Meet the Team!

[Mummyhill]

My Turn.

I have been a member of DWD since 2007 and think this site is a very valuable resource for those with depression, their families and friends.

I am in my thirties and have 3 lovely children.

I have suffered from depressive episodes since my teenage years. Which have varied in intensity. I also have anxiety/panic attacks and have self harmed in the past.

I also suffer from an under active thyroid and when my medication levels are wrong this can also cause depression.

Early episodes stemmed from bullying at school.

I have suffered post natal depression after each of the children. The worst bout of this culminated in a “well meaning” family member calling social services allegedly to help me. After jumping through hoops for social services and my current health visitor I was told that I could keep my children. This has however left me deeply scared. I have panic attacks over what could of happened, I also started self harming again during this time.

I have also seen what depression can do from the other side of the fence. My mother and my grandmothers have suffered from depression/anxiety for as long as I can remember. My father in law also had a break down due to many stresses in his life not long after I had the brush with social services.

I am still under the psychiatrist and I am looking to the future with hope.

[Emmie]

And now me, I'm in my early 30s though if you ask me I'll deny it! And just the one sprog, born Sept 2008. She's, er, interesting ;-)

I was first diagnosed with depression in January 2006 looking back I think I've had depressive episodes since I was 16 but in 2006 it got so bad I couldn't face work, or even leaving the house. My then boyfriend (now my husband) took me to the doctors and I started taking citalopram (which I stayed on for over a year, tbh it didn't work but I thought that perhaps I expected too much. I didn't, it wasn't working!).

My work were less then helpful and after a particularly horendous meeting (where they basically told me I wasn't depressed, I just didn't want to work) I began self harming. It was never a full on habit but it was still hard to break. Unsurprisingly I resigned from the job!

I did a cbt style depression management course and received counselling. I still use the techniques I learned now. I put an incredible amount of work into both courses and really got the benefit from them (and compliments from both my counsellors!)

During my pregnancy I really struggled to keep my anxiety in check so I had another cbt style course, this one focused more on where my anxeity came from. My father is an alchoholic and generally not a nice man. I found it very helpful to see where some of my worries came from and work to combat them.

I have now come through the other side of severe pnd. I was breastfeeding so fought with my doctors to be prescribed something to help and not have to stop bfing. After being referred to a specialist I took fluoxetine and it really helped! I'm now off the medication, I generally feel like I can cope with life but at some point I'm going to have to go back and deal with all the sadness of my pnd. Most of it is locked away somewhere in my brain and a large chunk of my dd's babyhood is completely missing, but I'm plucking up the courage to do that!

I also now run my own business, it's challenging as I take criticism badly and generally worry myself silly! But I genuinely love what I do, and work very hard at it!