Does anyone have experience of PN PTSD?

[ohsmellyjelly]

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i don't sorry but keeping it bumped for you

Oh that varies

I had PTSD after the birth of my first (eclampsia), I guess it lasted a few years- it wasn' recognised until I had it again when my eldest was diagnosed with SN.

There are people you can talk to- AIMS (association for improvements in maternity care) are an excellent starting point as they are very used to pn ptsd survivors; also your GP will be able to refer you to a counsellor, hopefully one with specialist knowledge.

There is no answer to how long it lasts- except that it lasts a lot less if you take action. Hope that helps X

I had it ... but it wasn't properly diagnosed until I was better and pg with DD IYSWIM?

When talking over my absolute terror of giving birth and having another baby with my MW she put me in touch with the Trauma and Birth Association in NZ. I also went to my GP then and he affirmed that I had been misdiagnosed with PND after having DS and had had PTSD ....

My 'PND' was diagnosed early, when DS was 8 weeks old. I was on Anti Depressants until he was 18 months old. But what started me on the road to recovery was Counselling. My doctor at the time was advising me (DS was 10 months) that there was nothing I could do but keep taking ADs ... I wanted more and eventually I got 10 sessions of counselling on the NHS. My Counsellor was fantastic.

I came off ADs when he was 18 months but still wasn't totally right ... in fact, to this day I still have days of panic and anxiety ... but they are few and far between ... and I sometimes have a couple of days where I feel the world is a very very dark place (had one of those last week as it happens, but TeeCee's sympathy thread on MN helped )

Recognising PTSD is as much part of the recovery as having help IYSWIM? As soon as I investigated it I felt so much better. It all fell into place and made sense ... which PND hadn't.

I had a huge amount of support from my MW and my DH when pregnant with DD ... my MW was my champion really, when it came down to giving birth (needed another C/S ... she helped me come to terms with that) and was an absolute ROCK with breastfeeding (which was one of my major ISHOOS) ... That, along with the fabulous support of people like Mears on MN got me through it all with a smile on my face and I had (and still do have) a happy happy time with my DD.

I will find the TABS website ....

{{{{hugs}}}}

Trauma And Birth Stress website really helped me ... there are English ones too I believe, but they weren't around when I was pg with DD.

The Birth Trauma Association (UK site).

peachyclair have you the address or site for aims? i read through the website for the BTA and it rang a few bells.

osj how you feeling tonight?

Aims website Homepage

Also Sheila Kitzinger Birth crisis

difficult Birth debriefing Board on Babycentre not proffesional help, but women that have gone through all sorts of Birth trauma!

I am pretty sure that I had some form of PTSD after the Birth of my 3. son, was diagnosed with PND, never did have treatment, and sorted myself out, thank you for the virtual cyberworld....however, I do realsie that I still was pretty lucky in the big picture!
But can understand now, that all sorts of feelings can come with Birth, succesful and more so "unsuccesful" (i.e. not the way we wished for, not necessarily a reflection of alive child and mother, iykwim)

Thanks 3anm for the link

OSJ, I found wirting it all down really helped- indeed, one of the charities I was volunteering for ( one pre-eclamopsia, one hyperemesis) sold the story and we shared the money (yes I know, I was broke tho )- seeing it in print REALLY helped! Is there someone who was at your birth, maybe a MW or similar, that you could write it all down and send it to for feedback / discussion?

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