r/Postpartum_Anxiety

I decided to give ashwaganda a try for the first time Saturday lunch time. Game changer for my anxiety as my cortisol levels have been through the rough lately. I definitely felt super dopey all day, though, but Saturday night, I had an amazing sleep. So I took another dose Sunday afternoon but felt that maybe the dosage was too much to be able to function during the daytime. That night, my sleep wasn't as good. I woke at 12pm and I was sweaty and stomach was cramping. Monday morning woke with diahorreah. So I took ashwaganda Monday night instead of during the day. Monday nights sleep was terrible, and I woke with diahorreah and night sweats again. Decided not to take it Tuesday night and try 5-HTP instead. Slept until 2am but it didn't feel deep and I was sweating like crazy this time. Also, I still have abdominal aches and pains. Has anyone else experienced this with these supplements? I took tablet form. HealthyCare High Strength dry root 13.5g (13500mg) Clinicians 5-HTP 50mg

When did it go away and how did you help it? Just started Zoloft. Did anyone experience this ? If you took Zoloft when did you feel relief?

I am a 37 year old female who had her second baby December 2024. My first child I did great - my anxiety the first 3 months postpartum was high but subsided. I’ve dealt with anxiety my whole life but this is totally different. Beyond debilitating. Obsessing about my anxiety and ruminating 24/7. I truly don’t get even a full day of relief. I have tried 3 SSRIs, I’m on an antipsychotic, Lamotrigine and have tried TMS and went through an intensive ERP program. Please tell me this eventually subsides because it sure feels like my baby just changed my brain permanently and I’m stuck in anxiety hell. Appreciate the encouragement or hearing about others who might relate.

Hello,

I’m 13 weeks post partum now and I can’t describe it but I just feel so ugly and like I don’t look like myself - my face has gained weight which I can understand but I feel like my face features don’t even look like mine anymore - I don’t like or recognise what I see in the mirror at all

I know this is minor in the grand scheme of things but I never had this with my first baby - will I ever look like me again?!

Ciao a tutte! qualcuna è alle prese con il baby blues dopo la nascita del secondo figlio? io sono all’ottavo giorno post partum e ne sono dentro in pieno; ci sono passata anche con la prima figlia ma speravo che questa volta non arrivasse invece eccoci😩 fatemi sapere le vostre esperienze ☺️

I keep reading that SSRIs have horrible side effects, don’t work or if they do they can stop working later. I read that over time they change your brain so you’re never the same if you come off. And that coming off them can be incredibly difficult and takes years.

I’m interested to hear about people’s experiences, what made you decide it was time to try, and how was it coming off? How did you know you were ready?

For context I’m 7m PP, I had PPA till about 5 months when my cycle returned now it seems to be coming back. I’ve avoided meds so far.

I’m going down the rabbit hole w the Lindsay Clancy case and get this it is WILDLY similar to the Andrea Yates case…both were nurses, both husbands worked for big tech companies, both mothers had stopped breastfeeding close to the m***** of their children, if these mothers had understood weaning effects our hormones so much that the lack of oxytocin from the feeding and the change in prolactin production (what once was responsible for feelings of calm, bonding, etc are now gone) what that does to women mentally if they were told this physiological response instead of the medical system telling them they’re crazy would they have been spared their fates???? Big mind fuck, they both went the traditional routes of getting “help” both failed by the medical system, the hospitalizations, the medications all just made it worse bc their HORMONES were crashing and they felt something was wrong w them they didn’t understand they were experiencing withdrawal from breastfeeding, instead they were pathologized instead of educated on how women’s bodies and brains changes during the most massive hormonal demand of their lives. I genuinely believe if women and families were more educated on the physiological and biochemical responses women having during pregnancy, postpartum etc women wouldn’t feel such dread, panic, and hopelessness bc they would understand what’s happening to them and not that they’re going crazy or downing medications w side effects of thoughts of self harm/harming others etc. hormones are so much of an afterthought mothers feel like they’re failing and spiral when their body is just having a natural response.
While intense and deserving of support, also deeply misunderstood and mishandled.

I am expecting my baby in November, and this pregnancy has become much more emotionally difficult than I ever imagined.

My parents came to Canada in June and were originally planning to stay until around my delivery and help me postpartum. Unfortunately, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. She is also diabetic and has high blood pressure, and because we were being given very long wait times for scans here (around 2 months), my brother and I decided it was best for her to go back to India and get her treatment there without waiting.

So my mom had to leave, and honestly I am still trying to process everything. I had imagined having my parents here when I had my baby, and now that support is gone because my mom needs to focus on her health.

While I was still trying to wrap my head around all of this, my husband told me that he was going to call his parents to come around the time of delivery.
I don’t have a very good relationship with my in-laws. I respect them, but I don’t feel comfortable around them. Since the beginning, there have been comments and situations that have hurt me, and even though my husband says they have never said anything bad about me to him, I haven’t been able to simply forget those things.

His mom also isn’t really someone who would help me much practically, and my husband himself agrees with that. So I asked him if, instead of having both parents come immediately, he could please let me have just two months postpartum without his mom coming, and maybe his dad could come if needed.

