Rosario Ortegón, 56, never thought she would struggle with mental health. As a devoted mother to three daughters and a Mexican immigrant living in San Francisco, she had spent her life focused on her family. But when her children left home to build lives of their own, she was hit by an unexpected state of distress.
It started gradually — at night, mostly. She lay awake in bed,“turning and turning,” unable to sleep. She naturally turned to the Virgin of Guadalupe above her bed asking, “Why do I feel like this? What is happening to me?” Though those prayers brought momentary comfort, the feelings didn’t go away.
Ortegón fondly remembers moments at home with her daughters and husband, weekends spent “all together, eating breakfast and chatting over the table, or going out to eat as a family.” Now, returning to a empty nest, she says, is difficult. She’s grateful to see her daughters “flying with their own wings,” but she often felt like a “lion in its cage” at home alone. She, like many parents, “never thought of the moment her children would leave to create their own lives.”
Her nighttime symptoms soon spilled into her day. She began experiencing sudden crying spells and a sinking feeling of “wanting to leave running.” When her heart began racing with palpitations, she went to her doctor.
After an electrocardiogram (EKG), her doctor began asking questions about her feelings those past few weeks. Ortegón was eventually diagnosed with anxiety accompanied by tachycardia, a condition marked by an abnormally fast heart rate.
It was a shock. Ortegón, like many individuals experiencing her shifts in behavior, thought “mental health was a concept far from me…it won’t happen to me or my daughter, right?” That’s when Ortegón realized that “it doesn’t matter the time or age, but yes mental health can affect you too.”
She recognized that mental health wasn’t discussed in her home, and also wasn’t a topic of conversation throughout her Latin upbringing. “Between us Latinos, I never heard anyone talk about [mental health] and it only was for those who were ‘crazy’” and treatments like therapy weren’t an option. She has since changed her mindset and is trying to destigmatize the conversation surrounding mental health.
Medication alone didn’t offer much relief, so Ortegón turned to something else: her community. She began volunteering at the Centro Comunitario de la Raza And The Good Samaritan Family Resource Center. There, she coordinated donations, distributed food, and found a renewed sense of connection. “That helped me immensely, she said.
But perhaps the biggest decision of all was one she made for herself.
Last year, her eldest daughter invited her to move back to Mexico with the family. It was tempting. After 25 years in San Francisco, she missed her mother, whom she hadn’t seen in decades. But something inside her hesitated. For the first time in years, she felt like she was building something for herself.
So, she stayed.
“This upcoming year is one that I have needed to take for a long time, and I have to do it for myself.” She now hopes to continue on her journey of self-growth and fostering connections within her community by taking English classes, computer classes, and even study to receive her GED.
Ortegón is taking this new chapter of her life in stride. She sees mental health differently now. She believes it should be part of routine check-ups, just like testing for diabetes or high blood pressure. More than anything, she wants other Latino parents to know: It can happen to you too — and that’s okay.
“There’s no single solution,” she said. “But taking care of yourself? That’s where it starts.”
For immigrant women in San Francisco: Join Entre Nosotras on WhatsApp
We invite you — or your mom, your abuela or any mujer in your life — to join Entre Nosotras, a private WhatsApp group created for local, Spanish-speaking immigrant women. This is a welcoming space where you can:
- Stay up to date on resources, community events, and activities from Somos Esenciales and other community groups.
- Share your struggles, questions, and information needs with other women like you.
Scan the QR code above, or click here to join Entre Nosotras.
