Looking to meet other mums who had psychosis?

[Isabella-2016]

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to meet some other mums in London who also experienced psychosis. I don’t know anyone who went through what I’ve been through and it would be nice to connect with others who have. I had psychosis during the first lockdown last year when my baby was 10 months old and my eldest daughter 3. It was a horrifically traumatic time to say the least, but you all know that. 9 months on and I’ve flipped my life around for the better. I’m doing really well and have got my life back, but I am left with the trauma. Slowly but surely I’ve come a really long way. The psychiatrist said in retrospect it’s hard to know if it was postpartum psychosis because my baby was ten months rather than a few weeks, but I have heard it can happen up to a year, but I’m no expert. Either way, it’d be great to connect with other mums who went through it with young children.

[Maria_at_APP Moderator]

Hi Isabella-2016,

Welcome to the forum, you will meet many moms here that have gone through a similar experience.

I am really sorry that you experienced pp during the first lockdown, it must have been difficult to get help when the normal services where so strained with the pandemic. And the increase on our general stress by the bizarre situation won't have been helpful.

I had pp in 2018 after the birth of my daughter, I don't have other children. It was in the early days after the birth for me. But late onset pp is not unheard of, you will find moms in this forum for whom it happened that way. I think recently there was a thread here talking about it, if you search for late onset psychosis and filter your search by posts in your community you will find it.

I am very glad to hear that it is 9 months on and you are doing well, the recovery process takes time and for me at least, I was able to function really well before I was able to freely talk about my experience (without being overcome by emotion) or develop the strong bond I now have with my little one, those 2 took longer for me.

As to your question on connecting with others that live near you, APP holds cafe groups (virtual at the moment) and there is one for London which I attend. The link for it is here:

app-network.org/peer-support/

I am glad you reached out, before finding APP I knew no one who had been diagnosed with PP and it felt very isolating at the time.

Take care and write here whenever you feel like

[Isabella-2016 in reply to Maria_at_APP]

Hello!Thank you so much for your very kind and informative reply. I really appreciate that. I look forward to the cafe groups. I’m so sorry to hear you suffered ppp. You’re an amazing woman! How are you managing these days?

[Maria_at_APP Moderator in reply to Isabella-2016]

Hi Isabella-2016,

I am glad you found it useful. I am OK, pleased that spring is around the corner, by the looks of it! In general, I think I have had a good long period where I have felt alright, the first lockdown did not help and I had to go back to antidepressants and anxiety medication for a while. It is hard to be away from family and friends at this time, isn't it? We hope that things will get better soon.

Take care and yes looking forward to catching up on the cafe group

[Naomi_at_app Volunteer]

Hi Isabella-2016

Welcome to our support community - it's great to hear that things are going well with your recovery. I'm glad you have found APP and it would be great to see you at the London Cafe group. As EmiMum says these are happening virtually at the moment, but we look forward to months in the future when people will be able to meet face to face again. It can be such a valuable part of a recovery journey to connect with other women and families who have been through PP.

If you would like to be put in touch with the London Cafe Group do drop us an email at [e-mail] and we can get you set up.

All the best

Naomi

[Isabella-2016 in reply to Naomi_at_app]

Hello! Thanks so much for your response. Yes I’d love to be put in touch with the cafe group. A lady called Ellie said we can have a phone call this week to discuss! X

[Pikorua Volunteer]

Good morning Isabella,

it is great to meet you on this forum and I am pleased that your recovery is going so well.

I have had PPP in 2010 and unfortunately was sectioned to a mixed gender psychiatric unit without my baby. Therefore, my recovery was more of a slow motion and with some pebble stones along the path, big ones

I do believe it is so vital to have peer support and I honestly can say when I found the forum I finally was able to sense, yep, there is compassion after all!!! When meeting those fabulous women on the APP forum my life improved and I was able to relief some of my inner pain I accumulated for 6 yrs.

I am so happy that there are opportunities for café groups via APP now in some of the regions and it appears as if you are in the right location, too.

It is so important to know when struggling with this traumatising illness, that you are not on your own.

Stay safe,

x

[Isabella-2016 in reply to Pikorua]

Hey there! Thanks so much for your lovely message.

That sounds truly dreadful being sectioned without your baby. I’m so sorry. You’re such an incredibly brave and amazing women. I hope to chat more with you x

[Fitel Volunteer]

Hi Isabella

Welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing your experience, that was very brave and strong of you. I live in Surrey and so attend the face to face London meet ups - am really looking forward to hopefully meeting people again later this year as restrictions ease. So sorry to hear what a diffuclt time you had during lockdown, it must be extra tough experiencing PP during the pandemic and you've done an amazing job to recover these months on and reach out to us here.

I experienced PP following the birth of my daughter in 2016 though my diagnosis was late and so, this crossed into 2017 before I was admitted to an MBU for 10 weeks. Recovery was slow but I made it in the end, like all these other wonderful women on here.

It will be great to meet you at one of the cafe groups sometime.

Stay strong and take care x

[Isabella-2016 in reply to Fitel]

Hello! Thanks so much for your very kind message. I hope we can meet once things are normal. But perhaps see you on the virtual meet ups before hand!

I’m so sorry to hear you experienced ppp. It’s so amazing to hear youve made it with recovery. Your such an amazingly brave woman to go through all of that x