Is this normal with PND??

[Indi28]

I've been to the GPs and been diagnosed with PND mainly due to ongoing health problems related to the birth.

I am trying to resist taking ADs and I can handle the weepy moments - but what I find difficult is this over-riding sense of anxiety all the time - like a massive knot in the chest - total lack of apetite & not being able to sleep because of anxiousness and going over health problems in my mind. I obsess about developing more health problems. Is this normal for PND? Ds is 12 weeks old.

I'm sorry you feel this way. Medication could make you feel much better. You could feel worse if you don't get treated.

I am taking ADs and they are very helpful. My DD is 20 weeks old and breastfed and the ones I am on are fine for breastfeeding.

Before I started taking them I was very anxious, no appetite and disturbed sleep and the ADs have given me the space I needed to sort things out.

The physical physical feeling of anxiety sitting in your chest is a very real sensation. It certanly was like that for me.

But if your PND is at all connected with physical health problems, or with emotional trauma related to them or the birth, then ADs will not be the answer. They may help (I don't know, I refused them), but they won't solve the problems. You really really need to address the issues that upset you.

Please forgive me, I struggle to keep track of postings, but did you post recently about problems with your stitches?

If you're reluctant to take ADs, can you try St John's Wort, or Valerian? Or possibly see a homeopath?

Yes pretty candles it is me with the non-healing bottom end - have just been to the consultant last week and it is likley that I have a small tract between my bottom and girls parts - lovely!!! So have been referred to the 'bottom' surgeon to rectify - with no timescales as yet.

I have had one session of counselling and am due to go next week for the second one. I am just conscious that counselling and trying to be stoical seems like a very up hill struggle at the moment. The sense of anxiety seems to be very close to panic and I am wondering whether taking the ADs may just alleviate it - but am also worried that the symptoms may worsen in the first few weeks of taking them.

I meant to ask Piccadilly Circus - did you experience any worsening of symptoms in the first few weeks of taking them and which ADs are you on?

Oh yuck! You poor thing. It's bl**dy difficult being stoical about such a thing. But I'll tell you something that I wish someone had told me: the operation will help, you will feel so much better and, most importantly, you will regain the emotional resources to cope and to recover from the PND. Not bad enough to have PND, but to have to cope with it when there is such a distressing physical problem going on...that's rough.

I had a very strong feeling that I didn't want to take ADs. But that's just me. Others take them and find them helpful. I used kava isntead (but it's been banned and you can't get it now ). It may well be that the ADs will help you get trhough for the time being. But don't discount the counselling. For one thing you probably need to lash out at the misfortune that left your bits in pieces. For another, there may be other issues at the root of your depression - there were for me, and the counselling helped me identify them and gave me resources for the future.