Mum, Kelly Clarke Narrates How She Suffered Crippling Postpartum Psychosis To Create Awareness

A mother, 31, has narrated how she was sectioned with crippling postpartum psychosis, going five days without sleep, after her intestines burst out through her C-section.

Psychosis is characterized by an impaired relationship with reality. It’s a symptom of serious mental disorders. People who are experiencing psychosis may have either hallucinations or delusions.

Kelly Clarke had to have emergency surgery a week after giving birth to her son, Taylon, when her intestines spilled out of her C-section scar, TheSun reports.

The mum-of-four gave birth to baby Taylon, in February by planned C-section at Leighton Hospital but a week later was back in hospital for a second operation to fix the incision.

Kelly had been suffering with agonising stomach pains and claims she went back to the hospital three times to raise concerns, but was sent home.

She was horrified when she felt something wet and warm coming out of the incision and realised it was a part of her intestines.

Kelly was rushed to hospital and emergency surgery was carried out – but when she awoke from the anaesthetic, her life began to spiral out of control. Kelly was so shaken, and plagued by sleep deprivation, that she became convinced her son was dying.

READ ALSO: How To Help Another Mum Deal With Postpartum Depression, PPD

As the single mom’s mental state declined, Kelly phoned her family in a panic up to 60 times a day. In the grip of her illness, she even threw her family’s belongings out into the street.

Kelly’s brother Tom Skeldon, 32, and mum, Denise Clarke, 53, intervened when they saw a Facebook live video of Kelly telling the world she was dying, and begging for help.

Kelly was taken to A&E by police and eventually sectioned to a secure mother and baby unit. She was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis at A&E, and sectioned to a unit in Wythenshawe, Manchester.

Thanks to her mum who took care of Kelly’s children Talisha, 14, Tiffany, 12, and Theo, aged six, while her brother cared for her newborn.

”I’d been up half the night googling her symptoms and postpartum psychosis popped up and she was displaying all these same symptoms and behaviours.

I was worried in case it was sepsis from the two major operations. Kelly was manic all day, talking about things that weren’t true and hallucinating so I got her to the doctors. But all she could tell them was that she’d had five days with no sleep,” Tom said.

At the hospital, Kelly was given medication to stabilise her and was released on April 30. Now home and back with her family, brave Kelly, from Crewe, Cheshire, has spoken out to raise awareness of postpartum psychosis.

READ ALSO: Postpartum Depression Is Real! How a Depressed Mom Threw Off Her Baby From a 118ft Bridge (Photos)

”Whilst Taylon was in my care I was constantly paranoid, the slightest bit of wind or sick and I thought he was choking.

When he emptied his bowels and if it was watery I thought he was very ill and kept demanding a doctor for him. Because I thought the hospital were giving me a payout without it going to court, I threw everything out of my home like TV’s, kids beds, clothes, shoes, trainers, kitchen items.

I used my savings of about £2,000 to buy everything new because I was under the impression I was getting £300,000 from the hospital. I was completely a different person to the woman I am, and I still didn’t believe it was me in the Facebook live videos when I watched them back.

I was screaming for help in the videos and telling everyone I was dying, and I was begging for my mum and Tom to help me. I watched all my videos back and then deleted them from social media – I was constantly asking my family if it was actually me doing that.

I still to this day believe that the hospital messed up with my C-section big time and neglected me in a huge way, and I do think this triggered it.”

READ ALSO: Memoirs of A Mum: Mother of 2 Opens Up On Overcoming Postpartum Depression

Although the hospital deny that any medical error occurred with the C-section, Kelly believes doctors were at fault.

”I went the hospital three times after my planned C-section begging for help because something didn’t feel right in my stomach.

I’m was certain that someone at the hospital told me I could claim for what happened to me with my bowel situation and that was stuck in my head and it was playing over and over. That’s when I was being manic and thinking ‘they have done this and now they’re going to pay’.”

READ ALSO: “You’re not a bad mom” -Distressed Widower Writes Moving Note to Other Moms Battling PPD 

LEARN TO SPOT THE SIGNS OF POSTPARTUM PSYCHOSIS…

Postpartum psychosis is a severe episode of mental illness which begins suddenly in the days or weeks after having a baby.

It should be treated as a medical emergency, and can get rapidly worse if it’s not treated properly and promptly. In the most severe cases, it can cause a new mum to harm herself or her baby.

Symptoms vary and can change rapidly. Postpartum psychosis can happen to any woman. It often occurs ‘out of the blue’ to women who have not been ill before. It can be a frightening experience for women, their partners, friends and family. Women usually recover fully after an episode of postpartum psychosis.

It is much less common than Baby Blues or Postnatal Depression. It occurs in about 1 in every 1000 women (0.1%) who have a baby.