My advice for PND sufferers.

This post was originally published 17th of July 2014. I thought it would be useful to rejuvenate it for you guys. About to have another baby the thought of suffering again scares me, but if I follow my own advice hopefully it won't be as bad. Hope this helps.

Having PND after Charlie was born was something that I expected. I've suffered with depression in the past and suffer with anxiety continually. I knew from experience that talking about how I was feeling helped me and because of that I talked openly about my feelings to my family and friends and also on my blog. You can read my posts here and here. Now I feel like I am on the other side of it and though I think I will always be prone to sprouts of depression and anxiety I am currently feeling happy and healthy and I'm really enjoying life at the moment. I wanted to help others like others have helped me and thought that writing a post on things that have helped me is one way of hopefully doing that.

I am so relieved that my PND was mainly surrounding myself. There are so many different ways in which women feel and I can only talk about my experience of it and how it helped me. This means that what I might suggest or say won't work for you like it did for me. 

1. Visit your GP.

I started thinking to myself that I wasn't feeling like I should. A day or two later I booked an appointment with my GP and went and discussed how I was feeling and we worked out a plan. I felt like I was already over a hurdle by speaking to a health care professional and by admitting to myself and others that I wasn't doing well. Your GP can suggest so many different things to help you so its my first and most important piece of advice.

2. Talk to your Health Visitor.

After I went to my GP I went to see my health visitor. She was really understanding and made me feel like it was such a common thing (it is by the way) that I wasn't causing a fuss. She also had lots of suggestions for me and gave me lots of numbers and websites to contact and visit that could help me. We also discussed my anxiety, one of the main parts of my PND was that I found it really hard to get out and socialise, even speaking to a shop assistant was nerve racking for me. She offered to come with me to baby groups so that I would be able to go and build up my confidence with someone I knew. 

3. Talk to your Family and Friends.

At the end of the day the only person who is going to be able to overcome your PND is YOU! But that doesn't mean that your loved ones can't help. I was really honest with the people close to me and to those who weren't. I strongly dislike the stigma around PND so I like talking about it to others to try and break down that barrier. When your family and friends know that you aren't feeling yourself they can try to understand and then you don't have to feel like you are pretending to be better than you are. I found that by asking them to treat me like they normally would it gave me a sense of normality which helped me go about as normal as possible to.

4. Stay in your bubble.

Its ok to stay in your bubble, your not feeling great and that's just how you are feeling. Sometimes you need days to just ponder round the house, take a walk around the park and just spend time with your new baby. Do things at your own rate and everything will all fall in to place.

5. Social Media is your friend.

It may sound silly but this little blog has helped me in so many ways. It's not only given me something to concentrate on other than being a mum and introduced me to one of the best communities. The whole blogging community is such a great thing to be a part of, everyone is so supportive of one another and I have made some really nice friends that I would never of had the chance to meet otherwise. Another great platform that has helped me incredibly is Twitter. It may sound silly but I will put my hands up and say that if it wasn't for different things on Twitter I doubt I would be as well as I am now. There are so many different things that you can follow that link you up to other parents with babies of all ages. Its a great way to meet new and old parents without the pressure of meeting a new person for the first time face to face. You can also join in on these chats that take place every week my favourite are.

#MHMonday - monday 8-9 - hosted by @mhmonday

#PNDHour - wednesday 8-9 - hosted by @PNDandMe 

#mblogchat - friday 8-9 - hosted by @mummy_bloggers 

#pbloggers - sunday 9-10 - hosted by @pbloggersnet

You don't have to be a blogger to join in on these groups, its just nice to meet new people and I have met some really nice people. Follow me on twitter and say hi, @elliepatr I would love to hear from you.

These are just some things that I found helpful, and I really hope they can help at least one person too. For more information on PND and different ways to help visit the NHS website here. 

Love E xo 

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