Pp and my wife

[Deirde]

my wife recently suffered from PP and was winning with the help of Meds and lots of sleep. Unfortunately since the beginning of the year I have had to work harder meaning she doesn't get the sleep all of the time. The last month approx she is showing signs of depression and is having the thoughts again that she is not a good mother, etc. this is where we began and we can't do it all over again. We have spoken to the mental health team but nothing seems to be happening. Has anyone else been through this or is it normal to relaps etc. any advice would be appreciated. Cheers. Craig.

[Lilybeth Volunteer]

Hello Deirde

I'm very pleased you have found the forum to help your wife through her ordeal and support you along the way. Can I ask how recently your wife suffered PP? In my experience of PP it took me well over twelve months to fully recover. Some mums here have suffered with depression following PP so they will be able to offer advice.

In the meantime if you have a look on the forum, there's some very good advice in answer to a post entitled "Long Term Risk of Relapse" which might be helpful to read. Your wife should have a care plan and it's disappointing that the mental health team have not responded.

It's not easy but try not to worry. There are also partners here who will be able to offer their support. The APP Insider Guides are also full of info but perhaps you can read them in your own time. For now I'm sure virtual contact with others on the forum will be a good place to start.

Take good care of yourself and your wife. We are here to lean on.

[BronSyd]

It is very common to have ups and downs during recovery especially in times when things change. Don't get too worried about going back to the worst times. You are already aware sleep is important and things aren't quite right so you're ahead of where you were I'm sure.

Is there anyone else that's able to help out sometimes so that your wife can get some more sleep. Just reassuring her that's she's doing a great job as a Mum can help.

This forum is a great place to get support if she's up to it.

If she hasn't already, many people on here have recommended cognitive behavioural therapy (cbt). It's mainly a way to talk through those distressing thoughts and giving strategies to deal with depression rather than it being all consuming. It's especially helpful when there are particular triggers to the depression.

Medication sometimes does need to be adjusted as things change too so definitely try to get an appointment to see her Dr.

Good luck.

[Teresa_K_S Volunteer]

Hi I suffered postpartum psychosis and I also had a relapse 6months later. I don't know how common a relapse is but I would just like to offer you the comfort that via relapse wasn't half as bad as that horrible first time when no one has a clue what going on! Also I don't know if this is typical but my recovery from the relapse was quicker. It's hard to judge recovery as I think it is such a long process with ups and downs. Be assured though your wife will recover and her ability to deal with stress will much improve. I hope it helps to talk to people on here. All the best

[Jaskaran]

Hi Craig,

My wife also suffers from PP, She was responding well to Injection shots ( invega ) and doc decided to put her on medicine , everything was fine for that month but during end of the month she started showing PP symptoms again, I thought it is relapse , she probably had missed her medicine. So, we were extra conscious on medicine for the next month, next month also same thing happened 20 -25 days normal and 5 days of PP, same situation for coming few months, so point here is its not always necessary of relapse condition, some people might take sometime to adjust to medicine. I would say please keep an eye on her condition and let your psychiatrist know the same.

Hope for her speedy recovery.

[Deirde]

thanks all for your replies. CheersW

[AndyHenderson Volunteer]

Just to echo Jaskaran's response. For months after my wife started responding to treatment, I found myself overreacting to things she did or said - hearing what I thought were signs of a relapse. Any new mum needs reassurance and your wife will need plenty.

It's right and proper to be aware of the possibility of a recurrence, though. Your team will be unlikely to consider changing treatment unless there's a clear deterioration in your wife's condition.

The APP web site has some specific advice for partners that might be helpful at: app-network.org/partners-2/

Andy

[Simon_at_APP APP]

Hi Craig,

Just to add to the great comments above:-

My wife suffered with PP a while ago now, she spent approx 12 weeks in a Mother & Baby Unit, before being allowed back home for good and I can honestly say it was a very up and down recovery road from there on in, however it was always an improving road but sometimes felt like we'd made 3 steps forward and then taken 2 back. You're right to keep the mental health team up to date with things though; initially we had a member of the team visiting my wife at home, this then changed to us having to visit them for regular check-ups, these slowly decreased in frequency.

With the trauma you both go through with PP, I found myself worrying about the slightest changes. Her confidence was in tatters and there were loads of times where she would question whether she's a good mum (in fact, she still very occasionally questions that, even though a number of years have passed

There are other volunteer organisations around that may also be able to help; we had a 'Home start' volunteer call in for 2 to 3 hours a week to visit my wife and they would just have a chat, or go into town, sometimes even go to some baby sessions, either way it all helped with the reassurance and building my wife's confidence back up.

Take care.

[Ellie_at_APP Partner]

Hi Craig

Sorry it's taken me a few days to reply to your post.

I just wanted to echo what others have said above. I had PP in 2011, and it was a year and a half before I felt myself again. My experience was that it was definitely an up and down recovery, and most definitely I felt like I wasn't a good enough mum. I doubted that hugely until my son was about 1, I found that when he started interacting more, and was able to show how bonded he was with me, and how much he loved me, that's when I started to realise and most importantly feel that those doubts were in my head and weren't the reality. It was a slow process. I am not sure how long ago your wife had PP?

I know my partner at times was so frustrated, when I seemed to do so well and then I would slip back into depression (I suffered depression after the psychosis), I think both of us would feel it worse each time because we had hoped that I was better. But slowly I was getting better...

Take care, and really glad to see you've received some support from dad's on here.