Post Natal Depression - 2

[susanmt]

Here we go, this should make things easier!!

It does kind of creep up on you, my friend had another baby 6 months ago and is finding it hard. I must admit that you were very brave to have another child. What I went through put me off having another one and DH had the snip.

Hope you feel better soon

Saw the doctor on Wed, and have been put back up on the dose of the antid's, for a week. If I'm not feeling better in a week (and at the minute it is getting worse day by day) then its something else for me (talking antipsychotics here) - as I have a history of agitated depression which has needed hospital treatment we need to get on top of it before it gets worse - it was one thing when I was single and wen I only had a tiny infant, but something else with a 3 yr old and a 1 year old!
Thanks for listening to me rambling on about yet another health worry - I'm sure one day I will be better but I wish it would be sooner rather than later.

Good luck Susanmt, You did the right thing in going back to see the doctor. Of course you will get better, sometimes it just takes time. It took me nearly 3 years, but hopefully I am out the other end.

good luck from me too susanmt, and to the rest of you.

Susanmt - hope things start looking up for you soon. How are you feeling today?

Hi Susanmt, you may have read the thread I started last month re anti d's and coming off them, Anyway, a month on and I am back to my original dose and feeling well! When i was bad last month I was even thinking suicidal thoughts. I have no idea when I will come off them for good but if they make me feel 'normal' then hurrah for meds!!

Hope you are well

Am feeling an awful lot better today thanks. I've had a couple of really good sleeps over the weekend (unfortunately one of them had to be drug induced - needed sedating on Sat pm) but just enough to let me get a good sleep and now today the higher dose of the anti-depresants is kicking in and I am feeling back to my normal self. As normal as I ever get anyway!!

Susanmt, glad to feel that you are feeling better, I have quite a few failed attemps to come of the pills before I was ready, please stay on them for at least 6 months and then see how you feel, if you are ready then slowly decrease the dosage (with doc consent of course). I wish you all the luck in the world.

mum2toby suggested i read this thread, all the symptoms you have and the behaviour you describe - just spells out the way I have been feeling. freaking out then being high as a kite. my relationship with my dh is poor but not unfixable but I now realise I have a problem. I am v insecure and paranoid about everything, and then super confident and a nightmare. generally its all pants in my head. I am frightened to go onto ADs, I tried after my ds was born and they made me feel so weird I couldn't function like I was in a daze and there is all this talk about not being able to come off them. Surely there must be another way, I don't want to feel like this but I don't want to become dependent either. mum2toby suggested sepia (homeopathic)has anyone else tried it? Would it help? St JW is not helping. but something needs to give.

Ah you found it then. Everyone here really helped me.... Good Luck.

morph I know where u r coming from.I put off going on AD's for ages eventually I reluctly took prozac and felt "wierd" as though I was not really there.Came off them against doc's advice lasted 2mths until all the symptoms came back and then more some.
Now I know I need to take them and finally have come to terms with it (haven't told family this time except dh).Now on Cipralex & feel much better not quite right but more with it than I was on prozac.
Not a great one for alternative medicine so can't help there.Just stick with it & I hope u find whatever works 4 u.

have made appointment to see doctor on friday. aargh I am so frightened, I guess I don't want to admit there is a problem, when clearly there is. I think I'm just worried that if I give into this it will consume me (ha ha is already doing that I guess) will talk to doc and hope he is decent. my dh is trying to understand and will try and modify his behaviour I guess but he just wants his wife back I think. not half as much as I want to be back myself. It does help knowing other people go through the same thing, I am so glad I found this site. Feel a bit better having made the appointment just want this anxiety to go away properly s I cn get on with th rest of my life

Well done Morph!!
Keep posting and let us know how it goes. The advice I was given on Mumsnet when I finally made the appointment was to be TOTALLY HONEST... don't gloss over anything. You'll feel so much better for it. Also make sure the gp knows your feelings toward AD's.

Well done Morph hope it goes well keep us posted.Are u taking dh with you it might help mine didn't come with me & he really blanks the whole subject.Thinks its all my head (which it is!!!).Anyway we'er not talking about me.Be honest to dc and yourself.Good luck

ok I have bloused already. mum2toby I have gone and got 6c sepia from herbal place, just unsure what to do wit them, do I just follow instructions on back? I am no other medication so I might as well give it a bash will cancel appointment at doctors am not ready to give in to this yet. have my determined head on now (the pathetic one has gone temporarily!)

Morph - I just followed the pack. It's the 6c dosage I'm on, but I know someone else who felt particularly bad so started off with the 30c until it really kicked in. It doesn't interfere with any other medication anyway so there's no problems there.

I was so sceptical at first. I didn't know whether it was actually helping or whether I just thought it was so felt better... I didn't care either!! But then I slipped and kept forgetting to take it. I had another hysterical episode and fell back into another slump. It wasn't until my Mum asked me if I still taking my Sepia that I realised I hadn't and it MUST have been helping mw!! So I went back on it last week and I feel much better again. Give it a couple of days to kick in though.

I'd still go to the docs though. They can out you in touch with people you can talk to and also give you reading material to give to DH.. that really helped my DP.

