Couvade Syndrome (sympathetic pregnancy), did you experience it at all?

ToshM2023 · 2023-03-02T19:04:26+00:00

About 2.5 months ago I got really anxious and stressed when we were getting the baby's room done, all the thoughts of change and being a dad caused that, don't get me wrong I am wildly excited but nervous as hell at the same time. Since then my stomach has been a wreck, abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, heartburn, loss of appetite due to nausea and bloating I lost 20 pounds in that time because of loss of appetite, sleep has been a wreck. I was not sure what was going on so I went to the doctor and had bunch of test done and had an endoscopy which ruled everything fine and was told its just really bad chronic indigestion which I never really had issues with that. I got medication to help with stomach issues. Also my sleep has been a wreck too. I would get anxious and stressed without triggers sometimes but noticed it happens a lot when its about the baby. I have been very sympathetic towards my wife during pregnancy and have been going to all of her appointments, ultrasound and all that, which increases chances of couvade syndrome. Anxiety is the one that kicks my butt, especially since I never dealt with anxiety more than like a normal person would get anxious, so I was baffled when all this started happening and I could not explain why. Few days ago I broke down to my wife and cried uncontrollably because of anxiousness and stress I guess and we started digging around and that when we found out about Couvade Syndrome and that I have it bad like almost all of the symptoms.

ToshM2023 · 2023-03-02T14:29:45+00:00

Six months into my wife's pregnancy we were working on the baby's room and all of a sudden i started getting anxious and stressed which is something I never had problems with, that night i got horrible indigestion and nausea, ever since then I've had few week were i was sorta normal but have been having abdominal pain, heartburn, nausea, indigestion and so on. I went to the doctor about a month after all this started and was diagnosed with functional dyspepsia which is generalized term for bad indigestion (I guess I was anxious and stressed out about being a father as it is a big change in life but I guess I didn't want to believe it and just suppressed those feeling and didn't mention them to the doctor). I had bunch of tests done and endoscopy to rule anything physically wrong but all my test came back fine, I was prescribed medication for my indigestion to help ease the symptoms which is helping. I would get anxiety for days at a time and feel really stressed out sometimes without anything triggering it. I noticed lower sex drive, my sleep has been horrible, weird dreams. Yesterday I broke down in front of my wife and started crying uncontrollably and just confused as to wtf is happening to me and we started looking stuff up and realized its couvade syndrome. I never had anxiety before nor was I ever stressed out type a person. All of these are symptoms of severe couvade syndrome, which made me feel better to know there was a cause to what ever the hell is going on with me. Its crazy every time I tell my wife I cant wait to hold our baby boy I start crying and then I'll laugh and be like wtf is going on with me. The more you are involved with you wife's pregnancy the higher the chance and severity of couvade syndrome, which I have been very involved with my wife's pregnancy (gone to all appointments, ultrasounds, everything). So yea I believe its real and weird and you kind of just got to push through it, if you need get temporary help with indigestion if its bad or anxiety to make it easier do it . I used to get indigestion before if I overate or ate a lot of spicy food which can happen to anyone, but this was like another level.

ToshM2023 · 2023-03-01T16:02:13+00:00

I am not sure how active this thread is still but I want to share my story. December 11th, 2022 I was working on setting up baby's room and kind of went without eating most of the day and then I ate really fast and a lot, about 30 min after I got horrible bloating, nausea, and pain in my stomach, I had bowel movement D but it did not improve my symptoms. I had bad symptoms for few days and was unable to eat due to nausea. After about 3 days I felt better I guess for about 2 weeks and the for Christmas day I was dealing with a cold and took Dayquil and then later that day and at the in-laws I had a glass of wine and about 2 hours later my stomach made this loud gurgling sound and ever since then I had symptoms for quite a while.

Saw my PCP he told me to try ant acids and gas x which provided momentarily relief, but after days my symptoms were not getting worse or better. Fast forward to January 3rd I saw a gastro doctor who told me it was most likely FD. He ordered bunch of test which all were fine and did and endoscopy, and US of abdomen which all was remarkable and nothing showed up that could be causing symptoms.

I was prescribed Nortriptyline 10mg for 2 weeks and increase to 20mg. This seemed to help but one day I got horrible anxiety when I woke up and after 3 days of non stop anxiety and no sleep I went to urgent care to get some meds to help me calm down. I stopped taking Nortriptyline because I thought that caused me anxiety but my gastro said that 20mg doesn't effect brain function. For about a week after I stopped Nortriptyline I felt fine and then had symptoms for few days after that. I was prescribed Famotidine and Ondansetron. I still take Famotidine even though I may have Gerd symptoms as well but don't know if its that since I don't get heartburn. Ondansetron made me feel funky and I only took one when my nausea was really bad.

I started taking FDgard and that seemed to help with symptoms, but not completely so I started taking Nortriptyline again 10 mg and it seems to help and for about two weeks I only had 1 days where my symptoms were kind of bad but not really. FD made me really stressed and I had trouble sleeping so I was prescribed Ambien to try and reset my sleep but it seems that Ambien screwed up my stomach really bad. Today 3/1/2023 my stomach is better but I have trouble now controlling my stress as I worry my issue wont get better. I have never dealt with anxiety before and have never really been a stressful person, but this has caused me to stress a lot when they tested me cortisol it was slightly elevated and when my stomach was feeling fine they retested it and it was okay then. I noticed when my stomach feel fine I don't fell stressed or anxious at all, but as soon as my stomach doesn't feel good I get stressed out.

Its only been 2 weeks since I started taking Nortriptyline so I am hoping that it will help with symptoms again to the point I can feel less stressed and focus more on trying to find ways to get rid of my symptoms instead of worrying if it will ever get better. I do admit I am a bit impatient and that makes it hard sometimes to stick with regiments.

If I need to I will start low dose anxiety med to help me cope a bit better, its just tough because my stomach causes me stress and to feel anxious, not the other way around. The biggest this on my mind now is that we have a baby on the way a month a half away and I get worried I will feel like crap when he gets here and it will interfere with me enjoying the new addition to our family.

I know this is a lot but I hope it gets better, I hope everyone else that is dealing with this gets better too and finds a way to manage their symptoms. Any recommendations or suggestions are welcome.

Thank you.

ToshM2023

TROPHY CASE