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?

[RubyThePirate]

I'm sure I read somewhere the other day that mother's little helper is making a comeback. It was probably in the Mail (I know, I know).

I quite fancy some Valium.

[snuffleton]

Nope, not a journalist. Just curious because I was shocked that two people I am friends with are seperately taking things. I wondered if this is normal or if it's just that I have stressed friends.

[mignonette]

Well I apologise then Snuffleton....

Bit of a skewed topic for me because I am an RNMH so meet parents 'on something' all the time

[projectbabyweight]

ADs here, and several other mums I know (almost none needed them pre-dc).

I think a lot of people don't mention it.

[bettycocker]

I take a vitamin B complex, 1000 mg vitamin C, Glucosamine and maca root. That's on top of my crazy pills and all the coffee.

[BabyStone]

Nope nothing here, I'm a rubbish sleeper, don't drink tea or coffee or energy drinks and against drugs, yet some how manage to 'cope'

[WilsonFrickett]

piglet , try cutting down to one and see how you go

[snuffleton]

By the way, I don't want people to think that I meant taking anti-depressants as I don't think people should be ashamed of that (I have taken them myself). I was more shocked that my friends are a) self medicating and using things that are alternative/not normally recommended by Drs for stress as far as I know.

[doingthesplitz]

Nothing during the week but by 6pm on Friday would take the cork out of the wine bottle with my teeth if no corkscrew available.

[Ubermumsy]

babystone, did you mean your post to sound like it does?

snuffleton, maybe your friends don't want to admit they can't "survive", so they self-medicate rather than seeking professional help? Because it takes balls of steel to admit that you're a mother who doesn't sail serenely through it all. I decided, after DC1, that I'd be open about whether I was finding it hard, and people's responses to me have been 50% "oh thank God you said that, I thought I was the only one struggling" and 50% .

[CouthyMow]

I have arthritis and having just moved house, it's particularly bad right now. Normally I can get by on ibuprofen and a single nighttime dose of naproxen, but for the last 3 weeks I e been on my full dose of 3 naproxen 250mg tablets a day. And am still crying in pain the last hour before I can take my next dose. So I guess I DO take 'something' to get through the day, but they are prescribed by the GP.

[bettycocker]

snuffleton, I don't see anything wrong with self-medicating with herbs that have been used by people for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Conventional drugs can have some really nasty side effects. Did you know that even taking ibuprofen on a regular basis increases the risk of developing stomach ulcers and kidney disease? That's not just me making it up. I was told that by two different consultant urologists.

It's not as though your friends are taking magic mushrooms and smoking copious amounts of pot just to make it through the day. Now that would be shocking.

[Solari]

At various times I've taken different things (anti-Ds, St John's Wort, co-dydramol) for a combination of pain (old injuries) and depression/anxiety.

I've also taken a variety of the 'legal highs' over time, including Kratom (opiate-like calm - taken in capsules or tea), and Methoxetamine when it was still legal.

Kratom and/or St John's Wort are the only things I take now that I have a small child again, and with Kratom, only when DH is home as it can make me drowsy.

I'm not proud of it, but I already struggle to get through a day without fantasizing of a way to bring about my 'accidental' death. PTSD and chronic pain just make everything seem like a struggle, even though I know objectively I have everything to be thankful for (wonderful DH and children).

[FaintlyHopeful]

I was on benzos off & on for the last couple of years for anxiety and insomnia when sitting exams. Did a mindfulness course and can now meditate myself off to sleep. Much less arsey too now.

[iloveweetos]

What is Kratom? Can i google at work?
I used to smoke to 'cope' but gave up and since then the odd wine on a weekend, tea daily and biscuits as a treat lol
Just remembered i have a bottle of wine in the fridge...

[Poppykat1]

I take Pro Plus every so often! But thats just to stop me nodding off at my work desk

[MacaYoniandCheese]

A touch of Citalopram every day (wonky brain chemistry after third DC), copious amounts of coffee in the morning, a 10K run (endorphins) and a SAHM-sized glass of wine every night. I don't want to know what would happen of I gave any of them up .

[BabyStone]

Ubermumsy, how did my post sound?
Obviously if people need tablets etc for medicinal purposes just to have a 'normal' life than that's different. And what people take to help them "survive" is completely up to them but OP was asking if people take anything. I was saying, I don't, other posts said what they do drink/eat so I said what I do or do not do.

I think people rely too much on coffee/alcohol/energy drinks just to function. Just my opinion

[TrinityRhino]

very naughty ice cream
chocolate buttons in creme fraiche
and my electric vapestick

1 year 5 days sober

[SirBoobAlot]

I would take more valium if the doctors weren't so difficult about giving it out.

Have been on ADs and anti psychs before.

This week I am eating crap and have been to Starbucks twice to get a triple caramel frappucino. Which is really bad seeing as there is 400 calories in the small bastard and I'm having a medium, I'm skint, and I boycott them. Sigh.

[SirBoobAlot]

And gin Though I am avoiding drinking in the week because I know I can get reliant on it.

[noisytoys]

I take a nap every day but I start work at 5am so need that nap to keep going.

[ImNotBloody14]

I've just realised that I know a handful of people who take pro plus regularly and drink bucketloads of energy drinks and none of them are mums. one is a dad and the others are all twenty something men and women who don't have children. none of the mums I know have mentioned taking anything to help them get through the day.

anecdotal, I know.

[ReginaPhilangie]

Only tea throughout the day and an occasional daily glass of wine when they're in bed.

Although I am on beta blockers for migraines, and I'm popping Piriton like sweets atm due to my hayfever.

[Ubermumsy]

Apologies babystone, I may have misread your post - the bit about "somehow I manage to 'cope'" just came across as a bit arsey.