Antenatal depression - who should I speak to

[Lunastar9]

Hi everyone,

I have suffered from quite bad mental health problems when I was younger, from depression and anxiety to anorexia and bulimia.

I was basically fully recovered (Besides anxiety but it was under control).

I’m now in my third trimester and I’m feeling so so low. I always worried I would get post natal depression but it never occurred to me it would come back in pregnancy. My mood is terrible, i feel so sad, I’m not excited about the future anymore. When my baby kicks I used to feel so happy but now i feel so empty.

It has got quite suddenly worse over the last two weeks. I used to be on medication for my depression after a suicide attempt, and I feel like I could do with medication again but I’m scared to ask for help or speak to anyone.

Am i best speaking to my midwife or my gp? I feel really stupid. I don’t like talking about my feelings at the best of times but I’m really struggling.

I’m scared if they think I’m mentally unwell they’ll try and take the baby away, I know it’s probably ridiclous but I’m terrified of admitting I need help again.

Does anyone have any advice?

😔 so sorry you're feeling this way. I don't have personal experience but I was in touch with a mental health midwife earlier in my pregnancy - if I were you I would call your midwife initially and talk through everything, say to her what you've said on here, and then take it from there. I'm sure she'll help you get in touch with a mental health midwife and then potentially advise you to speak to the GP too about getting some low dose meds. This is what I was told. Do you have a partner or family member/friend you can speak to too?

You are absolutely not stupid and don't ever think that. It takes a lot of courage and guts to admit you're not ok, so this is a big step and just saying this aloud shows how much you love your baby because you're trying to get help.

Hope you get all the support you need

If you've had a medication that works for you, go straight to your GP and you can get on track pretty swiftly. Citalopram and Sertraline are regularly prescribed in pregnancy and are considered safe.

I know it's scary, but tell your midwife everything as well. If they can refer you to a pregnancy-related mental health team, great, but I found that it was lengthy and difficult to get any help in that way.

Feel free to keep chatting on here, if that helps.

And they won't take your baby away from you unless you put it in harm's way. Dealing with this is the responsible thing to do and that will be recognised. Bon courage!

If you are seeing your midwife in the next few days I would speak to them if not your gp.

There is no shame in needing help and there are medications that are safe to take and there might be therapeutic options available to you although with a wait in which case its best to get the referral in early.

You have done so well to recover from past mental health problems you can do it again but you don't have to do it alone

I’m sorry you’re struggling OP, good advice already given, I just wanted to say the same thing - you’re not alone, both the midwife and the GP can help you, antenatal depression is actually very common especially if you’ve had mental health problems before. Important to know that there is a way through this and you will feel better - asking for help is the main thing.
No one is going to take your baby away for this.

I was referred to the perinatal mental health team who have been wonderful, speaking to me at least every few weeks to see how I'm getting on, sometimes over an hour on the phone. They are giving me some CBT and theres loads of other stuff they can help with when baby is here. The midwife referred me to them as I have a history of mental health problems and when I came off my citalapram at start of pregnancy it all went a bit down hill for a while. Much, much better now.