PND and sertraline - advice please, I’m scared

[EstelleK88]

Hello 👋🏻

So I had my beautiful baby boy 6 months ago. I had a pretty traumatic birth and lost a lot of blood. I struggled at first to bond with him, I knew I loved him but there was a connection missing. I have come so far in 6 months and I can now say I have never loved anything or anyone more than I love him.

That being said, I am finding day to day life of being a mum so overwhelming and I feel empty a lot of the time. I don’t enjoy things like I used to, when I watch TV it might aswell be a blank screen. I feel like when I go out people can tell I’m struggling, like I might aswell have a sign on me saying ‘I’m not okay’. I don’t feel like this everyday but when it’s bad, it’s really bad.

i went to the GP yesterday and they have prescribed me with sertraline, and I’m scared about taking them as it says you can feel worse to start with and I don’t want to feel worse when I have my son to look after. Any advice from people who have suffered with this and taken meds for it would be greatly appreciated 😊 xx

Firstly, sending you big hugs. I’ve been where you are now, and know how you are feeling. I’ve never been in such a dark place as I did when I had PND with my firstborn (15yrs ago).

However, I started on sertraline when she was 5 months old, and I immediately noticed positive changes. I was fortunate not to experience any side effects, but know that some people do. But know that these will be temporary.

I started to enjoy life again, and enjoyed my role as a Mum. I hadn’t appreciated how low I was until I started to come out of it.

Keep talking to those close to you, and don’t be afraid to try a different meditation if sertraline doesn’t work for you.

You’ll get there lovely. It can take some time, but you will 🌻

It is honestly worth it in the long run . I felt like you before I went on them . No enjoyment in anything . I wouldn’t say I got worse in first few weeks but it isn’t instant fix . Then you start to feel a bit better and I felt normal again . Was so worth it .

My sympathy, OP, PND is tough to deal with.
If you are concerned that the Sertraline might make you feel temporarily worse, but then fully recovered, consider the alternative: don’t take it at all and stay depressed indefinitely. It’s an easy decision really, no?

Thank you all for your responses. I’ve never had anything like this before and it’s awful. I am lucky enough to have a supportive partner and family network, and it’s only been this last week I have opened up fully about how I was feeling. My partner is struggling a little too, I think it’s such a shock to the system when you have only had to be responsible for yourself for so many years and now you are responsible for keeping another human being alive xx

I had PND when my child was born.

I can’t remember which antidepressant I took, but I remember I started feeling better in two weeks. It honestly felt like normal me was back.

If you are worried, discuss with your family and ask them to keep a closer eye on you. You must remember they need to put warnings in for side effects even if they are rare.

They often say it takes much longer for the affects to kick in. I’d say go for it. My only regret was I stopped after six months. I think I should have taken them for longer.

Motherhood is hard.please accept all the help you can get.

You've come a massive long way developing that bond with your baby. It's often not instant like we are led to believe.

If you don't mind, I picked up on you saying when you go out you feel like people can see you are struggling.
I'm wondering if you mean you feel self conscious?
There can be a lot of perceived and real judgment of new mums from the general public. I remember feeling it intensely and don't want to minimise what you are feeling at all, but with hindsight I don't think it mattered if people thought I was struggling and I don't think did. There also can be judgment amongst us mothers, because we are all finding out feet and we want to appear and feel competent.
It's exhausting as we're in a bit of a hormonal fog and trying to fumble our way through, mostly without a village.

What I learnt through a long process is to risk being honest about the hard bits. That vulnerability gives everyone else permission to be vulnerable too. It may be a relief to see and hear that others struggle despite appearances.

I tried various groups but eventually found places I could be honest. Where I didn't have to be a swan paddling furiously beneath to look like I had it all together on the surface. People say to reach out without thinking about what this means and what support people have around them, but sometimes it takes a bit of trial and error to find people we can reach out to.
I'm thinking hearing these things may help a little in the long term while sertraline helps in the immediate term.

Thank you for your reply. Yes I am quite a self conscious person anyway, always have been. I’ve always been an anxious person too so I knew I’d be like that as a mum. It’s so much harder than I ever anticipated. It’s totally amazing and worth it, but I’m just finding every day is abit like Groundhog Day. I try and get out as much as I can but then I also can’t be bothered a lot of the time. I don’t bother with myself to put make up on anymore (I used to not even be able to leave the house without it!), I’ve put on alot of weight during and since my pregnancy, I feel like one of the only joys I look forward to is when he’s asleep and I can eat some chocolate or biscuits etc, it’s a vicious cycle xx