Puerperal Psychosis - been there?

[MusicMa]

Hello lovely mums!

I wanted to start a link about PP, as it is quite rare but feel it doesn't get the same attention as other postnatal illnesses.

I was diagnosed with mild puerperal psychosis, which kicked in about the day or so after my little girl was born. I had episodes of hallucinations (seeing things like insects, flashing lights, everything psychadelic colours), sometimes hearing things or voices, aswell as sound being intensely loud. Like all your senses are extreme. I didn't want to sleep, I felt I could go out and do everything! I kept thinking my lovely partner was trying to scare me on purpose, making jokes at my expense (which he would never do!), and was against me or watching me, and above all the most frightening thing was thinking my daughter was watching me or was evil.
I had other experiences of confusion, talking a lot, and thinking the crisis team were against me! I had time lapse issues, thinking minutes were hours or even days, and depersonalisation - feeling as though I wasn't even in my own body, which was horrible. Very frightening.

I am coming out of this now, and have been for the past week or so, and feeling so much more positive and bonding much better with my beautiful daughter. Will take a while to feel like 'me' again, I'm sure, but luckily as I knew there was something not right happening in my own brain (!) I was treated quickly and thankfully it didn't progress to anything more terrible.

I wanted to ask if anyone else has experienced PP, and to share and support!

Also I am in West Yorkshire, so if there have been any ladies in that area would be great to make contact,

Jo x

[Reallytired]

MusicMa. I have never experienced PP, but I did not want your thread to go unanswered. I'm sorry to hear about your illness. I'm glad that you are getting better.

The association for postnatal illness could put you in contact with some RL people.

apni.org/

[MusicMa]

Thank you so much for your reply Reallytired! I'm hoping that even though there may not be many posts yet, I think its important for people to have somewhere to post if they need to.
I will check put apni.org though thanks alot,

[LucindaCarlisle]

My advice would be to try to be open and honest with your partner and possibly other family members about this condition.

Your partner needs to be included in your care plan, he needs to be told about the condition to enable him to understand and be able to more things with the baby.

[4madboys]

yep i had it after my 4th child, mine wasnt diagnosed until my little boy was 4mths old, i KNEW something wasnt right and had been backwards and forwards to see gp's, hv etc but they were all quite dismissive until i went completely loopy and ended up in a psych ward for a week :(

however two and half years later and i am fine and expecting another baby, due next month, i am still taking a very low dose, 10mg of citalopram, when i was first diagnosed i also took an anti psychotic. and i occassionally still see my cpn, not for any real need, just because i wanted extra support/monitering, but there are no signs that i will get it again :)

i have to do dinner now, but will come back to this thread later.

glad you are starting to feel better and i echo the last poster, be open and honest about how you are feeling etc, this is an illness that needs to be talked about more xxx

[tokengirl]

Hi

afraid I'm not going to stick around on this thread, as I'm looking for something for a friend and just happened to see your post. But I had it after the birth of my first chil, and wanted to give you some moral support.

For my second child, I was lightly medicated throughout pregnancy, and very positive I had done everything I could to influence it (lots of birth plans, arranging for a couple of nights extra sleep in the hospital with the staff looking after the baby first couple of nights, etc) - and it didn't come back. Though I also met someone with 5 kids who'd had it every single time....

I'm fully out the other side - it really has gone. And if you can access any talking therapies, it'll really help you question any assumptions that might ever contribute in the future (apparently stress makes it more likely, so managing not to stress about things can mean you're less likely to be affected again).

So don't worry, you'll get through - apparently very few people don't recover.