Dr. Tabatha Barber explains how autoimmune disorders, thyroid dysfunction, and nutrient deficiencies after childbirth go undiagnosed and worsen postpartum anxiety and depression. A 20-year-old mother at her six-week checkup, struggling with these untreated issues, wanted to divorce her husband and isolated him in the living room.
Things get forgotten. And I have seen countless times women who they should have had their thyroid medication adjusted and it didn't happen, right? So I would love for you to talk about like, what are the biggest things on this checklist that women probably don't realize they need to even know about?
Those would be autoimmune disorders, which can pop up postpartum or around other major hormone shifts. Thyroid disorders, insulin resistance being one of them, nutritional deficiencies or other types of problems, sometimes overdoing it with certain nutrients, and then mood challenges. So things like postpartum anxiety, postpartum depression, which can be exacerbated by all those other conditions and the like.
I remember one woman in particular, she was at her 6-week checkup And she just wanted to divorce her husband. And this was a woman who was in her 20s and she loved her husband. They were like the most beautiful little couple, but it was their second baby. And she was like, I don't want to look at him. I don't want to touch him. I make him sleep in the living room. And I was just like so dumbfounded. Like, what happened?
