Remember if you are struggling with your mental health, I recommend checking out online therapy options. To help you with your mental health journey.
You know
Now let's get to the lady's stories.
First up we have
Lisa from Run Eat Sleep Repeat
In 2015 I experienced an ectopic pregnancy that was initially misdiagnosed and poorly managed. After the emergency had passed, and my healing began, I realised I had a lot of trauma associated with the experience that needed resolving.
I’m so very thankful I spoke honestly with my GP about my state of mind. She immediately prepared a “mental health care plan”, gave me a referral and a list of practising psychologists in the area, and never once
rushed me during my consult.
I found a great local psychologist who helped me deal with my experiences in a positive and non-judgmental way. About 10 months later, I started a women’s only Learn To Run program, and slowly regained confidence in my body.
Not only did learning to run help me lose weight, the biggest benefit was that it restored my faith in my body. No longer did I look in the mirror and see a sad, overweight woman but rather I saw strong legs, a determined attitude and a fierceness that I hadn’t seen since I was a teen.
Learning to run changed my life. Since then, I’ve gone on to be a regular parkrunner and parkrun volunteer, completed lots of 5km fun runs, and a handful of half marathons. I then went onto complete my first full marathon last year.
Running has changed my perspective completely and has given me so much more confidence and ability to roll with the punches. Whenever I’m facing a tough time, I find running helps me clear my head and I sleep so much better now than I ever did.
Next Up we have Vicky from Miss Tilly and me
When I had Tilly in 2010, I suffered from severe PND. I had suffered from it before with an older child but this time it was different, it was extreme and it was scary. I started to drink and my life spiralled out of control, I thought the drink was making it easier to cope because it meant that I was able to forget things for a few hours at a time. I started to imagine things, I thought people were talking about me and that I would be in the newspaper all of the time, so I would scour it and look for anything about me. I thought people were talking and pointing at me and worst of all, I thought my baby was going to die In a horrific accident.
I had visions of me accidentally pushing her Infront of a bus, I would grip the pram so hard that my hands would feel cold to touch.
One night I drank so much that I stood on a bar in a pub and tried to give my baby away. obviously, this horrifies me now and eventually, I took an overdose. Still, I denied I had a problem and when Tilly fell ill with a chest infection, I accused my childminder of poisoning her. I knew then that I had a problem and was referred to a psychiatrist. My place of work was great and cut my hours down to four a week to keep my job open for me and I worked in the warehouse, away from people. I couldn't leave the house on my own and I had to have lists for the day, of what I was doing and when if I didn't do something on the list it would feel like I had failed and it would devastate. One day I remember phoning a friend at some stupid hour of the morning because I didn't think Tilly was my baby, I thought I had bought the wrong baby home from the baby group. It took a long time to start recovering from this, it was a long road and the last thing to go was the fear that my child would die. I thought a tidal wave was going to sweep her out to sea or the bus would run her over. She was 2 years and 3 months when I woke up one day and I started to smile, started to feel better. But it still took another year before I felt confident enough to be a parent.
PND changed me as a person, it ripped me apart and it put me together again as a totally different person. I became a more sympathetic person to mental health before this happened I thought people with mental health problems shouldn't have kids and were better locked up in a secure ward. I realised most people live with MH every single day of their life and it's a battle for them. People cope so well when they have MH problems and I see the stigma that surrounds people like me - I was one of those people with an opinion before.
I had visions of me accidentally pushing her Infront of a bus, I would grip the pram so hard that my hands would feel cold to touch.
One night I drank so much that I stood on a bar in a pub and tried to give my baby away. obviously, this horrifies me now and eventually, I took an overdose. Still, I denied I had a problem and when Tilly fell ill with a chest infection, I accused my childminder of poisoning her. I knew then that I had a problem and was referred to a psychiatrist. My place of work was great and cut my hours down to four a week to keep my job open for me and I worked in the warehouse, away from people. I couldn't leave the house on my own and I had to have lists for the day, of what I was doing and when if I didn't do something on the list it would feel like I had failed and it would devastate. One day I remember phoning a friend at some stupid hour of the morning because I didn't think Tilly was my baby, I thought I had bought the wrong baby home from the baby group. It took a long time to start recovering from this, it was a long road and the last thing to go was the fear that my child would die. I thought a tidal wave was going to sweep her out to sea or the bus would run her over. She was 2 years and 3 months when I woke up one day and I started to smile, started to feel better. But it still took another year before I felt confident enough to be a parent.
PND changed me as a person, it ripped me apart and it put me together again as a totally different person. I became a more sympathetic person to mental health before this happened I thought people with mental health problems shouldn't have kids and were better locked up in a secure ward. I realised most people live with MH every single day of their life and it's a battle for them. People cope so well when they have MH problems and I see the stigma that surrounds people like me - I was one of those people with an opinion before.
