Seeking support elsewhere
I felt a bit disheartened by the CBT, and wanted to try to find myself support that was more specific to PND.
I stumbled across Liz Wise through a quick Google search and she soon responded to my desperate email. She reassured me that I would get better. She told me that she had counselled countless women and that they had all recovered. Liz added me in to a couple of Zoom peer support sessions and I appreciated that so much. She gives women a space to talk and help one another. I personally felt worse after these sessions - listening to other people discuss what had gone wrong that week and how down they were seemed to drag me down too. I did find one of the sessions helpful though - one of the other women was a GP and she spoke about medication and how helpful it could be. Until that point, even though I had been prescribed medication, it had remained in my bathroom cabinet.
Liz explained that PND is a chemical imbalance in the brain. She asked me why I didn't want to take the tablets, wondering whether it was the stigma attached to mental health and antidepressants. But I didn't care about that. It was more than that. I knew that if I took the tablets, then I would have to accept that I had PND. After that Zoom session with the GP and the other PND sufferers, I didn't even think about it. I went and took my first tablet.
On a positive note:
Liz has helped so many women to recover from this horrendous illness. She has been through it and come out the other side and has made it her life's work to help others through. She is practical and pragmatic and gives others hope. I am grateful for that.
I found a great book about Women's Moods and hormones. It included a NURSE program:
Nutrition (including Vitamin D, magnesium, and Omega 3)
Understanding
Rest and relaxation
Spirituality
Exercise
It maintained that each element was needed for recovery from PND and I have been trying to meet at least some of these each day to chip away at this.
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