From: "Todd Gastaldo" Newsgroups: misc.kids.pregnancy,misc.health.alternative,sci.med Subject: Birth psychiatry ('Baby Blues': Are OBs causing some cases?) Lines: 480 Message-ID: <2IADd.338$Ii4.81@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net> Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2005 18:39:58 GMT Baby Blues Connection of Portland, Oregon: Oregon's only medical school - OHSU - may be causing some cases of "Baby Blues" - please see the very end of this post... PSYCHIATRY FACTOID: The president of the American Psychiatric Association suggested in 1944 that Americans might emulate "Amazon river natives" who believe that squatting "lets the soul catch up with the body." (See quote below.) The Great Squat Robbery (discussed below) may have something (indirectly) to do with "Baby Blues" and Postpartum Depression. Most adult American's *can't* squat - not easily anyway.... See below. "BABY BLUES"... POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION... ARE OBs CAUSING SOME CASES? DIFFICULT LABOR AND OBs CLOSING BIRTH CANALS... Psychiatrist CAROL WATKINS, MD says there is increased postpartum depression risk after "difficult labor." http://www.ncpamd.com/Postpartum_Depression.htm ATTENTION PSYCHIATRISTS (and pregnant women): OBs are *causing* difficult labors by routinely closing pelvic outlets up to 30%. OBs are also causing difficult labors by routinely KEEPING pelvic outlets closed up to 30% when babies get stuck. "It is established obstetric teaching that a narrow pelvic outlet predisposes to a difficult vaginal delivery..." --Ass-Ärztin Dr. Andrea Froschauer-Frudinger et al. [Br J Obstet Gynaecol 2002;109(11):1207-12] OBs are LYING to cover-up. See THE FOUR OB LIES below. PSYCHIATRISTS (I found these AMA ethical principles on the American Psychiatric Association website): "A physician shall...strive to expose those physicians...who engage in fraud or deception." "A physician shall...seek changes in those requirements which are contrary to the best interests of the patient." "A physician shall...make relevant information available to patients, colleagues, and the public..." --From the AMA Principles of Medical Ethics http://www.psych.org/psych_pract/ethics/ethics_opinions53101.cfm Psychiatrists: PREVENTION is one of the APA's "Values," see below. PREGNANT WOMEN: You might be able to PREVENT (or prevent some/lessen the severity of) postpartum blues/postpartum depression... It is EASY to allow your birth canal to OPEN the "extra" up to 30%. See the very end of this post. HOW COMMON are postpartum blues and postpartum depression? Psychiatrist Carol Watkins, MD (quoted above) says of postpartum blues: "In America, about 50% to 80% of new mothers experience a mild, self-limited period of depression, anxiety, and emotional reactivity called the postpartum blues...usually...about three to five days after delivery..." Psychiatrist Watkins says of postpartum depression: "...[Postpartum depression,] a more severe, lasting depression is experienced by up to 12%^^^ of women after delivery. Symptoms may include hopelessness, guilt, difficulty concentrating, poor appetite, and thoughts of suicide. Frequent trips to the baby's pediatrician may be a sign of depression." ^^^"Most women with postpartum depression are not diagnosed or treated." http://www.ncpamd.com/Postpartum_Depression.htm (Question for Psychiatrist Watkins: Doesn't saying "most women are not diagnosed" mean someone is making some sort of preliminary diagnosis? Where do they get their figures? Who is they?) OPEN LETTER (archived for global access; see below) Carol Watkins, M.D. Board Certified in Child, Adolescent & Adult Psychiatry Northern County (Maryland) Psychiatric Associates Monkton: 16829 York Road/PO Box 544/Monkton, MD 21111 Lutherville: 2360 West Joppa Road Suite 223/ Lutherville, MD 410-329-2028 Email: ncpa@qis.net Carol, You write of "issues" and "limitations," saying of yourself, "...I must be knowledgeable of the changing issues [women] face in their lives, the limitations they have encountered based on their history..." http://www.ncpamd.com/Watkins.htm One issue/limitation that most women with postpartum depression (and their babies) face is obstetricians closing birth canals up to 30% and keeping birth canals closed when babies get stuck. Obstetricians are violently pushing on tiny spines (with oxytocin and Cytotec) and gruesomely pulling (with hands, forceps, vacuums) - with birth canals