Coping With Depression

Hi. This is a touchy subject for me, but I thought I would post this blog to let people know that its going to be okay. So here we go. After my son was born on the 27th of august 2017 at 9.24am I got sick with E.coli septicemia which is a blood infection and pyelonephritis which is a kidney infection. When the doctors found that out, they wanted to put me on some high dosage anti-biotics which meant I couldn’t breast feed and I had to stay in hospital for a week. Once I was better, I got to go home but then a week later I got a fever and started feeing some of the same symptoms as before. So I went back to the hospital and was there for another week without my son as the infection was still there. I went back to the hospital another two times after that, so I spent the first couple of weeks in hospital which lead me to having post-natal depression.

I was referred to community mental health by my midwife to see a key worker who is like a therapist every couple of weeks, I also saw a doctor to see if I needed to start any anti-depressants or any other drugs, and to also see what the plan was from here. I saw the key worker every week for about 5 months and saw the doctor once a month. After having the medication and talking to someone I felt better, so I was discharged from community mental health. But then about 2 months later I tried to kill myself by overdosing on pills. This is one of the stupidest things I have ever done. After taking the pills I knew that I had done something stupid, so I told my partner and he rushed me to the emergency room, they then sent me to a critical room and started asking lots of questions like “what happened?” “what pills did you take?” etc. I was so out of it from taking the pills that I had no idea what was happening, but Shayne grabbed the pills that I had taken and brought them with us so that the doctors knew what medication to give me to counteract the pills that I had taken. I scared all my family, my partner and my partners family that my parents wanted me to move back by them, but I wanted to stay with my partner. I was alright for a while; I took my pills on time everyday which helped with my mood and anxiety. But when I got my day of the month (aka period) my mood was all over the place even with taking my anti-depressants, so it was a little difficult to manage my depression and anxiety.

Which is why it happened again. I overdosed on pills again. When life gets hard and my pills haven’t worked that’s when my depression and anxiety kicks in really bad to the point that I commit suicide. It was the same scenario, I take the pills, I regret it so I tell my partner, get rushed to hospital, get sent to emergency, get asked a lot of questions, get given medicine to counteract the pills I had taken, then go home. But this time I had to move back by my parents as they were really scared that I would do it again and that the reason why I have done it was because of the environment I was in. so I stayed with my parents for about a month but it was hard to live without my partner as he had to work, and to look after my son all by myself instead of having that extra pair of hands. My parents did help when they could, but they worked during the day so could only give me a hand after work or on the weekends. So I ended moving back by my partner, and haven’t committed suicide since, but I have my days when I have mood swings and can’t handle life but then I try to distract myself and think of my son. Think about how he will grow up without a mum, without someone to look up to. These are the ways I cope my day to day life with the help of my son, my partner, and my family who I am so grateful for, and am lucky I have them in my life. Another way I have dealt with my depression is Kangen water, by writing my blogs which has helped me to express my feelings on different topics to do with Kangen water®, Enagic, what I do in my day to day life and how I have gotten to where I am now.

If you have depression or anxiety, or have any symptoms of fatigue, restlessness, trouble concentrating etc. Then its best to talk to someone about it, whether that be your family. Friends, doctor, or one of the following helplines:

· Depression Helpline: free phone 0800 111 757

· Anxiety Line 0800 ANXIETY (2694 389)

You can even text if you aren’t comfortable with talking to someone:

· Depression Helpline Text: 4202

· The lowdown Text: 5626

There are also websites where you can get more information about depression, anxiety, suicide and more:

· www.mentalhealth.org.nz

· www.depression.org.nz

· www.grow.org.nz

· www.thelowdown.co.nz