P.N.D & subsequent pregnancies.

[Ronyag]

I have ds & dd .Did not have pnd with ds(1st baby) but did suffer quite bad pnd with dd(2nd baby. Iwould like another baby but worrried would suffer pnd again like last time.Iworry mainly that I would not be able to cope & would spiral into pnd again which is mainly what happened last time .If I did have another baby it would probaby mean I would have 3 under 5 ( depending on how long it took me to conceive!)Has anyone sufffered pnd & went on to have subsequent baby? did the pnd happen again?did you worry about coping etc?was G.P. understanding /helpful,knowing you had suffered pnd in past?
Also I am on anti-depress.-venlafaxine(effexor).due to stop in next 2 months.Will I be changed to another anti-depress. if fall pregnant?does aNYONE KNOW IF venlafaxine is dangerous during pregnancy?Should I speak to G.P ABOUT STOPPING Venlafaxine before conceiving?
Advice or opinions on this would be gratefully appreciated,Thanks

Ronyag, I have had PND with both my children, but the second time it was nowhere near as bad - mainly because I knew I would get better (the first time I really thought my life was over) . I have always been blessed to have very understanding and sympathetic GPs, and have taken anti-d's both times (am just coming off them now, my youngest is 2) .

On the plus side, having had PND before you know what the signs are - and your Health Visitor, midwives and GP will all be on the look out for it again.

I wouldn't even think about getting pregnant again without talking to your GP first - I don't know about Venafaxine but if you are planning to come off it in 2 months or so wouldn't it be better to wait til then before you start ttc? Also, 3 children under 5 is a lot to take on (though I know a lot of people do it!)
Good luck, whatever you decide

Well i would efinatly see your g.p about your medication, unless anyone on here can tell you it's o.k.
I had pnd with DD2, and was very worried about getting it again with Ds. There was a gap of 3 years between dd2 and ds so i had already stopped taking my medication.
As soon as i knew i was pregnant i panicked but my midwife was brilliant, she gave me all of the info i needed on p.nd in subsequenet pregnancies and made sure that it was noted in my file that i had suffered from it before.
I really didn't think i would get it again, but from about 28 weeks i had a few problems with my pregnancy and my care had to be transferred to another hospital, which caused any number of probs. When ds was born, he was poorly and stayed in hospital for a week and a half. I stayed with him, as i felt i should, but it was definatly the trigger for my depression to return. My ds was having phototherapy so i hardly ever got to hold him, and he having several blood tests a day, and i felt like i couldn't do anything to help him.
When he was eventually allowed home, he still had to have regular blood tests and i was always convinced that they would take him back into hospital. I was very anxious, unable to sleep and paranoid. Eventually at 5 weeks old he was 8 weeks old he was given the all clear.
I managed to cope with just having a bit of counselling and regular visits from my h.v.

Basically my answer to your question is, yes you could get it again and you are more atr risk of getting it, but you know what you are dealing with now, so would know the signs. Make sure your family and friends know the signs too and make sure it's noted on your file that you have had pnd before and that you are concerned about it returning. HTH

Sorry about the waffeling (don't know where that came from).

P.s - I wouldn't let it stop you from having another baby. Maybe just wait a little longer.

Sorry meant to say that i do feel that i should of taken anti depressants the second time too. I just avoided it, which i shouldn't of done.

I had PND with my first child, but not with my second. During the worst part of the PND we were strongly advised not to have our children close together in age, but when ds was 18m we decided to go ahead anyway, and dd was born when ds was 2.3y. When we decided to ttc, I did not feel 'normal', but more 'in remission' from my PND. What made us go ahead was the feeling that we had our lives on hold waiting for me to get better, and my biological clock was ticking. Also, this feeling of being on hold felt wrong, felt as if it was prolonging the PND. Difficult to explain.

I certainly got into a bit of a panic when I was pg with dd. The way I dealt with it, and what I think saved me from full-blown PND again, was to prepare a safety-net for myself. I talked to my marvellous HV, my GP, my midwife, and made sure that the PND and my worries were on my records.

