"I would rather have cancer." This was something my dad once said to me when he was struggling with his mental health. It was met with horror from me. How can you say you would rather have cancer? What an awful thing to come out with. But when someone chooses to end their life rather than continue to suffer with their illness you know that the place they were in really was that bad.
At the end of National Infertility Week, Beth Campagna, the founder of Mama Life London, shares her story of how running became her therapy during her own experience with infertility.
“I'm afraid we can't detect your baby's heartbeat." The words from the sonographer were crushing...
Want some tips to help motivate yourself to exercise now the night's have drawn in? Sian has been working at Mama Life London since the summer. Not only does she do an incredible job of communicating with you all when you place your order, but she also writes blogs. She is a full time step-mum of two and was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome two years ago. Since then, she has focused on the steps she can make to improve her health and wellbeing.
There’s no doubt about it, parenting is stressful, wonderful, but stressful. With the help of various professionals I have worked with through MAMA Life London and who have contributed to the blogs I have been able find out about some great stress-busting tips that really work.
84 British men commit suicide every week: Beth Campagna, founder of Mama Life London, opens up about her father, John, who took his own life in 2011
‘I heard if they talk about suicide they won’t do it.’ said a concerned friend of mine after her friend confided that he’d been having suicidal thoughts. This of course is a dangerous myth, a myth that I wish was true.
Niki Wilson, shares how she managed to put a positive spin on her life after the struggle with her health and mental illness following the birth of her first child. She now practices and teaches mindfulness. Read on to find out more.
Three days into the the birth of my first baby I woke up fighting back the tears. I should have been happy, it was my 30th birthday, I had my gorgeous baby boy in my arms, my husband by my side, but I had also experienced a traumatic start to motherhood having lost my dad when I was six months pregnant.
The nights started drawing in. The days got shorter, the darkness grew longer. Sleep was still a massive issue for me. A lot of times I would put it down to my son and some of it was, but a lot of it was my mind keeping me up. I was Googling Sudden Infant Death Syndrome frequently in the middle of the night. Totally paranoid that my son wasn't safe.
With one in five women experiencing a mental health problem during pregnancy or in the year after giving birth, chances are, most of us will know somebody who is suffering from postnatal depression (PND).
Watching a loved one go though such a tough time can be frustrating and heartbreaking- all you want to do is to make them feel better but often you just don’t know how.
While every case of PND is different, here are a few things that may help.
You will have your own sense of anxiety and the ways it manifests itself and how it impacts you. If anxiety is restricting your ability to function and enjoy the life you have right now then it’s worth exploring ways of lessening the hold it has on you.
It’s impossible to describe how it feels to lose a parent. When you hear of other people’s losses, you have an idea in your head of what it might feel like. You imagine more often than not that initial sickening, explosive feeling when you find out they have gone. But nothing can prepare you for finding a way to cope with the longevity of losing someone who, from birth, has played such an enormous part in your life.