Tired/grumpy/hair loss and headaches

[LB80]

Dont really know where to start. My baby is 20wks old. He has GOR and CMPA. Im breast feeding him and Im soya, dairy and egg free due to his allergies/intolerances.
Over the last few weeks Ive been so grumpy and snapping at anything and anyone. My hair is falling out in clumps and Im so tired all the time. Ive now been having headaches everyday for the past week.
I had my bloods checked and Im not anaemic.
Has anyone else felt like this or experienced similar symptoms?
Any advice or help?
Im fed up moaning and grumping at people particularly my husband and 2yr old.

It sounds really tough coping with 2 small DC and bfing with all of those allergies.

Are you eating and drinking enough? How's your sleep? Have you got someone to take them both for a couple of hours, like DH or could DH let you have a couple of lie ins this weekend?

It's really tough going allergy free but it will get easier. The 1st two months are the hardest and then by the end of it you don't even feel like eating all the stuff you can't eat.

Are you taking calcium supplements? How's your vitamin D levels?

Im trying to eat enough but soya is in everything. Its hard but Im desperate to continue as its best for my baby. Yes Im on a calcium supplement, not sure about vit D levels. The doc took lots of blood and results were normal. Speaking to GP on friday again as worried its something else.
Hubby is very busy at work so he cant help out during the week and at the weekend I feel like Im the one doing all the things with the children and the laundry. He does the cooking! Im up early to express or feed the baby and then thats me up until the 10pm feed. He thinks Im just stressed but I really think Im just exhausted and drained.
Sorry for moaning. X

Really hope you managed to get some rest over the weekend. Did you get back to the GPs? What did they say?

Are you staying up till 10pm. Could you go to bed earlier and feed Lo when they wake?

The GP isnt sure what is causing hair loss. She and the health visitor have diagnosed me with PND :0(
Feeling a little better but still very tired. Seeing GP and health visitor next week to talk things through and see where I am at.
Yes I stay up until 10pm feed. I have occasionally gone to bed after 7pm feed but feel much worse when I wake to do 10pm feed.

Did they check your thyroid level? Surely with these symptoms they must have. If not ask them to do so.

Hi myfirstname
No dont think they did. I will ask the doc next week. Just got hit with the PND diagnosis :0(

I have PND twice. It is pants. But it is OK. If you see what I mean. You will get better. Life will improve. In the meantime be kind to yourself and do not think of PND as a "label of doom" - tis just like a sprained shoulder or hormone imbalance - an illness - you are getting it seen to.

Thank you. I felt some relief after the diagnosis. Think I have been in denial for weeks and hoped it would go away. Im scared the doctor will try to give me meds, Id rather try other means of treatment.
How did you manage PND MyFirdtName if you dont mind me asking?
X

I did do the mild ADs. They made me feel crap the first week or two then really started to work. Even took whilst breastfeeding (there is one you can take).

I would recommend the ADs if you want a relatively quick, painless-ish solution. I did at the time.

Since then I found my self 2 more times sinking back into depression/anxiety and realised that I had some "stuff" to deal with so went for some counselling. Wish I had done it years earlier. So in some ways I suppose the ADs just were a sticking plaster at the time, iyswim. But tbh I needed that sticking plaster. Just wish I had done the counselling too. (I did have some CBT at the time but that did not help me recognise and resolve the deep root causes of my anxiety). Dealing with that earlier would have maybe helped me not try to "do" all the time. To be perfect. To instead be able to relax, admit I was tired, go for a nap.

Sticking plasters are good. They can get you through the next week, the next month. Have 2 young ones is bloody exhausting and you do sound like you are shattered. You do not have to jump into any treatment immediately.

Sorry a bit of a mumbled, jumbled answer there.

I hope you feel better soon. And get some rest woman .

Thank you that is really helpful. I dont know anyone who has/had PND. Hubby and I keep fighting and Im sure its because of me and how Im feeling. I cant really explain it. Will be glad once Ive spoken to doc and health visitor and start to make sense if it all.
I just want to feel like me again and quickly! X

You will discover (though it may take several years for it to come out) far more people than you thing have some form of PND. So often it is not talked about.

Just an example: I have a group of 7 NCT friends. Of those 3 of us fully diagnosed with PND. At least 2 others probably there but avoided the diagnosis.

I met with some old school friends - hadn't seen them for years. 6 women. 4 of us said we had had PND. (It was a weirdly open conversation for a re-union). You would find that once there is openess in a conversation, if one person says I have had it, oodles more would admit to the same.

There is no need to go shouting from the rooftops - but just to help you realise you are not odd. Or alone. Or doing anything wrong. It happens. And far more often than anyone thinks.

Thanks thats really reassuring. Its early days I guess and Im just getting my head round it all too. Hard to expect hubby to understand it all. Ive found a local aupport group so going to try and get the courage to go along next week. X

I would still make sure you find out thyroid levels as it can go wacky in the yr after pg.
(Tiredness, weight gain , constipation or diarrhoea heart racing etc depending on which way its gone)

My thyroid problems were misdiagnosed as PND, sounds very similar. It took 8 months and several trips to the GP for a locum to finally decide to test my thyroid. He was astounded that I was actually awake when he saw my levels!

Please do push for tests and don't accept 'within normal range' as an answer, ask for numbers and ranges and then post them on here for advice. The normal range is quite wide and I can feel pretty rubbish at the lower end of normal and need to be quite well medicated just to function. We're all different, so what's normal for someone else, may not be for you.

Morning. Thank you for advice re:thyroid. I was at doc on friday and after a really bad day, grumpy, crying and irritable I broke down with the GP and she prescribed me a low dose of antidepressants :0(
She said all my bloods were fine from tests taken a couple of weeks ago. I will phone and ask for exact levels tomorrow though.
Xx