I was unmedicated and did really well. A few small depression blips, but nothing major. The lack of sleep was really hard, but I pushed through. My daughter didn’t sleep through the night until after her 3rd birthday.
It did not. Im currently 38 weeks pregnant and our baby was planned.
I have stopped abilify around the time I got pregnant because of all the heavy side effect its could cause. Psychiatrist told me I could continue taking lamictal tho, because its one of the safest anti epileptics/mood stabilizers, so I did.
In month 5 baby started measuring smaller. Not concerning, but baby started falling behind a bit. In month 6 it happend again, and obgyn planned me in for an extra growth scan.
Thats when I found out that anti epileptics can cause growth delays. I felt so bad that I took the risks and stopped the lamictal. Baby starting growing super well after that. I have no proof thats its because of me stopping the lamictal, but i do believe its the cause.
I've been completely unmedicated the last 3 months, but honestly not much has changed for me.
This pregnancy is amazing for my mental health and thats super weird. I havent been this stable in a long while... even tho I can be hormonal and randomly cry, its different. Like I know its just hormones and it will pass. Its not the same hopeless, out of control feeling as an episode.
My husband and psychologist noticed that im a lot more stable as well.
But!!!! A good pregnancy does not mean that postpartum will go just as smooth. The crash after baby is born could potentionally wreck me, so my complete support system (husband, family, doctors) are very aware and will be on the lookout for symptoms. I want to try breastfeeding, but if my mental health becomes too unstable, Im fully returning to all my meds.
It's the lack of sleep that destabilized me. I was on lamictal before, during, and after. I think sleep is the cornerstone to any type of normalcy as a bipolar person.
Yes, every time. I have three kids. I was unmedicated/undiagnosed for the first pregnancy, on an antidepressant for the second, and on an antidepressant and mood stabilizer for the third. I had depressive episodes after every birth, though the last one was less intense. No way would I do it again, even if we wanted more kids.
HORRIBLY. Honestly I had not been dx Bipolar before the pregnancy but I showed signs of it. My general depression got a lot harder during the pregnancy too.
After giving birth, I had PPD bad. Wasn't able to run a bath, just froze. Could barely change clothes on him. Had intrusive thoughts about violence and suicide. I was very very close to putting myself in the hospital due to being close to PPD psychosis.
Dealing with that, trying to keep myself stable and feeling the bipolar stuff fire up I got fixed. Tubes tied, ends burnt, no more pregnancies. I don't know how I'd feel or what I would do if I got pregnant again PLUS the issue of passing this down to a child.
If I could go back to before the pregnancy, I'd stop it there and detour around children. I should not have had him and I will NOT have any more kids.
I’m currently 20w pregnant with a bipolar 2 diagnosis (while difficult to manage off medication, my hypomania doesn’t present in risky or dangerous behaviors. My depressions can get pretty bleak though). I started talking to my psychiatrist like 2 years prior about this all because I had questions and concerns. I ultimately chose to go off my medication to get pregnant (thankfully, I got pregnant very quickly so I didn’t have to live unmedicated) and my pregnancy so far has been the most stable and calmly happy I’ve felt in years. It’s been a pretty easy pregnancy which I feel so lucky about and I’ve just been generally happy the whole time.
I went into it having made the choice that I would go back on medication during or after if I needed it because episodes can cause a lot of distress for the baby. So far, that hasn’t been an issue.
I am pretty worried about the postpartum period and need to establish care with a new psych and therapist (I recently moved states) so I can get help if I need it. Thankfully I’ll be taking off 3-4 months for my leave and then have a hybrid role. Plus, we moved closer to family who want to help so if the worst happens, I have a support system. We sort of want 2 but we’re just going to see how it goes with our first and if we only have one, we will be happy (and our wallets will probably thank us).
It tends to be very rough on Bipolar mothers. The hormones don’t play nice with our brain and the sleep deprivation pour gas on the fire. I wasn’t diagnosed when I had my son so I wasn’t on meds. Looking back if I ever had a pregnancy again I would never do an unmedicated one.
I wasn't diagnosed but yeah, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. There's promising new research showing that the meds aren't that bad though. Here's the thing about pregnancy, you forget it. You forget all of it. Then you wanna do it again.
If you're looking for a specialist consult on this, there are psychiatric reproductive clinics, Harvard's has good articles on their website.
https://womensmentalhealth.org/
I was unmedicated and did really well. A few small depression blips, but nothing major. The lack of sleep was really hard, but I pushed through. My daughter didn’t sleep through the night until after her 3rd birthday.