senselessly closed up to 30%. Sometimes obstetricians pull so hard they rip spinal nerves out of tiny spinal cords. Some babies die, some babies get paralyzed - most "only" have their spines gruesomely wrenched. ALL spinal manipulation is gruesome with the birth canal closed the "extra" up to 30%. Women face related obviously illegal SURGICAL issues/limitations... OBs are slicing vaginas/abdomens en masse (episiotomy/c-section) - surgically/fraudulently inferring they are doing/have done everything possible to open birth canals - even as they close birth canals up to 30%. These obviously illegal behaviors of OBs likely contribute to INTENSE FATIGUE OR SLEEPLESSNESS of mothers after birth... INTENSE FATIGUE OR SLEEPLESSNESS... Carol, I saw nothing about intense fatigue or sleeplessness in your description of postpartum depression/blues... Yet the Alexian Brothers Medical Center calls intense fatigue and sleeplessness "warning signs," as in, "Warning Signs Of Severe Postpartum Depression...Intense fatigue or sleeplessness...Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness...You have aggressive impulses..." http://www.alexian.org/progserv/babies/birthto3m/severe.html Inconsolable screaming/crying ("colic") would be quite understandable in babies who have just had their spines gruesomely wrenched (MOST babies have their spines gruesomely wrenched; see above) Wouldn't "intense fatigue or sleeplessness be EXPECTED when babies suffering "colic" are combined with women already suffering the debilitating effects of major abdominal surgery (see below) - or "just" the effects of labor and delivery complicated by OBs closing birth canals up to 30% and keeping birth canals closed up to 30%? Carol, you say that women "may have more difficulty with postpartum depression" if there is a "prior history of postpartum problems"... http://www.ncpamd.com/Postpartum_Depression.htm Makes sense to me! A prior history of an OB committing one or both surgical felonies - PLUS the related OB felony - closing the birth canal up to 30% on the baby (potential for intense sleeplessness/fatigue)... Well - who WOULDN'T be depressed - who wouldn't at least feel a little "blue"? Again, Carol, your incredible postpartum blues figure: "In America, about 50% to 80% of new mothers experience a mild, self-limited period of depression, anxiety, and emotional reactivity called the postpartum blues...usually...about three to five days after delivery... You include SYMPTOMS after your up to 12% postpartum depression figure... "...a more severe, lasting depression is experienced by up to 12% of women after delivery. Symptoms may include hopelessness, guilt, difficulty concentrating, poor appetite, and thoughts of suicide. Frequent trips to the baby's pediatrician may be a sign of depression." Why not mention of SEVERE SLEEPLESSNESS, as in the Alexian Brothers Warning Signs excerpted above? Was this an accidental omission? Or is there controversy on this point? Carol, you advise women regarding "Getting Psychiatric Help" if they are suffering postpartum depression. http://www.ncpamd.com/Postpartum_Depression.htm WHAT ABOUT PREVENTION? Again, you note that there is increased postpartum depression risk after "difficult labor." http://www.ncpamd.com/Postpartum_Depression.htm Since OBs are *causing* difficult labors by routinely closing pelvic outlets up to 30%. Since OBs are causing difficult labors by routinely KEEPING birth canals closed up to 30% when babies get stuck. And since, "It is established obstetric teaching that a narrow pelvic outlet predisposes to a difficult vaginal delivery..." --Ass-Ärztin Dr. Andrea Froschauer-Frudinger et al. [Br J Obstet Gynaecol 2002;109(11):1207-12] Maybe psychiatrists could help stop OBs from closing birth canals up to 30%, etc.? Maybe you could start interacting with your obstetric peers... You say your work "requires...rigorous and ongoing interaction with my peers to stay abreast of the latest breakthroughs." http://www.ncpamd.com/Watkins.htm Your obstetric peers are *concealing* a birth breakthrough made last century - to wit - it is easy to allow the birth canal to open an "extra" up to 30%. Your obstetric peers are actually lying as they conceal this breakthrough... I noted some of the OB lies in an Open Letter to the FTC years ago... http://home1.gte.net/gastaldo/part2ftc.html THE FOUR OB LIES... OB LIE #1. After MASSIVE change in the AP pelvic outlet diameter was clinically demonstrated