Nightmares every night

[MrsTosh87]

I'm 9months pp. I had a traumatic c section and the aftercare was appalling. I had flashbacks for a few months and now a deep untrust for the NHS. 9 months on, whilst I can recognise the shitty time for what it was. I can't sleep without nightmares. The content of the nightmares are different but the main theme is either myself, my DH or my DD dying. I wake up numb and when i try to go back to sleep, I have yet another nightmare. At this point I'm afraid to even go to sleep as all I have are nightmares. My sleep is incredibly broken averaging 2-5hrs a night. Sometimes I just stay awake as it's exhausting going to sleep just to have nightmares. Has anyone else had something similar? Or any advice?

Nightmares are a known PTSD response.

Did you have a birth debrief? You could investigate birth counselling. Also EMDR is a possibility.

It sounds like you need support to process what happened.

Is your GP aware? You may be able to access other specific postnatal support.

You poor thing, you must be exhausted & very stressed out having to deal with this every night.

I had a traumatic c section where I honestly thought I was going to die, it took me a long time to get over it emotionally. I was very anxious and worried about something happening to me, husband or my children. I spoke to my gp who advised counselling. This helped me work through and process everything that had happened.

I would definitely recommend it. Its hard talking through everything and at times I felt worse like I was dredging up everything again, however it was a relief to get it all out of my head and I was able to move on.

Your body is still in a state of shock and needs to process everything. I hope you can get some help x

Thanks to all your replies. I didn't know birth debrief was a thing, unfortunately I think it would mean going back to said hospital which is quite triggering for me. I talk honestly with my husband about this, and perhaps I need to be brave and contact my GP. X

EMDR is a type of therepy which has an extremely high success rate for PTSD. Either go back to your go and say you think you have PTSD and want a referral for treatment or find a private therapist. Honestly it was life-changing for me. Don't let them fob you off with a different kind of therepy they aren't even in the same league.

Look into things before you write them off. Birth debrief may be possible, it might not have to happen there. But also it might be entirely wrong for you. I'm also not sure what timeframes apply.

Private birth therapy is possible.

General PTSD therapy is possible.

It's good you can speak to your husband but that isn't therapeutic or focused on recovery/managing.

I think either the GP or someone else, but recovering seems desirable, it must be really hard.