Two things that really helped me - Page 3

[Genesis]

Originally Posted by sofysmommy

soo you are saying that everyone experiences PPD the same way???

How are you getting that? She said:

Yes but PPD as many of us have experienced is NOT ABOUT THOUGHTS AT ALL.

See the bolded.

I'm not her, obviously - but I thought I would point that out...

[shell024]

I think what sofysmommy meant (and please correct me if my assumption is way off base!), is that not all who experience PPD have such physical symptoms. Maybe a few, but for some, it may be more of a mental experience.

As for myself, I experienced mental, physical, etc.. and in my case, I benefited from antidepressants, which got me to a place where concepts such as Ho'oponopono and The Work could be well received by my brain.

I don't think anyone was suggesting these things as a forefront for treating ppd, just that we all have different experiences, and here is something that worked for someone. I think its great to share all these different aspects! It is just one more option for us to consider.

[sofysmommy]

Originally Posted by shell024

I think what sofysmommy meant (and please correct me if my assumption is way off base!), is that not all who experience PPD have such physical symptoms. Maybe a few, but for some, it may be more of a mental experience.

As for myself, I experienced mental, physical, etc.. and in my case, I benefited from antidepressants, which got me to a place where concepts such as Ho'oponopono and The Work could be well received by my brain.

I don't think anyone was suggesting these things as a forefront for treating ppd, just that we all have different experiences, and here is something that worked for someone. I think its great to share all these different aspects! It is just one more option for us to consider.

yes!! exactly

[freespiritbirth]

I am getting a strange "I must have last word; I am right vibe" which doesn't need to come into play here at all. Perhaps there are still some unvalidated feelings, huh?
Yes, PPD CAN lead to physical and emotional and physic and mental and ..and... and.. and the list goes on...symptoms. No doubt. This is sounding a bit like a hospital floor where women compete to storytell their birth nightmares.
The Work alleviates all kinds of symptoms - just because the it's done in the mind doesn't mean it won't have an effect on the rest of the body. No one is bashing anyone for taking meds - do the best thing for you but don't presume that others won't find healing without.

[mom0810]

No, it's not that at all.... there is just a danger when discussing what works or what doesn't when dealing with women in a delicate state such as PPD. And a woman who is in the throes of it and is experiencing mental and physical symptoms s he may not even realize are PPD can be made to feel very inferior or very anxious because she is taking meds. This is a natural living forum, so people here may feel that meds are against their personal philosophy (as I did at first). I just want to advocate for those who do need them because PPD is a physiological problem. The fact is, if you are not having those symptoms, then it could just be the "baby blues," which could be helped by The Work, or any other self hep program. PPD goes beyond feeling a bit down and gets into feelings of hopelessness and despair that one may not even realize they are having. And physical pain and not sleeping, and not eating or even thinking to eat.... these are all very different and are when people need to think about medication.

[shell024]

Originally Posted by mom0810

I just want to advocate for those who do need them because PPD is a physiological problem. The fact is, if you are not having those symptoms, then it could just be the "baby blues," which could be helped by The Work, or any other self hep program. PPD goes beyond feeling a bit down and gets into feelings of hopelessness and despair that one may not even realize they are having. And physical pain and not sleeping, and not eating or even thinking to eat.... these are all very different and are when people need to think about medication.

I think we need to be very careful when saying something like this as well, because just as someone in the throes of PPD may have those symptoms and may benefit from meds (as I did), someone could also be in the throes of PPD without too many physical symptoms, and something like The Work or other similar concepts could be in fact very beneficial. There is a fine line we are walking when stating that it is a fact that PPD is a physiological problem, because there are so many possible factors involved with PPD. Scientist don't know for sure what causes PPD and there is still debate about its origins, so I think we should be careful when stating things to be "facts". I'm not saying that it isn't physiological, just that there could be a lot more to it than just the physical side. And who is to say that someone isn't experiencing feeling hopelessness, overwhelm, despair, and thoughts of ending one's life without having severe insomnia or physical anxiety? There is a wide array of combinations of sypmtoms out there.

I was at first scared of and against taking meds, and wanted to try natural things first. Reading a thread like this would not have swayed me that much to be honest. I would have thought to myself "Oh, well, maybe I'll give that a try, and if I don't see any results from that either, then I will try meds." Or someone could read the thread and just know that it wasn't right for them. Or someone could read the thread and think "Hey! That might work for me!" I don't feel anxious about me taking meds by reading about others who didn't need them. In fact, it gives me hope about the possibilities that are out there for us.

[amnesiac]

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[laurata]

Originally Posted by mom0810

What I am concerned with is people seeing this thread and thinking , "oh, it's MY fault. My thoughts are to blame. All I have to do is this work and then I'm fixed." It's a slippery slope. Because the nature of PPD is to blame yourself for feeling the way you are, anyway. If you say to someone that it is their thoughts that are causing the trouble, or their own perception of the world around them... it's very very harmful in a case of severe depression or PPD or PTSD following childbirth.

haven't read the entire thread but wanted to comment on this. I have suffered with severe PPD several times, manifested in different ways. i was profoundly offended at the ideas presented by CBT. however, cognitive behavior therapy DOES work for a lot of people, ppd or not, with drugs and without. i recommend working with a group or therapist though.

[ThankGod]

ThankGod

Originally Posted by mommyshoppinghabit

Mom0810, you've made it a crusade to underline the fact that PPD is hormonal. In most cases, I'm not disagreeing. I said in the first line of the first post that there are some that truly need meds, but for someone like me, something else worked. What were my symptoms? Feeling like I had been run over by a steamroller, traumatized and feeling like I was surrounded in darkness. I went to a mood center for women at a large hospital. You'd think someplace that caters to womens mood disorders could distinguish hormonal from situational PPD. The woman whom I went to every week was not only a counselor but also a holistic midwife. She counseled me on changing my outlook on a practical level (like just relax a bit about things not going right) gave me the same questionairre that is posted here on this board to determine if I had PPD, and after I answered the questions, she said OK, it sounds like you do have some PPD going on there. She asked me do you want to give the vitamins and supplements a try or do you want to go straight to the medication? I said the natural way of course. So she wrote out a how much cod liver oil to take, what kind of B-vitamin to go buy, and even the names of some Bachs Flower Remedies. After two weeks, I told her they weren't having any effect so she spoke to the psychiatrist at the center and they put me on Zoloft. The Zoloft made me suicidal, so they switched me to Paxil. I was on Paxil for 8 months before I myself made the determination that I should stop. I told them and they said since I had already made up my mind, there's nothing more they had to say to me.
So maybe I did have situational depression, but who is differentiating out there in the world of healthcare providers? I don't hear of many. You know your body best. If you feel like it's betraying you, then maybe it's time for some chemical intervention. But I feel that in the realm of depression, even here on MDC, the spiritual component has been ignored. And I don't mean spiritual as in religion. I mean spiritual from a scientific aspect. Does that sound paradoxical? It isn't. You are not this body. You are the stillness underneath that is aware of what is happening inside of you.

Thank you SO much for sharing this. You have no idea how much it has helped me. Thank you for your persistance on something you believe in. Sometimes it takes a strong woman to not give up to truely reach the ones that needed to see/read this.

Thanks again