One of my biggest pet peeves.....

I hate it when people say that they are depressed. Are you really depressed or are you just sad? Because there is a HUGE difference. You more than likely have control over your emotions if you're just sad. Sure we all have moments in life when something brings us down. But being clinically depressed is a totally different story. You don't want to feel depressed, but you can't help it. You want to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the train won't take you there. You want to get off of the rollercoaster, but it won't stop. In other words, you have no control over how you feel. There's a chemical imbalance somewhere in your body and that's why you feel the way that you do. I've been there, done that. THREE times, in fact.

After I had Kyra, I thought that being a mother would be the greatest and most wonderful thing ever. I had this precious little baby. She was plump and perfect. She was a spitting image of me as a baby. I wanted to take care of her and nurture her. Or did I? Shortly after Kyra was born, things spiraled out of control. I felt lost. I was afraid to be alone with her. I wanted someone around to help me. I was a mess when Richard went back to work. I couldn't handle the easiest of tasks. I didn't feel like me at all. When Kyra was 6 weeks old, I decided to talk to my doctor about it. She immediately put me on medication, which slowly but surely helped me out of the hole that I was in. I felt so much better within a month. Finally, I could enjoy my baby!

After Maeve was born, I didn't wait 6 weeks. When I felt myself going down that same road, I got on medication just days after she was born. I was very scared about taking it since I was breastfeeding, but everyone assured me that Zoloft is one of the safest drugs to take while breastfeeding. Again, I felt so much better and able to cope with being a mommy to a 4 year old and a newborn baby. I enjoyed motherhood with my two girlies.

Round 3 hit me pretty hard a few months ago. Something wasn't right. I just thought that my dosage wasn't enough, so my doctor increased it. It helped some, but there were other symptoms coming out as well. I thought that maybe my cycle had something to do with how I felt. I looked into PMDD. My doctor put me back on birth control to see if that would help. In the meantime, I found the cause of my depression, anxiety, weird cycles, being cold all the time, tired all the time, and heart palpitations. My thyroid was out of whack. Finally an answer! That explains so much! When your thyroid isn't functioning properly, it messes so many things up....from your metabolism to your thinking (I had brain fog for a while). The first thing that my OB/GYN said was, "Well now we know why your Zoloft hasn't been working as it should have!"

The bottom line is that sadness and depression are two totally different things. Prolonged sadness can lead to depression. You just have to listen to your body and know when something is a little "off". Don't wait to get checked out either. We all want to feel our best. So it's important that you see your doctor right away.