It's been a while since I've done a Warrior Mom roundup of what other moms (and dads) are writing about postpartum depression on the web. The time has come!
First, there's Tamra of the blog Surprisingly Sane, writing a post on Mamapedia called "A Moment of Clarity: Overcoming Postpartum Depression". She talks about how she reached out for help and is now starting to come out on the other side. Her thought process, which I excerpt below, will be familiar to many of you.
"I was thinking the depression was a severe weakness. Here I was eating the right foods, exercising almost daily, taking an obscene amount of fish oil… and I was still barely functioning. I was thinking it was just a state of mind and I was too weak to overcome it."
And here's Dexter's Mommy, talking about whatPPD feels like:
"No new mother wants to admit to the world that she's suffering from postpartum depression. It makes you feel weak, like a failure. You can't explain it to anyone either. If you haven't experienced it (and I don't wish it on anyone) you just cannot understand PPD. One second things are going well, the next you might be so angry you want to throw something, so sad you can't stop the hysterical sobbing, so anxious you're having a panic attack. Sometimes, you can experience all of these feelings in the matter of a short amount of time."
"Postpartum depression is very serious and we’ll call Jane’s doctor right away if she has any of the symptoms for it. Now feeling tired is listed on there as a symptom, but any woman who recently gave birth and is breastfeeding is going to feel tired. But the one that I noticed today is changes in Jane’s eating patterns."
and Michelle writes briefly on Healthy Moms about her PPD experience …
Thanks to all of you for bravely putting it out there. Families will benefit from your shared experiences.
