Ante-Natal Depression - Support Each Other

[flamesparrow]

I've seen it mentioned on a few other threads, and thought that some kind of support thread might help (sorry if there is already one going somewhere... I tried to search but am useless at it ).

Thought it went well as a "club"

Antenatal depression is much more common than people seem to realise. There are so many things going on, that it is not surprising that we get overwhelmed, and sometimes that can spiral into a real depression.

For all those who are worrying (as far as I have been able to read up) - there is no link between antenatal depression and PND, so if you are very low now, please don't panic and assume it will continue when you have your baby... a whole new set of feelings and hormones kick in then

Soooo... if you are pregnant and feeling low, come here, have a rant, a cry, and hopefully we can help eachother through it.

I dont know where to begin. I just feel terrible all the time. I'm not sure if this is full on depression, I had periods of feeling overwhelmed or low throughout my adult life but have never been able to discuss it with anyone. My husband is lovely but he is so uncomplicated emotionally - he can't understand that if someone feels down, why can't they just cheer themselves up and get on with things.
I am so happy to be pregnant but I feel like I'm going mental. I just can't get comfortable - I mean that in a mental sense, like there is something niggling in my head but I can't sort it out. I feel kind of anxious and panicky all the time. My husband works very long hours and I am at home all day so a big part of the problem is that I am very isolated and can go a whole week where I only speak to my husband and my dog but at the same time, I am unable to 'put myself out there' and talk to people/make friends. I have always found this hard but it seems to be getting harder, I just don't know what to say to people or how to relate to them in any way, it just makes me feel more anxious and uncomfortable.
I have little support from family but when I went to visit my parents recently, i spent the whole time feeling extremely anxious and wanting to get home but then I get home and I am back at square one with no support. I spend all day desperate for my husband to come home but then he gets here and I can barely look him in the eye or have anything to say to him (this is what I mean by never feeling comfortable).
I am also down about my weight. I was slim pre-pregnancy but have so far gained just under 2 stone and I am only 25 weeks. I am freaking out at how massive I will be. I can't stop eating, I try to eat good things for baby but then feel so bored at home on my own that I eat all the healthy stuff and then all the other junk I really want as well. My body looks disgusting. I seriously don't know what my husband sees in me - my body is huge, I can rarely tolerate sex and I can't even hold a conversation any more. Before pregnancy, I may have had a crap personality but at least I looked good!

Sorry for huge rant, am sure this is all hormone induced. I hope this passes before baby is born. I don't think I could ever discuss this with MW, partly because she is so busy and the few appoinments I had have been very rushed with a big queue of other women waiting outside and also because I worry that will always be on my file and they will be monitoring me to make sure i can cope with baby. My husband would never forgive if that happened - he can tolerate me being mental but I know he'd never forgive me if my mentalness affects our baby.

Hi ladies, nice to see this thread revived. How are you all? Well I think I'm coming to the conclusion that I may be suffering with AND

I'm 10wks pg with Dc3. Dc1 is 2 and Dc2 is 1. I will have 3 under 3 which is stressing me out quite a bit. I haven't really told anyone about this pg yet, can't cope with people's reactions. Plus I can't find the energy to be 'excited' and 'happy' Don't get me wrong I love my children more than anything and Dc 3 is very much wanted. But I just feel so down. I've phoned in sick to work this am, as I'm so exhausted and run down. I've been crying all weekend. I didn't take the dc into nursery this morning, even though I could really do with a break...because it was too stressful getting them ready?! So now they've got to put up with my miserable face for the day when they could've been playing with friends

Everything is on top of me. I can't be bothered to do anything. I haven't cooked a decent meal for ages...we could all really do with some fresh veg. The house is a tip and I have more dirty washing to do than seems possible. I do have a dh, but he's been working 7 days a wk, he's only at home to 'help' for 1.5hrs in the evening before bedtime. He's still got another 3/4 wks of working every day. I have no other family support really. I haven't had a minute to myself since before dc2 was born and now I've got to somehow do it all again.

I keep avoiding my friends and now avoid answering the phone at all. I've got nothing 'happy' to say so what's the point. Don't really know what can be done to help? Obviously physical help with dc's and around the house would probably help, but can't see where that's going to come from. Scared about speaking to GP, don't know if they'll be able to help anyway? Can't go through the rest of pg like this. My poor dc's we were having so much fun a few months ago and now there're mummy's turned into a lazy, depressed moron who can't spend a day doing something nice with them.

Sorry to ramble on, feels good to get it out.

Hi im a new member, and im so glad that i found this forum. im 25 weeks pg and im suffering with ante natal depression, i cant tell you how hopeless and desperate i feel. It started in my first trimester although i didnt realise at the time, i was exhausted but not sleeping very well, having panic attacks, and a constant dizzy unbalanced feeling(like vertigo). All of this has got worse and i feel so ill!!. My doctor put me on 25mg of amitriptyline for 2 weeks and then increased it to 50mg, which im on my 2nd week of. Does anyone have any experiences of the drug?, im worried that it wont work (maybe because everything seems negative at the moment) but ive had depression in the past and was on citalopram which worked a treat in 4 weeks. I feel im getting worse, and im extremely anxious everytime i feel dizzy or my heart races i think me and my baby are going to die. I would really appreciate any experiences as i feel very lonely.

Hi Hunnibun - snap! - am 26 weeks and just last night admitted to DP that I'm not coping, didn't really need to explain when sat on stairs at 3.30am crying like a 3 year old (with snot dangles nice). I've been feeling dizzy too but have put this down to pregnancy rather than looniness.
I have a history but have been pretty stable on sertraline 100mg for a while after swapping from paroxetine. I have no experience of amytriptyline except for a psych suggesting it as good in pregnancy as it is one of the older types and therefore a known quantity. I hate being on the sertraline as feel really guilty towards baby. My doc explained today that the drug is metabolised quicker in pregnancy and will account for it's decreased effect but am reluctant to up dose.
Am off work as feel I can't go in but have a bad sick record and danger of redundancy. The worst part though is that I have moved to Liverpool to live with partner and have no support network close to hand which feels crap especially as don't have the ability/inclination to establish new local friends. Therefore not going to work means seeing only DP and potentially newsagent. Gutted as so happy to be pregnant after 2 miscarriages. Hate my dopamine receptor wotsits or whatever it is that is causing this. Would be very happy to chat if you wish, take care! x

Hi.
I've just been directed to this page and have read. Through all these messages crying my eyes out cos I feel the same way at the moment, I'm only 13 weeks but just feel so overwhelmed by everything around me and everything that's happening right now I just cry constantly, feel sad and alone. I have a history of depression and I know how low I can go, I. Don't want to feel like this anymore, it does help to write down how I'm feeling even on here just. To try and sort everything out in my head, I'm seeing the doctor on thursday which can't come soon enough to be honest, I don't feel excited by any prospect of being pregnant, I'd love to be like everyone I have told who are excited and over the moon but every time I've told someone I've had to pretend I feel sick so I can go back to bed alone and just cry, my partner just thinks I'm lonely and keeps inviting his mum round, god knows what she's meant to do but she does not help me at all, just critiscises things I've done and tells me how she would of done it, I hate being this way!

I have no energy to do anything, I just lie in bed or on the couch all day sleeping or crying, I know its not normal but I'm constantly alone, I work from home which I've always struggled with, my dp comes in at 5 has his tea then he's asleep within a few hours, and when people do come round I can't wait for them to leave cos all they do is fuss and I hate the attention I'd rather be left alone.

peapod1 IT must be incredibly hard to go through this whilst being in a new area, I'm also in LIverpool so if you ever need to chat just message me xx