Last week I went to see a psychiatrist from the perinatal mental health team

Last week I went to see a psychiatrist from the perinatal mental health team. Pregnant women with previous mental health problems are referred to the team as a matter of routine.

The purpose of the referral is for them to check up on your mental health at the time and to discuss and plan postnatal care.

Firstly, the psychiatrist was a very nice man. The media portrayal of ‘shrinks’ is that they are cold, clinical, serious and with a marked tendency to interrogate you about your ‘relationship vith your muzzer’. In contrast to this stereotype, all the psychiatrists I have met have been quite warm and approachable people and conversations with them are usually quite relaxed and often enjoyable.

We began by discussing my past mental health. Once again, the psychiatrist confirmed that yes, I am typically bi-polar. These days I feel so well, that I often manage to convince myself that I am not bi-polar at all and that it was all in my mind, so to speak.

The giveaways are, apparently, that I suffered from depression and anxiety and, although anti-depressants made me less anxious, they also had a tendency, in larger doses, to make me high. As the psychiatrist pointed out, if that was a normal reaction to them then people would take them for fun.

Add to that the fact that, when I was younger, years before I was diagnosed, I often went days without sleeping or eating, usually while engaged in some project or other, and didn’t really notice unless someone told me, only to suddenly crash into an almighty depression.

So, once we had established that we discussed my recent health and the normal reactions of bi-polars to pregnancy and birth.

Even though I had been feeling quite well, mostly without medication, before getting pregnant I have noticed that since getting pregnant I feel less anxious. So my fears about not having my usual crutches of occasional Valium and Roman chamomile proved unfounded. The psychiatrist said this is in fact normal and that pregnancy seems to have a protective effect on bi-polar disorder- most people show an improvement.

I am now getting much less exercise due to being pretty huge and also because I had been suffering from anaemia which was making me very breathless. Even so, I still feel OK.

The doctor said I should expect this to continue throughout the rest of the pregnancy although some anxiety leading up to birth is only normal. Everyone worries about labour and about getting everything organised.

I’ll discuss the post natal period and care plan in the next blog.

Fortnight commencing 20/08/07

Medication: iron tablets- no mental health related medicine though!
Exercise: 6 – 8 hours of walking
Alcohol: 3
Anxiety: Low
Anxiety Level (0-10): 0.5
Number of Panic Attacks:0
Severity of Panic Attack (0-5):NA
Depression: Very occasional bouts of being a bit low- mostly due to tiredness.
Depression Level (0-5): 1
Mania: Occasional bouts of being a bit hyperactive- lots to do, so little time.
Mania Level (0-5): 1

Summary

Again, it is all going pretty well. Sleep pattern is still a bit fractured but I am getting just enough good nights for it to be OK plus I now have a maternity pillow which makes me much more comfortable.