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Original poster

anyone think Mirena made them depressed?

26 replies

NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 16:54

stupid question really; course someone will do, and what's that got to do with me?

im being lazy in starting athread to find out, shjoud probably search old threads, but...

...am feeling so isolated and cut off from the world that i just need the interraction to be honest.

OP posts:
Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 16:57

should call the doctor and speak to him... but cant face beign told to go home and wait for it to be better.
i dont seem depressed, so its assumed im ok.

do i have to be rocking on my heels and drooling before i can get any help??

if i can take a paracetamol to head off the onset of a headache, why cant i take anti-d's before i have to be talked down off abridge ffs??

OP posts:
Flamesparrow · 12/09/2006 16:59

Have you spoken to the doctor already?

Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 17:00

Mirena's probably got F all to do with it anyway.

why on earth am i writing incoherent messages to a bunch of peoiple i dont know?

i feel paralysed. i want to cry scream smash things, but dont have the energy.

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Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 17:02

sorry flame - no, not this time. i did talk to him about pnd after ds3 was born in Jan, but the upshot was; go home and wait for it to get better. youre fine really, youre just being a tired and irrational silly little woman [scowl]

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Flamesparrow · 12/09/2006 17:04

Right. You need a different doctor.

Has it improved at all since January (ie. are we thinking still PND or has it turned to more "normal" depression)?

Are you on any other medication than the mirena?

Does your partner know how you are feeling?

(Sorry for all the questions )

Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 17:05

and dp thinks counselling is a really daft idea - that it will open a pandoras box of emotions/memories and leave me in a right state (unlike now where most of the time, im just dandy. he thinks)

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3littlefrogs · 12/09/2006 17:08

Poor you - you do sound depressed and you need to talk to someone - HV, GP. Go back again and ask for help, and keep asking till someone listens. Do you have any support from family / friends / partner? Do you have a choice of GPs in your practice? Is there a female doctor who might be more understanding? Print off this page and take it with you!

Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 17:10

its up and down like a bloody Yoyo tbh. some days im madly happy/excited/full of love and joy, others i walk around with this aching black hole inside me and its all i can do not to just crumble into a pile of dust. most of the time, its somewhere between the two i guess.

cant tell you any more (could i ever?) the difference between pnd and 'normal' depression. wanted to top myself for about 10 years of my childhood, which sounds stupidly over-dramatic and attention-seeking thing to say, but its true.

so growing up that way has kind of skewed my view of 'normal' (actually, dont think there is such a thing)

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Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 17:12

i wish i could 3frogs, but when i am in this cloud i can hardly bring myself to speak to my own children, let alone go and demand anything from strangers. bloody pathetic

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Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 17:15

at least im crying now! the release is strangely nice after walking around with it locked up inside for a few days. shame i'll wipe my eyes, smile dazzlingly and convince anyone who asks that im fine.

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3littlefrogs · 12/09/2006 17:16

Well - in my humble opinion - (and I was a HV and midwife years ago) it sounds like PND complicated by history of depression and I would pull out all the stops to get you some help and treatment if you were my patient. So, please, try and talk to someone you feel would listen. It is ridiculous for anyone to tell you to go home and wait for it to be better.

3littlefrogs · 12/09/2006 17:20

Seriously - print this off and show it to your health visitor or GP. Please. You can be treated and help is out there. Sometimes it is much easier to hand someone a piece of paper than to try and put your feelings into words.

Flamesparrow · 12/09/2006 17:20

Argh @ your DH - burying the pandora's box can't help, it is just more likely to properly tip you over the edge later on iyswim (judging by what you have said about your childhood it seems big).

Would you consider St John's Wort as an inbetween solution whilst you keep hassling the doctor? You need SOMETHING iyswim

Psychomum seems to have found that talking on here has helped - how would you feel about your own "feeling depressed" thread (anonymous if you preferred) where you can use that to say everything in your head (including your past) and get the talking therapy without a councellor as such?

Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 17:23

thanks 3frog. if i dont snap out of it soon, i'll go and see the doc again. and take a print out of this to caounterract my stupid tendency to act fine when i am clearly not. quite convincingly, it would seem!

