The birth of a child is happiness for the whole family, even if this event was not planned, over the long 9 months, future parents got used to their new position and became happier every day.
Fear is replaced by happiness
Recently, there have been more and more cases when the joy of the birth of a baby is overshadowed by the grave consequences associated with mental disorders in the mother. A few days after giving birth, a woman may begin to feel causeless fear for her baby, hide from others, cry or laugh just like that. All this speaks of a serious problem - postpartum psychosis in women. Her behavior clearly expresses the inadequate attitude to what is happening and the rejection of the new situation.
Postpartum Psychosis: Definition
It is impossible to ignore the problem, it is important to immediately seek qualified help. Postpartum psychosis is a serious pathological condition, against which physical abnormalities can develop. A nervous, irritable, withdrawn mother can harm not only herself, first of all, a newborn suffers from this.
The insidiousness of the disease lies in the complete absence of symptoms during pregnancy. It is impossible to suspect postpartum depression and psychosis. Doctors tend to think that psychosis occurs against a background of hormonal imbalance, which is always present after childbirth.
How to recognize: main signs
Unfortunately, a woman is not always in a hurry to get qualified help, because she does not suspect a problem, does not want to accept it, or is confused in the symptoms. This condition is more rare than postpartum depression, so you should know about the signs of its manifestation, moreover, not only the patient, but also her relatives.
Symptoms of postpartum psychosis:
- inadequate self-assessment;
- a sharp change in mood;
- hallucinations;
- confusion of consciousness;
- crazy thoughts;
- anxiety;
- irritability;
- impaired appetite;
- incoherent speech;
- insomnia;
- excessive suspicion.
The occurrence of a problem is usually noticed 3-4 days after birth, loss of connection with reality is one of the first signs. Psychosis can occur in mild or severe at once. Sometimes a young mother cannot even take care of her baby on her own.
It is difficult for a woman to formulate her thoughts, it is even more difficult to pronounce them out loud. Even close people cannot achieve intelligible speech content. Often there is an unacceptable habit for breastfeeding mothers - strange food addictions.
It's important to know! Hallucinations are visual, tactile, auditory, olfactory. The most dangerous ones are visual and auditory, they are observed during the period of postpartum psychosis.
A window on the ninth floor can be taken by a person at the door and exit through it. Voices in the head can speak of various things, including suicide and physical reprisals against a child.
Causes of Postpartum Psychosis
Scientists have found that the causes of psychosis can be hereditary, and the social factor has virtually no effect on the development of the process. The main causes of postpartum psychosis are hormonal changes, the physical stress that every woman’s body undergoes during pregnancy and childbirth.
The risk factors for the development of the disease include drug and nicotine dependence of the woman in childbirth. If you have had traumatic brain injury, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, the risk of postpartum psychosis increases. Pathology is characterized by two stages of development - exacerbation and remission. A calm state and bright spots in the mind indicate that the person is healthy.
Attacks can occur and pass spontaneously, regardless of environmental factors. Or at a specific time of day.
Attitude to the child
The main problems often arise during childbirth or immediately after them, especially if delivery was carried out by cesarean section. Sometimes the patient loses a lot of blood, she has postpartum sepsis (blood poisoning). A woman should rejoice at the birth of a child, but instead refuses to recognize him as her own. She may begin to experience anger or complete indifference to the newborn and relatives.
Over time, the attitude towards the child does not change, the mother may not approach him at all or not leave him for a minute. Fearing harm from others, she does not allow anyone to the baby. If it is noticed that the mother behaves inappropriately with the child, they need to be separated - the little one should be isolated, the woman should be sent for treatment. You may need to hire a nanny or take the help of your grandmothers.
A cause for concern can be considered a situation when a mother, despite the tiredness accumulated over the whole day associated with caring for a child, cannot fall asleep. It may come to the patient’s head that the baby is unwell, and therefore she begins to drink it with drugs, and quite strong ones.
Consequences of psychosis
Without the help of specialists, postpartum psychosis is extremely rare. A woman's condition may worsen every day. It is often difficult for relatives to convince a newly mum of the need for treatment. The disorder, first of all, makes it impossible to fully care for the child. Children, whose mothers suffered from this disease, often lag behind in physical and mental development.
