pregnant with existing mental health problem

[tofu]

I have suffered from an anxiety disorder for many years now which was the result of a string of breakdowns. I am now 37 weeks pregnant and have found that the pregnancy has massively exaggerated my normal symptoms. Some of the symptoms are, complete insomnia which is accompanied by constant adrenalin rushes, panic attacks, agraphobia...this has made my pregnancy really hard and as i near the end i am worried how i will cope with the birth and a new baby when i am in a complete state already. I have tried to get some understanding/support from the doctor and midwife but they appear to have absolutely no understanding of mental health problems. I cannot be the first person with this type of condition to be pregnant and wonder why there is not more awareness of it. I was looking to hear from people with existing mental health problems.

I can kind of relate to how you feel.

I suffered severe anxiety after a depression in my early twenties... then i got pg and things got worse... at one stage I could barely push the pushchair to the shop at the end of the road!

During my first pg i did see a psychiatric nurse - she was kind of helpful - but didn't resolve much as she just talked through how none of my symptoms really meant anything... well i knew that already!

The birth was ok though... yes i was anxious (most women are anyway) but once i was in the delivery room away from everyone else things improved and to be honest your body does kind of take over (as does the pain! lol)

Perhaps you could find out whether your hospital has private rooms you could book for afterwards... that is what i remember struggling with - being shoved into a packed ward afterwards.

What worked for me was to see a proper psychiatrist and to just continue to move out of my "comfort zone" (i hate that phrase!) but you know what i mean. Having a new baby kind of forces you to do that - not nice at the time - but beneficial in the long run.

That was all ten years ago - have since gone on to have 2 more kids so that proves it can't have been that bad!

Sorry your GP/mw have not been helpful. Your hospital may have a Disability Support mw and/or PND liaison mw (mine had both), they may be good people for you to talk to about this. I can sort of identify with you, in that my pre-existing OCD flared up dreadfully when I was PG, and I became very depressed. Fortunately the obs/gyn doctor I saw at the one routine hospital appointment was brilliant, made sure I was referred to a psychiatrist. I started on Prozac at 30 weeks, and so was 50% better by the time of the birth, and not depressed any more, just anxious, and was sufficiently better that being busy looking after a newborn helped rather than hindered my recovery.

Figures for ante-natal depression are somewhere around 1 in 10 PG women - unfortunately people in and outside the caring professions aren't always aware of this, but you are far from alone in feeling like this when PG.

There are a few good sites on ante-natal mh problems:-

1. http://www.depression-in-pregnancy.org.uk/homepage.html

(new site, has a web forum)

2.www.unplannedpregnancies.co.uk/ (despite the title, has a strong focus on ante-natal depression) and is even written by a Mumsnetter!

Also there are threads on the PG section about antenatal depression/anxiety.

Hi Tofu

"this has made my pregnancy really hard and as i near the end i am worried how i will cope with the birth and a new baby when i am in a complete state already." OMG, I typed almost the same things when pg with ds (now 2.11)

My GP had been through a similar thing though and in Nottingham we have a fabulous motherhood and mental health team. Where abouts are you?

There are NICE guidelines (National institute for clinical excellence) about motherhood and mental health - could you wave these at your mw/gp? (www.nice.org.uk or www.dh.gov.uk and search for 'nice')

I was loads better as soon as ds was born (well within a couple of weeks). I had far more energy and the reality of having a baby to care for took up all my time. I found that whilst pg I had plenty of time to panic about panicking IYSWIM?

Let us know how you get on?

Although you say that you are concerned more about your anxiety disorder, this may help somewhat in trying to get your care team, whether that be your GP, midwife or others, to understand the consequences of you not being heard by them.

Mind's findings on Motherhood and Perinatal Mental Health

You sound really aware of the possible risks (more so than your medical team) and i hope that you are able to find the support you need.

I live in Haworth in yorkshire and my hospital is Airedale, i have told a midwife at the hospital of my problem as well as my community midwife and got no where. I am seeing my midwife on monday, so i'll have a look at some of the websites that people have recommended and see if there's anything I can get her motivated with. Thank you all for your advice, it is so good to know there's other people out there who understand. I feel so sick with the lack of sleep i think i'm going to keel over and if I lie down the adrenalin rushes get worse.

Hi, i've suffered with anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia as well, my symptoms were alot worse when I was pregnant but luckily I was referred to the community mental health team and saw a lovely woman at the mother and baby unit while pregnant. After I gave birth to DS the feelings went and I felt good, no bonding problems, no pnd. So know how you feel if your scared of having the baby and thinking 'god I can't cope' or i'll stick it in nursery asap!. You really do feel different after the birth.

Chalk up another here for some ante-natal depression. I suffer anyway, but without my medication and the addition of some excellent hormonal swings pregnancy is just the amplifier I don;t need. Hanging in at 26 weeks, but counting the days till Ic an do something to calm the imbalances down.

Best of luck to everyone.

Agnes

Thank you so much for posting tofu and I'm going to check the links provided here. I've suffered from anxiety and depression off and on for years. I never found seeing the psych nurse much help and I hate taking meds so I've always just muddled through. I'm only 7wks and about a wk after I found out had a blinder of a panic attack like I haven't had in ages. I went to see my doc about it but he didn't provide much assistance and simply said that a lot of woman get them because of hormones. I'm now beginning to feel the depression creeping in and have spent the last couple of days either crying or sleeping. This makes me feel really bad because I'm so happy about being pg and it's what I've wanted for yrs. I wasn't going to see the doc again but now I'm goig to make an appointment tomorrow and not get brushed off.