SarahSantos

Sarah Santos is a married chiropractor living in Idaho. She had a daughter in November 2019. Despite fantastic support systems, she still found herself suffering from severe insomnia, a lack of appetite, a lack of a bond with her baby, anxiety, depression, OCD, hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, and eventually, thoughts (and intent/acts) of suicide. Due to the severity of these symptoms, she chose to place herself inpatient and receive the Zulresso infusion; and then continue with medication management and therapy upon release from the hospital. Her site exists to raise awareness to the number one complication of childbirth: perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs); to stress the importance to providers of all types that treat women in their child-bearing years to know the signs and symptoms that they should be aware of and to be an ally for new mothers; to advocate for easier access to treatment as it truly took a team for Sarah to get care and that shouldn’t be the case; and for women to know that they shouldn’t feel any shame or guilt when asking for help. Women don’t ask for this. Never would a Mama want motherhood to look this way. But unfortunately it happens fairly frequently. However, there are great treatment options available that can help Moms get better! Please check out the “Resources” page as well as Sarah’s blog for more information, and reach out anytime.

May 8, 2020

Update.  May 4th – 8th is Maternal Mental Health Week. I have been posting every day regarding maternal mental health. If you have been reading and sharing my posts, I sincerely thank you. If you missed any of my story, I am posting links at the bottom of this post to all the previous posts. … Read moreMay 8, 2020

May 7, 2020

Zulresso. May 4th – 8th is Maternal Mental Health Week. I will be posting every day regarding maternal mental health. If you missed my story on Monday regarding the darkest point of my PPD/PPA journey, I urge you to read it. If you missed my post on Tuesday regarding what mental illness is and is not, … Read moreMay 7, 2020

May 6, 2020

PMAD Risk Factors. May 4th – 8th is Maternal Mental Health Week. I will be posting every day regarding maternal mental health. If you missed my story on Monday regarding the darkest point of my PPD/PPA journey, I urge you to read it. If you missed my post yesterday regarding what mental illness is and … Read moreMay 6, 2020

May 5, 2020

What is mental illness? May 4th – 8th is Maternal Mental Health Week. I will be posting every day regarding maternal mental health. If you missed my story yesterday regarding the darkest point of my PPD/PPA journey, I urge you to read it. What people might think mental illness is: A weakness. A bad day. … Read moreMay 5, 2020

May 4, 2020

It All Came Down. This post was originally shared on my Facebook page on May 4, 2020. May 4th-8th is Maternal Mental Health Week. I am honestly, and quite vulnerably, sharing my story in conjunction with The Blue Dot Project and Mom Congress in an effort to reduce stigma surrounding mental health and improve access … Read moreMay 4, 2020