Hi everyone,
I thought I'd give you a bit of an update. I'm now 37 weeks pregnant with my second child. I experienced post partim psychosis with my first and was hospitalised for two weeks and on medication for 10 weeks in total. I also experienced two previous psychotic episodes unrelated to pregnancy but brought about by stress.
For this pregnancy, I've put everything possible in place to prevent it from happening again but obviously there's still a risk. I've started taking trifluroperizine at a reduced dose and will build up gradually now until the birth. I'm booked in for an induction at 39 weeks (mainly so that things can be managed easily). After the birth I intend to increase the dose a bit, at least for the first few days when the hormones kick in. If all goes well, I will be going straight from hospital to thumbswood mother and baby unit for a week to two weeks. This was an option given to me by my perinatal psychiatrist and I feel relieved to know that, even if I am well after the birth, I will be well supported there. Then, in the event that I do become ill, I will be in the best place and my family won't have the panic and crisis that happened previously.
I'll update after the birth at some point but hopefully it will be good news!