feeling down and emotional

[MissMartin10]

i have a great life... good job.. own home & Car a loving dp ive been with for over 7.5years. This is my first pregnancy and im 22 ..
i do suffer from stress & anxiety( because of my job) but now im pregnant it seems to have got alot worse. im sick on average 9 times a day always have headaches and migranes feel rough all i seem to do is moan i feel like im pushing my dp away.. i feel really down and emotional. i never take tablets so i wouldn't want to treat it in that way.. has anyone else felt this way and have any tips on how to deal with it?

T.I.A x

[DimpleHands]

Yes, I did with my first pregnancy. I also had a very stressful job and am prone to anxiety.

It is very common for women to feel down/emotional in pregnancy - to the extent that it is believed something like 1 in 5 have antenatal depression (looking back, I think I had it). But it is much less diagnosed/known about than post-natal depression. And many (most?) women who don't have symptoms severe enough to be diagnosed with ante-natal depression would still say they were certainly more up and down and emotional during pregnancy. It's to do with the huge change in hormones and also the huge approaching change to your life.

My advice would be:

1. Get a referral to your mental health midwives (many women are referred - there is no stigma to it and certainly no pressure to take anti-depressants). They can refer you for CBT, which is brilliant for anxiety.
   

1. Try to get as much sleep as possible.
   

1. Get signed off work if you need to - for a couple of weeks, a month, a couple of months - whatever you need to reduce your stress levels. The huge proportion of cases of depression are stress-induced. I struggled on but I really regret it now. I wish I had got signed off or told work that I would be doing fixed hours, leaving at 6pm (rather than midnight) every day. Most GPs are very happy to sign off pregnant women if they are struggling a bit with work. Too much stress (cortisol) is really not good for your baby and nor is the chemical imbalance (lack of serotonin) which is part of depression.
   

1. Please see your GP straight about your sickness. I may have this wrong, but I understand that being sick more than three times a day points towards HG (what Kate Middleton had) - and that is debilitating. I certainly wouldn't be working if I was being sick nine times a day.
   

1. Tell your DP how you feel and explain it is likely to be the hormones - I'm sure he will be supportive!
   

For what it's worth, as soon as my DS was born my symptoms lifted and all I felt was very happy.

[MissMartin10]

dimple thanks so much for taking the time to write all that for me i really apreciate it .. im definately going to tell my doctor.. i was signed off last year with stress for 1 month. I feel embarrassed though.. i feel like i shouldn't be feeling this way while I'm pregnant..that i should be happy and people will judge me. . im so excited to have this baby. i can't even pinpoint what makes me so stressed about my job but the thoughtb of going in fills me with panic..
thanks for your suggestions
my mum thinks im likely to get pnd if im feeling so down and emotional now.