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!
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Healthy_mummy
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Good to hear your update. Not long to go now .... you have done so well to have a good contingency plan. The mother and baby unit is a great option and I hope everything goes well for you and your family.
I was lucky I suppose - because I'd been ill before, my doctors knew which medication suited me and I made a very quick recovery. I started taking medication at 37 weeks this time. Good luck x
Wishing you the very best of luck with the birth and afterwards sounds like you have a great plan in place
I'm still trying to pluck up.the courage to try For a second baby after having PP on my first and also a subsequent psychotic episode unrelated to pregnancy but also related to severe stress xx
My second was born in July 2016 after pp first time. I took antipsychotic as preventative measure on delivery, didn't have pp, so I'm now meds free.
My only warning would be try to relax when baby arrives. I was so stressed about getting pp again and when the meds side effects started (disrupted sleep and caused anxiety) I was convinced it was pp - luckily my mental health prac was amazing and figured it out.
Make sure you get plenty of sleep those first few weeks. Delegate night feeds to Dad x
Hi Healthy_mummy, good to read your update. There's some good shared experiences here and I also kept things as calm as possible and prioritised sleep after my 2nd baby, having had a pp episode after my first. Happily I stayed well the 2nd time round. I will be thinking of you, wishing you all the best, take care, xx
Hi lilybeth, thank you for your reply. All is going well so far. I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Easter Sunday. I came to thumbswood mother and baby unit on Monday and am going home for leave today until Wednesday. So far I have had no symptoms and I hope this continues. I'll keep you posted...
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