I would like to make a comment on something I saw that ARWSF posted. “I never even saw the OB/GYN. Her job is to hear the patient’s concerns and take action by referring people for evaluation if they are interested in helping themselves.”
You say that you “spoke” to your OB/Gyn after feeling down after a baby and things going on afterwards and received the referral.
In all honesty, I would change OB’s. These are the doctors who see women postpartum and should be able to judge, upon speaking with them in person for a few minutes, whether the woman is suffering from normal baby blues or more chronic postpartum depression, which would require more aggressive intervention, possibly on the part of a psychiatrist. I’m not sure how long after birth you are, but we all know that it is a stressful time getting you and the new baby adjusted to being in the family, especially if you have a few other small children to deal with along with the new one. You’re tired, you’re not sleeping at night, the baby wants to be fed all the times, all the wonderful, but tiring situations that coming along with having a new baby in the house.
Some women have lots of outside support during this transition (parents to send meals, younger siblings to come take the little ones out in the afternoon, neighbors to talk to) and manage this transition with little more than some bags under their eyes that testify to their sleepless nights. On the other hand, many of us have little to no support and have to manage all on our own. This can seem like an overwhelming task for some. Everybody reacts to sleep deprivation differently and when we’re overtired it can make everything else during our day seem more difficult as well. If a woman doesn’t feel like she’s managing for normal reasons, she may be overtired and need some more support (which she may have available but not be thinking clearly enough to ask for it), she may need someone to talk to (just shmoozing with a friend while nursing the baby when the other kids are at school can help), or she may actually have postpartum depression or even worse.
I think it is the job of the OB/Gyn to spend a few minutes and speak to the patient face-to-face to see how stressed she looks and hear more what she has to say than can be communicated on the phone in a brief conversation and decide what the next course of action is. I’m not sure how you phrased your conversation with her, but it could have sounded like you just wanted to be handed over to a specialist in these matters and that’s what your doctor did for you.
I think it’s almost like asking a Rov a shaila. If you are looking for a heter, the Rov will surely hear this in how you phrase your shaila and you will probably get a psak that fits this.
BTW, I think it’s very good that you looked into the side effects and after effects of taking Zoloft and you should continue to advocate for yourself in all of your medical concerns. Hopefully you will manage your adjustment as well without the meds and the transition period will wind down and you won’t have to deal with the Zoloft issue in any form.