in 1911 and radiographically demonstrated in 1957, the authors of Williams Obstetrics began erroneously claiming that pelvic diamaters DON'T CHANGE at delivery. OB LIE #2. After Ohlsen pointed out in 1973 that pelvic diameters DO change - the authors of Williams Obstetrics began erroneously claiming that their most frequent delivery position - dorsal - widens the outlet. OB LIE #3. After I pointed out in 1992 that dorsal CLOSES - and so does semisitting - the authors of Williams Obstetrics - put the correct biomechanics in their 1993 edition - but kept in their text (in the same paragraph!) - the dorsal widens bald lie that first called my attention to their text... OB LIE #4. OBs are actually KEEPING birth canals closed when babies get stuck - and claiming they are doing everything to allow the birth canal open maximally. (ACOG Shoulder Dystocia video - also forceps and vacuum births are performed with the mother in lithotomy.) See Make birth better: Dan Rather, before you leave CBS... http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/chiro-list/message/2983 A LIKELY PART OF THE REASON OBs ARE LYING: Cowan et al. wrote in 2003: "Our findings show that more than 90% of term infants with neonatal encephalopathy...without specific syndromes or major congenital defects, had evidence of perinatally acquired insults...Reasons for injuries of perinatal onset remain poorly understood." --Cowan F, Rutherford M, Groenedaal F, Eken P, Mercuri E, Bydder GM, Meiners LC, Dubowitz LMS, de Vries LS, Origin and timing of brain lesions in term infants with neonatal encephalopathy. The Lancet (Mar1)2003;361:736-42. THINK ABOUT IT CAROL: Most women never hear of the "extra" up to 30% - and women lucky enough to learn about it have to ASK for it... Sometimes the "extra" up to 30% is denied when women ask! (It's not just OBs. Dagny a mother on misc.kids.pregnancy says that a homebirth midwife denied the "extra" up to 30%.) Why should pregnant women be psychiatrically burdened (in effect) with the task of informing their OB (or midwife) that he/she has been closing birth canals up to 30% (and keeping birth canals closed when babies get stuck)? Psychiatrists should help stop OBs from closing birth canals up to 30%. Women shouldn't have to ask. Again those quotes from the AMA's Principles of Medical Ethics: "A physician shall...strive to expose those physicians deficient in character or competence, or who engage in fraud or deception." "A physician shall...seek changes in those requirements which are contrary to the best interests of the patient." "A physician shall...make relevant information available to patients, colleagues, and the public..." http://www.psych.org/psych_pract/ethics/ethics_opinions53101.cfm Carol, I was intrigued by this quote from your website (my caps): "...THERE IS MUCH LESS POSTPARTUM BLUES OR [POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION] IN MORE TRADITIONAL CULTURES." http://www.ncpamd.com/Postpartum_Depression.htm (emphasis added) Traditional cultures don't rob children of a fundamental human rest posture - comfortable flat-footed squatting. Most Americans can't flat-footed squat for prolonged periods - and some can't do it at all - they fall over backwards. Even in women who have lost the EASY flat-footed squatting ability - with a "squat bar" - flat-footed squatting can double for girls as a DELIVERY posture - one that happens to allow the birth canal to open the "extra" up to 30%... RELEVANT QUOTES FROM LAST CENTURY... "Dr. Markoe did not picture the original obstetric chair - namely, squatting." [Holmes, RW discussing Markoe JW. Posture in obstetrics. JAMA; (Oct7)1916;67(15):1066] "What is the really natural way that a woman should be delivered? Like the natives of Africa, squatting down as if defaecating..." [Joy NH. The squatting attitude in labour. BMJ (Jul2)1921:30] In 1944, psychiatrist EA Strecker, MD indirectly suggested there may be psychiatric ramifications of our culture-wide loss of a fundamental human range of motion... "Are we not a crossroads in the path of our civilization when it would be well for us to emulate that tribe of Amazon River natives who, from time to time, interrupt their customary routine of activities and squat on the ground? Neither persuasion nor threat serves to move them until an alloted time has elapsed. They declare they are waiting for their 'souls to catch up with their bodies...'" [E.A. Strecker, MD. 1944 Presidential Address before the American Psychiatric Association. Am J Psychiatry. 