Partner has mild PND

Hawksmuir

Just wondering if there are any ladies out there who were diagnosed with Post Natal Depression ?

My OH has been diagnosed with a possible mild case, and I want to know what any other suffers need most from their partners, so I can be as helpfull as possible.

Nicki

I had PND after the birth of my second child. In my case it was severe, and I ended up being hospitalised for a long period. My OH was a tower of strength during this period.

My own experience was that being prescribed Prozac made my depression much much worse, and in fact transformed mild to moderate PND into full blown psychosis and suicidal tendencies. If I were in a similar situation again, I would not use anti-depressants again until I had exhausted all other alternatives.

As for what OH was able to do to help:
1. always understanding and never losing his temper. I really don't know how he did this as I was really very irrational at times. He didn't collude with the irrationality but just quietly worked round it.
2. helped as much as he could with the child care. We had two children when I had my PND, and he would take them both out of the house to let me rest, or into another room. He would get up in the night to look after the baby if I wasn't able to. If I was able to, he would help with the children first thing in the morning so I could get some extra sleep.
3. came with me to doctor's appointments when this was appropriate, and asked relevant questions in a completely non-judgmental way. Also encouraged me to seek medical advice even when I didn't see that I needed to.
4. helped me make changes to my life as I was recovering from the PND to ensure it didn't recur (which lead to our family income reducing, as I decided to give up my job)

I won't deny that having PND was a very challenging time for us both, but now (some 5 years later) I can look back and see that positive things did come out of it. Our relationship was always strong, but going through this together only strengthened it and made me realise what a good man my OH is. The experience of having PND made us question what was important to us, and make some changes in our lives, which would never have otherwise occured to me but which were the right ones for us. It also gave us both a much greater insight into mental illness and the demands which we put on our body and the fact that we all have a breaking point.

Hope all this helps, and that your wife is feeling much better soon.

floss2

Posting a request for help & info is a VERY good start. Wish my ex had been as understanding 19 yrs ago.

I would only add - try & help as much as you can, and tell her that you love her unconditionally.

Floss xx

Mandles

I found this for you. http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/BHCV2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Post_natal_depression_the_family?OpenDocument Lists how you can help. So sorry. It must be awful. wisjing you all the best .

haylibo

My OH has been diagnosed with a possible mild case, and I want to know what any other suffers need most from their partners, so I can be as helpfull as possible.

My guess is your halfway there As a devotee of nutrition therapy my advice would be to add some supplements to her diet (with her say-so of course) including a strong B vit and zinc. Low zinc causes so many problems. Also, baby will have robbed the brain of lots of essential fatty acids so a good EFA may help. Try to eat reasonably healthily with brown bread, fruit and veg etc. PND is complex and multifaceted but good nutrition may help.

BW
Hayles

Stargazer_Lily

I don't think that there is a set of rules that apply to all women with PND - Nicki found that having her OH at Docs appointments was helpful to her, I wanted my appointments to be by myself so that I could crack up without letting anyone see how low I was. What works for one woman might be another's idea of hell.

Everyone has said that the most important thing is for you to be supportive and non-judgemental; qualities you seem to have by the bucketload.

Lil