Physical symptoms???????

[sahmof2girls]

I have been struggling with ppd since my dd was 2 weeks old. I feel like I am getting through it hen BAM... I have a really bad day. My symptoms are mostly physical. I get shaky trembly dizzy headaches numbness, and all I concentrate on is that I am probably dying and I need someone to come sit with me while I dye so the kids aren't left alone. It really consumes my days. I am having a real bad day today and that is why I am finally posting here. I hate the fact that My symptoms are mostly physical cause it freaks me out. I also have been short tempered with Sofia. And she has been in front of the tv an awful lot lately too. Scott says the tv is my sitter. But some days I just cant stop thinking that I am going too die. I am on effexor, but ity has been 6 weeks and I want my life back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry I am rambling. If anyone else is having physical symptoms please let me know. Thanks
Megan

[sagelove]

So sorry you are going through this. It sounds like your are going through anxiety or panic attacks. I felt like that A LOT after the birth of my daughter at 21 weeks a year ago, along with depression. Out of nowhere, I'd start to feel depersonalized, shakey, dizzy, sometimes tingling fingers and racing heart. It's scary and it sucks. I tried regular deep breathing exercises, then I started back to exercising itself, and it didn't really help as much as I would have liked (and exercise almost *always* helps lift my mood, but one time it actually triggered a panic attack so I've been sloowly easing back in...it's starting to help now). Time is what has helped me the most. And laughing, lots of back rubs and personal support from my partner.

I hope you get to feeling better soon.

[lauraess]

Yes, these sound like anxiety attacks/ panic attacks-- not sure of the difference. Talk to your dr. I am not sure that effexor is the best thing for this. maybe seek a new med.
Try deep breathing... find a good meditation tape.
good luck
~l

[MsMoMpls]

Oh dear, this does sound really rough. Are you getting any other help than the meds? Effexor should be a pretty good choice for anxiety as well as PPD but keep talking to your doctor. Therapy might be really helpful in helping you find ways to take control of some of your thoughts. The thing about panic attacks is that you just need to learn to let them kind of burn off- it is a shot of adrenaline and it is your body's way of keeping you safe- but your alarm system is out of wack. Try to keep reminding yourself that it is just a misfire- that you know you aren't sick. Keep checking in here, so we can tell you that things are going to be ok.

Good luck.

[sahmof2girls]

thankls mammas. my mom called my therapist today so i can actually go in and see her to talk. i just want this all over!!!!
megan

[gilnikche]

What you describe sound very similar to what I experienced. No amount of exercise or breathing exercises helped me.

How long has it been since you checked in with the prescribing doctor? My doc wanted to see me every week when I first started on Zoloft. Please let us know how it went today with the therapist.

[sahmof2girls]

I go to the therapist tomm night. I hope that helps!!!!!! I only went back to prescribing doctor once. and he doubled my dose. Whick I have not done. I think I need an antianxiety along with the effexor. So I am hoping to get a refferal tomm to go to a phyciatrist. Maybe they can play around with meds and gert them right.
Megan

[MsMoMpls]

Anxiety is usually treated with antidepressants such as Effexor but they often require higher doses than for depression. Other than that there are drugs in the tranquilizer family which you can't really take nursing and they are kind of like having two cocktails... they just knock you out. The antidepressants actually treat the neurological cause of the anxiety. Talk to your doctor but if an increase has been recommended- please consider it.

[Jish]

I could have written your post. My symptoms were so physical that I went undiagnosed for a year and written off as a hypochondriac. When I was finally put on meds I was on 10mg of Lexapro (which worked great for me) and .5mg of Ativan (an anti-anxiety med) as needed. I have been told by my psychiatrist, and a pediatrician that both were fine to take while nursing, but the Ativan shouldn't be a daily thing, just for use occasionally when the anxiety gets out of control.

What you are describing to me doesn't exactly sound like a panic or anxiety attack. For me, those were much different. They felt like I was going to die right then and there. My heart would race and pound, I would get suddenly nauseaus, I would get hot and suddenly very weak. My head would feel tingly and things would start to get sort of fuzzy or gray. I had a tremendous need to "escape" from wherever I was.

What was more common for me was to have little aches and pains. Things like heart palpitations, tingly fingers or toes, little twinges in my shoulders, arms, legs, etc, muscle aches, a nervous stomach. What went along with these were the constant worry that perhaps I was really having a heart attack and was going to die. It became nearly impossible for me to stop those thoughts. I would be out with friends at the playground, and I might seem perfectly fine to them, holding a conversation, but in the back of my brain there was another conversation going on with myself. I would be thinking about who would have enough room in their van to take my kids with her if I had a heart attack and had to go to the hospital. I would wonder how they would get the carseats from my van to theirs. I would make my dh wake me up before he went to work in the mornings (he goes in at around 5:00am) to make sure I was alive so that the boys wouldn't wake up and find me dead. Looking back, they were such irrational thoughts, but as much as I tried, I couldn't control them.

I didn't get the right help until I was under the care of a psychiatrist who could find the right meds to help me. All meds work differently for everyone, and what may work great for one person, may not do the same for you.

Best of luck, and keep us posted on how you're doing.

[mommyofboy]

Sounds like you are having panic attacks or something of that nature. If you don't feel any better after 6 wks of Effexor I would contact your doctor. I think all of us moms sometimes have a "bad" day.

Maybe you need to get out and have a day for yourself. I hope things get better for you soon.

[lauraess]

Sahmof2girls> so, how'd it go... have the apptmnt? wondering, just saw my therapist t'nite about my own "issues. It went better than i thought.
Hope your got somewhere with the dr.
~L

[sahmof2girls]

My session went very well. alot of tears though. DH went with me and he was amazed at how truly bad i felt. I think it actually opened him up a bit. maybe he wont be so mad next time he comes home and the laundry isn't done. But as soon as I told the therapist that i was feeling numb and shaky, it actually started to dissapear. Funny how that works huh. And I am going to start taking klosopin sp? for anxiety, so I am hoping that helps. Well I guess that is about it. I go back march 3, and we will continue to talk over phone until then...

Megan

[gilnikche]

Megan,

Just wondering...are you are nursing?

[sahmof2girls]

No I am not nursing because My milk never came in.
Megan