ptsd after birth

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i have recently been diagnosed w ptsd after my son's birth...he turned 5 yesterday and i feel so sad, sad that his birthday is a trigger for me. I got through most of the day ok but when it got to the time was born i crashed and it all came flooding back. Today i'm still down. I understand how it works, i'm getting treatment, starts again next week after the?holidays, but i'm just wobbly today. Can't decide whether to go back to bed for a bit and dwell on it or clean mindlessly! Thanks for any words of support.

ptsd is a horrible thing. I have it too.

Its good you are gettng some help, but for today if you can, just be nice to yourself. Take it easy and do whatever floats your boat (nice milky coffee, walk in the park, bath, watching a film etc).

I know this is not always possible with children around but if he's at school and you don;t have any toddlers to look after and have time alone try it.

Hope the help goes well. What type of help are you getting?

thanks. 3 y o at preschool this am so went back to bed and cried! Summoning up energy togo get her but might watch tinkerbell this pm. A, having a kind of therapy called reliving and restructuring. Hard but wokring.

Never heard of that one but glad its working.

What does it involve, if its not too painful to say/write.

hey, i had a special 2 hr appt where i had to relive the experience out loud in detail...this was taped and then i have to listen@to the tape occasionally at home in the eve and make notes, then we discuss it during sessions. I think we will do more remembering in future sessions. It has meant that a lot of anxiety is quite close to the surface some weeks, which makes me more irritable and tearful but i am well supported. And i'm better overall just for having an explanation of why i've had such a hard time!

Sounds interesting.

I find it hard to get emotional though. I'm trying to find a way where I can express emotions about what happened.

Good luck with it. Are you finding coping in between hard.

yes, that is almost why it happened to me, i couldn't admit i was scared while it was happening. And i would do anything to avoid being triggered and having to feel those feelings again. The reliving started v mundane, and then it was a bit like i was hypnotised, i guess, i remembered loads w quite a lot of emotion. But even then some didn't come out til the third listen on the tape. Repression, eh? Not a long term coping strayegy...

I've been reading a book called trauma nd recovery by Judith herman and the chapter this morning desribes I think what you have been having.

I was fascinated by it.

It has been a very interesting book even though some of it is focused on combat and captivity type trauma, it does desribe what happens to people very well and the stages of recovery.

Keep posting. It is a horrible rollercoaster of a ride.

ADQ