Finally admitted defeat and have been prescribed AD's.

[Toothache]

For anyone that doesn't know my situation I had OND for about 2yrs after DS was born. He's now almost 3 and I'm due my 2nd on August 6th.

I didn't receive any help, medical or otherwise, for my PND. I struggled on ..... actually I existed in the depths of despair for most of that.

I had my 32 wk antenatal yesterday and explained to the Midwife that I was feeling down again, and having a couple of panic attacks/hysterical episodes a week for the past 3 weeks.

I tries to put it down to my crazy pregnancy hormones, but I recognise the feelings as much more extreme than that.

Anyway..... jist of the story is, the midwife did the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression test and I scored 18!!!!!! I couldn't belive it.

She fetched the GP and he had a good chat with me. I felt like such a fraud as I wasn't feeling down or hysterical at all yesterday. But he was brilliant and explained that my feelings were a great warning sign of things to come. He used a wonderful analogy:

It's easier to take a coat out with you just in case it rains than it is to get dry once your wet. I

He prescribed a low dose AD..... the name is something like Tript....... something or other, 50mg. He said it would be me very drowsy so to take one at night and it would help keep me calm through the day.

HOWEVER, I have woken up this morning feeling rrrrrrrreally groggy, shakey and 'out of it'.

Please tell me this goes away. I wanted to feel calmer and happier.... not like a zombie! I've to go back in a fortnight to talk to him again.

Does anyone have any advice re: the effects of these AD's?

Cookiemonster - THAT'S IT!! I just looked it up on the web and NetDoctor says you shouldn't take it in pregnancy, especially the 1st and 3rd trimester. Wonder why not, I'm all worried now. I know my GP wouldn't put my baby at risk.... doesn't stop me worrying though.

Ghengis fortunately I don't drive.... but UNfortunately I only have 3 wks left to work. Maybe I should hold off taking them until I stop work? I just can't feel like this for the last 3wks of work.... I honestly feel like I can't stay awake any longer.

Can you not go home this afternoon toothache then have tomorrow off hopefully by Monday things should have settle down a bit?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

SK - I finish at 4pm so not long to go. I find it's coming and going in waves.
Tomorrow I finish at 2pm so that's not too bad....

I'm hoping it's going to settle down over the weekend. I'm supposed to be staying over at a friends house on Saturday night. She's pregnant too and recently told me she had been taking AD's for a year before that! So I can talk to her about it. Perhaps she had the same one as me. She stopped abruptly when she found out she was pg 3mths ago and had a real tough time of it. It'll be good to talk to her.

ROFL Toothy!!

OMG! I meant to say ROFL Janstar!! ...

....perhaps I should just go home!

I'm sitting here like a zombie just had lunch and want to sleep to badly and I don't even have an excuse!

SK - You should try these..... you get an added head buzz too!

toothache

Can I echo what everyone else has said? It's not defeat, it's admitting that you're ill and seeking help. It's very brave!

people whoahve never suffered from depression don't know what thye're talking about, recently I had to listen to a friend who'd recently given birth say 'Ican't possibly understand how women can get depressed about this'...and she's a doctor!! SHe obviously didn't know I think I had a very close encounter with depression with dd, only it was never diagnosed and it never got bad, but I didn't really enjoy my dd until she was 7-8 months old.

Best of luck I hope it gets better soon!!!

Toothache,

I know everyone else has said it already, but just want to reiterate that it's not defeat at all. You're being proactive in order to NOT slip down a very slippery, dark slope. Good for you!

Don't know about the falling asleep bit --- maybe you could walk around a little, so you don't fall asleep, face in keyboard? (Keyboard imprints on your cheek would be most unattractive.... )

Well, it's taken until 3.30pm in the day for the effects to subside and I took the tablet at 9.30pm last night...... so thats 18 hrs of side-effects!!

Can't believe you are still at work. Tell that smelly man you work with to give you a lift

...home! Ha, posted too soon, maybe I should swan off as well.

I finish at 4 too and won't be on till Tuesday now so hope all goes well this w/end for you.

xx

poor love

OO - I'm hoping that in my doped up state I don't just crack and tell him he's a right minger! He gave me a lift to the shops at lunchtime and I actually gagged when he started telling me a story! He must think I'm a right rude cow coz when he speaks to me all he gets is the back of my head!

