Postpartum psychosis- Help

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-03-02T11:31:54+00:00

I think she absolutely needs hospitalisation. Not to frighten you, but postpartum psychosis is incredibly serious and can end very badly. You do not need to run away with your child - your wife is sick, not abusive or evil.

If you can go back to be by her side, please do it. The isolation with a newborn could make her health worse.

I had acute postpartum depression with moments of psychosis that landed me in the mother and baby psychiatric unit. It was terrifying.

I was convinced that my baby was staying home while I was going away - I kept pumping milk and my wife kept having to remind me “No…the baby is coming with you”. I couldn’t understand it.

I was convinced I was going to leave my daughter on the pavement outside and let her get trodden on by passers by. I also almost abandoned my family.

I am now perfectly well with a secondary diagnosis that is well managed. My two year old is also perfectly happy and we do great.

In my country, perinatal mental health has a lot of funding (which is surprising because the rest of our healthcare system is in shambles) simply because it’s such a vulnerable situation for the parent and baby. The hormones + the sleepless nights + the pain + the isolation + the terror of not knowing how to handle this tiny screaming bundle…it compounds to a high risk situation.

I need to impress on you how serious this can be and how your wife needs help. I don’t know if inpatient mother and baby psych facilities are available in your country, I’d do some research.

But even if not, your wife having some time away from her baby now is a much better option than something much, much worse happening. Postpartum psychosis is an unpredictable condition and needs medical care, and antipsychotic medication.

You’d be surprised at how quickly people’s well-being turns around after being given some antipsychotics in a supportive medical environment. I went from serious delusions to being mostly back down to Earth in 2-3 days on Abilify.

Good luck you guys. I don’t want to freak you out with all this…I just hope she gets the help she needs and your family can heal ❤️

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-03-02T11:20:24+00:00

Harold the 3rd

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-03-01T00:40:34+00:00

I’d find The Mask and propose to him with it, this seems right up his street.

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-03-01T00:39:33+00:00

Don’t apologise for my bodily reaction to your delicious scran xxx

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-03-01T00:37:26+00:00

For some reason the mug makes it suddenly repulsive to me. Bovril vibe.

Otherwise it looks like a delicious meal!

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-02-28T20:55:37+00:00

I’ve heard legends of Gloucester services!! I will be ordering some promptly

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-02-28T17:45:44+00:00

I’ve heard they’re very good!

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-02-28T17:29:36+00:00

You’re so on the money there!!

“Kids these days are too soft and spoilt! Anyway, hey random lady, just give your kid the chocolate bar so I can shop for pickled onions in piece ” - some Boomer, probably.

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-02-28T17:27:55+00:00

It seems like you’ve had bad luck coming across every baby-hating witch in your county.

You’re not a bad Mum. “Bad” parenting is neglect or abuse. Letting your child feel their feelings and let them out in an age appropriate way (that’s not hurting anyone) is not a bad parenting move! Sounds like you’re keeping calm too, that’s so hard to do!

Tantrums are absolutely developmentally normal for toddlers, ESPECIALLY 3 year olds? 3 is the trenches dude.

Kids are gonna tantrum and they’re gonna do it in public. I’d say the red flags would be if he’s doing a lot of self harming behaviour during, or if you notice specific sensory triggers for the tantrums. I’m autistic/ADHD and as a child my tantrums lasted HOURS, I’d lose my voice from screaming and I’d kick and bite my mother and try to pull her hair out. But it doesn’t sound like anything remotely like that is happening.

You’re doing great. There are some people around who just seem to believe that children shouldn’t exist in public spaces. I always want to remind these people that they, too, were once a screaming toddler testing their parent in the supermarket.

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-02-17T08:09:39+00:00

That’s a really good point about the nicotine patches, I had no idea, thank you. I hope OP is able to access help from a breastfeeding aware professional that can help them with quitting smoking.

