Lived Experience Forum

[Yessy]

I had my first bout of real depression straight after I gave birth to my first son, that was 15 months ago. I didn't want to believe that I was suffering from this and didn't seek help. Had a job to go back to but had to resign because I was afraid to take antidepressants as I had a gut feeling I was suffering depression from an underlying health issue. Sure enough found out 11 months after that I did indeed have an underlying health issue by a naturopath and I was skeptical of taking antidepressants because I wanted to treat the cause not the symptoms. But desperate to feel better took the st John wort's elezac that she prescribed saying that it was going to get better (more like made me worser) anyhow took it for about 6 or so weeks. Had gotten side effects that I never had before and still felt crap, it did change my mood but I was still tired. So I decided to taper down over 8 weeks because my body is sensitive to medication as I tried stuff throughtout the 11 months to no success that's why I decided to go see a naturopath but everything went downhill from there. I tried taking iron tablets for 3 days, interaction so stopped that. Tried seacure (a form of fish oil) for 6 days a week before I came off elezac (don't know why I did that) but that caused me to have a very bad withdrawal phase must be from both stuff and I got toxicity from that before the bad withdrawals which I would say was serotonin syndrome. Fast forward 2 weeks after thought I was in the all clear and tried colostrum just 1 day of that cause the hypomania effect so stopped that. And now a month after I decided to try tumeric as it is an anti inflammatory that was ok but ended getting sick with a cold and had no choice but to take a panadol because of the ache in my body. The headache and that are gone but I got hypomania again :/. I feel like I'm going to be plagued by the new symptoms and am afraid to try another antidepressant as it looks like I can't even take panadol with these things now. Side effects still have to this day, hypersensitive ears, hypomania some days on and off mainly when I'm doing chores or exercise after the interactions and I'm thinking these may be permanent now, hence the reason I don't want to take another antidepressant. I have just started christian counseling and am going to church so trying to stay positive but it's hard.

[Lunar]

Hello @Yessy,

A big warm welcome to the forums from myself, I look forward to getting to know you a bit better 🙂

Thank you for sharing with us, I'm sorry you are unsure about where to go next as it sounds like you have really been trying so many options to help cope with your depression and the medication you took to address your physical health had some horrible side affects.

It's great you have started some counselling, I hope that will be helpful and you get to try some other things that have less or no side affects so you can avoid anti depressants. How are you feeling about therapy? You mentioned you are trying to stay positive but it's hard. Well done for trying and staying hopeful when you feel this way.

Take care,

Lunar

[CherryBomb]

Hi @Yessy,

Sounds like you've been really proactive with trying to manage your depression. Like, convetional medicines, herbal medicines can have side effects and interact with each other so it's important the you get advice about this with a health practitioner. Based on our community guidelines, we can't give medical advice, particularly about medications, because of the individual effects that it can have on people. 

It's good to hear that you're trying other options like counselling. I hope that this helps. Would you also consider seeing a psychologist? They don't prescribe medication, but use talking therapies. 

@PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia) might also be able to give some advice here too. They are an orgainsation that specialise in this area. 

[PANDA]

Hello everyone, 

Thanks for tagging PANDA in your post reply to @Yessy, @CherryBomb, we are glad to be a part of this discussion.

Dear @Yessy,

It’s so great that you have reached out here, and shared some of your story.

It sounds like you have gone through so much whilst trying to find a treatment for your depression that works for you.

When deciding what will be most helpful for you regarding treatment for mental health symptoms, it is important to consider all options, and speak with health professionals who have expert knowledge.

As well as a trusted naturopath, a good GP can be really helpful, as they can talk with you about getting a Mental Health Care Plan to see a perinatal psychologist, and about the wide range of antidepressant medication options. A perinatal psychiatrist can also talk with you at length about psychiatric medication, and the options you have.

Counselling is one part of a mental health care plan, and when you are feeling very low, medication can also be a really helpful part. We would love to talk with you about this more, to give you some referral ideas, and to provide counselling to you on the phone. You can call us 1300 726 306 from Monday to Friday from 10am – 5pm, or check out our website: http://www.panda.org.au/.

You have done so much already to try and start to feel better. There is so much help out there, and we would love to be able to link you in with what would be most helpful for you.

We hope to hear from you, @Yessy.

Love,

PANDA

[Yessy]

Hi all sorry for a very long reply but I have an update for you. I am glad to say things are finally looking up apart from still being tired during the day but I'm more than grateful I feel like doing things again. And yes surprise surprise lol I'm on an antidepressant due to the counselor suggesting I take it. So I felt I had no other option but to give it another go. I did have bad side effects at the start of taking it and I was rather thin I must add as well but at around the 3-4 month mark I felt much better and started putting on weight again which I'm grateful for. I am say around 6 months on it, am still going to church which I believe helps me to stay positive and even looking to join Bible study group. I feel I can finally 🙂. Thanks heaps for the support 👍

[Former-Member]

Hi @Yessy - im glad you're back 🙂 and even better to hear that things are going better for you 🙂 It's great to hear a positive story and hear that someone is recovering. Sounds as though you're doing lots of things that are helpful! If you want to please feel free to join any of the threads around the place, im sure you would have excellent advice/support for people going through what you have in the past and how things are going now too.
Take care

[utopia]

@Yessy
such great news that you are doing so well. ♥♥ congratulations on the work you have put in.