Mental & Emotional Health

Listen, I don’t mean to keep talking about myself here but no one is giving me anything else to buzz about, so again today, you get me.  As I’ve written already, I’m changing my medication (not necessarily I but we meaning the doctor and I) from Cymbalta which toted a hefty $60 co-pay to Prozac which is only $15.  It seemed like common sense.

I’ve been on Cymbalta for several years now and I hated to rock the boat.  We were just flowing along so nicely.  But, monetarily, $60 is just a lot of money when you consider the costs of other drugs that we require around here. 

So, Cymbalta is out, Prozac is in.  Prozac was the first anti-depressant I ever took and when I started it, I don’t recall any side-effects.  For instance, when my husband first started his anti-depressant medication (Lexapro), he had plenty of side effects which eased up as the week wore on.  But, when I started Prozac, I don’t remember any such issues.

But, now, switching from one to the other has kept me down.  I’m dizzy, I’m lethargic, and I’m a little grumpy.  Not as grumpy as I once was without medication, but the change over has been difficult.  I just hope it works out for the best and I haven’t wasted this week for naught. 

Stay tuned and we shall see…

If you read Mom is Teaching, you know that I have a newly initiated kindergartener and I have been newly brought to the generation of "mom help me do my homework".  Wait, I’ve just now been brought to the idea of homework for kindergarten children and I can promise you, I don’t like it.  I’ve been reading a book by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish entitled, The Case Against Homework and I can tell you this, I can see myself getting active in this movement and quick. 

When I first started reading it my mind was on the fact that my child is only in kindergarten and he won’t have homework.I thought I would mark these ideas and strategies so I could use them later when homework piles up too high.  Then, the next thing I know…..my five-year-old is bringing home papers marked, "homework - please sign and return".  I almost hit the floor.

But, the place I would like to take you for this blog, Mental and Emotional Health has to do with the fact that parents are made to feel that this is as much their homework as it is the child’s.  I did my own homework through 12 years of school, 4 years of undergraduate and 2 years of graduate.  I don’t need to be re-learning that sounds, ba, ca, ja.  It is absurd.  So, after I thought about it a little, it was as if a brick hit me in the head.  Why is it that parents are expected to help their children with homework?  No, the real question is why do they have so much homework and why does a kindergarten child have homework, but that’s for another day on another blog.

My point here is this, I’ve been listening to parents for years discuss how much homework their child has and how it takes "them" (as in, the parent and the child) hours to do the homework at night.  And, immediately I think back to my own childhood.  I don’t remember my parents helping me at all unless it was an occasional quiz on  spelling words once in a while.  And, I do mean once in a while.

But, people, here is what is happening.  These kindergarten children are being sent home with homework that they can’t possibly do alone.  So, the parents have to sit down and help the child with the work.  For the coming months the child becomes more and more able to do the homework alone, but the parent still has to intervene to some degree.

First grade starts and the parent just picks up where he/she left off, sitting at the table fretting over the child’s homework.  And, if he/she doesn’t, the child doesn’t do it.  Why?  Because he/she is already dependent on mom/dad being right there to help them each step of the way.  So, it takes the child longer to finish.  And the next night, mom/dad decides it is just easier to help the kid.  Fast forward and the kid actually needs no assistance at all but not only is the child dependent on a parent to walk them through the steps, he/she has dance, baseball, football, cheerleading, etc and there is not enough time for the child to do anything outside of school AND get all of his homework done. Since he doesn’t get it done as quickly when mom/dad are sitting right there with him/her, it creates stress on the parents and the child.  And…. 

Now, look what has happened.  Mom/Dad is doing the homework so the child isn’t sitting up half the night doing it. How does this relate to mental and emotional health?

Well maybe it isn’t as clear to you but it relates in many ways.  The child is dependent on a parent who is already being pulled in many directions.  Emotionally the parent has all he/she can handle and doesn’t need an emotional breakdown by the child, thus we have a problem.  Mentally the child has become dependent on the parent to sit with him/her in order to get each and every step of the homework complete. 

Makes senses to me, how about yourself?  And, don’t even get me started on children who are medicated and the medication has worn off by the time the parent gets around to helping with homework. Or worse yet, did the kid need the medication in the first place.  I actually have some first hand knowledge on this one as well if you want to read about it here on Thursday of this week.

Discuss.

What did you think of my last post about the case I shared?  What do you think is happening with this child?

I wonder about the mental and emotional well-being of my own children.  They are only 3 and 5 but I am not generally the age of most of their peer’s parents.  Plus, sometimes I don’t think that my husband and I have the patience that we should with the boys.  I’m not sure if our age is going to play a role in a our ability to keep our boys active in the same kinds of things that other children have available to them. 

I went to school with several people who were born to women (parents) of "advanced maternal age" which is what it is called in the medical world.  Their lives were always different.  And usually their lives were different in a not-so-popular way.  Generally speaking these children didn’t get to be involved in as many extra-curricular activities, their parents were more stay-at-home-and-make-fun-for-yourself kind of parents and basically these children were as easy to label as were those of us who were only children or children of divorce.

