Baby is 15 months, depression still lingers

[balancedmama]

I had SEVERE PPD after my birth with my son. I began treatment (medication) last December. I'm still taking Paxil but I don't feel great. I feel like I've had some off-and-on decent times, but other times lingering depression. It is not as bad as it was before. Is it still PPD? Possibly it doesn't matter, but I feel limited because I'm still nursing, don't plan to stop, and I just want a magic pill so I feel better.

[LynnS6]

What dose of Paxil are you on? Who's your treating physician. Unfortunately, many women get a 'starter' dose and then don't get the follow up that they need.

I was on Paxil 2x. The first time, I was fine at 20 mg. The second time, I needed up to 80 mg when things were really bad.

I nursed both kids on Paxil (dd was nursed as a newborn on the 80 mg). They're fine. More than fine. They're bright, happy, well-adjusted, sometimes cranky, sometimes angry, sometimes funny, sometimes calm, sometimes whirlwinds, loving, normal kids.

Please check back in with your prescribing physician. It doesn't sound like you got the follow up care that you needed. You may also benefit from some short-term counseling, just to get a handle on how you are.

[K-Mom3]

I think you could still consider it PPD, even at 15 months.

Originally Posted by balancedmama

I'm still taking Paxil but I don't feel great.

If you're not feeling great, change your treatment for sure. I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago when I was taking Zoloft--I took a higher dose for only like 2 months and that did it. Then I slowly weaned off and I was fine until I got pregnant again. You also could consider taking a different med and see if it helps more, since you've been on Paxil so long. If I were you, I would probably call my pharmacist see what they think and then make an apt with a midwife/doctor/psychiatrist. Hopefully you can find an easy fix like I did. I have no idea how common it is.

[tappinerp]

I honestly didn't feel like my real "self" until ds was 28 months old. It was at that point that we weaned and then I finally felt back to normal. For me, I know that my ppd was triggered by a combination of major hormone imbalance that didn't get back in wack until I weaned as well as some hereditary factors that typically present as anxiety. But yeah, it can be hard. I would also check with your physician as others have said and just be gentle with yourself. In time, your body does get back into balance.

[peachsara]

Originally Posted by LynnS6

What dose of Paxil are you on? Who's your treating physician. Unfortunately, many women get a 'starter' dose and then don't get the follow up that they need.

I was on Paxil 2x. The first time, I was fine at 20 mg. The second time, I needed up to 80 mg when things were really bad.

I nursed both kids on Paxil (dd was nursed as a newborn on the 80 mg). They're fine. More than fine. They're bright, happy, well-adjusted, sometimes cranky, sometimes angry, sometimes funny, sometimes calm, sometimes whirlwinds, loving, normal kids.

Please check back in with your prescribing physician. It doesn't sound like you got the follow up care that you needed. You may also benefit from some short-term counseling, just to get a handle on how you are.

This definately

[balancedmama]

My treating physician is a psychiatrist. I guess I do need to check back in with her.

I am on Paxil CR. I started out on 12.5 and then we increased the dose to 25. It made me too drowsy so I backed off to 12.5 again. Now I'm on Ritalin also, to help me get the motivation to do anything. I just can't focus. But I feel that the motivation is really a depression issue, and I'd rather just be on one good med for depression rather than the Paxil/Ritalin combo.

I think we chose Paxil at the beginning because I was in really bad shape. Close to suicidal. I was also having nearly constant intrusive thoughts about bad things happening to my baby. Not me inflicting harm, just benign things about the house suddenly causing him harm. It was awful. Anyway, at least all that is under control now. I just feel very dull and having a hard time enjoying things. I really did have this month-long time period early on with the Paxil where I just felt so awesome. I hate feeling so good like that and then losing it, you know?

[LynnS6]

Please do check in with your psychiatrist. It sounds to me like you do need a boost in the meds. I personally prefer the 'regular' paxil to the CR because you can tweak the dose more easily. 12.5 mg is a really low dose (starter really), and it could be that you need 20-25 mg to feel yourself. That's why I like the regular paxil, because it comes in 10 mg pills and you could cut them to get up to 20-30 mg more slowly to give your system time to adjust. I just took two weeks to get down from 25 mg to 20 mg.

PPA with intrusive thoughts often requires higher doses -I'm glad the intrusive thoughts are gone, but it sounds like your body has adjusted to your paxil dose and your brain needs more serotonin. Once you find the right dose, you won't have this slide back. Trust me on that one. It doesn't sound like you'll need the highest dose, but you might need one or two boosts before you stabilize to feeling like you again.