What is Prenatal Anxiety? Know Symptoms, Risk Factors And Treatment

Pregnancy comes with its own set of worries. While the feeling of having a life developing in your womb is an unmatched one, the mood swings, anxiety, and physical stress that come with it are also unimaginably difficult to bear. Prenatal or antenatal anxiety is the anxiety a mother experiences while she is pregnant.

The causes of prenatal anxiety are not pinpointed, but the fears that come along with being pregnant and the immense hormonal changes are possible causes of prenatal anxiety.

Symptoms Of Anxiety:

Some degree of worry is natural during pregnancy. After all, every parent wants a healthy baby. However, if the worries start interfering with everyday life, you may have anxiety.

Some of the symptoms of prenatal anxiety are:

feeling an uncontrollable sense of anxiousness

having tense muscles

sleeping poorly

feeling irritable or agitated

inability to concentrate

worrying excessively about things, especially your health or baby

Mothers with prenatal anxiety may also experience occasional panic attacks. The symptoms include feeling like you cannot breathe, feeling like something awful may happen and feeling like you are going crazy.

Risk Factor Of Prenatal Anxiety:

While anyone can develop prenatal anxiety, certain risk factors that may be identifiers of you being at more risk of developing it are:

family history of anxiety or panic attacks

excess stress in everyday life

personal history of anxiety, panic attacks, or depression

previous trauma

use of certain illegal drugs

Treatment For Prenatal Anxiety:

Mild cases of anxiety usually don’t require any treatment, but it is better if you discuss how you feel with your doctor as it may get worse at any stage of pregnancy. In severe cases, the doctor may prescribe medicines after assessing the benefits and risks.

Tips For Coping With Prenatal Anxiety:

There are a few ways you can cope with your anxiety while pregnant. Talking about it, finding a release in activities like walking, running or yoga, moving your mind by meditation, acupuncture, massage therapy and deep breathing, resting, journaling your feelings and consulting your doctor might be some of the best ways to cope with anxiety.

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