1944;101:1-8] PROBLEM: Western culture ROBS the comfortable prolonged flat-footed squatting ability. As elderly adults, many Westerners can't easily rise from a chair as their elderly counterparts in squatting cultures maintain the ability to rise from a full squat. (I understand that Medicare is paying for motors in "ejection" chairs if prescribed by a physician.) Once we stop The Great Birth Robbery - psychiatrists might might want to look into helping to stop The Great Squat Robbery. (British OB Jason Gardosi once in effect blamed the former on the latter.) See Two robberies: educators can stop them http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/chiro-list/message/3047 INTERESTING COINCIDENCE... ABOUT A HALF CENTURY AGO... "It was about half a century ago that physicians began recognizing patterns in the depression that some women experienced after childbirth..." --Psychiatrist Paul Appelbaum, MD, then-president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association http://archives.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/parenting/06/26/postpartum.depression/ About a half a century ago, obstetrics became a leading specialty of medicine - OBs founded the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists/ACOG in 1951 (?). It was about that time that OBs began LYING - saying the pelvic diameters don't change at delivery. See OB Lie #4 above... PREVENTION is one of the "Values" of the American Psychiatric Association (over 35,000 psychiatrists)... http://www.psych.org/about_apa/ PREVENTION IS AN AMA-PRESCRIBED ETHICAL OBLIGATION... "A physician shall...strive to expose those physicians deficient in character or competence, or who engage in fraud or deception." "A physician shall...seek changes in those requirements which are contrary to the best interests of the patient." "A physician shall...make relevant information available to patients, colleagues, and the public..." http://www.psych.org/psych_pract/ethics/ethics_opinions53101.cfm Psychiatrists should be publicly demanding that OBs stop closing birth canals up to 30%. Psychiatrists should be publicly demanding that OBs stop KEEPING birth canals closed when babies get stuck. Psychiatrists should pretend that THEIR heads are being gripped by forceps, about to be pulled through a pelvic outlet senselessly closed up to 30%. For some babies, it's a matter of life and death. Copied to all 35,000 members of the American Psychiatric Association (hopefully, eventually) via the email addresses listed at: http://www.psych.org/dbs_state_soc/dbstatesocindex.cfm PREGNANT WOMEN: It is easy to offer your baby the "extra" up to 30% of outlet area by simply rolling onto your side as you push your baby out. JUST BEWARE: Some OBs and CNMwives let you "try" alternative delivery positions - but move you back to semisitting or dorsal (close your birth canal) for the actual delivery. ALSO BEWARE: It is STANDARD PRACTICE for OBs to keep birth canals closed when babies get stuck - i.e. - OBs are pulling with forceps and vacuums - with birth canals senselessly closed... LADIES: Talk to your OB or CNMwife about this today. WHITE ELEPHANT FACT: Pregnant women should not have to ASK obstetricians for the "extra" up to 30%. My thanks to Daye of Australia for calling my attention to the issue of postpartum depression. (I know, Daye, this post is way too long. Someday I will be able to compose shorter posts.) Thanks for reading everyone. Sincerely, Todd Dr. Gastaldo todd@chiromotion.com Hillsboro, OR Copied to: BABY BLUES CONNECTION of Portland, Oregon via info@babybluesconnection.org Oregon's only medical school - OHSU - is promoting birth-canal-closing/semisitting. Semisitting delivery closes the birth canal up to 30% - and OBs are routinely KEEPING birth canals closed when babies get stuck. See The Four OB Lies above. Birth-canal-closing/semisitting may be causing some cases of "Baby Blues" and Postpartum Depression. Please join me in calling for OHSU to take down or change its birth-canal-closing/semisitting-promoting website... http://www.ohsuhealth.com/cwh/healthinfo/pregnancy/labor/deliver.html See Birth child abuse: Oregon's only medical school (OHSU) http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/chiro-list/message/2986 This post will be archived for global access in the Google usenet archive. 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