My husband and I are extremely aware of how it can affect them.  But, when we punish our children, scold them, discipline them, they are extremely emotional.  I wonder if that is the case with children that have younger parents?  I wonder if we take life a little too seriously?  I wonder if my children we be labeled as "the kids with the old parents"?

What do you think? 

Do you remember peers that had older parents?

Was it you that parents that were older than most of your peers?

I’m sure you all remember at least one year of your young years that you were apprehensive about starting school.  Some kids are like that every year and some like that every Monday and some every day.  Luckily for me, I usually got nervous around the 6th and 7th grades but other than that, my self-confidence was pretty good and I enjoyed it.

My son started kindergarten 3 weeks ago and I knew he was a social butterfly.  I call him a politician.  He can talk to anyone about anything.  He come by that honestly.  Sadly I have to take the blame for that trait.  Right now he is sitting alone in the back of the room because he won’t quit talking all day long.

On his first day of school, he was a bit bumfuzzled as to why I was going inside with him.  We had been once and met his teacher so he felt like he knew where to go and he didn’t need me.  I told him that I was going that day and we would talk about the next day later.

Well, he took off in front of me, went to his room, sat down by his name tag and was ready for something to happen.  When most of the parents started clearing out, I looked back and my son gave me the following look.

Now does that look like a kid who is emotionally strained by the thought of starting school?  Of course not.  He still loves it and wouldn’t allow me to walk him inside the second day.  He had gone about his own way with only one day of guidance from me. 

I’ll let you know later how the second born will do.  It will be merely speculation but based on some on a stern foundation.

So, how is it for you?  Discuss?

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So, you know way more about me than a lot of people I know in real life.  But, as one would guess, you are probably wondering if I am just a clown that has had many mental and emotional issues and I’m going to try to urge you to go get medicated.  That is simply not the case.  I do believe that medication has its place and we will explore that more in depth later, but for now, I’m just going to give you a few credentials.

My personal thoughts on  my own mental and emotional health are that without the interventions of modern medication and later some therapy, I would not have been able to accomplish much.  So, with that, I’m sure you are wondering just what it is that I’ve done that makes me think I can write a blog here and help anyone.

For starters, did you read the two part introduction.  That alone should tell you that I’ve been the mental and emotional health genre for half of my life.  I was 19 when my father died and that depressive cycle began.  I will be 40 in a couple of weeks.  But, if you read those, you know, I suffered well before the age of 19, it was just then it became apparent to everyone because they could see the issues on the outside.

So, what did I do with myself?  I did what my father always dreamed of, I graduated with a Bachelors degree.  That was in 1991, in physical education.  I used that to teach physical education two and a half years.  My dad tried to tell me not to be a teacher.  I don’t think he knew that I was simply not going to be good at it, (which I wasn’t), he just wanted me to choose a career that wasn’t so difficult to endure (and it is very difficult). 

Either way, I graduated.  I also had a minor in chemistry so I was able to teach Earth and Life Science on year and again, it was awful and I wasn’t very good at it.   Later I taught Pre-K and…again, it was a horrible experience and I wasn’t very good at it in the first place. 

I let my certificate expire and thus was unable to teach after 2001.  In 2005, I decided I should try teaching again, I was older, my temperament was different and maybe…just maybe…

That’s when I realized my certificate had expired.  So, that meant I had to return to school.  So, why  not get my Masters in something that I could use outside the school system or inside if I chose.  I taught Biology while I was in school and just as before, I hated it and I was not good at it either. 

I got my Masters in Counseling last winter while I was busy running my own daycare.  It came in handy and even though it is not my nature to brag, I was able to pick employees strong points as far as what age they would be best working with.  At first they would balk on me, but later, people came to realize that I had a little education and I was good at reading people.

Personalities come easy for me it seems.  I can talk to someone for a short time and tell you way more about them than most of them know themselves.  No, I’m not psychic, I learned a little when I pursued that last degree and it is paying off for me now.

I knew my husband had ADD (attention deficit disorder).  It was very apparent to me.  He had suffered his entire life but didn’t grow up in a home with educated parents who knew what to look for.  I got him an appointment, they did the intake, they gave him a couple of written tests and then the doctor spent about 45 minutes with him.  Diagnosis?  ADD.  I knew it, I’d lived with him too long not to know it.  I knew the symptoms and with my husband, they were terribly obvious.

In recent months I came to realize that my husband was depressed.  Again, he didn’t see what I saw.  I had the education (and I don’t mean that in a smart-alec way, I mean, I read the books, I listened to my professors and I learned so much from them) and I knew that he was depressed.  I encouraged him to tell our psychiatrist that treats his ADD.  He didn’t.  I mentioned it at one of my visits but only briefly and only in the manner in which it was affecting our marriage.  I asked my husband the next month if he would please tell the doctor how he felt.  He said yes, but he didn’t do it.  The next month he suggested I come with him.  I did but the doctor talked to him alone.  My husband managed to pull off the ol’ "it’s just the stress of this one project at work and when it is over, I’ll be fine.).