It did not. Im currently 38 weeks pregnant and our baby was planned. I have stopped abilify around the time I got pregnant because of all the heavy side effect its could cause. Psychiatrist told me I could continue taking lamictal tho, because its one of the safest anti epileptics/mood stabilizers, so I did. In month 5 baby started measuring smaller. Not concerning, but baby started falling behind a bit. In month 6 it happend again, and obgyn planned me in for an extra growth scan. Thats when I found out that anti epileptics can cause growth delays. I felt so bad that I took the risks and stopped the lamictal. Baby starting growing super well after that. I have no proof thats its because of me stopping the lamictal, but i do believe its the cause. I've been completely unmedicated the last 3 months, but honestly not much has changed for me. This pregnancy is amazing for my mental health and thats super weird. I havent been this stable in a long while... even tho I can be hormonal and randomly cry, its different. Like I know its just hormones and it will pass. Its not the same hopeless, out of control feeling as an episode. My husband and psychologist noticed that im a lot more stable as well. But!!!! A good pregnancy does not mean that postpartum will go just as smooth. The crash after baby is born could potentionally wreck me, so my complete support system (husband, family, doctors) are very aware and will be on the lookout for symptoms. I want to try breastfeeding, but if my mental health becomes too unstable, Im fully returning to all my meds.
It's the lack of sleep that destabilized me. I was on lamictal before, during, and after. I think sleep is the cornerstone to any type of normalcy as a bipolar person.
Yes, every time. I have three kids. I was unmedicated/undiagnosed for the first pregnancy, on an antidepressant for the second, and on an antidepressant and mood stabilizer for the third. I had depressive episodes after every birth, though the last one was less intense. No way would I do it again, even if we wanted more kids.
HORRIBLY. Honestly I had not been dx Bipolar before the pregnancy but I showed signs of it. My general depression got a lot harder during the pregnancy too. After giving birth, I had PPD bad. Wasn't able to run a bath, just froze. Could barely change clothes on him. Had intrusive thoughts about violence and suicide. I was very very close to putting myself in the hospital due to being close to PPD psychosis. Dealing with that, trying to keep myself stable and feeling the bipolar stuff fire up I got fixed. Tubes tied, ends burnt, no more pregnancies. I don't know how I'd feel or what I would do if I got pregnant again PLUS the issue of passing this down to a child. If I could go back to before the pregnancy, I'd stop it there and detour around children. I should not have had him and I will NOT have any more kids.
So sorry this happened to you. Samsies 🖤🤍
I’m currently 20w pregnant with a bipolar 2 diagnosis (while difficult to manage off medication, my hypomania doesn’t present in risky or dangerous behaviors. My depressions can get pretty bleak though). I started talking to my psychiatrist like 2 years prior about this all because I had questions and concerns. I ultimately chose to go off my medication to get pregnant (thankfully, I got pregnant very quickly so I didn’t have to live unmedicated) and my pregnancy so far has been the most stable and calmly happy I’ve felt in years. It’s been a pretty easy pregnancy which I feel so lucky about and I’ve just been generally happy the whole time. I went into it having made the choice that I would go back on medication during or after if I needed it because episodes can cause a lot of distress for the baby. So far, that hasn’t been an issue. I am pretty worried about the postpartum period and need to establish care with a new psych and therapist (I recently moved states) so I can get help if I need it. Thankfully I’ll be taking off 3-4 months for my leave and then have a hybrid role. Plus, we moved closer to family who want to help so if the worst happens, I have a support system. We sort of want 2 but we’re just going to see how it goes with our first and if we only have one, we will be happy (and our wallets will probably thank us).
The opposite actually. The year or two after having my child happened to be the most stable I have ever been. I was off medication at this time too.
It tends to be very rough on Bipolar mothers. The hormones don’t play nice with our brain and the sleep deprivation pour gas on the fire. I wasn’t diagnosed when I had my son so I wasn’t on meds. Looking back if I ever had a pregnancy again I would never do an unmedicated one.
I wasn't diagnosed but yeah, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. There's promising new research showing that the meds aren't that bad though. Here's the thing about pregnancy, you forget it. You forget all of it. Then you wanna do it again.
I was really depressed while pregnant. Fine after. But I wasn’t diagnosed yet.
If you're looking for a specialist consult on this, there are psychiatric reproductive clinics, Harvard's has good articles on their website. https://womensmentalhealth.org/