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3littlefrogs · 12/09/2006 17:27

Do it anyway. You said yourself you were up and down like a yo yo. You may feel better when you are up, but you seem to be going back down again. Do it for your children - it is hell having a depressed mum. You deserve to be well and happy so you can enjoy your children. Depression is an illness, you can't help it and it isn't your fault. Your miserable childhood isn't your fault either, you have coped the best way you could.

Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 17:29

that might be an idea flame. i will think about the anonymoous trhread thing.

does st john wort actually do anything?? my sceptical side is louder than my lentil-munching side on that one... but what the hell do i know?

slightly perturbed at prospect of tipping over the edge later on... still, if it meant an indefinate stay in some nice friendly nursing home with zero responsibilities and a steady stream of meds, i could handle that methinks. (dp would have to pay for it, since it'd be his fault)

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Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 17:35

welll... i could take meds, but im afraid that i now completely agree with dp, in that counselling is a V Scary prospect, so am frankly, afarid to try it.

my life is damn near perfect. i have a beautiful healthy happy family and no other pressures or outside 'causes' to trigger depression. all those triggers lay in the past, and ive gone over and over it all and i think i have dealt with it all pretty well really.

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Original poster
NappiesGalore · 12/09/2006 17:38

oh sod it. i dont want to think about it any more.

thank you so much for speaking to me about it (really thank you) but i think i'll go back to pretending it doesnt exist for a bit longer, ta.

blimey, reading that, its a bit hard to like myself much! (i do, btw. i think!)

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Flamesparrow · 12/09/2006 17:41

Aspirin is only willow bark, just because St John's Wort isn't sold by pharmaceutical companies, doesn't make it any less effective iyswim (and the amount of warnings there are not to mix it with certain drugs, it must have SOME effect). Even if it was placebo, if it worked, then would it matter

Not saying you WILL tip over later on though . Often though you feel that you have dealt with the issues fine, and then once you actually have the councelling (or something triggers it) you find that there was something hidden in amongst it that you hadn't even realised was as big an issue to you as it was iyswim.

3littlefrogs · 12/09/2006 17:45

St John's wort does work, proved in clinical trials, musn't be taken if you are on warfarin.

foxinsocks · 12/09/2006 18:38

all forms of hormonal contraception that contain progesterone can cause problems in people where depression is a problem

you need to be honest with your doctor - it may be that you have underlying depression that the mirena is making worse or it may be that you have just become depressed and the mirena has nothing to do with it. I had the mirena taken out because the side effects were so awful (for me it was more the physical side effects but I did feel that, to some extent, I was starting to feel a bit irrational but wasn't sure if that was because I felt so bloody ill or because of the hormones).

Hope you manage to get to the GP.

Molesworth · 12/09/2006 18:43

NappiesGalore - I have wondered exactly the same thing myself, but tbh I don't think there's a simple causal link between the mirena and depression, in my case anyway, as I have been prone to depression all my adult life. However, I had a mirena put in getting on for 3 years ago, and since then I have also had the worst depressive episode of my life ... I can't help but wonder if there is a link.

You do need to find a more sympathetic doctor I think, although I understand how difficult it can be to ask for help when you need it most. Are there other GPs at your practice you could talk to?

Sorry if I'm repeating what's already been said - not read the whole thread yet

foxinsocks · 12/09/2006 18:46

honestly molesworth, if you are susceptible to depression, any form of hormonal contraception can make it worse. It's the progesterone element - it is a known depressant (but it doesn't necessarily affect everyone in the same way).

There are a fair few posters on here who have depression and have to avoid all progesterone contraception because it makes them feel worse.

Molesworth · 12/09/2006 18:55

isn't the amount of progesterone in a mirena absolutely miniscule in comparison with the pill?

I've been told this, but I don't know the facts!

foxinsocks · 12/09/2006 19:37

well they told me that aswell but I tell you what - I suffered dreadful side effects when I had it in, far worse than I did on the pill (crippling nausea, sore boobs, headaches) so I wonder whether even though the hormone amount is smaller, it affects you worse because it's in there all the time?

I really don't know all the medical ins and outs - I do know that the side effects disappeared once it was taken out. I know for some people mirena is a godsend and actually sorts out PMT, heavy bleeding etc.

I think if you are worried that it may be affecting your depression, then it's worth mentioning your fears to the GP to see what they think.

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