This week we interview Simone who talks about her experiences of postnatal depression, fibromyalgia and her treatment with antidepressants. Simone describes how nutrition played a huge part in her recovery and how she now supports others with their health and wellbeing.
In this episode we discuss:
- How Simone experienced Post Natal Depression after the birth of her first child.
- That she struggled to bond with the baby and how she felt guilty and upset all the time leading to a visit to her doctor.
- How a doctor diagnosed depression and prescribed antidepressants.
- That the drugs made her feel completely numb.
- How she took the drugs for around 2 years and then decided to stop.
- That the main side effects were dry mouth and nausea but she felt very little, if any, benefit.
- That Simone was careful to gradually reduce her antidepressant drugs when stopping.
- How Simone started to battle with extreme fatigue which made working difficult.
- That another doctor then prescribed another antidepressant that is commonly used for chronic pain but they didn’t help at all.
- How Simone eventually saw a pain psychiatrist who was a great help and support and didn’t rely on drug treatments.
- How Simone started to make fundamental changes in her life to deal with her mood and her chronic pain.
- How changing her nutrition meant that she could be pain-free and without inflammation.
- That Simone believes that depression is your body’s way of telling you that you need to make significant changes in your life.
- How Simone now supports other people with their health and wellbeing after retraining as a coach.
- That Doctors are under severe time pressure and therefore are not able to look at a patients life holistically.
- That Simone recommends the work of Dr. Kelly Brogan and the Human Givens Institute.
- The fact that social media can be a major source of anxiety for children and that we should be working on their psychological strength when they are young.
- That people should cut out sugar from their diets before considering taking an antidepressant.