Life: Understanding prenatal mood swings

You are sitted sharing a light moment with colleagues or family members then suddenly you find yourself weeping. Without any provocation, you bark at your husband even before he even has a chance to finish his statement. Don’t worry you’re not crazy, and it isn’t permanent. Mood swings are a normal part of pregnancy. Pregnancy is an emotional rollercoaster for all those who are involved. For the pregnant woman the physical and emotional changes set her reeling in confusion. For those around her it is a time to exercise patience because otherwise one may just walk out on the whole situation. My visit to the doctor this week left a mark on my mind. As I waited don line a couple walked in. The wife seemed to be somewhere in her first pregnancy trimester she was shouting all over for someone to give her a sit. The husband seemed lost but he was doing everything to make her comfortable. She was complaining of back pains and hence a sit need to be found immediately. The husband finally got her a sit but she dint even thank him. The nurses moved her up on line giving me a chance to talk to her husband. The husband looked so tired and confused I asked him what was wrong with his wife. “My wife has been on a terror since she’s been pregnant. I can’t stand her right now! All she does is complain and yell at me. She is only two months pregnant I can’t wait for her to deliver; she used to be so nice.” He said. Changes in moods during pregnancy are not seldom says Mary Kamugisha a mother of two. She says that she remembers being pregnant and how it all felt. “When I conceived our fist child I turned into an emotional drama queen, I wanted to eat chips all the time and my husband had to give them to me anytime I wanted. There are days he had to wake up our house help to make them for me. I would be happy and in tears the next moment. I did not understand myself and my husband was really confused by my behaviour, we went to see a doctor who explained it was normal and that it would pass and it did.” Mary explains that by the time they had their second baby they were more prepared and it was not as hard. Steve Shyaka, a practicing physician, says that this is a normal condition in the first three months of pregnancy –the first trimester. The key he says is to understand the condition and to do everything to make the pregnant mother feel secure and loved during this time. “After you conceive a child, your body is flooded with pregnancy hormones, including estrogen and progesterone. You are experiencing a major life change, and such transitions are usually accompanied by emotional. The body reacts to these changes and for many women they start experiencing mood swings, cravings, vomiting. In essence the body tries to expel the pregnancy since it’s foreign to it. The mood changes are just a reflection on the changes the body is going through as it tries to adapt to the growing baby,” Shyaka explains. Shyaka points out that this may last until the fifth month for some women but may continue in some cases until delivery. He says that at this stage the woman. Is very emotional, she will love and hate some people with no reasons, she starts developing cravings for some particular food. “This is a clinical condition and it’s in no way the pregnant woman fault. Mood swings are sometimes accompanied by Hyper emeses condition which causes the woman to vomit regularly they are both treatable for severe cases. Many doctors do not prescribe medicine for this because the condition disappears naturally by the end of the second trimester “says Shyaka. According to Shyaka, in case the condition becomes too severe then the doctors can be able to prescribe medicine but the key is to support and reassure the woman that it will all go away in time. Some women will have trouble accepting their changing bodies this discomfort makes it hard to sleep this brings more disorientation; if the partner is not supportive the woman will be even more upbeat. Pregnant women need reassurance and support and not ridicule they have no idea what is going through them so let’s go through it all with them. pgathoni@gmail.com