Anyone on anti-depressants?

[Anonymous]

I’m fairly certain I don’t have PPD but maybe reflux-related depression. Actually, it’s not even depression so much as frustration. But I’m wondering if anti-depressants would help anyway. Things are just getting so bad in our house these days. My DH and I are always snipping at each other because we’re so tired and frustrated. I have little patience for my 4 year old, even though she’s done nothing wrong and is being so understanding about how much attention her little sister gets. I’ve put on weight because I’m stuck at home with a crabby baby all of the time and I look for comfort in food.

I KNOW what the problem is (DD’s reflux) but it’s completely out of my hands to “solve” it, although I would give a million dollars if I could. I don’t know what a doctor would say if I asked for a script for anti-depressants. I mean, I’m sure the sleep deprivation is a big part of this but I can’t simply “get more sleep”. I’m sure counseling would help (isn’t that kind of what this board is? ) but I don’t have time for it. I guess I feel like a) I’m not so much depressed as frustrated and b) I feel like I’m looking for a “quick fix” but man, if it would help me right now I’d be so on board with it.

Has anyone here looked to anti-depressants to help deal with the stress of having a reflux baby?

Karen

[hellbennt]

karen,

big hug to you!

yes, in the past there have been discussions about this…

personally, I’ve been in counseling in the past, while on this board…

I highly recommend finding the time for counseling…

HTH,

~laura

ps: if you do a search you’re bound to find some posts…

[Anonymous]

Hi. I’m the one that posted right next to you about being on the verge of a nervous breakdown. PPD? Heck YES!!!! And I have it while I’m pregnant no doubt!

I’ve done the anti depressant route. Had to stop due to the pregnancy. That’s when things got really bad. I cried all the time. More so when we had a rough night. The symptom list just goes on and on, so I won’t bore you, but I wanted to tell you that I wasn’t sure if it was PPD or not. I found this site and did a test for my own sake. I found that not only do I have PPD, but also anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder-OCD. It’s quite amazing really. I had no idea I was so bad. My OB clued in on all this- since I bawled (not just cried) every time I was in his office. He sent me to an endocrinologist to have my thyroid levels checked. This guy tweaked my thyroid meds by just the littlest bit and voila- I feel soooo much better. I never would’ve thought that little bit would make a difference, but it did.

I was thinking thyroid with you since you said you’ve gained weight. Even though you said you were comfort eating, it’s soooo easy to gain when your thyroid levels are off.

Here’s the link to the PPD page that I found… http://www.ppdsupportpage.com/index.html

When you go here, go to resources -top of page- and then to links and services. This will take you to some of the tests to find out if you have PPD. Under Online tools. then under Communicate, there’s a place to go to the discussion board. It was a big help to me, although I found I had to stop reading the stories because they were making me more depressed. It can be a great support in a desperate time. Counseling is by far the best other than this board. The board says that over and over. You just can’t replace counceling with anything.

Hope this all helps. And I just wanted to let you know you are not alone!!!! It’s hard enough to have a reflux baby without having PPD on top of it.

[hellbennt]

amy,

glad you mentioned thyroid!

I also have hypothyroidism…

~laura

[Anonymous]

Hi Karen,

I’m quite certain that your doctor would prescribe an anti-depressant for you, but I’m not sure that’s what you really need.

The sleep deprivation you are enduring is probably the biggest part of the problem. It’s been on the news recently that new studies show post partum mom’s who don’t get adequate sleep are more likely to experience post partum depression than mom’s who get sleep. Do you and dh take turns at night? Or is it all on you? I’ve had friends (my dh would never do this) who took turns and it worked so well for them. They would sleep in separate rooms, and take turns each night so that every other night one had the monitor and got up with the baby and the other one slept all night. Would your dh be willing to do that? You’d probably be amazed at how much better you feel after one good night of sleep. Maybe not very romantic, but what you need right now is sleep.

The other thing that I think would help is counseling, some objective person to talk to about your situation. I know you said you don’t have time and I truly understand that, but an hour a week would be well worth it if you could squeeze it in and find someone to watch the girls. Believe me, I’d be going if I had a babysitter!

Since I coudn’t go for counseling when things were really bad with Myles I found other ways to get some support. I have a SAHM friend who came over every other week and I talked to her about the h*ll that my life was at that time. She just listened and offered her sympathy because they’re was nothing she could do to help, but just being there and listening was a tremendous help. I talked to my pastor about it once and that really helped, to get all the frustration off my chest and have someone pray for me and offer some understanding and sympathy. Of course, I used this board for counseling, too! Thank God for this site.! Knowing I wasn’t alone helped alot.

