Post natal depression - did you suffer from it or not? Please take our one question, instant poll.

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PND has always been a big topic on Mumsnet but the stats on exactly how many women experience post natal depression haven't been updated for quite a while.

Please take our one question, instant poll here

Thanks

MNHQ

I was diagnosed after the birth of my second son, due to vigilant health care professionals and a good team at my gps.

They had put an alert on me after my first son was born to watch out for pnd, especially with any subsequent pregnancies as they thought I was borderline. I was told this later.

Yes. Pre and Post. Finally fighting my way out of it as we type.

Dones (but agree with AnnofAvalon that this thread is unlikely to give an accurate figure for PND)

i had it after 1st and then 1 year 5 months later it started really bad after after having 2nd child.by time i was pregnant with 3rd i was warning hv that if i felt like it again id be banging on her door at 3am and that i would lie on those silly questionaires.luckily i didnt get it again i never want to feel like that again.

Well I've never had pnd, and I clicked on the title and I voted. I think mnet polls tend to get a good return rate don't they? No survey is perfect, but it might be interesting to see the mnet rate.

Mind you I might have done all that because I'm meant to be working.

I was fine first time round but had pnd with my ds. Interesting comment re: being able to lie your way through the Edinburgh test - I certainly did and still scored enough to raise concerns but very unhelpful hv decided I was just stressed because I was about to move house/city, so no follow up or help at that stage. Didn't really get any support and it was only once i started to feel better that I realised I'd not been myself for months - interestingly a few good friends and my mum noticed and I had some support going on in the background which i wasn't fully aware of at the time. Find it worrying that they ask about wether you would harm yourself but don't look at how you feel about your kids on the Edinburgh test - would never have hurt my eldest but she certainly became a focus for a lot of my anger/difficult moods at points, I think mainly coz she was just being a normal toddler with tantrums etc but that so hard to deal with at the time with how i felt. Expecting number 3 soon and have strongly flagged previous pnd up with my mw who's actually been really good and is making sure we keep an eye. Would also agree that this often starts as AND because looking back the final couple months of my last pg were really hard - on crutches with spd and trying to sell/pack up house and make decision about VBAC - very emotional/difficult time.

I didn't realise i'd had pnd until I had a child without it. You hear so much about exhaustion etc that you put it down to that- it as only after that I realised that the numbness was pnd; exhaustion is normal yes, but without pnd it has a happy-new-baby-fug about it nonetheless. iyswim.

I lied on the edinburgh test to; woman cou;dnt remember y name, hardly going to share personal info was I? (my prenatal hv visiits were done - routine where we were- with one hv but because baby took then dp's (now dh) name, and that was the other end of the alphabet, I had to see a stranger post birth)

'And it's easy to lie about how you're feeling, especially answering the questions on the Edinburgh Test.'

That 'test' is the single most useless piece of paper in mental health history.

Utterly stupid waste of time and a trained monkey could lie her way through it.

I looked fantastic. Lost loads of weight. House immaculate - I never could sleep more than 4 or 5 hours in any 24 hour period and ANY mess sent my anxiety levels through the roof. I lived on cigarettes, black coffee and red wine, hence the weight loss.

But if I weren't up moving around, I was staring at the walls, utterly numb, thinking that if I could drop off the face of the Earth it would be the best thing ever happened to me.

I knew I was sick because I know now that many suicidal people are so over crying and grieving and not looking after themselves or their homes - they put everything in perfect order a lot of times. They're past feeling much of anything except the calculated need to get it all over with.

People say it's selfish, well, a suicidal person usually knows this. But they feel it's even more selfish for them to carry on living and pointless, too.

I had the test after DS1 and one of the questions was - did I worry more about DH driving to and from work than I did before and did I worry about my PIL dying more or less after having the baby. I found they weren't really the right questions to express how I was feeling.

I had it with all three of mine, was MUCH worse with DD (my 3rd) and I think like expat highlighted, it started during my pregnancy on and off from quite early on. Because I'd been through it twice before I knew I needed to get help straight away, I sought help within days of DD's birth. I'm fortunate that I have a fantastic doctor and equally fantastic HV who recognised the severity of this condition and took it seriously. I feel SO incredibely sad for those women out there who seek advise and are turned away. Horrid horrid horrid thing to go through.

pre and post yes

"That 'test' is the single most useless piece of paper in mental health history."

expat a friend "diagnosed" herself online and got help straight away - it can be useful.

LackaDAISYcal, do you have any refs to research re: it starting in pregnancy?
thanks

I have some stuff somewhere bundle, as I'd never heard of AND until I was diagnosed when pregnant with DD and did a bit of research.

the comment about it starting in pregnancy came from my GP

I'll have a dig around and see what I can find.

that's really kind, am v interested in this (for work)

Wot no prize??

I've never done an Edinburgh test but had PND after the birth of both my children which was recognised, thankfully, by health professionals both times - perhaps it was the trying to throw myself out of the window that gave it away (that's black humour, btw, I didn't really try and throw myself out of the window, that would have been far too proactive for how I was feeling ).

I've often thought it's woefully underdiagnosed and unrecognised - just in my immediate friends, I know four women who clearly had PND but no-one picked up on it and they just struggled through without professional help.

I agree with AnneofAvonlea - it's not a proper sample. People who didn't have pnd are less likely to answer in the first place, those who have suffered are far more motivated to reply and share their thoughts. You can't draw conclusions from it - Ben Goldacre would have a fit!

I am genuinely unsure as to whether I had PND or not. I felt intensely miserable, yes, but also felt that was just the completely logical response to having a new bloody baby. Isn't it? I mean, your life's been turned upside down, you feel like shit, and people keep telling you how happy you ought to be. So I still don't know. I do know that people who write about the sheer bliss of a new baby make me want to cry and then kill them, though.

have taken the poll - but I agree with others who've said that you can't draw any conclusions from it because the thread title was so leading.

People who have experienced PND will be more likely to click on a thread about PND. It's not even totally clear from the thread title whether the poll is relevent to people who haven't experienced PND.

I think your only chance of getting a random sample would be to say "complete our 1 question mystery poll" and not let people find out the topic until they'd click.

'expat a friend "diagnosed" herself online and got help straight away - it can be useful. '

and it can also be lied through, which a HUGE number of people do.

really ineffective.

when someone is really ill, it's often noticed by loved ones and friends.

that test really needs scrapped, IMO. even my psych consultant agrees.

anyone can lie to a doctor

It's wrong to say the first 12 months, I wasn't diagnosed until my first DS was over 2! I was in a terrible way by then, I think first time mothers should be monitered far more closely especially during the first 12 months.

I would add that when the HV administered her questionnaire to me about PND, to see whether I was affected, the questionnaire did not let me accurately reflect how much happier I was since giving birth (I was only allowed to be at least as happy...).

well I've voted and I've never had PND and don't read much of the site. I do suspect that women who regularly use mumsnet probably include an above average number of those "at risk " though.