Hi lovely im's you've been so helpful in the past & I would just like some advice. I'm depressed. Have been since my youngest was born 2 years ago. I've only just recently opened up about it & ive tried pretty much everything to combat the dark cloud hovering over me. I've tried counseling, vitamin supplements (vitamin b, St. John's wort, fish oil etc) exercise, meditation, time to myself, going on the pill (seemed worse certain times of the month) and just feels like I have only one option left- medication. It's starting to affect everything in my life- hubby is just about fed up with the way I speak (snap) at him & the kids, and I fear that my kids will grow to hate me as I am a bad mother. I have no motivation, can't see anything positively & have had dark dark thoughts that perhaps I should just run away so my kids will have a better life than they will with a mum that yells all the time. What are people's experiences with medication? I have booked a Drs appointment of course, but would just like to hear other people's experiences. I'm just so sick of feeling the way I do & can't seem to get out of this dark place.
4 Replies
I was in a very similar position to you with very similar thoughts, however I've had depression to varying degrees since I was 14 years old. I've tried everything, I never wanted to go on medication because I'd seen what it had done to family members, but about three months ago (during pregnancy) when my husband said it was really starting to affect him and our children I realised I needed to go to the next step which was medication.
I started on and am still on the lowest dose for the type I'm on and it has made 110% difference. I've been on it for the past three months and I suspect I may have to discuss increasing my dosage after pregnancy just because I feel like I'm slipping a little but I think it could just be due to the pregnancy and hormones. But I've decided that if I have to be on medication for the rest of my life I will do so. I don't want my husband growing to resent me, or my children hating me because I refused to do the one thing that would make me better. And it's very clear that at this point in time at least, I need medication to help me.
I absolutely recommend going to your GP and discussing the options. Make sure you have a good GP who is willing to listen to you and will be realistic about the different medications and how they'll help you. Don't let the side affects scare you off because you may not get any (I only had fatigue so I take mine at night). Ask as many questions as you need to feel comfortable with your decision.
You can feel better and I wish you the best of luck :)
They worked great for me. Sometimes it's a chemical imbalance so we need the medication as well as the counseling and lifestyle changes.
Make sure you're using them together, keep up your other efforts, a few days after I started mine I was in the kitchen & found myself whistling... It was from feeling good inside, it'd been so long I actually had to think about it, what was I doing? Wow! am I feeling good inside, without trying?! that's what the medication did for me.
I kept making lifestyle changes, this made it easier to do those things, and eventually I dropped the meds.
I've used medication. For me it was a total game changer. It allowed me to get something out of the counselling and lifestyle changes rather than pushing shit uphill all the time.
It took me a couple of tries to find the right one for me.
I was on my medication for three years as you need to be on it three times as long as you were depressed for to get the full effect and not rebound. I came off of it no problems.
I also found cognitive behaviour therapy very helpful in conjunction with my meds and still use the skills to this day.
Vitamin D? B6? If its the 4 days before your period which it really hits it may not be PND it could be PMD premenstrual dysphoria. There is a stepped treatment they try 100-200mg of B6 a day for a few months.
If that isn't enough.....its the pill for the hormones not the contraception....it has multiple uses.
Last resort is antidepressants and antipsychotics but yours sounds about my level it should respond to b6 or the pill.
Almost everyone who has depression symptoms are vitamin D deficient it doesnt mean that's the cause of all depression....and its not a cure but it should always be addressed while treating depression....primarily because those who are depressed don't spend their days out in the sun shine. But it will worsen symptoms.
And yes it can hit hard following a pregnancy....I've had cranky moods on and off prior to my period most my life but when my youngest was 18mths-2 it hit SO HARD I even went to my doc for meds I'm just so glad she diagnosed it properly rather than just slap depression and an AD script....AD are good for Depression....but actual Clinical/Major Depression isnt the common cold people think it is....there are better more effective treatments for other causes of depression symptoms even PND if they make sure they identify what the condition is....depression is both a symptom and a disorder....as a symptom it is common...as a disorder not so much....
Every lady should have a doctor who KNOWS women's health strangely not all are female. Not just the baby related stuff but particularly hormones and are capable of seeing diseases such as Endometriosis and PCOS as not just a fertility disease.....they impact the immune system and all sorts of things. Its an upward battle to get treatment for specficially women's health conditions beyond the slap and go mentality without a doc who specialises in women's health....its why I have 2 GP'S one for my women's health and the other who keeps me breathing and living. I would never ask my women's health doc about diabetes symptoms, I want good health care....
I ask him what he knows about and that's what he knows. Its too closely tied to the pregnancy and period for me to take your symptoms to anyone but a women's health GP first.