I recently (due to inconvenience, forgetfulness and curiosity) stopped taking my Postpartum Medication. Over the last 6 months, I've spoken out a lot about advocating for mothers who feel alone in the fact that Postpartum Depression is part of the up and down AMAZING ride we are on. You can check out the blog post that changed how I thought about postpartum depression and the extrodinary advice that I gained from other moms who had a similar experience.
I thought I was ready to stop taking the medicine. I have been taking Zoloft for 5 months now. I knew that I needed to take it in order to feel better and to be completely available to Jack. Although, I was torn originally about whether or not to take the medicine in the end I decided it was what I needed to do. I ran out of the meds last week and made the decision to not refill them. I thought I was ready to to try life without it.
I had a very emotional weekend. I felt my emotions were getting away from me again. It scares me to think that I will have to take medicine for longer than I anticipated. It scares me that I am reliant upon it. Today was probably the bottom of my depression for a while. It scares me to think I can't control it and yet I know at the same time that it is a condition I have. I realize that I might be judged by sharing my experience with this. At the same time I have so many friends who are just starting out on this amazing journey or are on their second round of life with a newborn. In some way I wanted them to know that they are not alone. Some days are just harder than others. I want them to know it is okay to ask for help.
I know what I have to do for now to make things better. I know what I need to do to be there for Jack and to be the wife I want to be to Pat. I will just have to suck up my pride and refill the prescription..for now.
You have to wean yourself off of the medications. I did the same thing you did, decided one day to just quit, and a similiar thing happened to me as you described. I called the doctor and she suggested either 1) if I did not want to take the meds to go talk to a professional instead to learn ways how to cope with my anxieties or 2) go back on the meds and when you feel better slowly stop taking them, which seems to have worked for me. Everybody is different, however, I feel you should probably never just stop "cold turkey", mainly because your body and mind is now used to those meds and being "deprived" of them all of a sudden may cause an "adverse reaction". Sorry I use alot of quotes because i don't know the correct terminology to use! Well I hope you feel better, you dont have to take my advice, but I do hope it helps even just a little!
ReplyDeleteHey babe did you talk to your doc? You are not supposed to stop taking that stuff cold turkey, since it is chemicals your brain relied upon to feel betterI think you may have to wean yourself off of it...
ReplyDeleteAll the best! I am not on meds, but I DO have my days... Luke calls them my crazy days ;) We all feel your pain!