Your hope had been that someone would find this and I stumbled across it. I have you same hope that if it’s here it will help someone, so here are a couple of things.

First, there is a support group for this…hard to find, but there. We welcome all sufferers and survivors of PPD.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/LDSppd/

or just send an email to LDSppd-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You should not feel alone…

Here was my advice to a woman who’s sister was dealing with ppd…

1. Let your sister get some time by herself — to get out of the house, go for
a walk in the park, go shopping (for herself, not grocery shooping or for
the kids), etc.

2. Help your sister find a few more support people — she doesn’t need to tell
everyone, but she always needs to have 2-3 people she can call who
know/understand her situation, someone else coping with ppd (or who has in
the past) would be great.

3. Get her to go to a support group — my local hospital has one. Call around
and ask, and then drag her there and go with her if you can.

4. Talk to your sister about her interests, or help her find a few
interests/hobbies even if she hasn’t done them before she was married/had
kids. Have her block out time to work on these (and feel like she is
accomplishing something). This could be as simple as 30min/day playing the
piano or reading a book.

5. Time for her and taking care of herself is just as (if not more) important
than taking care of her kids/family…especially right now.

My experience was more like Gabrielle in #34. It took me 8 mos to recognize like wasn’t just going to go back to normal and get to a doctor. Not that anyone is reading this, since this is way old, but I found that being around other moms just made it worse because I would struggle with why they were happy when I wasn’t…and why they were enjoying their babies and talking about their babies…I still have a hard time being around other moms especially at church…

Julie and all others that commented…if you ever see this again…please join the yahoogroup so we can have an ongoing discussion…

About not getting in with your doctor: not ok. Shocking, actually. Can you call your insurance? Can your therapist recommend you to a psychiatrist? Really, I think you need to call the dcotor and demand an appointment that day. Good luck to you.

I was unsuccessful at nursing all three of my kids, I really felt bad the last time, I had plenty of milk, but it gave my daughter terrible colic.

But you know, she went through three months of colic, I went through three months of trying to soothe her for 5 hours a night, and I just wish I hadn’t put that on myself, I know there are other things I should have done differently, but I think it would just have been better had I started out with a bottle. Once she got a bottle, and didn’t have a stomachache after, she refused to nurse. No more colic. No more hours of walking the floor with a screaming baby. That little three month old was smarter than I was.

I felt bad, like I said, but in retrospect, it wasn’t that big a deal. Being a new mom is exhausting, and I think in a lot of cases, simple exhaustion could account for a lot of symptoms that women describe with PPD. I suggest doing whatever you can to ease the pressure.

It’s sometimes amusing to note the juxtaposition in the “Recent Comments” sidebar. For example:
“Updating the Expansion … Against King Benjamin”

Or if you look cross-eyed, you can see things like I did yesterday:
“Against… Postpartum Depression” or
“Postpartum… King Benjamin”

Ditto what Keryn said. When I have talked with doctors, they told me it usually takes a couple of weeks on the medication before you see the benefits, so if your psychologist can help expedite the process, that would be best.

After I was placed on medication at a hospital, I was referred to a Nurse Practitioner (NP) for periodic follow-up after I went home. She was excellent, and I could only wish you would have someone like her available to you! As an NP, she could prescribe medication, and she also had a background in mental counseling. When you get a combination of someone who is good at listening, discussing your situation, and doing all the little things to help improve things, it is wonderful! For example, I told her that one of my concerns on a previous anti-depressant was that it had made me drowsy, which was the last thing I needed. She guided me to take my current medication two hours before bedtime, since if any drowsiness did kick in, it would take a couple of hours and hence would coincide with my sleep. I hope you do get connected with a great health care provider!

First, a disclaimer: I’m a geologist, not a doctor of any kind.

My first thought is: Call your counselor (or get your husband to do it for you). Tell him you aren’t sure you can wait the three weeks it is going to take to see a physician. (On top of that, it can SOMETIMES take a week or more for the medication to really kick in. At least, it did for me.) See if there are some strings he can pull or people he can contact to get you in sooner.

My mother was able to spend a week with me after both my babies, and that was wonderful. Is your mother in a position to come and spend a week or two with you until your appointment? Sometimes just having someone around who can share the burden and get your mind off things can be really helpful. (I know a lot of times this isn’t an option, but I thought I’d throw it out there for you. If your mother isn’t an especially restful visitor, though, or if any visitor would stress you out, forget I said anything about it!)

And finally, about breastfeeding: As far as my own experience goes, I nursed my son while taking an anti-depressant (see comment #42 for which one), and I am currently nursing my daughter while on the same medication. I didn’t have any problems, and neither did they. However, I do know that this is a personal choice. If your son is almost 10 months old, however, you might consider weaning him. I once remember being told (oh, second-hand information!) that the most important health benefits from nursing come in the first six months, so I don’t think you would be short-changing your son in a huge way by weaning him now.

Good luck! I hope that things get better for you.

My son is almost 10 months old, and I’ve struggled with PPD off and on since he was born. Lately, it’s been more on than off. A couple weeks ago, when not being able to open a jar of baby food reduced me to tears I knew it was time to get professional help.

I’ve had a few sessions with a psychologist, and I have seen some improvement. However, my counselor still thinks I need to be on antidepressants, and has urged me to see a physician so that I can get started on them right away. That’s where I’ve run into problems. Despite numerous frustrating phone calls, I can’t get on a physician’s schedule any sooner than mid-May. (My insurance coverage is limited to the university hospital where my husband is a med student, so going elsewhere isn’t really an option.) It just makes me want to scream. (Maybe I should; if I had a sore throat, I could get in right away. The insanity of prioritizing routine health care over mental health! It’s like they’re asking for a crisis!)

Even if I were able to start medication immediately, I have some ambivalence about nursing while on antidepressants. Does anyone have experience with that? Should I wait another month or two to start the drugs? Should I wean my son now? Should I continue to nurse while on medication? Normally with these kinds of choices I do a lot of research and carefully weigh the pros and cons. But that kind of research just feels too daunting right now, and every time I think about it I just feel overwhelmed. Any thoughts or suggestions would be most welcome.

You can also use the “search Times & Seasons” function in the sidebar. a search for post-partum depression should do the trick. Note that the search function only looks through posts, and not comments.

You can force google to return results from a specific site as well, by using site:www.timesandseasons.org in your search, which will include comments in the search.