I had been on a waiting list for counselling and that came through during the pregnancy, which helped a lot. I also knew that I was on the service's books ('in the system' so I would be able to restart the counselling after the birth, if I wanted, without waiting for nearly a year on the waiting list. My HV called me regularly during my pregnancy. Because of my history the hospital didn't try to chuck me out 6h after giving birth, but let me stay until I was ready to go home. The CPN visited me as often as I needed for nearly 6m afterwards, and, at my request, didn't discharge me for another 3m.

And my very dddh took as much off my shoulders as possible: doing shopping, laundry, cooking, looking after ds, leaving me plated meals.

I don't claim to have been completely PND-free, I did and still do have occasional bad days or even weeks, but I didn't disintegrate and it doesn't rule my life.

A long post, sorry, but HTH.

Message withdrawn

Spot-on, secur!

My experience was like marthamoos. With DS1 it was immediate, severe and anxiety-based, with DS2 it was delayed, more depression-based and less severe.
Incidentally, the 'PND myth' in the news round-up isn't going to do much to help our cause is it? Sounds like a return to the old-style denial of the existence of PND. The point about PND is that it's a departure from the normal post-natal life-adjustment worries. Headlines like those are just so misleading. I really think social science takes liberties with the biomedical truth sometimes. (apologies to any social scientists reading - I don't mean you.)

I tried to post on this thread 2 days ago and couldn't!

I had PND with ds and am pregnant with my 2nd. I am TERRIFIED that it will rear it's ugly head again, so am both interested and reassured by all your posts.

Ronyag - I think as others have said, 3 under 5 is hard work at the best of times! Couldn't you wait a year or 2 and make life a bit easier for you?
My GP has told me that they will keep an extra eye on me this time. I lied pretty convincingly on the questionnaires given by my HV at 8wks.... so they are aware of this.
I'm sure your GP will be wonderful, but DO see him/her before going on to ttc. Good luck.

Hi
Thankyou loads everyone for messages/advice.Its so helpful to hear from others who have experienced P.N.D.
My particular probs. with depression were all tied up with anxiety & trying to be supermum,(& constantly "failing",so getting more & more depressed)things like not being able to keep house spotless etc.even though people kept pointing out I had 2 young children & couldn't possibly do all things I kept trying to do ,I couldn't see it,I felt every mother I knew or saw was coping fine with their children & I was only one who wasn't.At the time the CPN told me that PND was more common than I knew but I couldn't relate to this at all at the time.
Hence this message as was just wondering if anyone else can relate to anxiety ,feelings of failure ,setting impossible standards >leads to feeling failure>leads to feeling more down >can't see light at end of tunnel so constant viscous circle.etc.I can see things much more rationally now & learned coping techniques over time but just wondered if anyone has similar experiences of P.N D.
Btw M2T,IF U see this message your bit about lying convincingly on 8wk. form ,I take it you mean u marked everyting as positive,this really struck chord with me as I did exactly the same thing as was too ashamed to fill it out how I was really feeling.Think its not exactly a very good way of spotting signs of P.N.D .
Anyway I appear to have waffled a bit ,sorry for rambling on Bye for now.

Ronyag - You have just described exactly how I felt then! It's horrible and it most definitely is a viscious circle. It can start as one thing and before you know it the depression has spiralled out of control. I used to get these hysterical panic attacks if DH had gone to work and left me with no bread. I had developed agoraphobia (short-lived) and couldn't go get myself some. He used to travel the 20miles by train to come home and calm me down. It was an awful time.

You are not alone..... especially on this site. It is frighteningly common and the support network is vast.... if you look for it. I hope if I ever find myself there again that I ask for the help I need. And you too....

Have you had any more thoughts about another baby?

Ronyag, that is so true about setting impossible standards and feeling like a failure. Even now, when I get hyper-critical of myself, I have to remind myself that when I see (or hear of, or imagine) other mums getting on with life, I am assuming they're coping fine. But that's just it: I'm ASSUMING - for all I know they may also be crying inside and unwashed outside. And in any case, those are the only mums I'm seeing - what about all the others who haven't made it out today? So I'm not alone or weird or a failure. I'm perfectly ordinary and normal!