Postnatal depression? Or could it be the pill? Help

[showmethegin]

I have a beautiful 4 month DS and the last couple of days I have been feeling really sad and flat. We had a hard road to get him; 4 years of TTC with 3 miscarriages so I feel so stupid feeling like this. I feel like the joy has just been sucked out of me.

I am worried that I may be developing post natal depression. Has anyone else been through this? I assumed that it would start earlier if this was the case?

I also started taking Yasmin contraceptive pill around 10 days ago and suddenly though tonight it could be that?

Just looking to hear the experiences of others.

Well I’m one of those women who always went a bit crazy on hormonal contraceptives . So I’m gonna be biased towards it being the pill. You need to be a bit clinical in your approach to investigating this , have you used this contraceptive before ? One with a similar hormone dose ?
if so , did that have a similar effect?
I think you need to take into account other factors too, are you breastfeeding ? How many periods have you had? Some ladies seem to snap back into their old hormonal cycle almost instantly and others take a year or so post partum.
are you tired? Babies that age can be buggers for messing with our sleep , sometimes sleeping through and others having us up on and off all night so again this can give your mood a kicking.
If you feel well enough to wait and see , give it a cycle , a few weeks and closely monitor whether it improves or gets worse. If you’re feeling that real heaviness of low mood then I’d be speaking to the GP about your options. I’ve had PND which kicked in around 6 weeks and lingered for 6 months and I’ve also had ( many years later ) a delayed onset of low mood around 8 months PP which was exactly when I tried to use hormonal contraceptives again so make of that what you will. Don’t expect a straight answer immediately , you sound like you’re insightful and alert to your mood changes which is good , you’ll be okay because you’re on the ball I think.
try and do some (heavily cliched) self care and get some ‘you time’ and see if you can kick it with exercise and social time . Failing that I’d be inclined to think it’s chemical and you need to rethink your contraceptive choice.
wish you well :)

That's really interesting, thanks.

I was on Yasmin before TTC and it did coincide with a period in my little where I felt low and anxious; I was actually put on Citalopram because of it. I then came off Yasmin and Citalopram at the same time because of TTC. I remember saying to DP, so glad I came of Citalopram because I am feeling a lot better now; but obviously I had come off Yasmin too! I feel so stupid but because I had been on one contraceptive pill or another for at least 14 years I just didn't consider that it could have been caused by the pill!

You have given very good advice. I had a big chat and unloaded to my very supportive DP and my mum tonight because I didn't want to keep how I was feeling a secret. I also bought a Fitbit today and am going to force myself to get out to get 10k steps a day if I can and see if that helps

*with a period in my life

Oh and I gave up breastfeeding at around 2 weeks. I had a period at around 7 weeks pp then another around 7 weeks later

Oh you sound so sensible! I wasn’t that smart and suffered in silence till it got really bad which was stupid and why I try to encourage other women to be open. My daughters just had a baby too and I’ve loved the way she’s constantly updating me on how she’s been feeling- I’ve had it all including lots of swearing late at night :) She seems to be fine though and just getting grumpy when overtired , it lasts hours not days which makes me think she’s alright at the moment . Back to you though : Those cycle lengths sound like you’re still in ‘reset ‘ to me . I can see why you’re making those connections with your past history , citalopram would have masked alot of the mood swings from a mismatched hormone ( it’s one of the ones they use for bad PMS symptoms as well ) so I really think it’s worth talking to your GP about this . You need to know if your pill is wrong.
definitely do the exercise plan you have though, that sounds awesome !

Yes I went back on the pill after DC2 and almost immediately felt dreadful, it was like a black cloud descended.

I took it for 3-4 days and became a so worried about my mental state I stopped. And the cloud lifted within a day or two. I definitely couldn't have finished the month!

I've not used hormonal contraception again. Before DC I'd been on the pill for about 15 years.

Post DC it was microgynon, but there's lots of different brand names about, and low mood is definitely mentioned as a side effect on the web for that one.

Thank you and congratulations on your new grandchild!

That's so interesting; your history is really similar to mine then.

I've not taken it this morning. I want to see if I feel brighter after coming off. If I still feel bad then I can speak to the GP to see if there is something else going on