to wonder how many mums take "something" to help them through the day?

[snuffleton]

By "something" I mean either legal or illegal drugs, herbal supplements, alcohol, basically anything that makes life easier and more bareable.

I ask because a in the last few weeks I have had two seperate friends admit that they take things to help them "survive" as one elloquently put it. One is taking something called Kratom and another said she is taking a herbal supplement called Rhodiolea or something like that. It made me curious as to whether this is common/normal?

Absolutely Nothing. I have 3 children. I recovered from major surgery earlier this year and still suffer from partial paralysis i was on weak painkillers for a while( only weak as I breast feed my youngest) but I take nothing now and I'm teetotal.

Pain - medicate quickly and effectively with OTC or prescription depending on pain. Trust me the world is better off with cracked vertebra being numbed than me being a Grade A bitch to anyone who crosses my radar

Stimulants - good god I don't think the world could cope with me on caffeine let alone anything else!

God I sound boring, I do drink alcohol but rarely as on call so need to be able to drive at short notice ... I can play hard though!

To cope - 30 lengths in the pool can't hear phone / emails / people and feel great at the end

I get through by having lots of little naps with the baby.

I need and miss my sleep.

The little naps sometimes mean I just relax next to him and MN or read but I'm bloody exhausted

I thought things like Valium were meant to help you sleep?

How on earth can that help an already exhausted mother?

Lots of mums I know are on ADs. Funnily enough it seems to be the ones without great support networks/family. And that's only the ones I know about... so I assumed it was pretty common. Maybe its just the friends I keep after reading this!

coffee and fags nothing else really

I knew somebody who boughtspeed- slimming pills from her gym she was hyper most days

Coffee.
Lakes of the stuff.
But I was on Ritalin (stimulant drug to reduce ADD symptoms) before children.
Always been a coffee fiend, went off it a bit when on Ritalin....back on it full force now!

I thought things like Valium were meant to help you sleep?

How on earth can that help an already exhausted mother?

It zones you out it used to be called the housewives helper many women inthe 70s 80s were prescribed it and addicted to it

Tea, evening primrose oil and wine. Have one for yourself

Valium is an anti anxiety drug from the Benzodiazapine group.
It is not a Hypnotic like Temazepam.

The odd sleeping pill here and there (prescribed) but nothing daily. Wine as well (also not every day and not with sleeping pills )

I have a friend who survives family life with thrice weekly psychoanalysis. She had a difficult upbringing and swears it has saved her sanity and her marriage. I find chocolate and tea is cheaper but if I had the money I would forget the fast cars and flash clothes and spend it on 3 hours a week sitting in a St John's Wood drawing room talking about myself.

Toblerone (am going cold turkey on that at the moment), jelly babies (meant for the DC's sticker chart rewards...) and diet coke/decaff coffee.

I'm teetotal, don't smoke or take any drugs, legal or otherwise.

DH goes for Toblerone and full caff coffee. He sneers at jelly babies and diet coke, they are for the weak, apparently

Decaf is for the weak.
I like to have a brief moment of genuine concern for my heart rhythm and blood pressure every time I take the first sip of many the day.

Sertraline. Chocolate. Gallons of tea.

And only once or twice, when I've been at my lowest, a swig direct from the bottle of gin in the cupboard. I am not proud of that, believe me.

mrsjay Thanks.

Still don't 'get it'.
But I suppose the people who use it, do.

Rhodiola isn't a big deal, it's like ginseng. I don't think there is anything sinister about the kind of herbal supplements you'll find in health food shops.

Kratom on the other hand is sold as a legal high.

Tea for me, obscene amounts.

Absolutely nothing

I have prescription meds I have to take due to a cruddy thyroid but other than that nothing.

I adore my cups of tea though.

And sometimes I'll have an alcoholic drink in the evening.

Does, tea, chocolate and cake count. If I am feeling Physically unwell a couple if peados does it

Panadols , not peados sill autocorrect

Coffee in the mornings.

I used to have a Friday evening gin (as a kind of ritual to mark the end of the school/working week), but that's less regular these days.

I do remember reading something in the papers about the gosh latest do-bears-shit-in-the-woods research that showed mothers' (always the mothers!) weekly alcohol consumption went up as the summer holidays went on. Now that I can believe (based on self-observation).

Have tried Pro Plus before, but it had no effect whatsoever.
I once bought Aspirin as I had a raging toothache, but when I read the pack at home it said "not to be used as a painkiller"

piglet, I may have just weed myself at your autocorrect error

Ubermumsy best auto correct I've encountered for a long while