[squishysmum]

A lot of women with PND however simply have a chemical imbalance. Giving birth alters their brain chemistry and AD's help to compensate until they settle of their own accord.

Actually this is not supported by research findings. In some women there is a hormonal component, but there are many other factors which contribute to PND in more significant ways.

As PPs have said, exercise has been found to help with depression. You mention that you are tired despite getting lots of sleep, this again could be a side effect of depression. First port of call should be a visit to a GP to check for/rule out any physical causes (eg related to thyroid function etc).

As Candida said, CBT tends to have longer term effects than ADs by altering thinking patterns and ways of looking at the world (eg your feeling of being a failure by withdrawing from your unit). It teaches you skills that you can continue to use. It also means you can be more proactive by doing things to help yourself rather than relying on a pill to fix things. Having said that, in some cases AD are appropriate in the first instance to allow the person to then work on their issues.

It sounds like you are under a fair bit of stress and it may well be that the combination of things is contributing to how you are feeling. Relationship issues would also play a role I would think. Even if it happened a while back, have all the issues been resolved? How did it impact on you at the time? (You don't have to answer, I am just asking to get you thinking about it).

There are a number of alternative treatments supposed to help with depression. St Johns Wort is one (but it can react with some medications such as Warfarin so check with your Dr first), fish oils have been found to help with depression, vitamin B complex is good for stress. Other things such as SAMe are reputed to help with depression. Can't say I have heard of Chromium as one of the main ones though. Some foods can also help, you will find a whole lot of information on food and mood if you do an internet search.

Some people get depressed due to reduced sunlight in winter, if this is you then spending time in the sun will help.

Hope you find a few things that work for you. Good luck with it and hope you feel better soon!

This post has been edited by squishysmum: 18/09/2007, 09:37 PM