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Pregnancy

Pregnancy with Bipolar Disorder

6 replies

stumblymonkey · 07/01/2016 08:35

Hi all,

I have bipolar disorder type II and looking to TTC this year.

I'm seeing a private psych soon with an interest in perinatal care to talk about meds.

I just wondered how other people with bipolar found pregnancy and the sleep deprived first few months?

What did you do with your meds...did you come off them? How was that?

How did pregnancy hormones impact your bipolar?

Did the sleep deprivation impact your bipolar?

Any tips or advice?

Thanks X

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sizethree · 07/01/2016 21:00

I don't suffer from bi polar but I didn't want to leave your post unanswered.
It may be worth a try posting this on a mental health thread too in order to get more responses.
And just want to add that it's great that you're putting so much consideration and prep in, that in itself is a huge step to taking control.

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stumblymonkey · 08/01/2016 06:27

Size three....thanks for your reply. I couldn't see a mental health thread before but will search around now X

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stumblymonkey · 08/01/2016 06:29

Duh! Have found it straight away, not sure how I missed it the first time around!

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sizethree · 08/01/2016 08:53

I find mumsnet a bit hard to navigate too.
I'm sure you'll get some great advice on there from people who've been in your shoes, and have children although maybe not currently pregnant.
Best of luck. Becoming a mummy is incredible in all kinds of ways. You'll nail it. X

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Saphwoodman · 09/01/2016 11:09

I have bipolar and I have a one year old son and I'm 13 weeks pregnant again (so couldn't be that bad first time round hey!) im off my medication, I came off it through out my whole pregnancy with my son and then went back on it after I gave birth and stopped again for this baby. You can carry on with it, there is a slight risk to the child but the midwife told me she had ladies who stayed on it and went on to have healthy babies, but I decided I wanted to come off. It wasn't all rose petals, I felt more emotional and did have more ups and downs but it wasn't too bad. With my bipolar I tend to stay awake a lot in mania and sleep a lot in depression. When you're first pregnant you are so tired because of the pregnancy that even when I was manic I just slept the day away because my body was exausted! I don't think you will have much trouble with staying awake in early pregnancy!

This said though after the baby I had a short bout of post partum depression, apparently being bipolar makes you more at risk. I felt I didn't bond with my child in the early stages as much as I should have. I was always getting my boyfriend to bath/feed/dress him and rarely wanted to hold him. When I went back on my meds things eased down.

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stumblymonkey · 09/01/2016 12:36

Thanks Saph for the response...sounds like it wasn't too bad. I keep reminding myself that any woman can get PND and at least I know all the symptoms and have a pysch already. Am determined to keep a positive attitude going into it rather than worrying as I can only imagine this could make it worse X