Hi everyone, I am feeling rather emotional at the moment, as it has dawned on me over the last week that I think my husband may be suffering with PTSD...heres the story...its a long one so get comfortable...
My son was born 3.5 years ago by emergency caesarean. First baby. Pregnancy was fab needless to say we were very happy parents-to-be. At 35 weeks pregnant we moved into our first home together. At 36 weeks pregnant I begaqn to feel unwell. Fluey and chesty, that sort of thing. The next day my symptoms were worsening, doctor prescribed some meds and off I went. 48 hours later my health was deteriorating. Couldn't get out of bed and was not eating and barely drinking fluids.
Hubby came home from work to find me rocking backwards and forwards in some state of complete delierium. My extremeties had turned blue, including my lips (I have absolutely no recollection of this). He called emergency doctors who insisted he call an ambulance immediately and get me to A&E....anyway, I refused and became aggressive, eventually he drove me in. My unborn baby and I were monitored and I was hooked up with fluids etc.
The next part is hazy as I have no memeory of this event and rely on hubbys version and he is not very forthcoming with the information. From what I know a team of doctors requested an immediate caesarean for the sake of mine and the baby's health. I was whisked off for the surgery and taken straight to the Intensive Care Unit. My hubby was not allowed to present at the birth, and was told that once they had stabilised me, he could come and see me. Some time later he was brought to ICU to see me hooked up on life support with a variety of machines and wires monitoring me and keeping me alive. I had contracted the deadly Swine Flu and because of the pregnancy, it developed into other complications. I had pneumonia, a collapsed lung and sepsis and was extremley poorly, to the point where they were not sure what the outcome was going to be.
I was in a coma for 15 days. He barely left my side for the whole time (hubby and my parents were doing 'shifts' to be with me). On around day 7 he was ordered by the medical team and the family to go home and get some rest, which he did. In the morning he received an urgent phone call from the consultant urging him to attend the hospital. My condition had deteriorated overnight. They were not sure if I was going to make it through the next 24 hours. Anyway I did. I awoke from the coma, spent another week in hospital before being discharged home.
I know he went through a really awful emotional time. We do not speak about this event now, and if we do he quickly answers a question I may have and then changes the subject. He has told me he doesn't want to talk about it. Its dfficult for me as I lost almost a month out of my life at the most important time in our lives, and sometimes feel like I need the blanks filled in.
Anyway, I hadn't really made the connection with PTSD until recently. Hubby has been suffering depression for about 18 months/2 years now along with some anxiety. He has also had some mysterious pains in his chest and stomach. He suffers with unexplanable headaches and has developed different bowel habits to the point where he almost convinced himself he had bowel cancer! (This is when the doctor diagnosed his depression and put him on tablets). The more I think about it the more I am wondering if it is PTSD he is suffering with and not just depression? What do you think?
Also we have not been gettng along well for the past year or so. He moved out recently for a couple of months, he is back now and we are working on things, but I can;t really pinpoint why we are not getting on?
Sorry for the really long post - I would really appreciate some thoughts from fellow sufferers to maybe point me in the right direction
My son was born 3.5 years ago by emergency caesarean. First baby. Pregnancy was fab needless to say we were very happy parents-to-be. At 35 weeks pregnant we moved into our first home together. At 36 weeks pregnant I begaqn to feel unwell. Fluey and chesty, that sort of thing. The next day my symptoms were worsening, doctor prescribed some meds and off I went. 48 hours later my health was deteriorating. Couldn't get out of bed and was not eating and barely drinking fluids.
Hubby came home from work to find me rocking backwards and forwards in some state of complete delierium. My extremeties had turned blue, including my lips (I have absolutely no recollection of this). He called emergency doctors who insisted he call an ambulance immediately and get me to A&E....anyway, I refused and became aggressive, eventually he drove me in. My unborn baby and I were monitored and I was hooked up with fluids etc.
The next part is hazy as I have no memeory of this event and rely on hubbys version and he is not very forthcoming with the information. From what I know a team of doctors requested an immediate caesarean for the sake of mine and the baby's health. I was whisked off for the surgery and taken straight to the Intensive Care Unit. My hubby was not allowed to present at the birth, and was told that once they had stabilised me, he could come and see me. Some time later he was brought to ICU to see me hooked up on life support with a variety of machines and wires monitoring me and keeping me alive. I had contracted the deadly Swine Flu and because of the pregnancy, it developed into other complications. I had pneumonia, a collapsed lung and sepsis and was extremley poorly, to the point where they were not sure what the outcome was going to be.
I was in a coma for 15 days. He barely left my side for the whole time (hubby and my parents were doing 'shifts' to be with me). On around day 7 he was ordered by the medical team and the family to go home and get some rest, which he did. In the morning he received an urgent phone call from the consultant urging him to attend the hospital. My condition had deteriorated overnight. They were not sure if I was going to make it through the next 24 hours. Anyway I did. I awoke from the coma, spent another week in hospital before being discharged home.
I know he went through a really awful emotional time. We do not speak about this event now, and if we do he quickly answers a question I may have and then changes the subject. He has told me he doesn't want to talk about it. Its dfficult for me as I lost almost a month out of my life at the most important time in our lives, and sometimes feel like I need the blanks filled in.
Anyway, I hadn't really made the connection with PTSD until recently. Hubby has been suffering depression for about 18 months/2 years now along with some anxiety. He has also had some mysterious pains in his chest and stomach. He suffers with unexplanable headaches and has developed different bowel habits to the point where he almost convinced himself he had bowel cancer! (This is when the doctor diagnosed his depression and put him on tablets). The more I think about it the more I am wondering if it is PTSD he is suffering with and not just depression? What do you think?
Also we have not been gettng along well for the past year or so. He moved out recently for a couple of months, he is back now and we are working on things, but I can;t really pinpoint why we are not getting on?
Sorry for the really long post - I would really appreciate some thoughts from fellow sufferers to maybe point me in the right direction
