Coming Out of the Postpartum Depression Cloud

Surviving Postpartum Depression

Now, what I am NOT saying is that you should take a pill for it. I cannot make any recommendations on that at all whatsoever. I can’t tell you if you need it or if you don’t, or when you should take it or when you shouldn’t.

All I can say is that if you are ever feeling like something is just not right, if you can’t get out from under a cloud that hangs over you every day that tries to convince you that this is the way life is and that there’s nothing wrong, ask someone. Ask your doctor. Ask your family. Ask yourself.

Because it doesn’t have to be that way.

I am not proud to say that I did exactly the opposite of what most people are recommended to do: when I felt better I just went right off the pill. I did not wean. Luckily, it was fine and I continued on my merry way. But some people need longer than that or the results can be devastating, like for the woman in Lakeland. I think it’s important to note that I’m not giving excuses for what happens when a woman suffers from postpartum depression; I am saying it’s a very real problem.

Even now my heart breaks for women who go through postpartum depression because it feels like a terrible road to nowhere, yet like in my case, you may not even see that you’re on it. No one wants to believe that that’s what they’re going through, and there are still people who believe that it’s not even a real thing. It is a very lonely place.

But it does exist and it is very real.

I know.

And I know that you find yourself doing things you wouldn’t normally do. Like in my case, picking up and leaving. —Christie

A big thanks to Christie for sharing her story. Did you have postpartum depression? Did you experience a sort of denial? —Erin