Perinatal Depression - no reason behind it

[MrsJdot]

Dear ladies, I am 16 weeks pregnant, and have been struggling with low mood and loss of interest in everything since week 6-7 when I developed very bad nausea and vomiting (HG).

What I struggle to understand is the reason behind this lack of interest and motivation, I have so much support from family. One of the midwives did mention that pregnancy hormones can cause a person to feel like this. Has anyone been through this, and does it automatically get better after baby is born? I am waiting to be seen by the Perinatal Mental Health Team. I don’t know how I will cope feeling like this, and it’s so unfair on the husband.

A couple of days ago I was prescribed Sertraline (antidepressant), but I had a really bad reaction to it and woke up in the middle of the night with panic attack symptoms, jittery feeling, high pulse and vomiting.

Ended up at A&E after an appointment with an out of hours GP as they suspected a reaction between my Ondansetron and Sertraline, It ended up being Serotonin Syndrome and I was told to immediately stop the Sertraline.

Hormones can have a huge effect on your mood. If you've never had any symptoms before then PG could definitely be a cause. It's also a pretty tiring and worrying time - especially with HG!

If it is hormones I wouldn't expect it to just disappear after you give birth. In the first few days your hormones are all over the place, you're getting no sleep and almost everyone is sobbing their eyes out! It then takes ages for hormones to settle - even longer if you breastfeed, although assume people will balance out quicker than others I'm sure.

Have you ever taken the pill? I only ask because I've had several depressive episodes over the years - all of them when I've been taking oral contraceptives or when PG/ after PG.

I didn't have it but I'm sure HG has a huge impact even if you're fine otherwise. That at least will go away!

I felt suicidal during pregnancy in 3rd trimester - now a month post partum & although having ptsd I feel so so so much better than pregnant. It does and can get better

Hi, I’m 13 and 4 and also feeling so low, so you’re not alone. Have zero ability to be rational and everything seems magnified. Feel really detached from partner as I don’t want to be even really touched, because I feel so dreadful.

Current on cyclizine with really bad MS, which has not helped things mentally. I have terrible hypochondria so finding everything like the scans etc really stressful.

I’ve had to come off the pill in the past, as it also really affected my mood. I am really hoping that it’s hormones and it will pass, as it started even before I knew I was pregnant.

What a ride haha. I hope you find some relief with it. :)

X

Thank you for the responses everyone.

@BlueberryPancake21 I have actually never been on the pill, and in the past I have only ever had one depressive episode which I recovered from within 2-3 months, it was situational depression.

@Lulululu1989 I’m sorry to hear that you were suicidal, thankfully symptoms are not that extreme at the moment. Hoping it does get better somehow, I finally have an appointment next week to speak to the Perinatal Mental Health team.

@Allthesweets you are so right about everything feeling so magnified. Every little thing feel like as if I have a mountain to climb, showering, getting out of bed, cleaning the house or even the thought of going out of the house. :(

Feeling detached from partner too as I have excessive saliva and just don’t want to be touched. I hope we feel better soon.

@MrsJdot Haha, yes a huge mountain. I laugh, but it is not fun at all. Comforting to know someone else is not feeling being touched. It's so strange isn't it. I thought I would sail through this and relish every second, but I do believe now that pregnancy hormones are super powerful and do strange things to our minds and bodies. It's like I know the rational me is in there, but the crazy hormonal me is in full control. Are you going to look into some different meds? Also how is your anti-sickness med going? Cyclizine is ok, stops it being full blown at least.

Mentally I had a horrendous pregnancy with Dd2.
I didn't find out I was pregnant until I was 5 months. I was in total shock. 23 years after I had Dd1.
At 7 months Dd1 died suddenly. I didn't want to go on. I stayed in my bed praying I wouldn't wake up. I was referred to the Perinatal Mental health team.
I had very mixed emotions about giving birth I hadn't bought anything except a pram 🙉.
My mental health did improve slightly after Dd2 was born. I was lucky in that I had a very supportive GP and health visitor. My family were also very supportive and really helped with Dd2.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy @MrsJdot

Hi there,
Just thought I would give you a little message to say I was in exact place you are but I am now nearly 25 weeks and doing so much better. I had extreme anxiety to the point I couldn’t leave my bed, I would cry 24/7 and couldn’t even let my husband leave my side to go the bathroom without nearly having a panic attack. It was horrendous. Physically I had no symptoms but mentally it nearly killed me. I didn’t want to talk about the baby to anyone, didn’t let my husband get excited at all, I didn’t want to bond with the baby, just wanted to sleep it all away. My midwife was so concerned for me one particular day she gave me the crisis number and regularly phoned me on her day offs as she was so worried. We decided to get a plan in place as I couldn’t cope anymore (neither could my husband it was destroying him seeing me like that) I also knew if I didn’t act now I was going to be on a slippery slope after baby arrived. I am now on sertraline (which I know know unfortunately hasn’t worked for you) and speak to a therapist every week via iapt. I also see the midwife every week for a chat to see how I am and listen to baby. I am also with the perinatal mental health team who will be further involved later in pregnancy. I just begged for every bit of help I could get as I hated my existence. I can now tell you I am a different person, of course that anxiety is there but it’s not an all consuming, overwhelming existence anymore. I’m getting a bit excited now he kicks and i can control my awful thoughts more.i couldnt rationalise the horrendous thoughts before but now they don’t feel as big and heavy in my mind. In the earlier days my anxiety would be like a black bear ready to get me as soon as I opened my eyes and be with me until I closed my eyes at night. It filled my head with the most negative thoughts about the baby and I literally thought I would lose the pregnancy every minute of every day. Now the bear growl is gentler and quieter. I don’t cry every day and my husband can go to work. I have even started buying bits whereas as the thought of that before made me physically sick. Literally. My midwife, gp, therapist all just said it the pregnancy hormones and there was a massive imbalance. They were so supportive in getting me help and I did start to feel better from 17 weeks. I started sertraline week 16 and felt exact same as you, I didn’t think I couldn’t continue with them as I felt so ill on them but fortunately for me that passed after 7 days. I know my road to recovery is slightly different in terms of sertraline but know things can and will get better. It’s about just trying things til something works because feeling like this is just horrendous. I wish you peace and calm and every wish that you can enjoy your pregnancy one day. I’m really sure you will and if you can’t enjoy it, at least i hope your mind will find some peace. Sending lots of love. I totally understand 💕💕💕

Hi OP, I have taken many antidepressants in the past and had the same reaction as you when I started at a full dose too quickly (GPs are terrible at knowing about this sort of thing, in my experience.)

I restarted on a tiny dose (they could get my meds in liquid form) and gradually built up over a few weeks. This way, I avoided the awful side effects you described. For what it's worth, I also weaned off them really slowly when I eventually stopped.

I'm sorry you are feeling this way. Don't give up hope of finding a treatment that works. Sometimes it just takes a bit of tweaking. I personally found a psychiatrist much better at this than GP doctors. xx