Taking antidepressants or not?

[Silverwave]

Hello hello,

So I have an 11 month old. Our birth was 48 hours in labour, then an emergency c section as either of us were going to die.
I have a great bond with my son but I just feel like a shell of myself.
I feel I struggle to make conversations with people I don’t know, when I speak it seems to comes out at 100 miles an hour.
I get anxious say 80% of the time. I have IBS son that’s annoying at times.
I feel as if I have no friends even though we go to baby groups and do other activities with the people at baby groups.
I explained how I was feeling to my doctor and she asked if I wanted to go on antidepressants. I’m still breastfeeding my little one and plan to carry on as my partner is only home at weekends so it’s just me to do everything in the week.
Part of me wants to try them, the other part of me worried about the effect this will have on my son. The doctor said I’ll be on ones that are ok to carry on breastfeeding. I just don’t know

Three things I would try first:

1. Fresh air. A good walk in the fresh air (ideally on your own) can really soothe the senses and give you head space to think.

1. Alone time. Do you do anything for yourself? Even just a run or a walk or going to watch a film. Can your partner help to make this happen?

1. Can you afford some paid help at home?

It may be no harm to go on a low dose of antidepressants, but you need to do other things to help yourself too, like CBT, exercise, therapy, etc. If you are so low that you have no motivation to try these things, or if you've tried but they're not really helping, then the antidepressants can get you to a place where you're better able to engage with them.

Do you have much support? Can you get a little bit of time to yourself every day to go for a walk/do some meditation/CBT exercises/yoga? I have found Yoga with Adriene on youtube really good when I'm not feeling great.

Hello OP
I have an eight month old and three weeks ago I started antidepressants. I have also been referred to a therapist which has been very helpful. Probably diagnosis of PTSD from a difficult birth then a very difficult two weeks with horrendous recurrent mastitis.
Anyway - I too was very unsure about taking ADs but I knew I had to do something. Already I feel a huge difference. They have 'reset' my brain, if that makes sense, and i feel now I can do other things that help like exercise, reading, etc.
I am also still breastfeeding and was reassured that there is no ill effect for the baby.