[raspberrytorte]

Do you feel that your MI got worse after having kids?

I don't know if my hormones changed or if it's just stress or what, but I've gotten much worse after having my daughter, complete with first ever psychotic break, and I'm 33.

Just wondering if anyone else has a similar scenario.

[SirMoos]

I just posted in another thread about this. I know I have been worse after my children. My second baby really sent me on a trip of sorts. My first I had PPD.
I don't know if its the hormones that caused the extreme changes or my age I was 18 and 21 when they were born and I have heard that most people find their diagnosis later in life .

[violet66]

Yep. I had my first psychotic break after the birth of my first child. I was only experiencing depression symptoms before the birth. I believe it triggered my bipolar disorder.

I had my first psychotic break several years ago after a bad Multiple sclerosis attack, 3 days of IV steroids to treat it, and a bad breakup.

I did have 2 kids and had PPD after the second.

Before that I think I was undiagnosed Bipolar 2. Now I am Bipolar 1.

[Victoria'smom]

Yes and no, it worsened in severity but I acted out less.

[scatterbrained04]

I would also say yes and no.

I would say that my symptoms have gotten worse since I have had my son, but I think it's just the natural progression of the condition (I was only 20 when I had him).

I find certain parts of it worse because I stuff my emotions down more trying to be stable for him but explode later. It's a lot more difficult to take care of myself because I'm trying so hard to take care of him. Plus the added stress from being a parent can trigger me.

[lacerta]

I only had depression before my kids. If I had any hypomania, then it passed away unnoticed as a MI. After my second was born, I fell into depression followed by mania. My p-doc said that not sleeping enough for a long time triggered this.

[raspberrytorte]

The not being able to sleep enough is hard for me too.

[DysphoricManicMom]

I experienced issues of being extremely overwhelmed and irritated during my pregnancy with my first child but chalked it up to hormones. Still had problems with irritability and what I now realize was a period of depression when my oldest son was around 3. I slept all day before work and would just let him jump all over me while i laid on the couch...

I never sought help until after the birth of my second child and I only talked to my general practitioner bc i thought it was hormone related. She ordered labs and all my hormones were balanced. I went back again and she thought post-partum depression and prescribed anti-depressants. I tried 2 different ones but only a couple days each and i couldnt stand the way they made me feel. I dont know if theyd have helped any even i gave them time to work or not. Started talking to a therapist about my behaviors and the best advice she had was to "stop" doing that...But I actually experienced a period of about a week or 2 after the birth of my 3rd child where I felt complete uphoria and had never ever felt that elated in my life. And then it all went to ****. And I started experiencing the most extreme irritation ever in my life and couldnt concentrate and was so scatter brained and wired and had lists of things i "needed" to get done. And one day I forgot to tell my boyfriend we were gonna be out of diapers and my van was getting worked on and I ran out while he was at work and i was trying to make a cloth diaper and was flipping out bc it wasnt working and i ended up snapping on him and blaming him and thats when I decided ok I am making my family miserable theres got to be something major going on here.

Sorry for the story, but yes id have to say Even though i was never diagnosed til recently, my symptoms have gotten worse after each birth.

Thank you for sharing

[GoldenSnitch]

I think I'd say yes and no. I didn't get my bipolar diagnosis until after I had my daughter but I've been up and down for years so it's hard to say. I definitely had some PPA and my daughter was really sick her first year of life so that added stress affected me more than hormones.

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[nowIgetit]

YES. I wasn't dx until after my first child. Although looking back I had "mild" symptoms since I was a kid, mostly episodic depression. But after my first I had such bad anxiety suddenly. I had a really hard time adjusting to the lifestyle change of being a mom, and the normal everyday baby things seemed so overwhelming to me, I just could not understand how people did it every day. I didn't want to leave my house because the baby crying, or being hungry, or needing a diaper, out in public gave me horrible anxiety. Just getting the carseat, diaper bag, etc. all together and us both out the door seemed so overwhelming and not worth the hassle. When he weaned at 18 months I crashed hard. BP is known to be exacerbated in women by hormonal changes, at least according to my primary care and pdoc. Which makes sense, I always had "terrible PMS" depression before having children.

I started a slow crash after my son weaned at 18 months and got into a bad mixed episode when he was almost 2, and felt suicidal for the first time in years. My doc suspected postpartum depression and put me on prozac, which I had been on before and it worked, but this time it just made me crazier. This is what eventually led to my BP diagnosis. I did well on monotherapy with lamictal until I had my second kid (shocker!) and when she stopped breastfeeding at 9 months, same thing. But I was on top of it this time and got on meds faster, though still not fast enough, I was in a pretty bad spot.

Sorry to ramble. Yes, I absolutely think having children either triggered my bipolar or at least made my mild symptoms much much worse. Not sure if it was the hormones, stress, lack of sleep, or all of the above.

[raspberrytorte]

Originally Posted by nowIgetit

YES. I wasn't dx until after my first child. Although looking back I had "mild" symptoms since I was a kid, mostly episodic depression. But after my first I had such bad anxiety suddenly. I had a really hard time adjusting to the lifestyle change of being a mom, and the normal everyday baby things seemed so overwhelming to me, I just could not understand how people did it every day. I didn't want to leave my house because the baby crying, or being hungry, or needing a diaper, out in public gave me horrible anxiety. Just getting the carseat, diaper bag, etc. all together and us both out the door seemed so overwhelming and not worth the hassle. When he weaned at 18 months I crashed hard. BP is known to be exacerbated in women by hormonal changes, at least according to my primary care and pdoc. Which makes sense, I always had "terrible PMS" depression before having children.

I started a slow crash after my son weaned at 18 months and got into a bad mixed episode when he was almost 2, and felt suicidal for the first time in years. My doc suspected postpartum depression and put me on prozac, which I had been on before and it worked, but this time it just made me crazier. This is what eventually led to my BP diagnosis. I did well on monotherapy with lamictal until I had my second kid (shocker!) and when she stopped breastfeeding at 9 months, same thing. But I was on top of it this time and got on meds faster, though still not fast enough, I was in a pretty bad spot.

Sorry to ramble. Yes, I absolutely think having children either triggered my bipolar or at least made my mild symptoms much much worse. Not sure if it was the hormones, stress, lack of sleep, or all of the above.

This sounds so much like me! Thanks for sharing.

[Hashi/bipolar mom]

I always had severe depression with some anxiety since my early 20's. During my 5th month of pregnancy all hell broke loose. I had such severe anxiety and OCD and intrusive thoughts that I never slept and never ate. Finally the doctor put me on Paxil and some Xanax because they thought that was better than the other. It was horrible. I had people come stay with me when my husband wasn't home. I was on the phone with my therapist everyday. As soon as I had my baby I just had a little PPD, but was back to normal. Hormones affect everything! I also have Hashimoto's and it affects it all as well. I was only newly diagnosed this past June with Bipolar. BTW, this was 14 years ago and I ended up only having one child and a lot of it was due to that.