I had severe postnatal anxiety within 8wks of having my first child. I had to take sleeping pills and started Sertraline which I'm still on.
My initial fear (I mean petrified) was that I wasn't going to be able to sleep ever again, I couldn't sleep when my DS was asleep (only for a couple of nights) and something switched and I became frightened to my core 24/7.
I was then also obsessed with coming off the sleeping pills, that overtook my fear of not sleeping.
Sertraline was hard and I'm on 150mg. I don't know if it actually helped as I overcome my fear of not sleeping by learning ACT therapy. I came off the sleeping pills after 4 months.
Fast forward to today and I'm in a great place and my DS is 2yrs and 3m. I am thinking about having another (in a couple of years) but I can't see how I will deal with the mental health issues again if they reoccur.
Do you have any stories of your experience if similar?