I’m new to this forum having struggled after the birth of my daughter in September and suffering postpartum psychosis. I’ve had two separate submissions to the MBU where the second was for anxiety I developed after a short period at home after my first stay.
I’ve been out of the hospital a while now but my cognitive ability still feels impaired. I don’t know if this is from my medication or the lingering effect of the psychosis. Anything I have to concentrate hard on is a challenge. I have found driving again particularly challenging. I am just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and if it will get better with time.
Thank you for the support.
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Floof400
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Welcome to the forum! I'm so glad you've found us.
I'm Ellie, I'm one of APP's national peer support coordinators, and had postpartum psychosis myself in 2011 after the birth of my son.
Definitely I can relate to your question about cognitive function after experiencing PP. It was hard to know what caused it though. I struggled with anxiety and depression after the psychosis, and I think this had a lot to do with it. I felt quite consumed and distracted by my thoughts, so found it very hard to concentrate on anything, or take much in, for a while. This got better as I recovered though. Then there is of course the medication. Antipsychotics are generally quite sedating, and I think can affect our cognitive function too. I was able to reduce and come off these in time, and things got better then too.
I struggle even now to remember things, I think some of this is becoming a mum, and just juggling lots of balls in life. I find lists invaluable, to remind myself of what I need to do
So the main thing I did want to say really was that yes I definitely did experience this, but that it definitely got better as I recovered, and as I reduced medication. I am sure you will find it gets better too, you won't feel like this forever.
Thank you so much for your response. It means so much to me to hear your story and to her that the cognitive impairment will improve. Your words are immensely reassuring at this early stage of my recovery. I’ve just got to be kind to myself and be grateful for how far I’ve come already.
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