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6 week old and am feeling anxious and have had panic attacks

11 replies

1istrulyscrumptious · 13/01/2010 11:44

Hi all have a gorgeous daughter that is now 6 weeks old... not sure if it the snow thats effecting my mood but for the past week have been feeling very anxious and have had several panic attacks... i have had depression and felt panicky before but have managed to get over these episodes myself... am worried i have PND nd am scared to seek help.. as i dont like the idea of going on AD.s Are these feeling normal and will they go away on there own...? i am still going out and functioning ok but these feeling are upsetting me... i also think that giving up work has come as a shock and im not sure of my role anymore... please give advice what should i do xx

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YommyMommy · 13/01/2010 11:58

Hi 1istrulyscrumptions,

Congratulation on your beautiful daughter!!!

Sorry to hear how you are feeling as a fellow anxiety sufferer I know exactly what you are going through. It does sound like you may have a touch of PHD. However, that doesn;t mean you have to have AD's. I started suffering from anxiety after the birth on my DS1 (which came as a total shock to me as I have never experience anything like it before). I now have another DS and still suffer to an extent, but it had gotten better over time and thats without the help of AD. It maybe that you could get some councelling or CBT to help rather than meds.

Nothing can perpar you for becoming a first time mum, no matter how much the baby was wanted/planned!!! Be kind to yourself - you have a lot to deal with.

If you want to ask anything or just chat i'll be around!

x x x

1istrulyscrumptious · 13/01/2010 12:03

Just to hve someone care and that im not alone has made me cry thanks YommyMommy.

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YommyMommy · 15/01/2010 15:37

Hey 1istrulyscrumptious,

Are you still around? How are you feeling today??

Sorry to make you cry yesterday, just know that you are def not alone!!! (((((hugs))))))

x x x

1istrulyscrumptious · 24/01/2010 10:46

hi yommymommy,, i have been feeling up and down... had a chat to the doc and he said the same as you.. said i was putting too much pressure on myself.. I am just scared that im going nutty... i want to be a strong good mum and not struggle with my own mental health.. had a chat with a freind yesterday who ended up in a mother baby unit after a bad bout of depression.. not sure if it helped or not.. im worried im going to go the same way.. how are you??

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StrawberrySam · 24/01/2010 10:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

1istrulyscrumptious · 24/01/2010 11:12

thanks strawberrysam.. just hving a horrid morning.. xx

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weegiemum · 24/01/2010 11:27

Hi 1is!

I'm an old hand at the PND game (my youngest is 6 now). I was on a M&B unit briefly with dd1, depressed with ds, probably most depressed with dd2 but better at hiding it by then.

You probably need a bit of help right now, whether that is from your HV, or GP, or family and friends. IME, 6 weeks is when the real tiredness/sleep deprivation kicks in! And if you are under the weather mentally as well, then it is much much worse.

I see StrawberrySam says she is strugling with severe PND but not taking Ads cos of BF. That's some bad advice there - I took antidepressants all the time I bf all my babies, apart form the last 4 months with dd2. I took them right through the pg of ds and dd2. There are some pills out there which are really helpful and safe (well, unless it is the pills which have made my kids so funny, sparky, clever, artistic, musical and great fun to be around).

I know a lot of people are worried about antidepressants. You might have good reason for this (there is one I will never take again as it made me very ill) but there isn't a lot of difference with injecting insulin for diabetes or taking thyroxin - it is correcting a chemical imbalance - in your case and mine in the brain - and it most often works!

There are other helps available however - Homestart can help you if they are in your area, just giving you a litle break. There is help from the GP in terms of CBT for depression etc which is useful but can take a while due to waiting lists. You shoudl ask for help soon-ish to get it before the summer.

I remember sitting weeping over my 6 week old and my dh realising that it shouldn't be this way (and he's a GP!), I shoudl be enjoying my baby and making the most of it. Sadly, I have very few memories of the first months of any of my children's lives as I was so sunk in depression it has all been blotted out. It would be awful if this happened to you as well.

Congratulations on having a lovely dd. I think one of the things which made me seek help (well, for me, apart from the threat of being sectioned as I was that ill!!!) was that girls who grow up with a depressed mother, even from the earliest days, are more likely to be depressed themslves in the future, esp PND. I look at my 10yo and 6yo dds and think NO! it stops here - I will not do any less than my best to stop them suffering what I have. ANd I don't liek taking tablets much - but if it gives my dds a better chance of being healthy, happy mums themselves, then I will do whatever it takes.

1istrulyscrumptious · 25/01/2010 18:36

have had a good day today went to a mum and baby group... managed to keep my anxiety at bay ...untill i got home and made dinner and was on my own..then the spaced out weird feelings returned.. i have decided to mention how im feeling to the gp on thursday at my postnatal check up.. i think someone should know how im feeling as im very good at hiding it... my partners also a doctor and he doesnt have a clue.. maybe im not that bad if im able to hide it!!. Still so scared to admit something is wrong.. t makes me feel like a failure.

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LovelyDear · 25/01/2010 18:42

you are so not a failure! i too have been in your shoes. you have recognised that your feelings are unwanted (!) very promptly, which is brilliant, and will help you recover quickly too i bet. talk talk talk to people, husband, gp, they'll want to help you. lots of exercise, lots of seeing people, healthy food, low/no caffeine, are all good things.

girnythecat · 27/01/2010 18:33

So sorry you are feeling this way. I had PND when DS was born three and a half years ago. I felt anxious ALL the time having been mentally bomb-proof before. It took me six months to seek help and had a long course of medication and some excellent counselling. Please don't leave it too long as it took me a long time to claw my way back. Do not think that this is affecting your baby, you are probably trying much harder than most mums.I too felt that I had lost my role and was desperately isolated. I am still not keen on babies but my DS is great fun now and I have thehat right balance in my life. Do not let anything get in the way of you finding the help you need. I felt too guilty to ask for help because I had had three miscarriages and, by some miracle, had a healthy beautiful boy at the age of 42. What on earth did I have to be unhappy about ? Your feelings are coming from somewhere so you need to try and understand why. Mine came from being time-warped back to the 1950,s. DH went back to work and I stayed at home covered in puke. Do not try to do this alone, you and your baby deserve a better start to the most powerful relationship you will both ever have.

1istrulyscrumptious · 01/02/2010 13:00

Hi all... spoke to my GP... and she reassured me that should i want help i could hve it... i have been feeling better... but still have negative and intrusive thoughts sometimes... mostly when im tired and stressed out..these in turn make me anxious. have been reassured that many or most women get a little anxious and have horrible thoughts sometimes.. the problem is we just dont hear thats its normal untill its too late and youve wound yourself up in knots thinking your a bad person or going mad..Have been using a brilliant CBT work book designed for post patum anxiety and found a brilliant article about negative thoughts at :

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/544983_4

Just being produstive and working through my thoughts has been helping.

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