Announcing the #PPDChat Guests for 11.11.13: Drs. Samantha Meltzer-Brody & Alison Stuebe

I am beyond excited about Monday night’s #PPDChat, y’all!!!

We’ll be chatting with none other than the fabulous Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody and Dr. Alison Stuebe, both with UNC’s Perinatal Psychiatry Unit. This is a ground-breaking program here in the United States for women struggling with Perinatal Mood Disorders. They are currently focusing on research which examines the biology behind the relationship behind depression and breastfeeding. Dr. Stuebe writes:

“I’m happy to report that I’m a doctor, and I do think of this — in fact, at UNC, we’re starting a 5-year NIH-funded study to try to understand the relationship between breastfeeding, postpartum depression, and infant attachment.  Our pilot data suggest that this relationship is complicated. We recruited 52 women who were intending to breastfeed and either did or did not have a history depression and/or anxiety. During pregnancy, mothers provided baseline blood samples, completed questionnaires, and had a standardized psychiatric interview to assess their history. Mothers came to our lab with their babies at 2 and 8 weeks postpartum, and we measured hormone levels while they breastfed their babies.”

For those of us who have been through a Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorder, we know that the relationship we have with how we feed our babies is a tough one. There are so many factors to consider. Dr. Meltzer-Brody & Stuebe are investigating this further and have graciously agreed to share their experiences and insights on Monday.

I sincerely hope you will be able to make it to chat because it will be a great one!

You can read more about Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody & Dr. Alison Stuebe by clicking on their names. Be sure to follow them on Twitter (usernames are in the announcement above) before the chat!

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#PPDChat Topic 10.21.13: Turning Your Experience into Advocacy

New this week and going forward: Clicking on the announcement will take you directly to the Tweetchat page for #ppdchat so you can join in the discussion.

#PPDChat Topic: Like A Butterfly: Transformational Power of a Perinatal Mood Disorder

Today, we’re focusing on the ways Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders change us. Many of us know all too well the amount of energy it takes to fight through to ourselves during a Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorder. As someone who is now able to look back at my experiences instead of being caught in the midst of it, I see how that fight changed my outlook on life as well as changed almost everything inside me. While I have been remodeled, some of the old me remains. Isn’t this the way with all trauma and substantial life experiences? We are constantly growing and changing as life ebbs and flows through us, are we not?

The 1:00pm ET chat will be a prelude to tonight’s chat with @WalkerKarraa regarding the amazing transformational power Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders have in the lives of the women who experience them. I hope you’ll join us as we casually explore and discuss the ways PMAD’s have changed our lives during the afternoon chat.

Then at 8:30pm ET, Dr. Walker Karraa will join us. I am excited about her joining #PPDChat as a guest, particularly on this topic as she has been talking to several women about this very thing, allowing her amazing insight into the overall transformational power of PMAD’s in our lives.

To say I am excited about today’s topic would be a huge understatement. I cannot wait to discuss this with y’all!!! For more information about Walker and today’s topic, go here.

See you at 1:00pm ET and hope you will join us at 8:30pm ET as well!

#PPDChat Topic 03.11.13: Semantics – The Power of Words & Mental Health

#PPDChat Topic 02.25.13: Outta Steam – Coping on the Hard Days

Motherhood, heck, parenthood period, doesn’t come loaded with sick days or days off when the going gets tough. No, we have to steel ourselves to push through it. Sometimes we soar right on through whatever is flung in our direction and then there are times when we feel we fail miserably.

It’s not easy.

With a Postpartum Mood Disorder on board, it gets even muckier. We barely have the energy to fight that in addition to taking care of our children, let alone tossing anything else on top of the flames. So how do you handle it when a tough day (or days) hits when you’re struggling? What if you get sick? What if everyone is sick? Or there’s an emergency family situation? Or..the list could go on.

Today’s chat will focus on these situations. Feel free to join us to vent, share tips, or just hang out. We don’t promise to instantly cheer you up or fix all the tough in your life, but after today’s chats over on Twitter, you’ll know you aren’t alone.

See you there!