long term care plan post pp my own anecdotal evidence

[EquineBeauty]

Hi all. I suffered from PP a little over a year ago. Fortunately the medications worked relatively quickly and I have remained well. I’m off of the antipsychotics now but remain on an antidepressant and a mood stabilizer as a precaution for another year or so.

I have reached out to many of you on here who are farther down the line on their healing journey, some 5 years some 15 and some over 20 years. I have also spoken to several people on weekly phone calls through PSI (US based PP support network).

Of course this is anecdotal evidence but I’ll list below some overwhelming themes. It seems that about half of the people went on to have a bipolar diagnosis. (A lot depends on previous history, the PP episode itself and subsequent episodes.) But for those that didn’t have Bipolar and who remained well for years (7… 10, etc.) and then had psychosis again - it didn’t seem random. Even the APP website suggests that women can be well for years but then about 30% relapse in perimenopause. (Of course some women don’t have any episodes at all and that would be ideal)

Some other themes I heard or read were lack of sleep due to:

A very stressful event like a death in the family. Grief with lack of sleep seemed to have contributed to psychosis.

A horrible cold/flu/coughing virus that prevented one from sleeping for a few nights in a row - some women went on to have a relapse

Some causes seemed to have been hormonal:

Cessation of breastfeeding while unmedicated

Miscarriage

Perimenopause

So I wonder if it makes sense to speak to our psychiatrist teams during these moments of stress and take some sort of medications during these vulnerable times? Like a sleep aid? Or a a mood stabilizer or even an antipsychotic on a low dose? Or simply just be aware that we are vulnerable during these times so that if we begin to notice any symptoms that we are “off” - reach out to the psychiatrist straight away.

I know it’s not possible to predict with 100% accuracy who will relapse and who will not but I think it would be helpful for all of us to share what our experiences have been and how we can help each other long term on managing our mental health.

May be there will be more studies on this (prevention) and universities can use this website for observational resources.

Please feel free to share thoughts/opinions/stories.

Happy New Year to all & stay well and safe! Many blessings to this beloved community. We are a special bunch of moms