Only 10mins to go.... then home to bed!

ROFL at you with your back of your head to him, ha. Get him some mints.

Ta ta for now and take it EASY this weekend, be kind to yourself, hopefully these side effects will have eased up some by next week.

xx

OO - I specifically bought soft mints this morning and offered him one. he just said No Thanks. He SOOOOO set in his ways.... he probably doesn't want to try out anything 'new'.LOL
He just sticks to his Bovril and Corned Beef Sandwiches.

Thanks, me too.... I simply can't get on with normal life with these side effects.

hi toothache, im also due about the same time as you and seem to have a similar history. No 1 its DEFINETLEY NOT DEFEAT its the sanest thing you'll do for your yourself and your child(ren). I too lost the memories of the first year or so of my ds life before i reversed the car into the house and went to the doctor for AD. The are a LIFE LINE when you feel like you do. No 2 i also feel very very slippery emotionally at the moment and had a chat with my MW today and she said that this is exactly when subconsciously alot of the last pregnancy, birth etc will start to flash back at you. Sweety you are really brave to have taken control, it did take me a few weeks to stop feeling sick and woozy etc but i also found that i had to play around with the time i took them in order to be sleepy at nighttime not daytime.

Keep posting, keep talking, keep your chin up and your belly out

Hi Toothache - those side effects are really awful at first but they will improve. (i cant believe ive got them at the moment even with St johns Wort - apparently although u usually dont get side effects with it - its common when youve just taken an SSRI like me .

The feeling is EXACTLY the same as when i started AD's. very dizzy/ disorientated/sick etc.
Not sure if its going to wear off with SJW - but it WILL go with the AD's. Lied at work today and told everyone I had an ear infection so they wouldnt wonder why I was so dizzy each time I stood up.

And FWIW I think you've done exactly the right thing. Getting help before things get out of hand. Im sure its the right thing for you and your family.

Thinking of you
Kizziex

Kizzie - I had a really weird side effect from SJW - I had this tic where I had to keep stroking my chin, as my chin felt funny. Funnily enough three days on the SJW was enough! This was a side effect that got to me more than any SSRI side effects ever did.

Toothache, agree with the rest, it's not a defeat, soon you will be feeling better. .

Morning All,

I didn't feel normal again until 8pm last night. I got home and was waiting for the GP to phone me to discuss these side-effects, but I lay comatosed on the sofa for 3 hours and missed the call..... several in fact!! It's a good job DS was at my Mum's.

I talked to DH about it last night and we both decided that I should perhaps hold off starting them until I finish work. Ds will still go to Nursery 2 days a week, in fact there will only be 1 day out of the week that I'm alone all day with him. This is MUCH more practical than trying to fight the side-effects whilst working.

I can't beleive such a low dose can have such a terrible effect. It was awful. I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to go.... I woke up yesterday and all I wanted to do was crawl back to bed! I didn't bother putting on make-up as I couldn't be bothered and I couldn't even be arsed getting up to go to the toilet yesterday... I had to really force myself to move, it was FAR worse than my depression!

I'm wondering if I could maybe half the tablets? They are 50mg at the moment. I can't even take them earlier in the evening as the bad effects lasted for 18hrs!

I simply cannot put my life on hold at the moment for the 2-3 wks that it will take to subside. How do you all do it? I have no-one apart from DH that can help. My Mum works fulltime and can only have DS one night and one day out of the week. DH has to work fulltime too.

Will ALL the AD's have this effect?

Sorry, have no experience really, just wanted to say am thinking of you.

Toothache - again am waiting for bottle to heat up to feed DS - will post at further length later.
Different ADs affect different people in different ways, and also it depends what dose you start at. Prozac has never zonked me in anyway - first time I had it I felt a bit jittery for a few days, the second time I had it (whilst pg) I had a relatively mildy upset tummy for two weeks so basically nothing that would have been incompatible with work/childcare activities. Try and talk to your GP about cutting down - it may make things temporarily worse to stop altogether, rather than take 1/2 a tablet today, 1/4 tomorrow etc.

You definitely need to speak to your GP about the side effects - especially since you were so comatose you missed his calls! It doesn't sound right that they should wipe you out for so long.

Take care...