The most dangerous consequences of postpartum psychosis are a direct threat to the life of the mother and child, and, moreover, it comes from the woman herself. She can try to commit suicide, try to harm the newborn. There are cases when this was possible, the mother was thrown out the window with the baby, while being in a complete inadequate state.
How to treat?
Based on the listed symptoms, the doctor conducts an additional examination to confirm or refute the diagnosis. It will take a blood and urine test to find out the objective cause of the disorder, a neurological examination, computed tomography is prescribed. With each day of delay in treatment, its effectiveness decreases, which poses a threat to mother and baby. Therefore, the prevention of psychosis must begin before childbirth, it is important to surround the pregnant with care and attention.
General recommendations
Treatment of postpartum psychosis in most cases ends in recovery. To do this, you need to seek help in a timely manner, observe all the dates and doses of taking the prescribed medications. Do not stop treatment, even if the condition improves.
It's important to know! Whether a woman is in a hospital or at home, relatives need to provide her with proper support. This contributes to faster and easier recovery.
If the clinic has the necessary conditions, the child can be put in a hospital with his mother, but usually the patient is sent for treatment alone. Therapy is prescribed with the use of medications, strong antipsychotics, so breast-feeding is prohibited. After 2 weeks, the patient is recovering and may be discharged home. A full therapeutic course lasts from six months to a year.
Elimination of signs of psychosis
The first stage is the use of antipsychotic drugs and mood stabilizers to remove the symptoms of postpartum psychosis in women. An additional examination is prescribed to identify the inflammatory process, when a pathology is detected, measures are taken to eliminate its symptoms.
At an easy stage of the disease, treatment can be carried out at home under the supervision of relatives. Taking medication involves transferring the child to artificial feeding.
The second stage is the appointment of insulin therapy, this measure is provided for in severe cases of the disease.
The scheme of further treatment depends on the condition of the patient and consists in the following manipulations:
- transfusion of a small amount of blood;
- prescribing sleeping pills;
- administration of adrenocorticotropic hormone;
- electroconvulsive therapy.
Medications are usually prescribed in the form of tablets, less commonly used intramuscular and intravenous injections. The severity of a nervous disorder affects the course duration.
It is no less difficult for a woman to go through the recovery period, she feels guilty in front of the child, she has to accept that she had to go through such a difficult and dangerous period.
Preventative measures
There is no need to ignore a consultation with a psychiatrist during the pregnancy planning phase. In the prevention of postpartum depressive states and psychoses, such meetings will not be superfluous, they will strengthen the woman's psycho-emotional state and prepare her mentally for the birth of a child. Of course, this does not give an absolute guarantee that the problem will be bypassed, but the risk of its occurrence will be reduced many times. It is important to try in the last weeks of pregnancy to avoid stressful situations, less nervous, get enough sleep. It is also worth adhering to the following requirements:
- Follow all the recommendations of the obstetrician-gynecologist.
- Learn the techniques of relaxation and self-training, which will get rid of negative emotions.
- Walk as much as possible. This will ensure a healthy sleep, which promotes good rest and restores strength.
During the rehabilitation period, folk remedies help well. Herbal teas based on mint, hypericum, motherwort have a calming effect.
What relatives need to know
Excellent antidepressants: chocolate, bananas, seeds, walks in the fresh air. The emotional state of a woman after childbirth largely determines the attitude of her husband to her during pregnancy.
It is important that peace and mutual understanding reign in the family, the house has a calm atmosphere. The husband should help with household chores so that the wife can afford a good rest.
Talking with friends who have small children will be beneficial, so you can find out about all the upcoming exciting moments. The more a woman is informed about the upcoming process, the easier it will be to cope with an apathetic mood.
Relatives and close people who are with the patient should follow a number of precautions when communicating with her:
- Do not argue with opinions and intrusive remarks, this can provoke aggression.
- Do not ignore any hints of suicide.
- Do not support delusional thoughts, you can just listen.
- Do not leave a woman alone with herself.
Everyone hopes for a speedy recovery of the patient. It can be said in consolation that the pathology is treated relatively quickly, but there are cases of the return of the disease after repeated birth. It is required to warn the doctor about the presence of psychosis in the past in order to take measures in time.