Revving her car furiously, Robyn Twemlow glared at the two people crossing the road and fought back the urge to run them over. Suddenly, unable to stop herself, the mum-of-two slammed her foot down onto the accelerator and the car shot forwards. Robyn recalls, “The people jumped out of the way and gave me the finger. I realised that something must be very wrong for me to do that so I immediately went to my GP and asked for help.”
The road-rage incident was in total contrast to Robyn’s mood following the birth to her daughter Eva (now 3) just a few weeks earlier. Unlike most other new mums, Robyn, of Christchurch, found she had an endless supply of energy and was too revved-up to sleep. Despite the busy schedule of a mum with both a newborn and a toddler to care for, she began dieting excessively, started looking at buying a lifestyle block and founded a party planning business.
“It’s good to see you so happy this time round,” said unsuspecting friends who had earlier seen Robyn sink into a bout of postnatal depression following the birth of her first baby, Analise (now 6).
What nobody suspected was that Eva’s birth had triggered post-pregnancy bipolar disorder, a condition that can affect up to 3% of new mothers. Robyn’s zest for life wasn’t happiness – it was actually a manic episode, a classic sign of the mental illness. And the dark anger that made her want to hit strangers with her car was a depressive low, also caused by bipolar disorder.
In hindsight, Robyn says, she should’ve realised something was wrong when she became so hyperactive after Eva’s birth. “I could survive on just two hours’ sleep a night. At 5.30am, I would be still awake, listening to the birds singing, and I’d think, ‘I really should try to get some sleep now,'” she recalls.
“I was full of energy and I was losing weight because I wasn’t eating. I was spending whatever money we had on my plans for opening a kids’ cafe. Life seemed fantastic – too fantastic to be true, unfortunately.” Then Robyn’s beloved uncle died and she suddenly crashed from her manic mood into misery and despair. Believing she was the one who should have died, she took an overdose of anti-depressants. Fortunately, she recovered unharmed.
But it wasn’t until the road-rage incident – when she realised she wanted to hurt not only herself but other people too – that Robyn realised how ill she truly was and made an appointment to see her GP. Robyn’s doctor recognised her condition as bipolar disorder and immediately referred her to a mental health emergency services team. She was then taken for treatment at a special unit for mums and their babies at Christchurch’s Princess Margaret Hospital. Staff at the unit worked on finding the right combination of drugs and therapy to keep Robyn stable and eventually it was felt she was well enough to return home.
But that wasn’t to be the end of bipolar disorder’s terrible toll. In the grip of another manic episode, Robyn convinced her husband Aaron to sell their family home and open a bicycle shop.
“Aaron didn’t want to do it and people kept telling me the numbers didn’t add up,” she explains, “but I was very convincing about making it work. of course it didn’t – eight months later, we had to close the shop and declare bankruptcy, and now we’ve lost the house as well.”
Another cause for concern was that, as a side effect of the drugs that control her condition, Robyn’s weight soared to 120kg. overhearing a boy asking her daughter, “Why is your mum so fat?” Robyn decided to lose the excess weight in a healthy way. She set herself a goal – to drop 40kg by her 40th birthday in December – and has already shed 21kg. She also took part in the 76km Girls on Bikes cycling road race last week.
Robyn – who is well-supported by understanding family and friends as well as her GP – hopes that one day she will be free of the illness and able to come off her medication. In the meantime, she simply takes each day as it comes and enjoys spending time with Aaron and their girls.
Bravely, Robyn has decided to speak openly about her ordeal to help spread awareness of postnatal bipolar disorder. She knows only too well how important it is to seek help when it’s needed. “It was very stressful for me,” she says. “But as time goes by, I’m starting to feel like part of the world again. I even have hope for the future – something I didn’t always have in the past.”
Childbirth and bipolar disorder
People with bipolar disorder suffer from episodes of manic euphoria, followed by bouts of deep depression.
The condition sometimes sets in for the first time after childbirth.
Around 2% to 3% of Kiwi women suffer from bipolar disorder during and after pregnancy.
The main feature of the manic phase is feeling excessively energised and over-confident.
Childbirth is more likely to trigger an episode of bipolar disorder than any other event.
Treatments include medication, counselling, medication and maintaining regular routines.
Source: www.mothersmatter.co.nz
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