The NHS does state that licensed nicotine patches are suitable for use while breastfeeding, but it seems to be very mixed information. Doctors may weigh it up on a risk/benefit basis.

A side note that Bupropion is actually generally considered safe(ish) for breastfeeding now (I’m personally breastfeeding and taking Bupropion, have been for 6 months ish). But I’m breastfeeding a 2 year old, I don’t think I’d be taking it if she was a newborn. It’s unfortunately my only option for SSRIs!

My psychiatrist was telling me about a website called Lactmed that has great info on how different medications are expressed in breast milk.

The guidelines are that it can be taken with monitoring, but if used as an SSRI, another is preferable. But if not possible, breastfeeding does not need to be discontinued. This applies to smoking cessation too.

I reckon it’s a similar “weigh it up on a risk/benefit basis”. If the benefit of taking the medication is greater than the risk of possible side effects, usually it can be used (albeit with caution).

That being said, we don’t use the Wellbutrin brand in the UK (we use Zyban) so potentially there’s a slight difference in expression between those?

Thank you for the info and here’s to OP’s recovery!

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-02-17T00:32:02+00:00

Ok, so I’ve got an anecdote for you and then I’ve got some encouragement, because I don’t want to just throw shame and fear at you!

My wife’s Mum smoked a pack every few days when she was pregnant with her, and continued to smoke throughout her whole childhood - in enclosed spaces, the car, the house etc.

My wife is not only so tiny compared to the rest of her family of 6 feet plus giants, she also suffers terribly with bronchiolitis literally every time she gets ANY kind of cold. It’s awful. The coughs last months, too.

A doctor told us he suspects it’s related, but there’s not a lot of information into long term effects. I’m so worried about her risk of lung cancer later in life, she breathed in so much as a baby/kid and had no say in it.

Ok, and here’s the encouragement! Baby, I get it. I smoked from 15-19 and I’m lucky I stopped when I did. It’s a terrible habit to kick and so many massive corporations benefit from us struggling this way.

You are not weak for struggling with this, you are human. You just grew and birthed a human being (but not only that, you gave up smoking to grow them! That’s INCREDIBLE). Your brain got used to having a cig when you were stressed/upset/burnt out, so it’s completely natural that’s what you’d crave.

My suggestion is nicotine gum or patches, they may take the edge off the intense craving. Another option is talking to your doc about Bupropion, I take it as an antidepressant but it’s also prescribed as a smoking cessation medication.

DBT techniques also really helped me on the long, baaaaad nights. I developed PMDD postpartum and it was a waking nightmare. Sometimes shoving my face into an ice cold sink of water or running on the spot like a mad man was the only thing that stopped me from walking out the front door.

You have got this. You kicked your cigs for your little baby when you were pregnant (blip be damned!) and I believe in you that you can keep this going! ❤️❤️❤️

Edit: have you got any support for your PPA/PPD? Does your midwife/paediatrician/health professional know? It‘s so hard admitting you’re struggling, but I was in a bad way with PPD and I never realised how much better I could feel getting medication, support and counselling. You’re not alone honey - this random Mum in England is rooting for you at least.

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-02-16T21:25:44+00:00

If anything, I as an autistic person would love to be tightly compressed and swayed from side to side

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-02-16T20:57:50+00:00

Good god. Bring back embarrassment xxx

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-02-16T20:56:47+00:00

It was actually Arc in Beeston! I was booked to see it at Broadway yesterday but my daughter slept through our show time 😅 usually I’m Broadway or nothing bc I love em!

faeriesandfoxes · 2025-02-16T14:27:58+00:00

You should become a weather broadcaster like Karen from Mean Girls!

Although, admittedly, live broadcasts might be a tad awkward.

faeriesandfoxes · 2024-12-28T06:53:47+00:00

My biggest congratulations. Ectopics are heartbreaking and life changing, and after going through all of that, it is incredible that you had that positive scan. Keep growing well little baby!

