wrote: post #172
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #24

I wonder how much of post-party depression is caused by isolation. In the past, new mothers were surrounded by a whole village of women who would help care for the woman and the baby. Many times now, women are isolated with maybe the father present. And even then there are pressures to get back to work. This isn’t to discount or minimize postpartum depression, but if we as a society set up people for failure which re…

> I wonder how much of post-party depression is caused by isolation. I don't know how we would have managed the little one in the first years just the two of us. It really does that a village to raise a child, literally and figuratively.

I can tell you from experience: barely.

My daughter went to daycare at exactly 18 months, but it was quite a ride before that. I work for home so I was there for my family, but let's just say that my productivity was sacrificed to do that.

I have no idea how single parents manage it.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#245

Post by AndrewThrowaway »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #168

I don't normally like to talk about matters this personal in a forum like this—especially given that I use my real name as my username here, but if it ends up helping one person then I think it'll be worth it. My son was born a little over 9 months ago. He's healthy, delightful, and utterly normal—and yet I, his father, still ended up with postpartum depression. I think it's underreported and under-appreciated that f…

I think I share exactly the same experience and the very same thing helped greatly for me. I was just not diagnosed any postpartum depression but rather good old GAD.

After the birth of a son life changed 180 - no free time, no personal time etc etc. All you can expect. Less sleep, a lot of unknowns and anxieties. Again - expected. Less time with wife. Feelings of down, depression. Some anger problems. But it all looks like everyday life and everybody experiences stuff like that.

Then my father died. So I became "the man of the family".

Then corona hit. Then unknowns at work.

Then one day I was playing with my son and he hit his back and I felt so sick. However x-rays just nothing and he was just fine the next day. Life continues.

And one day I was just chilling and having some alone time and it all hit me like a train. Suddenly I thought I am gonna die. Somehow my heart will fail (my father had heart problems) and basically I could not function as a person. I just wanted that somebody would take me to the hospital or something and just care for me so if my hearts starts failing medics would be near. I couldn't work. One of the worst weeks or so of my life.

Of course my heart was just fine.

All these things were accumulating for some time already. The very same Lexapro helped me a lot. No side effects whatsoever. After a few months I felt like I was actually young again. Things started to improve both at home and at work. Anxiety is 99% gone. I am just so glad I got help. Actually I was forced to as I couldn't function.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#246

Post by esel2k »

AndrewThrowaway wrote: post #245
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #168

I don't normally like to talk about matters this personal in a forum like this—especially given that I use my real name as my username here, but if it ends up helping one person then I think it'll be worth it. My son was born a little over 9 months ago. He's healthy, delightful, and utterly normal—and yet I, his father, still ended up with postpartum depression. I think it's underreported and under-appreciated that f…

I think I share exactly the same experience and the very same thing helped greatly for me. I was just not diagnosed any postpartum depression but rather good old GAD. After the birth of a son life changed 180 - no free time, no personal time etc etc. All you can expect. Less sleep, a lot of unknowns and anxieties. Again - expected. Less time with wife. Feelings of down, depression. Some anger problems. But it all loo…

How are things after? The few PCP or psychiatrist friends told me that these meds have a huge addiction potential. Could you be without it again?

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#247

Post by esel2k »

mikeyouse wrote: post #76
fnord77 wrote: post #49

why is this drug specific to PP depression? Would it work for typical, general depression in both sexes?

The FDA evaluated evidence that the same drug would help treat major depressive disorder and found it lacking; https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/sage-biogens-postpartum-... > Alongside Friday’s approval, the partners also received a rejection for Zurzuvae in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD). The FDA told the partners their application didn’t provide “substantial evidence of effectiveness” and that additi…

Which immediately leads to layoffs:

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/sage-braces-layoffs-pi...

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#248

Post by AndrewThrowaway »

esel2k wrote: post #246
AndrewThrowaway wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I share exactly the same experience and the very same thing helped greatly for me. I was just not diagnosed any postpartum depression but rather good old GAD. After the birth of a son life changed 180 - no free time, no personal time etc etc. All you can expect. Less sleep, a lot of unknowns and anxieties. Again - expected. Less time with wife. Feelings of down, depression. Some anger problems. But it all loo…

How are things after? The few PCP or psychiatrist friends told me that these meds have a huge addiction potential. Could you be without it again?

For me there was no "after" yet. Psychiatrist suggests to be on meds for at least a year or so. Combine with therapy. Going off meds should be very slow and take a month or so of dosage lowering.

I guess body should have be adjusted to increased levels of serotonin and lowering the dose very slowly should help the body to adjust the levels by itself. Nothing that was not done by millions of people already.

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#249

Post by nemo44x »

habinero wrote: post #205
psychphysic wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dug into the FDA docs and relevant studies over the post few months. As far as I can tell that warning might be just boilerplate for antidepressants these days. Similarly for foetal harm it's on animal studies and they advice effective contraception for 1 week after last dose while they collect data.

The suicide warning for antidepressants is misleading. They don't cause it, but what happens is antidepressants start giving you more energy and more ability to function before it starts helping with mood. So if you're already suicidal, you can get the ability to act on it before you start getting relief from ideation.

That’s darkly humorous. That a persons depression is the only thing stopping them from killing themselves. And to get to a better state they have to cross the stage where they are still depressed but have acquired a “can do” attitude.

End of day I think scrambling the brain is almost always the wrong choice. That these things are so heavily prescribed and marketed - what does that say?

Re: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment for Postpartum Depression

#250

Post by nemo44x »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #147
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...

Well, considering that science is wrong far more often than it’s right (and done poorly), blindly appealing to it as sole arbiter and authority is maybe a bit hubristic?

Also - you can acquire postpartum depression while pregnant. You can get pregnant soon after having a baby. But hey, science.

Post reply on HN