just diagnosed with pnd: positive recovery stories please

[suey2]

many thanks

You will get better. That is a promise.

How old is your baby? Hve you been prescribed ADs?
PND is very common. 1 in 7 mothers if I recall correctly.
If you are on ADs, remember that they will need a couple of weeks to kick in.

Other things which definitely help are:
someone to talk to
Eating healthily (ie not dieting, but a well-balanced diet
Regular excercise - even if it is just getting out and walking with the pram
Plenty of sleep
Fresh air

There are hundreds of Mumsnetters who have suffered from PND and lived to tell the tale and even smile about it.

you will get better beleive me at the moment you will feel like stuck in black hole but with the right help and anti d's you will i promise feel so much better one day it dawns on you

get yourself out and about even if you dont feel like it my missiopn was to smile at everybody and when someone smiled in return made me feel happy

fresh air is great and the walking around stops you sitting around with your negative thoughts and dont be afraid to come on here and say how you feel and to get advise as it does get better and it is hard but not so hard when you feel you have support

get to some mum and baby groups make friends enjoy quality time with your child i know its hard to but its a start and get plenty of rest dont do things that dont need doing sleep if baby is sleeping hope you feel better soon xx

baby is 9.5 months old. I am seeing the gp again tomorrow for some ads. I didn't see it coming, but she told me she was worried about me last week when I went in for something routine. This week istarted having scary panic attacks and my dh is away on business. I just didn't see any escape iykwim. Now I know, I see how it has happened. Trying to be bloody superwoman: best mum, best wife, best boss, best therapist etc. And a huge amount of guilt because I was spreading myself too thinly and not having any breaks from responsibility

yes that is how it happens we are to strong to admit were not coping so we push ourselves harder then we havent failed but what we fail to see it takes a strong person to allow someone to help we must remember that ajob shared isa job halved and more time to yourself xx

and we dont need to strive to be the best we just need to be us and that is just as good

so, as a therapist, you may know the value of someone to talk to

Do you have any support network locally? Trusted friend? Mother? etc.
Chances are other people will have noticed you not being yourself, and been worried but perhaps not sure of how to broach the subject. Or perhaps they have and you did the classic, brittle, ''no, no everything's fine!'' thing.

Anyway, just to say, you will not feel better overnight. But one day you will relaise the good days are outweighing the bad days...so hang onto that thought and look forward to that day.

Suey2, I really feel for you. Have you seen this thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/8/476723

and this one (hurrah!):

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/8/596513

Although NL's baby was much smaller when things started to go tits up for her, there are hundreds of positive "this too will pass" PND stories there.

Many of us have had PND, including lurkers on the Dec08 thread! Be good to yourself, don't try to be superwoman and wait for the ADs to kick in. And get another seaweed wrap if it helps!

thanks all . Just acknowledging it and having an action plan has already started helping. The panic attacks I never want to experience again!

Hi suey, i was diagnosed i think about 3 weeks ago now, as i said when i popped on the postnatal thread started taking citalopram which have helped things alot very quickly.

I have also been referred to the perinatal support team or something like that, not sure what that is about, they are coming on wednesday.

thanks pecka! I started the drugs yesterday. I had a huge panic attack in the evening sadly. My brothers birthday dinner, only six of us and I had to leave. Counting the days until the pills kick in. I will also go for counselling

which pills have you been prescribed if you dont mind me asking

sertraline. Better day yesterday, constant feeling of panic but I could start to ride the wave. I have found that nothing I try and do will stop the panic, but it will go on it's own. Now I also know that the panic attacks are not dangerous in themselves I feel more confident that I am not suicidal, just experiencing a huge rush of adrenaline and it will pass.

It is the most awful feeling I have ever had, the constant panic and anxiety. I was starting to get too anxious for words just preparing to run a bath for the children wtf???

I really hope for quick relief with the tablets for you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

thanks so much pecka . That is my real problem the constant panic that rises up inside you making me shake, giving me nausea and almost daring me to do something dreadful. I am slightly better with it now that I know it passes but there seems to be nothing I can do to control it, just ride the wave. I amtaking two weeks off work and hopefully I will have the panic under control by then. Hope it continues to improve for you, too

hopefully you will be like me and within 2 weeks i was way better.

One thing I found though was in the first few days I actually felt worse, which was awful, but soon passed. So if that happens for you don't panic (terrible pun there)

xxx

thanks again pecka! I do feel worse as the panic is almost constant. I keep having to force myself to think positive thoughts but keep geeting drawn into really horrible ones.
Have been into work this morning but now have two weeks off- I hope the drugs start working soon.

I am just recovering from pnd for the second time.

It can be really hideous when you are in the thick of it.

But you will get better.

thank you wherewolf! Every positive recovery really helps- it makes me feel much less of an emotional cripple iykwim. I am talking about it as much as possible to help get my head around it and realize that these horrible thoughts are normal with pnd and that they will go away when the ads start to work. My nanny has just said to me that I must allow myself to be ill and not try to continually control everything. best of luck with your recovery x

yes, accept being ill - how is your DH approaching it? I have found that I have really benefitted from my DH mollycoddling me for a while, Im so used to being in control of everything and running the show it has helped for him to realise that I need that extra help.

I had to drip feed the information to him: he is very intelligent and always has a knee jerk reaction to things: he started off with ' you'll be ok after you get some rest' to actually understanding a lot better at the end of the weekend. Seeing a panic attack in full flow initially made him think I could control it by deep breathing or something, but I think it has registered now that there is nothing I can do to control it. I explained it as being a very physical sensation that my mind had no control over and it seems to have sunk in. He is obscenely busy at work, and I have explained that I have tried to make his life easier at the weekend by doing all the childcare and looking after him, too. I have told him that I need a break at the weekend and that he has to do, for example one if her meals and some nappy changes: and not for me to have to ask him: he has to take some of the planning from me. Giving up bf will obviously help. I am doing one feed a day this week, then nothing. he was much better on Saturday and took her out, and on Sunday I went to bed for a couple of hours.