PNI ORG UK - Charity No: 1113840
Formerly - Veritee's Post Natal Illness Web Site

These symptoms can be very different for everyone.
There are too many symptoms to list all but they can include:

• Panic attacks and anxiety
• Feeling physically ill and having physical symptoms that are
  unusual for you such as chest pains, breathing problems,
  headaches, dizziness, many minor illnesses and stomach upsets.
  
• Worrying constantly about the health of yourself your baby, other
  children or family and friends
  
• Obsessive thoughts or repetitive, chanting thoughts or voices
  
• Thoughts that you will harm your child or another member of
  your family either accidentally or deliberately.
  
• Fear or thoughts that you may sexually or physically abuse either
  your newest baby or your other children
  
• Many women with PNI describe a feeling of having 'fuggy' vision
  or a 'mussy' head.
  
• Having worries that everyday objects such as knives, stairs, play
  equipment, even your car or bus are dangerous and could harm
  your child yourself or your family
  
• Having 'what if' thoughts about what could happen if they did
  
• Feelings that you are a 'bad' mother or a 'bad' person
  
• Obsessions about either your own health, your child/rens or
  partners - fears that you or they will die
  
• A constant feeling of doom or dread - as if something really
  horrible will happen any minute
  
• Having a constant need to discuss and revisit the birth because it
  was so horrible and you felt things to be out of control
  
• Or not being able to think or talk about the birth
  
• A feeling of great sadness and a feeling that since the baby, life is
  not worth living and nothing gives you joy, not even your new
  baby
  
• A feeling that if you just disappeared out of your families life
  everything would be OK for them - that you causing your family
  unhappiness by just being around
  
• A feeling of numbness and lack of emotion - which also might
  extend to a lack of feeling for your baby
  
• Hiding how you feel and putting on a 'brave face'..
  
• Actual self harm or feeling you would like to harm yourself that
  you either never felt or did before or has come back.
  
• Difficulty getting to sleep or waking up in a panic or feeling ill -
  either in the night or early in the morning.
  
• Feeling overwhelmingly tired all the time even when you do get
  enough sleep
  
• Drinking too much and/or abuse of recreational or prescription drugs
  

What we call Post Natal Illness on this website is more
commonly known as Post Natal Depression.

However while this may be the most common medical term for what we
suffered. Those of us who have experienced this awful illness found
that the term 'depression' did not reflect how it felt for us!
We find this term misleading and unhelpful and prefer the use of
Post Natal Illness as a descriptive and useful name for what we suffered
.A term which also covers the whole spectrum of emotional and mental
illness women can suffer after a birth.

We use it because the term 'Post Natal Depression' when women
first suspect that things are not as they should be after a birth, just does
not seem to fit!

When you have PNI it can be difficult to relate the term Post Natal Depression to what you are actually feeling.

This in our personal experience can lead to a woman's illness being
unrecognized and untreated longer than is necessary.

While depression is a symptom of PNI it is not always the symptom
which causes women the most distress or leads then to seek help.

For many women other feelings and symptoms are often much more
prevalent or distressing. In addition The Association of Post Natal Illness
which this site is affiliated with also uses the term 'Post Natal Illness'
rather than depression as this encompasses all the forms of illness
that occur after a birth from the baby blues, the illness often called PND
through to Puerperal Psychosis