Breaking the Silence: How I Survived IVF and Postnatal Depression

Episode 1: My Journey Through IVF and Postnatal Depression

Welcome to the very first episode of Homeopath in Your Pocket! Before we dive into all the practical health advice in the coming weeks, I want you to know who I am and what I've been through. 

I'm Neela Prabhu – a licensed homeopath, former pharmacist with 26 years of healthcare experience, and mum of two girls. I understand the juggle of family life firsthand, and I'm here to support you.

New episodes drop every week with practical tips you can use TODAY to support your family's health naturally.

In this deeply personal episode, I'm sharing two of the biggest challenges I've faced: my 10-year fertility journey and my battle with postnatal depression.

What you'll learn:

• My experience with 'unexplained' infertility and the emotional rollercoaster of IVF
• How complementary therapies (acupuncture, homeopathy, hair mineral analysis) supported my fertility journey
• What postnatal depression really looks like (and why it's so misunderstood)
• How I rebuilt myself after hitting rock bottom
• Why I'm so passionate about supporting women through their hardest times

If you're struggling with infertility, if you've experienced postnatal depression, or if you've ever felt completely alone in your health journey – this episode is for you.

I'm sharing this because I want to break the taboo around infertility and mental health. The more we talk about these things, the less power they have over us.

This podcast is for you if:

• You're a busy working mum juggling family, work, and health concerns
• You want natural, practical health solutions without the overwhelm
• You're tired of conflicting advice and want straightforward guidance
• You value experience-backed advice over trends

