experienced after Garcon's birth. I fought it on my own, but if it
were to happen again, I'd get help. There's a great blog called
Postpartum Progress http://postpartumprogress.typepad.com/weblog/ that
talks about this issue and offers useful resources. Recently, this
list of symptoms was posted as part of a reader's experience. I hope
it's helpful to you or someone you know.
Some of the symptoms of the postpartum experience were:
Physical
• Insomnia
• Jittery, shaky
• No appetite
• Weight loss
• Low milk supply
• Adrenalin surging constantly
• "Fight or flight" mode all the time
Mental
• Inability to turn off my mommy-brain, which was running at
1000 RPM. Like an engine revving way too high in the lowest gear
• Loud clamoring noise in my head at all times, especially at
night when everyone else was asleep
• Uncontrollable intrusive thoughts of harm coming to my baby
(from earthquakes, wild animals, disease, car accidents, intruders,
electrocution, drowning, choking, SIDS, etc, etc, etc)
• Difficulty concentrating or focusing
• mental fogginess, sluggishness
• Nightmares
Emotional
• Anxiety about everything to do with my baby
• Terrible, awful apprehension when the baby cried
• Extreme discomfort when I was separated from my baby
• Feeling certain that I was a terrible mother
• Fear of harm coming to my baby
• Fear of dying and my baby being left motherless
• Exhausting mood swings between the elation and joy of loving
my child and despair and anxiety over my perceived inability to care
properly for her
• Anger and resentment towards my husband
• Guilt, guilt, and more guilt
• Dread
• Rage
• Heartfelt desire to live in a secluded cave with only me and my baby
Behavioral
• Crying fits
• Micro-managing everything
• Not allowing anyone else to care for my baby
• Not taking any breaks
• Unable to relax
• Raging at my husband, up to and including threatening divorce
• Obsessive coping behaviors, such as counting to 500 while
soothing my crying baby
• Clinging inflexibly to routines
• Insisting that things to do with the baby be done EXACTLY SO
and freaking out when it wasn't
Please reach out for help if you think that you need it. And if you
think you MIGHT need it, too.
