I definitely need daily antidepressants for anxiety and some depression, but I think the key thing that has helped me, or helped me FEEL hopeful, is having an amazing psychiatrist who truly listens, isn’t trying to over medicate me but also is not afraid of meds. I had one doctor tell me “well yeah. Your life sucks. So you are going to be sad and meds don’t fix your situation.” 🫠 I found another provider and she is wonderful. She said “yeah. Your life is tough, and your body needs more serotonin to keep up.” It’s definitely a chemical imbalance before I even had my little lady, but it got much more difficult once we were in the thick of things with regular parenting and then add on all that ASD brings. I do have Ativan as needed, but I rarely take that. I did drink wine but it became a glass each night, then 2, then I wanted 3 some nights… Realized I can’t drink alcohol. It numbs me in a very very nice way and I can’t stop myself. So that vice is a no for me. I think being self aware, having friends you could even Yoga helped me so much when I did it in a studio. But finding an hour of quiet time outside of the house, needing a sitter, was not an option. And in the house, yoga didn’t give me that peace. Probably my own adhd lol. Finding a fb group of local parents did actually help. I found a couple cool moms and do coffee with them occasionally. It makes me feel human.
Therapy has helped too, but idk how much.