puerperal psychosis

[mum28]

has anyone else had what i had?

puerperal psychosis is a more severe form of post natal depression.It can make you think that people want to harm you or your baby or you think everyone is plotting against you. these are just a small segment of symptoms.treatment usually means anti depressants plus a stay in a mental help unit.This is what happened to me!.I would like to hear from anyone else who has had this.

Mothing like that here mum28 but it sounds terrifying. Did you get the full treatment required to beat it completely or is there a cance it will return will subsequent pregnancies ?

I had to have 2 lots of E.C.T (electro convulsive therapy) plus anti depressants,which did the trick,but consequently i can't remember any of dd's first three months.There is a 50/50 chance of it coming back.The thing is you don't get it till a week after the birth.

Blimey, how awful. The ECT sounds pretty grim, is that similar to the old 'Electric Shock Treatment' ? To be honest I didn't think they did that anymore

Do you think you'll take the risk and go on to have further children ?

E.C.T is done with little pads placed on your head but you don't know you're having it as they put you to sleep for it.We don't know if we will have any more.

Hmm, I'm not sure if I would either, in your shoes. I've never come across it before, it must be pretty rare ?

Hmm, I'm not sure if I would either, in your shoes. I've never come across it before, it must be pretty rare ?

luckilly it is!

Oh mum28 you poor thing. That sounds horrendous. How do you feel now? And will you risk having another child?

I'm really sympathetic - after a traumatic birth I was diagnosed with PND just two weeks after my 12 week old ds was born. Luckily it was caught early enough for me to have hormone treatment which, thankfully, worked without me having to go on to anti depressants. It's only in the last month or so that I have started feeling like "me" again and for what felt like a long time, I was completely freaked out, wanted nothing to do with my beautiful baby, and basically wanted to "disappear". My aunt had puerperal psychosis, and from what she's told me about it, my experience seems like a picnic in the park. With sufferers of PND I was told that you can have the hormone treatment immediately following the birth to avoid PND - is there nothing similar for your condition?

It sounds awful for you, I can remember very clearly having panic attacks when I took dd out, especially if I was in a bank, I was convinced that the bank would get robbed and dd would get hurt in some way. I didn't tell anyone as I thought they'd think I was going mad.

I also used to worry about lots of other things but banks were the worst places.

I've never heard of puerperal psychosis.

mum28 - loads of sympathy, and I'm glad you're on the mend now.

I didn't have puerperal psychosis but I did have severe PND with DS1 - it took 2 and a half years and two courses of anti-d's before I felt like me again. I had it again with DS2 but it was nowhere near as bad second time round - I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel, something you can't believe the first time it hits you.

Re: having more children (I know you didn't ask about this specifically but you may find this useful). It was suggested to me that I take anti-d's towards the end of my pregnancy with DS2 - apparently this can prevent PND starting again. I turned them down but if I had another child (not planning to!) I would give it serious consideration. I have also heard of hormone treatment (straight after birth) working miracles - but was never offered this.

A book I found very useful was "Surviving Post-Natal Depression" by Cara Aiken (I got it on Amazon). As well as being a reference book of information on PND it contains individual womens' experiences of PND and one woman in the book did have Puerperal Psychosis, and underwent ECT like you. You could try ordering it at your local library.

Best of luck - and welcome back to the land of the living.

I did meet someone who had this. She also had a stay in a mental unit. Her daughter was 8 when I met her and she had just started to want another child, but her husband would not consider it. I only met her once (she came to give a talk to our antenatal group) but we could all see how terrifying the whole experience had been for her. However having said that, she had got through it and she seemed pretty happy with things. Sounds a bit trte- but I hope things are on the up for you.

Someone I knew at work had this. She was off for a full year after the birth but when she did return to work she seemed fully recovered. 3 years on she hasn't had any more children, although I know she had originally wanted to (before her dd was born). I don't work there any more so I don't know how she is now. Sorry you had such a bad time, mum28. I'm sure I saw another thread about this some time ago, try doing a search because you might find some useful information. Good luck.

The other thread is here

thanks everybody.unless you've had it yourself people don't seem to realise what is or what it puts you and your family through.it's very hard for members of family watch you go from a normal happy person to someone who would stand and stare aimlessly,eat nothing for long periods and then just drop on the floor like aragdoll.i had it quite severely.the doctors didn't know if i would pull through.luckilly my ppartners mother looked after dd whilst my partner continued to work,but we were both peeved off with the health visitors when iwas discharged from hospital as they thought i was a negligent mother.no ones all there when you have to take 60mg of SEROXAT(PAROXETINE!).DID ANYONE ELSE HAVE THIS SORT OF RESPONSE FROMTHEIR HEALTH VISITORS,SOCIAL SERVICES?.