[St Nick]

My sister-in-law is living with us while her house is being remodeled and her husband is deployed and has been dealing with brutal postpartum depression. She just started seeing a psychiatrist a week ago. Her son was born 4.5 months ago, he was her first. She's 34, a professional, and never experienced depression before. I asked about postpartum depression the last time I was on here and got some great answers from the ladies but I didn't ask how long they dealt with it.
What helped you the most? Talk therapy? Medicine? She is taking Paxil but her doc said it would take a while before the effects were felt.

[Pretty Other Side]

my gma has had ppd for about 4 years now, it depends on the patient

[kbsd]

My son is almost a year old, and I'm still struggling with it.
I'm having more good days and fewer bad days than I was a few months ago, but I think it's just a slow process. It's best to just take it a day at a time.

[Sweetpea]

min lasted for three months- until my sons doctor said his heart was healed(he had a hole in his heart). When it seemed like he'd live, it just lifted. it must be rough to haveher husband away. thebest you can do is help her when you can and don't make her feel unwanted. you may have to out of your way for awhile, but remembe rthat she isn't doing it on purpose.

[Gabrielle ♡]

Mine lasted for over a year with my oldest son. Then again I had a miscarriage when he was 13 months old too.

What helped me most was talking to someone I trusted and journaling.

I hope your sister in law begins to feel better soon. Give it time. The medications will help stabilize her moods. She may need to go back and try a different medication.

[Live and Learn]

I have a history of depression so the doc prescribed me meds as soon as my baby was born. I still had the depression, but the meds kicked in quicker because I started taking them before I even came home from the hospital. My baby was right around a year old before I really started feeling like myself again.

[Blah (Come home Haleigh)]

I had it, twice but I had already had existing depression & Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I would say it was really bad because of PPD for about 2-3 months after the first & then with the second they put me on 25mg of Zoloft when I was 7 months pregnant & that helped some but I probably had PPD for 3 months until they upped my Zoloft to 100mgs. Everyone is different though & some of my depression was probably already there before the babies. Things that have helped me the most were:

1. Enough sleep, that's a big one. If someone could give her a break a let her catch up on a few Zzzz's it may help tremendously.

2. Sunshine, make sure she's getting enough natural sunlight. Open up curtains & let the sun pour in as much as possible in the whole entire house. It has been proven to help & it has helped me a lot.

3. Not to sound all like Tom Cruise but diet & exercise does help but sometimes when you are depressed it can be very hard to make yourself get up & exercise, perhaps your wife can try & coerce her into a little bit of cardio with her each day. I did 30 minutes on a stationary bike while I was depressed & it helped me, I heard it releases endorphins in your brain when you exercise.

4. Maybe just some "her" time a day out with the girls shopping or to the spa or something without the baby.

5. Always having someone to talk to sister, friend, mom, shrink whoever. She may be having some really weird thoughts that she's scared no one will understand or that they might think she's a bad mother, she might be feeling insecure about her body after having a baby & that her husband doesn't find her attractive anymore, she may feel like she's losing her identity as a person & now she's just a mom.

6. Medicine does help a lot too. It takes probably anywhere from 4-8 weeks to kick in & actually see a difference & if it doesn't help after enough time maybe her doctor will up it for her.

I'm sorry she's going through this, I hope she feels better soon.

[Indumukhi]

2 yrs