Hi everyone

I'm the mother of 2 girls, 16 and 12. My 16 year old hasn't gone to school all year due to a severe depressive disorder and an anxiety disorder.

Personally, I suffered from a severe depression many years ago and had recovered about 3 years ago. Unfortunately, with dealing with my daughter this last year, my depression has returned. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. Seeing her in pain all the time breaks my heart. Not being able to solve her problems is very hard.

I've learned to accept that she's unable to go to school right now and we've been working with professionals and the school to get her into a special program to help her. I've done everything I can to help her but I still feel helpless and exhausted all the time.

I think the hardest is the fatigue I feel. It makes me feel worse and makes me stress even more since I'm terrified of being so tired that I won't be able to work anymore like the first time I got depression. I was off work for 2 years and then worked part-time for 2 years before working full-time.

I have good days and bad days. When I get bad days, I have to take time off from work and it can take me 2 to 3 days to recover.

I want to help my daughter but at the same time, it's destroying me. And it's not like I can send her to her dad's house for a few days (I'm divorced), she won't go. She's not comfortable there. (Dad's live-in girlfriend ignored her all the time so she doesn't feel at home there. And to top that, he gave her bedroom to the girlfriend's daughter since my kids don't live with him full time.)

So anyhow, I'm doing what I can but giving when your tank is empty is hard.

Thanks for listening!

An Exhausted Mom