I did try antidepressants after Eliana’s birth, and for a short time after Myles’ birth, due to severe post partum anxiety. The side effects can be very unpleasant; insomnia (the last thing you need), and for me it caused what I would describe as “numbness.” I just didn’t care about anything, and eventually I became depressed. Of course not everyone has this kind of side effect, but these are drugs which alter the chemistry of your brain. I’d stay away from them unless you are truly depressed. They definintely have a place for people who need them but doctors these days seem to prescribe them for anyone who asks for them.

Maybe you need a broader support system. Perhaps a mommy’s group, or church group. Anything that takes you out of the house for a little while and allows you to interact with other grown adults really helps with the “cooped up at home” feeling.

If you could find a little time for just you and Addison, it would be so good for you and for her. A few weeks ago I had to take Liza to the ER for stitches. For days all she talked about was how “just me and mommy went” and “mommy held me for a long time.” Boy, did that open my eyes! She doesn’t even talk about being scared or hurt, just that she had some time alone with mommy.

You have some tests coming up for Tess, right? Then maybe an increase in meds? I hope the tests go well and give some needed answers and relief soon.

Christine

[Anonymous]

I took zoloft (an antidepressant) for a long time, before my first was born, during the pregnance, and for a while after. It worked well, but there are a TON of natural things you can take that generally do t he same thing that a perscription will do (at least I think they do!) Fish oil is AWESOME for giving your brain a little kick in the butt, also I know there are some herbs that can help with seretonin production, but can’t remember what they are at the moment. I know eating carohydrates is good for seretonin production (although carbs aren’t generally good for you in mass quantities!!). Maybe try a search about natural cures for depression before trying a perscription…some of the side effects of antidepressants really suck….and some people have trouble with withdrawal symptoms after they stop them (not a huge issue though)….just trying to give some alternatives, although I’m very much in favor of conventional meds when it comes to mental health issues!! I hope you feel better soon, trust me when I say I know how you are feeling!

[Anonymous]

I have hypothyroidism as weel, and tweaking my meds has made a big difference in the past. Anti-depressants can also be really helpful. I’d ask for them in your situation.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I agree that more sleep would go a long way in my situation. DH and I take turns during the night, alternating who goes to tend to Tess. We’ve never tried having one of us doing it all night long and then switch. I worry that on bad nights (when she’s up 7 times) the poor person who was on duty that night would be a wreck the next day. Plus there’s the problem that I don’t think either one of us could handle it all night… DH would get way too frustrated and mad if it was his night and I wouldn’t be able to ignore her when it wasn’t my night (especially knowing the first part). Sigh.

We’re going on vacation next week. We’re visiting my family and then the IL’s. We’ll be gone for 2.5 weeks. DH is looking forward to it as a way to get some sleep and let the grandparents take over. Unfortunately I pretty much see it as a major stress festival. Our trip involves very long plane rides (5+ hours) and I’m fairly certain Tess isn’t going to sit for that length of time. So I worry about the actual traveling. Then there’s the fact that we’ll be in someone else’s house and I will worry that Tess’ crying during the night will wake everyone else up. Then there’s the lovely unsolicited advice that I always get from the IL’s about how to raise my children. I’m sure they’ll tell me that it’s our fault that Tess has reflux. I’m just so not looking forward to the trip. But maybe we’ll manage to get some more rest in.

Anyway, I won’t be able to pursue anything – anti-depressants, counseling, whatever – until we get back and then we have the endoscopy a few days after we get home. So maybe things will start improving between now and then. Oh, and I just had my thyroid test a month ago and it’s normal. That would have been a nice “out” but nope. I’m just sad and fat for no reason.

Thanks for the support, everyone.

Karen

[Anonymous]

i took antidepressants for PPD, but i think it was too late? i started after my daughter’s first birthday when the dust from the reflux chaos had already begun to settle and we were dealing with the residual eating issues, etc. i think it would have made a tremendous difference had i wised up earlier and taken them when my daughter was an infant. to date, i think i have blocked the first year of her life and recently had to be reminded by my sister what a giggly, smiley girl she really was…not just a barfing machine.

one of the pediatricians we saw in the first year told me that in the scope of things, the first year goes really fast. she was right and i think with the right kind of treatment for myself, i would have appreciated that statement instead of dreading each day. i even gave away all of my maternity clothes because as far as i was concerned, there would be no more children from my womb…and as a working mom, this is a great expense…and at the other end of the rainbow, ahem — i am pregnant again. gd help us, but i am glad i know now what i didn’t know then…

take good care of yourself. this is a really good place to start…

[Anonymous]

Becky, congratulations!!

