Postpartum depression (also known as PPD) is a condition so many new moms struggle with every year, and Joy-Anna Duggar is speaking out about her own experience. In a new YouTube video, Joy revealed that she has experienced PPD after giving birth to her third child, Gunner, last year, and opened up about how she asked her doctor for help. Something tells us plenty of moms are going to be able to relate to her story
Joy shared a life update in a new video.
In the vlog she shared over the weekend, titled “A Little Bit of Honesty About My Life,” Joy said she was ready to get real about some things she was struggling with, including her mental health since welcoming son Gunner in May 2023.
“This postpartum has been a lot harder than my past postpartums,” she admitted.
Joy-Anna is also mom to two older children, Evelyn and Gideon.
She admitted to having the ‘baby blues’ after her other pregnancies.
While her car was going through a car wash, Joy talked about how she’s been feeling. She said even though she did feel like it took time to get back to her “normal self” after Everly and Gideon were born, this time was different.
“I’ve struggled more with my emotional, my mental, and my physical — all three,” she said.
She asked her doctor for help.
Her doctor confirmed that she was struggling with postpartum depression and took a full panel of labs so they were able to get the complete picture of Joy’s health, including some vitamins that the results showed she was low on.
“I’ve never had to battle something quite like this,” she confessed, admitting that she wanted her followers to know what was going on with the scenes and that things for her are “not always roses.”
So many people could relate.
Joy’s YouTube subscribers thanked her for talking about such a tough topic and applauded her for getting help.
“Giving life to a little human takes a lot out of us. Never feel ashamed for asking for help. You are doing an amazing job,” one person wrote.
“I’m so impressed with your strength and willingness to see help,” another person shared. “PPD is not a sign of weakness and doesn’t make you a bad mom. You and your family will be so much better off with proper medical care. Thank you for sharing what you are going through. It will help a lot of women.”
She ended the story on a positive note.
“I’ve been talking with my doctor, I’ve been talking with my counselor, and just trying to figure out, ‘OK, what is it that I need to do to feel healthy again and to be healthy,'” she said.
It was clear from the footage that it wasn’t easy for Joy to discuss this topic so openly, but it appears it really struck a chord with a lot of her viewers. Here’s hoping she starts feeling more like herself soon!