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Megan's Story with Postnatal Depression and Anxiety
Manage episode 332921386 series 3366503
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In our conversation, we hear Megan’s story with postnatal depression and her lived experience. We also talk about the common struggles we go through as mums and the transition into motherhood.
In our conversation Megan explains what her night anxiety was like. She describes it like this:
“At night, I would kind of avoid going to sleep. It was like a train that would just take off and I had no control over it. And it would just go to very, very, very dark places. At nighttime when I went to bed, I was living in the past. And then during the day I was living in the future. I was scared all the time during the day, because all this stuff could happen. And at nighttime I was angry about the past and all the stuff that had happened. I was not present at all. It’s like me as a person had taken a back step where I was literally watching myself take off in a negative way and have no control.”
The purpose of this chat is to try normalise the conversation around postnatal mental health and the often unrealistic expectations we can put on ourselves as parents to “be a certain way”.
According to PANDA it is very difficult to estimate exactly the rates of perinatal mental illness however we do know that it is common and it is recognised as an important public health issue. It is roughly estimated that 1 in 5 women report feeling depressed or anxious either during pregnancy or in the first 12 months after birth.
This is why we want to make these conversation, like the one I have with Megan, common practice so that women don’t feel afraid to ask for help. The earlier we are able to identify changes in a mother or father’s mental health the better.
What we Talk about
- Birth Story and emergency C-Section
- Megan’s transition into motherhood
- The early signs Megan identified that she wasn’t coping
- Megan’s experience as a FIFO mum
- Night time anxiety
- Asking for help and being diagnosed with Postnatal Depression
- Finding your person
- Acupuncture, Keto Diet and Gut Health
- Finding Radiance and their support groups
Links Mentioned
Instagram: Megan's new Podcast @_real_mumma_
Radiance Website: https://www.radiancesouthwest.com.au/
Radiance Instagram: @radiancesouthwest
PANDA Foundation
COPE Foundation
Lifeline: Phone number 13 11 14
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