severe Insomnia (i.e., no sleep at all ) loss of control with huge mood swings loss of confidence ( e.g. fear of leaving house, of social interaction, or seeing friends, fear of or withdrawal from looking after baby, fear of being on alone) thoughts of harming yourself or your baby scary fantasies manic behaviour (e.g. cleaning in the middle of the night) hallucinations or delusions
It may be that you are suffering from puerperal psychosis, fortunately it is fairly rare, affecting only one in 500 new mothers, but it’s the most serious kind of postnatal illness. It can come on suddenly a few weeks after the birth, and starts with the mother being very restless, excited or elated and totally unable to sleep. She may have delusions or hallucinations. She may be manic or have wild mood swings from high to low. Her behaviour may become increasingly bizarre and disturbing to those around her, and she may lose touch with reality. It soon becomes very clear that she needs help, and medical and social support and it is very important that she receives it.
Treatment of Puerperal psychosis
Treatment often involves a hospital stay and the use may include stabilising drugs, strong antipsychotic, and antidepressants. In extreme cases the doctors may want to use electroconvulsive therapy. It may take a long time to recover completely, but the sooner it is diagnosed the better the prognoses.
