Those who got postnatal depression did anything trigger it? Were you higher risk for it?

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Hi I’m just asking because postnatal depression is something that scares me and also I’m interested to hear others experiences as I’ve heard that some people are higher risk for it and/or something triggers it like a bad life event during pregnancy or just after the birth of baby.

did anyone who experienced pnd have any predisposed risks or/and have one or more bad or stressful life events happen during your pregnancy, during the birth or just after. How long did it take for you and others to recognise you had PND? How badly were you affected by PND? How long did it take for you to recover? Was there any consequences e.g. relationship breakdown, other family members being affected e.g. other kids, other illnesses that happened after or were triggered by PND?

thanks for your stories and I hope things are much better for you and your family.

Bump

Took me about 6 months to realise something was wrong. Nothing particularly triggered it but from day 5 post birth I was just very sad. I've always been an emotional person so I thought it was just my hormones. I had counselling in the end and found the underlying cause was my parent's divorce when I was 13. I feel I'm out the other side and I wouldn't not have another because of it but I would make sure I spoke up earlier if it happens again.

Hello! I'd never had any mental health problems before developing PND and PNA after the birth of my much-wanted DD.

I think it's common to feel down and anxious when your hormones plummet after birth (most of the mums I know confirmed this). However, I believe what made it so much worse for me was a combination of
(a) lack of sleep and lots of worry due to a colicky baby
(b) grief over losing my sister and FIL while DD was tiny
(c) stress over not living up to my expectations of motherhood (DD was an IVF baby, so there were a lot of emotions swirling around!)

I went on a low dose of sertraline and had group counselling which really helped. I also joined a local group for struggling mums. It took a few months, but I can honestly say my MH is now better than ever and we're even trying for another baby, which would've been unthinkable back then!

Best of luck. Please reach out if you need help. My GP was actually amazing and there are lots of resources out there.

Lots of questions but I would say: don't worry. I don't think it's straightforward or obvious who it hits, so no need to worry too much in advance. In preparation, it's good to discuss with your support network in advance how they would like to be approached if they're worried about you.

I had PND and I think lack of support, sick baby and exhaustion were the biggest factors. So much changes that it can be hard to recognise it happening at the time, and you are so focused on the baby that you can fail to notice how you're feeling (something that was a totally alien concept to me before having kids).

I had therapy and did not take the drugs when offered, though I now think perhaps I should have. The big thing that helped me out of it was going back to work and having a lot of difficult conversations with my partner.

Your relationship is challenged with a baby. If you can afford it, I think going to see a couple's counsellor to discuss how you'll cope with a new baby could be incredibly helpful. Absent that, have some frank and detailed discussions about how you'll balance workload before baby comes. It will save you having them at 3am!!

A very traumatic birth triggered mine. Time healed the sadness.

I was flagged as having a 50% chance of having severe pnd and/or psychosis after having my daughter due to having bipolar1
As soon as I found I was pregnant I was referred to the perinatal mental health team and from 32 weeks pregnant I had a cpn who had video calls with every 2 weeks due to lockdowns
The biggest risk for me was in the first few days especially due to the lack of sleep. Due to this in my birth plan I was to have a single room if it was available with the option for my partner to stay overnight if permitted (it wasn't at the time of delivery).
This qualified me for the full 28day care from the midwives and after day 5 I saw the same midwife once a week and she text to give a 2h window for when to expect her.
I did really well until 3 weeks when my daughter started with reflux and I started with psychosis and depression. We had a plan for medication changes and that was put into place but it didn't work. I was nearly admitted to a mother and baby unit at 8 weeks but just about coped at home with weekly visits from our HV and my cpn (they alternated) and a video call with my cpn on the week I didn't see her. The HV arranged a baby massage course and I had CFT group therapy and had a referral to the infant parenting service for specialist therapy for bonding. I tried a lot of medication and it didn't help by 10 months post partum I was still severe depression psychotic which was now classed as treatment resistant and was admitted to the mother and baby unit for 10 weeks. It took 2 years, a lot of medication and 18 months of vig therapy to recover.

