PND or PTSD?

[EM95]

I recently gave birth to my little boy (8 weeks ago) and I also have a little girl who is 13 months. I often find myself angry over nothing and snapping at my fiancé but when people ask about my labour I feel as if I have a lump in my throat and fighting back my tears as I found it very distressing and scary. I know it’s NOT baby blues as I had them with my daughter. I am struggling day to day with motivation and playing with my daughter and her toys. I feel like a failure every day.

I am awaiting to be seen by a councillor but I feel that is not what I need as I’m struggling to talk to my partner. Please shed some light on this and any coping mechanisms.

One very desperate mummy in need here x

[pinkie93]

Do you have nightmares about the labour or feel like you're reliving the emotions of it over and over again? Or do you make a particular effort to avoid anywhere you associate with the labour? If so that does sound like PTSD and I would recommend EMDR treatment, it can be extremely effective for processing recent traumas. But definitely keep your counselling appointment no matter what and tell them everything you can possibly can and how you feel.

[EM95 in reply to pinkie93]

I struggle to sleep because of thinking about the experience if I sleep I do wake up crying not long after I fall asleep too x

[pinkie93 in reply to EM95]

I obviously cannot provide a definite diagnoses , I just have a lot of experience with the condition. It doesn't sound like a classic case of PTSD but it does sound like trauma which needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later. I really recommend looking into EMDR, if you can afford to go private and there's a good provider around you, it may only take a few sessions to process the trauma. Otherwise find out if that's something your local health service can provide. There are obviously other treatments for trauma but I had a bad case of long term PTSD and that was the only treatment that worked for me. Plus my mum has been a counsellor for 15 years and she's a trained EMDR practitioner, it's the most effective trauma treatment she's heard of.

[Cedrada]

Anger is a not well known symptom of depression. X. Get to a gp.

[EM95 in reply to Cedrada]

My gp won’t do anything they’re the ones who booked me to see a councillor