Hello, I posted on another Thread and didn't get much of a response, so hope you don't mind me gatecrashing on this thread. I have an 18 month old dd and I haven't been feeling the same since she was born, I did go to my GP who felt that I would probably get by with Counselling and not AD's. I went for a few sessions of counselling which was great, speaking to somebody about the way I was feeling. THings got better at home because I used the advise the counsellor gave me, but then after a while felt the same again and felt very low and dp, I take it out on both my dh and mum and realised that if I didn't get help I would end up without any help from Mum and no DH. I went back to my GP who prescribed Lustral and said that I would be surprised as to how many people were on ADs. I started them on Monday and as of the moment (touch wood) feel fine, just waiting for the side effects if any to kick in, so far dry mouth, lying awake in bed and bad fluctulance!! I think they take 2 - 4 weeks to kick in - how will I know when they are working?? Will I feel like an air head (light headed)?? Will I be smiling constantly - how did you all feel when your ADs kicked in. Hope I haven't bored you all as I am quite new to this and quite a private person.

Naughtynoonoo, I have PND too and also am on Lustral, if you would like to get in touch so we can talk more ask tech to send you my e-mail, and feel free to e-mail when you like.

naughtnoonoo the only thing i noticed when my ad's "kicked in" first the prozac (seemed to take about 5wks)was that i stopped crying.I still felt low and down but the constant flow of tears ceased.So much so that at times when I would "normally" have cried i couldn't.I also thought less about "not waking up" if you get my drift. I was disapointed is the wrong word but i didn't feel high or anything which is what i was expecting from knowing others on the same drug.

I'm now on cipralex and its early stages to tell.The only thing that worries me is the doc says you'll be on these 4-6mth but you listen to people on here and its years!!!!!

mands1 have you sent me you e-mail again yet, I have been on cipralex and had no probs

I'm just wondering how many of you were tested for hypothyrodism when you saw your GP. Most endocrinologists believe that all women reporting depression should be tested for thyroid function as it causes depression as well as other symptoms (weight gain, joint pain, hair loss and many others). Pregnancy and childbirth can be a trigger. It's worth knowing and asking for a blood test if you haven't been offered one.

aloha you remind me of my sister who felt sluggish and gained weight after having her kids; got tested for hypothyroid and concluded she did not have an underactive thyroid, just an overactive mouth

naughtynoonoo - I replied to you on the other thread about Lustral as I am taking them. When they start to work, what I noticed was that I felt like me again! I had energy, I was happier, little things didnt make me cry or make me want to go to bed and put the covers over my head and stay there all day! If after 4 weeks you have no response you should go back to the doc -I'm sure they have asked to see you again anyway. With Lustral they quite often start you on the lowest dose (50mg) but have to put it up to 100mg to get a better response, they just start at the low dose to get your body used to the drug. 100mg works for most people but you can go higher if need be.
Hope you start to feel better soon!

Morph - I've just read your symptoms on this thread and it sounds like you may have bipolar II (the less severe form of manic depression where you only get so-called hypomania). Do you think that may be an option? If so, treatment is quite different from ordinary depression and is primarily with Lithium as a mood stabiliser.

Other depressed mums - I've had five attacks of major endogenous depression over the past 20 years, though none postnatal. I've tried a variety of antidepressants (ADs) and it sometimes takes a while to find one that suits you, so don't be put off if the first one you try isn't right. I can't get on with the SSRIs (Prozac, Cipralex etc) but have had good success with the tricyclics (Amitriptyline, Lofepramine etc.)

Remember that ADs are well-researched, safe drugs and aren't addictive. When you're on the right kind and right dose, you won't feel "medicated" but just back to your normal self.

Plus don't forget all the good lifestyle stuff for depression (exercise, decent diet, minimal alcohol, getting out and about etc) and use talking therapies if your depression has an "exogenous" factor (external events have contributed).

Best of luck to you all. Hold on to the thought that your depression WILL resolve itself, either through treatment or just spontaneously, and you won't always feel this bad.

well today I am going to the doctor, I didn't cancel the appointment. Yesterday was a good day (I have taken a few days off work to try and relax) mr Ds and I went and fed the ducks and it was lovely. My DH and I had a cuddle on the sofa on wednesday night and had a chat and we realised that our fighting mostly happens in the morning on the way to nsery/wrk so we agreed not to go togther and take turn about. Forward to this morning, decided in infinite wisdom to drive ds and dh to respective places for the day, bad idea. withing two seconds dh and I were argiung, he called me a nutter and got out of the car. I drove away furios with him, believing that he was in teh wrong, I phoned him (never one to leave things under an arguement) and he said I was behaving like a crazy lady. Suddenly I thought, god am I? I really can't tell at all. In certain situations I guess I do, but most of the time I always think it is my DH making me feel so low. So have kept appointment and am going to the doctors, its weird I feel ok most of the time when I am not around my DH (sometimes I do get a little paranoid or manic in different situation) but ultimately he is the one that makes me feel like a loon. am so confused as to whether it is all in my head or not. is so frustrating/confusnig aaah. what should I say to the doctor, I don't want to spend the rest of my life on pills, I'm sorry I know they have their place but I just can't face the thought.