Two children and was ok but then i had the third and developed PND. The triggering factors for me were a very prem baby who was very unwell, my own pregnancy related health problems and very little family support due to living a long way away.
I finally admitted how bad i felt to the HV when baby was about 5 months old ( only back home 2 months) She was great. I started on ADs which helped a lot and started to climb out of the fog after about 3 months. Was able to stop ADs after about a year and no recurrence after nearly 30 years.

I'm not going to answer all your questions as I don't actually think doing so would help or reassure you in any way. I had pretty bad PND after DC1, got very little support with it (which was partly my own fault/choice and partly external circumstances making it difficult for me to engage with the little that was on offer). I started feeling a lot better around 8 months on, went back to work albeit part-time at 9 months and that helped more too. With DC2 I don't think I really had PND in comparison as although felt down the first few months it was nowhere near to that extent. Instead I had utterly horrific anxiety but I engaged well with CBT for that which helped loads. I have had depression for years when I was younger though and mental health difficulties since childhood really on and off though so it's not like it all came out of the blue from nowhere, I was always identified as being at higher risk.

Mine was caused by a combination of being really really sensitive to hormone changes, a traumatic birth that left me feeling disconnected form my baby and wishing I'd never got pregnant in the first place because people kept telling me my baby was worth what happened to me and to me that experience was so traumatic tbh at the time I kept thinking "no it isn't" and also absolutely no family support so I was left alone struggling in severe pain and completely overwhelmed when my partner went back to work. It was made worse because I didn't ask for any help from anyone for months as I was convinced if I admitted how I felt they would take my baby away after I was threatened with social services by the midwife because I couldnt stop crying after birth.

Having a baby.
Everyone kept telling me it was normal "baby blues" it was only when it got really bad after 5 weeks that a gp stepped in and didnt dismiss me.

I’m so so sorry to hear your experiences of postnatal depression and what you’ve gone through. It sounds awful. That headspace must have been awful. I’m glad you all have got help for it and you’ve recovered and I want to wish you a happy healthy future x

Yes and it was a shock as there was nothing to trigger it.

Unfortunately it’s just hormones. It’s not your fault if it happens but if you have a history of mental health problems or depression I believe you can flag for extra support.

Hopefully you will be fine but rest assured if you do develop it there is a lot of help and support.

I think mine was worsened by previous recurrent pregnancy loss which meant that I was already not in a great place when my first baby was born but I think the bulk of it was hormonal. The black cloud of it suddenly lifted when my baby turned 1 - I still had the sadness and anxiety caused by the pregnancy losses but the sheer hopelessness lifted.

My one wish is that I had sought help sooner and been more honest about how I was feeling. The PND made me convinced that my baby would be taken away from me which of course is not what happened at all when I did eventually ask for help.

I had it due to having a dvt during pregnancy and also, looking back, I was depressed before I was expecting.
Sadly, even though I got help pdq it fucked up my relationship with my first child. I knew him inside out but we were not and still aren't close.

Traumatic birth.
Utter utter bone drenched exhaustion from breast feeding hourly day and night for months a low birth weight baby.
Multiple miscarriages pre pregnancy with torrential blood loss each time.
No one picked up or was interested in my severe iron deficiency and anaemia.
Zero family help or support. It was me and dh who went back to work after 2 weeks, so it was me alone.

It was a shit show and inevitable.

No one noticed, I simply couldn’t go on. So went to my GP who prescribed antidepressants and told me to go swimming.

Antidepressants did help. To an extent. But of course I still had the same shit and zero sleep.

I had a very traumatic birth and totally feel that it triggered my pnd. Also lack of support didn't help. Second birth was so different and no pnd at all.

No previous mental health issues.
I am certain mine was triggered by my then partners shitty behaviour towards me. He’s an ex now and we have a really friendly relationship but il never forget what a selfish prick he was and what it did to my mental health when our daughter was born.