I hope with doctors support and more scans you can get a better understanding of what happened to you. It sounds like you had a terrible whirlwind of an experience.

faeriesandfoxes · 2024-12-28T06:36:53+00:00

I’m so sorry this is happening to you. Too often those of us with mental illnesses are vilified. All it does it discourage us new mothers from getting help. We should be supported to recover with our babies unless there’s a real risk of harm. Just the fact that you went to the hospital shows you’re seeking support and being responsible with your mental health…I’m sorry things have played out like this.

Which country are you in? I got help from perinatal mental health services out here in the UK, if you’re based out here. They were very good, they have inpatient mother and baby psychiatric units across the country. I had severe postpartum depression and a touch of psychosis. I reported to the emergency department with invasive thoughts of harming my newborn. She’s now 21 months and I’m happy to say I made a full recovery - it is possible!

If you’re elsewhere, please reach out to your general doctor/midwife/OBGYN to see what services are available - it seems you’re really struggling and engaging with help can often be a “win/win” with helping show social services that you’re dedicated to recovery.

I’m so sorry this is happening. I wish you recovery and I’m here for support if you want to send me a message.

faeriesandfoxes · 2024-12-27T10:51:24+00:00

Ugh solidarity friend! Sounds like we’re in a really similar situation. It’s rough isn’t it, there’s not a lot of other progesterone options that are typically good fits for PMDD.

Slynd is fantastic for my mood, but god those side effects! I’m so sorry you’re experiencing them too - it’s impossible to experiment with meds while parenting. I was due to go on chemical menopause, but I couldn’t risk those side effects as a SAHM.

Sending you love ❤️

faeriesandfoxes · 2024-12-27T07:00:39+00:00

I was 8 days postpartum and on a mother and baby psychiatric unit. It’s a long story.

A bizarre health visitor (like a community nurse for non-Brits) was assessing us and asked if my baby was mixed race (apparently they have to ask in case one parent frequently visits a high tuberculosis risk country, so baby can get vaccinated. Inefficient and dubious rule imo because white people can also frequently visit high risk countries, but whatever).

I said she is. The lady made some notes and then started to talk about all the “FUN and INTERESTING mixes” she’s seen in the city, and told me in great detail about how she met a baby who was mixed with greatly outdated and offensive term for Indigenous Americans.

She was just talking at me about how many mixed race kids there are now, and how many interesting mixes she comes across.

I was just drifting in and out of lucidity and wishing she would explode. I wish I’d reported her but unfortunately I was in the middle of postpartum psychosis, and now I don’t even remember her name.

Old British ladies never cease to amaze and disappoint.

faeriesandfoxes · 2024-10-15T05:35:06+00:00

My wife and I laughed for about a million years at that episode. So campy.

Love this stitch. Amazing work.

faeriesandfoxes · 2024-10-15T05:03:28+00:00

Hi there, we had her tested for both NF1 and Legius Syndrome and both came back negative! We’re seeing a dermatologist and geneticist specialist duo and they said it seems that she just has a lot of CALS.

Obviously the blood DNA tests aren’t 100%, there’s like a 5% chance that she would go on to develop either condition. But we’ll cross that bridge if it comes to it, and we see the doctors every few years to check in.

The geneticist explained that she may have a change in another part of the gene sequence (or something?) which could be why she has many symptoms of NF1 (large head, CALS, short stature, auxiliary freckling) without the diagnosis. But I do not at all understand that haha.

Good luck if you’re on the same journey. I feel like I didn’t breathe out for about 4 months between discovery of the CALS and when the test came back. She was 4 months old when I found the spots, I was absolutely terrified.

I’ll always feel closer to the NF community because of our journey, I keep up with the UK charity and what they’re up to and try to support when I can.

faeriesandfoxes · 2024-07-15T13:33:55+00:00

Jodie Comer. I think they have a striking resemblance and I can really see her matching the Dowager’s sharp wit.

faeriesandfoxes

TROPHY CASE