Désirée Weber, Active member

Marital status

Married

Children

Girl 2018
Boy 2022

Occupation / current role

Mother and lawyer

Hobbies

Singing in a choir, cooking, eating, reading, crafting, listening to podcasts

First PPD onset

Postpartum depression remained undetected from birth until my daughter was 14 months old. 

Duration of PPD approximately

About 20 months since the birth of my daughter. However, depressive waves still occur regularly every few weeks/months. In the meantime, I can classify and manage them well.

Triggers of my PPD

2 years of unfulfilled desire for children, ectopic pregnancy, in vitro treatments, complications during pregnancy

My PPD in a nutshell

After the birth, everything was simply different from what I had expected. I should have just been happy to have given birth to a healthy girl. But in an inexplicable way, I was internally prevented from allowing feelings for this satisfied, always cheerful, actually so lovable being. Instead, I became more closed off, aggressive, and felt internally numb. For months, I couldn't even recognize that something was completely wrong. After 14 months, it came to the point where my husband had me take the self-test from this website. The result was sobering and finally gave me the freedom to let my tears, which had been building up for weeks, flow freely. This allowed me to start my treatment and finally learn to love my daughter. Since then, I have been continuously working on myself and on my relationship with my children, which is very fulfilling and gives me back a lot of quality of life.

Reaction from those around me

During the 14 months, I tried to maintain the facade - which I unfortunately succeeded in doing well, so that only my closest family members noticed that I was no longer myself. Since the diagnosis, I have been very open about the topic and receive almost exclusively positive reactions.

Treatment (therapy)

Outpatient and medication treatment

Medication

At first, I tried it without medication, but after a month I decided to go for it. Then the recovery progressed much faster.

Fluoxetine
Cipralex

What really helped me

The exchange with other affected individuals as well as conversations with my family/close friends. Therapy sessions with the psychologist and also alternative medical treatments. And very importantly: time for myself.

My realization

Without my illness, I would not be where I am today. It was a difficult time, but it helped me get to know myself better and also to understand. Although I saw no way out of my situation back then, I sought help and managed to feel better in a short time.