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the Homeopath in Your Pocket, where I help busy working mums discover how to support their family's health with confidence. Hi, I'm your host, Neela Prabhu, a licensed homeopath with 20 years of experience as a pharmacist. As a mum of two girls, I totally understand the juggle of family life firsthand. Each week I'll share practical, actionable tips that you can use today to support your family's well-being. So let's get started. So today's episode is a bit different. Before we dive into the practical homeopathic advice, I want to share my story. I feel it's important you know who I am and what I've been through, and why I'm so passionate about helping families like yours. I'll be talking about the two biggest challenges in my life so far: my 10-year fertility journey and my postnatal depression. These are not easy topics, and I still feel they're both quite taboo, but the more we talk about them, the less of a problem they become, and that's why I'm so passionate about helping families just like yours. Let's break the silence together. It took ten years to complete our family. Ten years of hope, heartbreak, tests, treatments, and being poked and prodded. It's an emotional roller coaster I wouldn't wish on anyone. Infertility is still such a taboo subject, even though one in seven couples experience it, and people just don't talk about it. You smile, you put a brave face on, well, I did the first time. Whenever anyone asked the awkward questions of when are you going to start a family, or the biological clock is ticking, or complete strangers asking me when I was getting pregnant. It astounded me then and it still does now. So I smiled and put a brave face on. But as I say, the second time round, I didn't do that. I had two stock responses to some of those awkward questions, and it's my gift to you now. Um, that feel free if you're in this situation to use these two responses. So if somebody said, you know, don't you want to have more children? I would say, Well, shall I call you next time I'm having sex with my husband? Because that's basically what they were asking me. Or I would say, Would you yes, I would like more children. Would you like to contribute to the IVF fund? So I kind of flipped it back to them because each time they asked those questions inside, I was absolutely falling apart. We were desperate for children, um, and it didn't make the pain any easier the second time around. They were deeply personal questions that people were asking, and they didn't realise that each time they asked, it was like a knife to my heart. So, as I said, I had a lot of tests, and in conventional medicine, they focus more on the woman, so I was poked, prodded, scans, procedures, blood tests, you name it, I had it. And after all that, they told us it was unexplained infertility, which meant that there was no clear reason, no obvious fix, and no guarantee. And this felt hopeless to me. So we turned to IVF, which was not just physically demanding, with injections, hormones, procedures, it was emotionally and financially exhausting. IVF is expensive, really expensive, and there's no guarantee that it'll work. If you pay someone six grand for a nice bathroom, that's what you'll get, a nice bathroom. IVF does not guarantee that you will get a beautiful baby at the end of it. However, we were very fortunate. Our IVF journey resulted in two healthy girls, and I'm extraordinarily grateful, and I count my blessings for them every day. I'm also acutely aware that it doesn't end this way for many couples. Some try multiple rounds and they never get the baby that they're after. Some face loss after loss, some even facing miscarriage or stillbirth, and some just stop trying because they can't take any more heartbreak or can't afford to spend any more money on it. So, what helped me? So, whilst I do give credit to the IVF for giving us our daughters, I also believe that complementary therapies played a huge role in achieving this. I know that both my daughters wouldn't be here if I hadn't had acupuncture every week for hormone balance and blood flow. My cycle was much shorter than it should have been. It was about 24-25 days, and there wasn't enough blood. Homeopathy the second time round for emotional and physical stress and hair mineral analysis revealed deficiencies that I didn't know about for myself and my husband. This is where you submit about an inch of your hair, it gets analyzed for heavy metals and minerals, and we then took supplements tailored to my needs and those of my husband. So whilst they didn't cure my infertility, but I do believe that they helped create the right conditions for my body to conceive. And they supported me holistically, it wasn't just about my reproductive system. It was about my mental health, my stress levels, and my overall well-being. And honestly, I know that that's what made the difference. So why am I sharing this with you? If you're struggling with infertility, you're not alone. If you've been trying for months or even years, had miscarriages, been told that you've got unexplained infertility and felt lost. I see you and I've been there. There is hope and there are options, and you don't have to go through it silently. If you'd like to speak to me, my door is always open and the kettle is always on. So, my postnatal journey. So after my first daughter, um I experienced postnatal depression. For about six weeks, I felt low, tearful, overwhelmed, as one normally does with a first child. But I got through it with the support of my husband, my mum, my family, and really good friends. After about six weeks, it felt like someone flicked a switch inside me and said, There you go, you're all back to normal. And I thought, that was hard, but it's over now. If I'm honest, up to my eldest daughter's first birthday, I think I was still struggling, but I was a little bit in denial. But it was much, much better than the six weeks. After my second daughter, the postnatal depression was a lot worse, and it was a completely different beast. It lasted for much longer and it was much more severe. Ironically, I tried to put strategies in place to avoid it. Um I thought I was being clever, planning, prepared, but actually those strategies made things much worse. Everything in my life exploded mentally, emotionally, including relationships with family, with grandparents, everything. And things did not go to plan, and I felt very, very alone. At its peak, I was self-harming, I wasn't washing, I wasn't eating properly, and I wasn't sleeping, not because of my daughter, but my mind wouldn't switch off. So I was trapped in a dark, suffocating place, and the only way that I could see out was to go to the train station and commit suicide. I'm not sharing this for sympathy. I'm sharing it to demonstrate how powerful mental illness can be and that it doesn't discriminate. It can happen to anyone, even someone who should be happy with two beautiful, healthy children after years of trying. Depression doesn't care about logic. It doesn't care that you're grateful, it just consumes you. So my turning point was admitting that I needed help and asking for that help. It was really hard at the time because there's a lot of shame around postnatal depression. You're supposed to be overjoyed, you're supposed to be glowing with maternal bliss and love. But I did. I reached out and I accessed NHS postnatal counselling. I took a short course of prescription antidepressants, which I wasn't very keen on, but my long-term plan was to come off them. But I knew that I needed help, I needed it fast. I was very fortunate to see two separate private counsellors each week who rebuilt me. I'm not exaggerating when I say that, they really did. Over 18 months to two years, I worked on myself in every little aspect. I picked up all of those exploded, broken pieces of myself and examined them and thought, do I still want this as part of my life? And if so, I changed it and slotted it back in. If I didn't, I left it where it was on the ground. I unpacked trauma, childhood wounds, people pleasing, all of that stuff. I then learned tools and coping mechanisms, how to set boundaries and recognize when I was slipping and more importantly, what to do about it. I grew stronger and became a 2.0 version of myself. I'm more resilient, self-aware, and compassionate towards myself, and I now have systems and tools to know what to do should I find myself in that situation again. Because life is never easy, it's always up and down. But I now have a solid foundation of things that I do either every day or regularly to make sure that I prioritize my mental health. I ask for help when I'm struggling, I rest when needed, and I use homeopathy alongside other support to keep me balanced. So, why am I sharing all of this with you? Postnatal depression is still so misunderstood, and so many mums suffer in silence. They're ashamed or scared of being judged, they think they should just snap out of it or be grateful. But postnatal depression is a real illness. It's not weakness, it's a complex mix of hormones, exhaustion, trauma, and overwhelm. It needs proper support. If you're struggling right now, it's not your fault. You're not broken and you don't have to do this alone. My door is always open and my kettle is always on. So why am I telling you all this in my first episode? Because I want you to know who I am. I'm not just a homeopath with qualifications and pharmaceutical experience, although I am that. I'm also a mum who's been through the ringer. I faced infertility, IVF, postnatal depression and self-harm. I did face those dark days, but I rebuilt myself, and now I help other women to do the same. I understand what it's like to feel desperate for answers when your body is failing you and no one understands or is giving you a reason why your illness is there. And that's why I'm so passionate about holistic health, specifically homeopathy. You deserve to be heard, held, and healed, and that's what this podcast is all about. Giving you those practical tools to use right here and right now. And my one-to-one work is all about getting to the root cause of an issue and fixing it. So, what are your next steps now? Knowing that you're not alone. If you're struggling with infertility, post-stage depression, anxiety, or any mental health challenge, so many of us have been there. Reach out, talk to someone, and break the silence. Number two, ask for help from a GP, counsellor, friend, a homeopath. Ask for that help. There's no shame in needing support. In fact, it's one of the bravest things you can do to ask for help. And number three, contact me. If anything resonated today, if you need emotional or physical health support, I love hearing from you. Book your free discovery call so that we can have a chat and we can talk about where you are and what you're struggling with. The link is in the show notes. So to sum up, today I shared my 10-year infertility journey, including IVF and CAM therapies that supported me, my battle with postnatal depression, sharing the taboo around infertility and mental health, and acknowledging that the more we talk about these things, the less of a taboo they become. And if you're struggling, you're not alone. There is hope and there is help, and you deserve to feel better. Thanks for listening to today's episode. If you found this helpful, I'd be so grateful if you could leave a review as it helps other busy mums discover the show. If you want to dive deeper, book a free discovery call to see how we can work together one-to-one, or join me on Instagram at Homeopathic Harmony, where we can continue the conversation. And don't forget to grab your free guide to beating insomnia when you join my email list because I know sleep is precious when you're juggling everything else. The links are in the show notes. I'll see you next week.