Caesarean section

I have been questionning myself hundreds of times for the past 6 years why the hell my brain was deformed and none in my family was impaired by this bloody BP, anxiety and the sort.

I kept asking myself and asking and by the rule of cancelation for each hypothesis like say my mother was over thirty when she had me, that i was for example her first baby and it's known in psychology that the first son always in trouble psychologically, that i had this accident, that my parents quarelled a lot during my chilhood, etc..., etc...and each time i checked the hypothesis and ruled out some while keeping others. One of them was that i was not nursed naturally because the ******* gynacologist (always the case nowadays in egypt) he wanted to admit the maximum no of pregnant mothers to the hospital in order to maximize his profit. One way of doing this is to force a caesarian section instead of a natural delivery since he hasn't got time to supervise each mother by herself waiting for her labor. I always thought why could not this be one of the possible reasons on the list since i was not breastfed. Why because poor Ma the fuckin son of a ***** gave her an antibiotic which made her milk dry, she told me this in the past.

Today apparently i discovered that perhaps this was the viable reason. I was at the pharmacy this afternoon bying some omega 3 pills for my father who is regularly on it. The pharmacist had a guest visiting him who happened to be another pharmacist apparently well learned. He asked me why do you take this for, so i said, cholesterol reduction, sugar regulation, blood pressure control, etc.. so he said mind you they discovered lately that babies who are not breastfed get anxiety when grown up, this fell like a shell upon my head. i said are you sure he said yes because the mother's milk contains DHA and this i discovered he said when he was doing his master degree. I really was depressed. Has this fuckin son of ***** used a suitable antibiotic but who cares....
ezz

[Darkestlight]

Maybe its just me, and maybe this sounds mean or cruel. But theres nothing u can do about it. You have what u have. Move on with life. Learn to cope and live with meds. I am BP and i believe some of the people in my family have it, never diagnosed so i cant prove it, but i dont dwell on it. I dont care if my family has it or not, or what caused me to be this way. I just know what i have and what i need to do to take care of myself.
Why drag urself down and keep living in the past...? Ya know i didnt breast feed and i had a c section and ya know i dont believe my dd will grow up to have any problems, if she does then she does but im not going to say its my fault.
My last therapist told me that the newest discovery for the reason of bipolar is the lacking of some chemical in the brain, NOT DUE TO LACK OF BREAST MILK.

[LetaB]

   Personally, I've never heard of a correlation between birth order and these sorts of mental imbalances or that breast milk would have any effect on anxiety, BP, etc. In fact, I find it very hard to believe. My mother had 6 children and I was the only one she nursed. This was because my brothers and sisters are much older and were born in the 50s and it was considered "dirty". I certainly reaped no mental benefits from it. I had two children naturally and two c-section. I nursed each of them up to 14 months. All of them have varying degrees of mental illness but the second c-section got the least of it and the oldest who had a natural childbirth - the worst.
   What purpose is there in laying blame anywhere? There isn't always a reason these things happen. No matter where you got it from you must deal with it and all this anger and hatred serves nothing. Have you ever thought that your quest for a target to lay blame is slightly paranoid which is a symptom of our disorder? Take a deep breath and reevaluate what it is you need to function. I don't think this is it.

[LeftCoastChick]

I have to agree with both posters, what you have isn't caused by birth order or lack of breast feeeding Ez. I know a few folks who've been adopted and never breast fed who are doing personally fine. If a child has been in foster care like I have been for more the a couple of months, there may be attachment issues, but I'm not blaming my circumstancess of my first few months, as the reason for having BP. Some of us have a predispostition, genetic or not. I know what triggered mine into going full blown, some show signs very young. So what I'm saying is the cause is different for each person. Being angry at the doctor will do you now good. You have it.

[elwoodsf]

Hey Ezz, I sense anger in your post. There are times when I get angry with this disease too. I think I speak for many. I found that being angry at my disease only makes me miserable. There are many people who are BP, many famous people - artists, poets, writers, to name a few. Their works are beyond anyone else's work that have a "normal" brain. I think finding the positive aspects can help, of course emotional timing needs to be taken into consideration. BP can be genetic; I too have family members with undiagnosed BP. My thoughts are that it is more accepted today than years ago. A few years back my daughter and I, together, watched One Flew Over The Coocoo's Nest (sp?). We both were shocked at the barbaric way they treated the patients. I am happy they don't treat "us" like that anymore. Another good movie is A Beautiful Mind. My daughter and I have watched this one over and over.

I heard this saying several times ~ anger can be depression turned inside out. You are not stuck in a box, you are with many wonderful people that are walking the walk of a person with BP. Yes, it has it's up's and down's but that is why I stay on this forum. To share hope and to get hope when I'm down. Take Care ~ Sherry

[ILADVOCATE]

  As for facts, I know that a few clinical studies showed that people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective such as myself had a higher risk when they had a difficult or premature birth or their mother while they were in gestation, had an infection and needed an antibiotic. I'm not sure if that extends to bipolar as well but it may. I was born premature and delivered by forceps. As well my mother had an upper respiratory infection and took antibiotics while I was still a fetus from what she tells me. Those studies have not been proven yet.          
   However, my natural father had schizophrenia. My mother is about to undergo treatment for cyclothymia (mild bipolar). They know for sure its genetic. There are just trigger factors as well. That doesn't mean your parents have any form of psychiatric disability but if you look through your family tree, you might find some people who had signs of bipolar as in my family (some now in treatment). Or you might not. Either way, its genetic and something that would have happenned anyway but as you well known bipolar is treatable. Focus on that part. I had a happier life getting treated earlier than family members who waited out their whole life not knowing what was wrong.

[adel_ezz]

Thank you very much for all of of you and your kind support. This morning i am better, it's only the anger in me which triggerred the way i expressed myself. True i should focus on BP. Besides, if it's genetic then breastfeeding or not you have it already before birth. Thanks once more for your kind support
ezz

[irishwriter]

sorry that you are still seeking answers to questions that may not have any. i am from a family of twelve and my mother breastfed the older six and stopped with me. (no 7!) there is a very strong genetic history of depression. my three children developed various forms of depression, the oldest was born by c-section but not the other two and my youngest so far has exhibited the worst  of the three of them with depressive episodes and is  the only one who had to b e medicated (atenolol for panic attacks and xanax for stress during exams). i agree that once we have it the best we can do is try to live with it, understand how it affects us (because we all seem to be different in responses to it and in manifestations of it) and try not to become the disease. be a person with bipolar not a bipolar person! a lost of my siblings have various forms of depression, some bipolar, some major depression and some undiagnosed because they dont want to see it!