He immediately said no. There wasn’t even much hesitation. He said his mom would also come and then started explaining how his mom was always there for him when he needed someone to listen to him, etc.

I don’t have a problem with his mom loving and supporting him. I actually think that’s a good thing. But I couldn’t help feeling hurt that when I asked for something that I thought was a very reasonable request during a vulnerable time, his first reaction wasn’t “let’s see what would make you comfortable.”

We also have a 4-year-old. My husband says his parents could stay with him while we are at the hospital, but honestly I am much more comfortable leaving my son with my cousin, whose house is about 5 minutes from the hospital, or even with his dayhome provider. Both options are people I trust completely.

One of the reasons I’m uncomfortable with my in-laws looking after him is that they argue all the time with each other and use inappropriate language around him. There has already been an incident where my son picked up a word and asked what it meant. Instead of simply telling him it was a bad word, they started explaining what it meant. My husband says it was an accident and that he stopped them from explaining further.
Maybe it really was an accident. But these things add to why I don’t feel comfortable having them around my son unsupervised.

Another thing that really got into my head is that my husband’s brother’s wife in India is also pregnant and due in December. When I said to my husband, “Could your mom maybe stay there instead?” he said she wouldn’t be any help there either, so that wasn’t an option.
And that’s when I started feeling really conflicted.

I keep thinking: I chose the family I am building with my husband. I didn’t go back to India with my parents when my mom got sick because I stayed here with my husband and child. Was I wrong? Should I have chosen my parents too?

I know that’s probably an emotional way of looking at it, but I can’t stop thinking about it.
I don’t want to keep his parents away from their grandchild. I don’t want to be disrespectful to them. I also understand that my husband loves his parents and wants them there.

But I am the one giving birth. My mom was supposed to be here and now she can’t be because she has cancer. I am already grieving the fact that she won’t be beside me during this experience.
All I asked my husband for was two months postpartum where I could feel comfortable in my own home without his mom staying with us.
He said no almost immediately.

So now my mind is not at ease, and I keep wondering if I am being selfish, unreasonable, or disrespectful.

Am I wrong for asking this? Should I be willing to compromise and have his mom come anyway, or is it reasonable to ask for some postpartum time without in-laws staying with us?

I genuinely want honest opinions, including if I’m being unfair.

I feel extremely lonely even with a good partner, family and friends as a support system, is this normal? I’m 8 wks post partum and I hope it gets better

I just had my post partum appointment and as my baby screamed the entire time and a nurse came in, the doctor suggested restarting Lexapro. I had been on it in the past and it worked well for me. I would have preferred Zoloft as I know it's the gold standard but my doctor assured me it was safer to take something I knew worked for my body already.

Anyone take Lexapro while exclusively breastfeeding? Any issues with baby or supply?

How are you handling post partum nightmares?? I just woke up from one and I’m genuinely scared to go back to sleep. I’ve probably had at least one every night this week. I know they are just dreams but they feel so real and oh my god I feel so sick to my stomach.

have terrible PPa and ppd - it’s the only thing that allows me to not be so paralysed by anxiety stuck in bed and actually care for my infant. I have POTS and PPPD - got it in pregnancy - so very tough time health wise. My psychiatrist says 1mg per day for now is okay. it’s been 5 weeks. can you stay on it long term? I’m not functional without it and need to care for my little one.

Hey moms, I’m 4 days postpartum with a 2nd degree tear and honestly the recovery is hitting me way harder than labor did.
My OB told me to ice the area for like 20 mins a few times a day to help with the swelling and stitches. The ice feels SO good while it lasts, but the whole process is driving me nuts.
Right now I’m wearing those mesh/disposable briefs. The cold pack gets warm after 20 mins, but then I have to drag myself out of bed, go to the bathroom, strip my pants off while bleeding, change pads, and pull everything back up just to lay back down. Doing this while holding a crying newborn and running on 2 hours of sleep is exhausting.
Am I doing this wrong?? How did you guys manage icing down there without constantly stripping down and messing with pads in the bathroom every time it goes warm? Please tell me there’s some hack I’m missing because I am over it 😭

I’m typing this with one hand while holding my baby at 3am and honestly I’m just sitting here crying. I gave birth a few days ago, ended up with a tear, and nobody prepared me for how miserable this actual recovery part is.
Between buying box after box of special ice pads, extra heavy pads, mesh undies, sprays, and everything else, I’ve spent so much money and I feel like half of it doesn't even work properly. The ice feels amazing for like 15 minutes, but then it goes warm and I’m stuck dragging my sore, bleeding body out of bed to go strip down in the bathroom and do the whole routine over again.
I’m just so exhausted. Between being broke from taking time off work, running on 2 hours of sleep, bleeding through everything, and trying to figure out how to take care of a newborn while my body hurts so bad to even stand up… I feel completely overwhelmed.
Please tell me I’m not the only one feeling like this right now? What are you guys doing to just survive these first few weeks? I feel like I’m losing my mind.

