JessicaBrooksRealtor :
PROGESTERONE!!! Hearing about Lindsay’s struggles with postpartum depression is incredibly triggering for me because it takes me back to my own experience after having my baby in 2012.
I didn’t realize how bad things had gotten until my baby was nine months old and we were at Disneyland. I remember thinking, “I’m at the happiest place on earth, and I’m still depressed.” On the drive home, I finally admitted that something was wrong and I needed help.
I saw my OB, my primary care doctor, and eventually a psychiatrist. My bloodwork kept coming back “normal,” even though I knew something wasn’t right. I was prescribed antidepressants, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and other medications. Nothing helped, and some made things significantly worse. At the same time, I had very little support from my partner and was also living in an abusive relationship, which I believe contributed greatly to how severe my postpartum depression became. I came close to being hospitalized twice.
Eventually, I joined a postpartum support group, where another woman encouraged me to look more closely at my hormones VIA SALIVA. I later learned that my progesterone was extremely low. I started progesterone, and within weeks, the symptoms I had struggled with for so long dramatically improved.
After researching postpartum depression extensively, I learned that doctors and researchers are increasingly studying the role that the dramatic drop in hormones, including progesterone, can play after childbirth. For some women, there may be a significant hormonal component to what appears to be solely a mental health issue.
I’m not a doctor, and I know postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis are complex and different for every woman. But hearing Lindsay’s story makes me wonder whether her hormones, especially progesterone, were ever fully explored and whether things could have ended differently if they had been.
🥺
2026-08-20 09:56:49