A mum has told how she was sectioned with crippling post-partum psychosis after her intestines burst out through her c-section – and she went for FIVE DAYS without sleep.
Kelly Clarke, 31, had to have emergency surgery when her intestines spilled out of her scar a week after giving birth to Taylon.
Mum-of-four Kelly was unsurprisingly shaken and the ordeal saw her mental state decline.
She didn’t sleep for five days, became convinced her son was dying, and phoned her family in a panic up to 60 times-a-day.
Poorly Kelly was also mistakenly convinced she was in line for a £300,000 hospital payout and went on a shopping spree buying £2,000 of new clothes, trainers and electrical items.
In the grip of her illness, she even threw her family’s belongings out into the street.
Her brother Tom Skeldon, 32, and mum Denise Clarke, 53, intervened when they saw a FacebookLive video of Kelly telling the world she was dying, and begging for help.
Single mum Kelly was taken to A&E by police and eventually sectioned to a secure mother and baby unit where she was treated for postpartum psychosis for two months.
Mum Denise took care of Kelly’s children Talisha Brookshaw, 14, Tiffany Brookshaw, 12, and Theo Clarke, aged six, while brother Tom cared for her newborn.
Now home and back with her family, brave Kelly, from Crewe, Cheshire, has spoken out to raise awareness of postpartum psychosis.
She said: “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 FacebookLive 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.”
Kelly gave birth to her baby, Taylon, in February by planned C-section at Leighton Hospital but a week later was back in hospital for a second op to fix the incision.
The mum-of-four had been plagued by agonising stomach pains and claims she went back to the hospital three times to raise concerns, but was sent home.
But 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.
She did not sleep for five days and trashed her flat, believing she would be receiving a £300,000 out of court settlement from the hospital.
She raided £2,000 from her savings and called her worried family 60 times a day.
The single mum went on a shopping spree, after chucking out clothes, trainers and electrical items and replacing them with brand new ones.
Her brother Tom and mother Denise saw Facebook videos uploaded by Kelly and intervened on February 20.
Tom said: “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.”
Police escorted Kelly to the hospital but she thought she was being held prisoner and spat at medics, told them to ‘go and die’, and accused patients of stealing medication.
She was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis at A&E, and sectioned to a unit in Wythenshawe, Manchester, which confirmed the illness.
Kelly struggled to look after her baby and asked her brother Tom to take in Taylon as she wanted to be moved to Macclesfield Hospital, on March 8.
She was given medication to stabilise her and was released on April 30.
Although the hospital deny that any medical error occurred with the c-section, Kelly believes doctors were at fault.
She said: “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’.”
A spokesman for Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are unable to comment in detail about individual patients due to confidentiality reasons, but would like to emphasise that we take any issues raised regarding a patient’s treatment very seriously.
“In this case, we have not received any correspondence in relation to any concerns about the level of care provided to Ms Clarke.
“The patient’s care has been reviewed, however, and we are confident that it was appropriate and that we did everything we could at the time.
“This review did not highlight any medical errors or deficiencies in care.
“However, as with all procedures conducted in healthcare, post procedure complications can occur and these are discussed with the patient prior to treatment.
“We would encourage the patient to contact our Customer Care Team so that any further support or reassurance can be offered.”
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