I feel like I’m losing my mind. I don’t have a legal name for my son. Which means I don’t have his birth certificate or even health coverage for him. The anxiety of choosing a name has crippled me. What is wrong with me?? 😭

I know how deeply heartbreaking and sensitive this topic is for everyone, but I wanted to share a personal perspective. This case completely crushes me, and my heart aches for those beautiful children. They had so much life to live. I am in no way defending Lindsay Clancy—I was not in her shoes that horrible day. But as a mother who survived severe postpartum illness, I want to talk about my own experience.

I had my youngest and last baby at the end of December. After having postpartum preeclampsia for the third time, I had my tubes removed—having babies had simply become too dangerous for my body. Having suffered from a full year of debilitating postpartum anxiety after my second child, I thought I was in the clear when I felt stable this time around. In April, I saw my doctor, passed the postpartum screening, and said I was doing well—though I did mention to my husband that day that I had this weird brain fog.

Fast forward just two days, and my mind completely unraveled.

I am a very hands-on mother with young kids on the spectrum who need a lot of extra care, but suddenly this intense, overwhelming restlessness took over and I couldn't stop moving. I paced back and forth for hours, ignoring how exhausted and sore my legs were. When I wasn't pacing, I was stuck in bed—either sleeping way too much or unable to sleep at all. My routine vanished. I couldn't eat, I couldn't drink coffee, and my brain felt completely shut off.

I wasn't able to reach out to my loved ones—not even a close friend I trust with everything and had always turned to in the past. Part of me kept thinking I could just handle it, but I was completely mentally paralyzed. Even though my hands worked and I was physically capable of sending a message, there felt like an actual physical wall in my brain preventing me from doing it. It sounds impossible to people who haven't been there, but I learned firsthand just how powerful of an organ the brain really is when it malfunctions.

When I looked in the mirror, I couldn't even recognize myself. It was terrifying depersonalization and dissociation—like I was looking right through myself, completely detached and watching my own body move from an outside perspective. I couldn't cry; I was completely numb, like I wasn't in charge of my own brain and was losing control by the second. After many days, I finally walked up to my husband in pure panic and said, "What if I can't stop? What if I need to go to the hospital? I can't stop moving."

I was so lucky to have good doctors who truly cared about my well-being and took everything seriously. My doctor talked with my family to make sure I had continuous support and wasn't managing things on my own. I was diagnosed with severe postpartum depression and spent a few weeks staying with my parents to rest and heal. Between having that support system and finding a specialist who started me on Lexapro, things finally started to turn around.

When the numbness began to lift, I was sobbing and begging for my old self back. I think most people picture postpartum depression as just being sad or crying a lot, but for me, it was so much more than that—it felt like regular depression on steroids. Watching my brain change out of nowhere into something completely unrecognizable was terrifying.

I am endlessly thankful I never had harmful thoughts toward my children. But this case hits me so hard because I truly thought I would never be me again, and that my family would start over because the person they knew was gone. How do we know Lindsay Clancy’s mind didn’t feel completely paralyzed too? Maybe she wasn't able to self-reflect and understand what was happening to her in time.

I wish Lindsay Clancy had the chance to be herself again. I wish a medication had worked for her, and I wish she had never been left alone.

Everyone loses here. There is no winning—the whole thing is just an absolute tragedy.

Hi! I need some advice as I don't know where the line is between regular newborn anxiety and postpartum anxiety. My baby is 4 months old & an absolute joy! Rarely cries, sleeps through the night, & is just overall the best lil kid I could ever dream of.

However, I live right in tornado alley and when baby was about a month old, we had a tornado warning & had to shelter with him in the bath, as we don't have anywhere safer (live in a trailer, no basement, interior walls, etc.). Since then, I have had severe anxiety about storms, & any time we are predicted any sort of thunderstorm, we'll drive half an hour to our closest family with a basement. I dissociate when there's heavy rain or thunder, and immediately have to pack a bag in case we need to leave. Apart from the storms, I'm worried about absolutely anything happening to my baby: someone breaking in at night & taking him, waking up and he's not breathing, even in the carseat, I have to check to make sure he's still breathing if I can't hear him babbling (one of us is always in the backseat with baby), baby overheating, etc.

I feel like most of these are rational fears, but my husband seems a lot less concerned than I do (not for lack of caring, my anxiety is just SO much worse). My husband supports everything I feel and do, and has encouraged me to bring it up if I feel it's bad enough. I also had a traumatic birth, which I know can raise the risk of postpartum anxiety.

I would love to hear opinions! I just wouldn't want to waste time out at the doctor's office where there's sick people and risk the baby's health if I don't need to.

I had my baby 6 days ago. The past 3 days I’ve had bad panic attacks and constantly my heart is racing. I can’t sleep I find it hard to eat. I don’t like leaving baby in cot on her own so I can’t sleep. Everything makes me feel anxious. Panic attacks/anxiety and depression aren’t new to me but never this severe. Has anyone else had this and how did they overcome it ? I feel like nothing feels real atm I have spoken to midwife who referring me to mental health team but I feel I need medication asap