It’s funny that you say that you blocked out the giggly, smiley part of Hannah’s first year. Dh and I were just discussing Kaelyn’s first year, and our memories are HUGELY different. I have more memories of the happy stuff and he has more memories of the awful stuff (although he tends to downplay how bad it was when he talks to others – almost like he thinks that people will judge us rather than realize how awful reflux can be). I guess that’s why getting pregnant again scared him a lot more than it scared me!

Karen, I know that it sounds hard to do, but I strongly recommend alternating every night. It made a major difference for us. If you’re really worried about dh, let him have the first night of straight sleep, so he’ll be more rested when it’s his turn. We found that it was a lot easier to make it through the tough nights when you knew that you were going to get a full night’s sleep the next night. We also had sort of an unwritten rule that if it was your night to sleep, you really had to go bed at a reasonable hour, so you’d be rested for your night. If she had a horrible night (like the up 7 times kind of night), we would wake each other up so we could get a quick break. Knowing that he could wake me up when he reached the “I’m going to throw her out the window” stage made it a lot easier for dh (and me) to handle her fussiness.

[Anonymous]

Oh, I remember the “throw her out the window” stage. My hubby and I also did the alternating thing. It really did make a difference knowing the next night, you could get a good nights sleep. We also did the me sleep from 9-2 then get up while he slept from 2-7 or 8. 5 hours isn’t a whole lot but uninterrupted, it felt better than nothing at all.

It will get better for you!!

Robin

[Anonymous]

Hang in there.

I am on Wellbutrin. I really like it. So far, it has helped some, though what really seems to get me better every day is a quick walk/run/any physical motion. I don’t know if Tess likes the stroller as much as my little guy, but if she does, sometimes just getting out and smelling fresh air helps.

Even better, see if you have a gym in your area with drop-in day care. Give Tess to someone else for 40 minutes while you walk on a treadmill and read a tabloid. Most YMCAs have drop in day care, and it often costs less than $20/month.

Take advantage of the ILs. Ignore their judgement and know you are doing absolutely everything in your power for you little one.

[Anonymous]

I took Lexapro for awhile. I think I should have taken myself to see the MD much sooner than I did. I took like Becky didn’t start the medications until Alexis was 1 year old. Things just seem to get worse with her instead of better. When I went to the MD she diagnosised me with Situational depression due to what was going on with Alexis. She did not reccomend counseling since I knew exactly what the problem was, my child refusing to eat! Anyways, it really did work, my entire family noticed a difference in me. I didn’t have to stay on it very long. It seem to just kicked my system back to normal which the MD was hoping it would do. I do not regret it at all, it was the best thing I did for myself and my family during the trying times.

[Anonymous]

I took celexia (?) because my husband also left when my son turned 8 months old. I took the drugs because my anxiety was getting out of control (hyperventilating, etc.). It helped with the anxiety, but it also made me numb. I HATED that feeling of not caring – I still took care of my son and dogs great, but I just didn’t care or worry about the “what ifs” any more. “what if I never have more children, what if I never find another man that will love me, what if logan will need more surgeries, what if logan won’t be able to play sports, what if he never starts talking, etc.

2 unlikely things that play a big part in my anxiety and depression (not post partumn) Caffine and Vitamin B6. If I have more than 1 can of pop a day – I will have anxiety attacks in the evening and not be able to fall asleep.

Also I take 100 mg (or 50mg) of Vitamin B6 every day and it makes a huge difference! I swear it takes the hopelessness away – it’s so bizarre!!!, but a OBGYN told me to take Vitamin B6 because I would get really down in the dumps the week before my period, but otherwise I was fine. Even if I skip a couple of days of the B6, I’ll know right away, because I’ll start thinking life is hopeless. It’s a great alternative to the “numbness” of scary anti-depressants. Especially if you’re on birth control pills, which greatly depletes you B vitamin supply.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/ConsSupplements/VitaminB6Pyridoxin ecs.html

http://www.organicfood.co.uk/vms/vitaminb6.html

lansima2006-7-14 11:56:3

[Anonymous]

Wow. Thanks for the tip about vitamin B6. I also have bad anxiety but I can’t take any SSRI’s because not only do they make me “numb” like you described but they put me into a depression. I’ve tried at least 4 different ones; Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox and Paxil and they all did the same thing. I don’t like the fast acting anxiety meds like Xanax and Visteral because they make me so darn tired I don’t want to do anything. Not good when you have three small children.

So I just suffered with absolutely unbareable post partum anxiety with all three of my babies. (My anxiety takes a turn for the worse during the post partum period). It got better finally after 7 long months with Myles, but I still have my typical anxiety which is bad enough. I will definitely try vitamin B6. Thanks for posting the tip. And the links.

How’s Logan doing? How old is he? It must be hard being a single mom with a sick baby. I’m sure you’re doing a great job.

Christine

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