Not only was I mad at this point, I was ready to do something drastic.  His behavior was affecting our marriage and especially affected his parenting skills.  So, at my next appointment with the doc, I asked if we could come together.  He said if it was ok with my husband, then of course it was ok with him.  We went together.  They gave him a depression test. 

I don’t know much about the depression test because I didn’t see it so I don’t know which test they gave him. However, after the doctor looked at it, he said, "you definitely appear to be depressed, a score of anything above 8 on this test would mean you might benefit from medication and therapy and you (meaning my husband) scored a 24"

Ok, see, I’ve been around the block.  I’ve had the emotional problems, I’ve had the mental fatigue, I’ve dealt with the problems and I’ve been trained to recognize them. 

So, with that, I give you my credentials.  Do you trust me yet?

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I was diagnosed with Mono over 2 months ago.  Most everyone knows the generally symptoms.  The enlarged spleen, the liver issues, the swollen glands and the fatigue.  But, the one symptom that no one tells you about is the one that works on you causing mental fatigue and causing you to be an emotional wreck. 

I would find myself asking what day it was and what time it was about every 2 or 3 hours.  My mom was getting very upset when I would ask her day after day, hour after hour, the same questions.  I couldn’t keep up with what time to take kids to school, pick them up from school, and never mind trying to keep up with when bills were due to be paid.

So, I’m going to give you a few Mono facts from WebMd

because most people are clueless.  And, this is certainly one of those illnesses that people say affects adults in a much more serious manner than it does children.  If you suspect you have mono (it is noticed mostly by the fact that the glands in the back of your neck are swollen, not just the ones under your chin.  I had glands down my shoulders that were swollen as well.), check these symptoms and go get checked immediately.  Mono is terribly contagious so do your part to keep it contained in your home.

1.  It is also known as the Epstein-Barr Virus

2.  Mono can be spread through contact with saliva, mucus from the nose and throat, and sometimes tears. Because the virus can be spread through kissing, it has earned the nickname the "kissing disease." If you have mono, you can avoid passing the virus to others by not kissing anyone and by not sharing things like glasses, eating utensils, or toothbrushes.

3.  The most common symptoms of mono are a high fever, a severe sore throat, swollen glands and tonsils, and weakness and fatigue. Symptoms usually start 4 to 6 weeks after you are exposed to the virus.

4.  Mono can cause the spleen to swell. Severe pain in the upper left part of your belly may mean that your spleen has burst. This is an emergency.

5.  Your doctor will ask you questions about your symptoms and examine you. You may also need blood tests to check for signs of mono (monospot test) and the Epstein-Barr virus. Blood tests can also help rule out other causes of your symptoms.

6.  Usually only self-care is needed for mono.

• Get plenty of rest. You may need bed rest, which could keep you away from school or work for a little while.
• Gargle with salt water or use throat lozenges to soothe your sore throat.
• Take acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) or ibuprofen (such as Advil) to reduce fever and relieve a sore throat and headaches.
• Avoid contact sports and heavy lifting. Your spleen may be enlarged, and impact or straining could cause it to burst.

For me, the mental fatigue and the emotional outbursts were far and away the worst problems that I experienced.  But, now you are more educated about it than I ever was so you know what to look for.

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I am Jerri Ann and as I mentioned in my last post, I’m going to cross-post from my personal blog the information that you might want to know about me as your author.  So, I present to you, the cross post.

Passion - Part One

I’m not passionate about a lot of things. I mean, I’m pretty much a "whatever" kind of gal. Nothing really phases me and I don’t get my mind dead set in one way or another about anything….anything except………….

DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, ANTI-DEPRESSANTS, ANTI-ANXIETY DRUGS

Ok, this is where I draw the line. I don’t have a sense of you could be right about this unless you agree with me. Here are my guidelines. I’ll try to keep it brief. I may need to include my reasoning, but I will do my best to be brief.

1. CHEMICAL IMBALANCES ARE REAL. Period. End.of.Sentence. If you don’t believe in chemical imbalances then you don’t believe in diabetes or thyroid disorders and many others. Those are just 2 that afflict me. I would no more stop taking my medication for depression/anxiety than I would for my diabetes and thyroid problem. Period. End.of.Sentence.

2. MEDICATION CAN RESTORE THAT IMBALANCE. It has been researched, argued and proven time and time again that most cases of depression and anxiety (which are chemical imbalances, remember number one above) can be restored through the use of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication. Don’t.Argue.With.Research.

3. THERAPY CAN BE BENEFICIAL. I am not against therapy. The therapy needs to occur with the proper medication and chemical imbalances can NOT be treated with therapy alone.

4. PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH ALTERS HORMONE LEVELS. If you don’t believe this, ask any woman who has ever carried a child. Period.End.of.Sentence. This is being talked about in great detail on the internet these days and if you don’t believe me, just go here, here, here, here, here, here,here, and HERE!

5. LIFE ALTERING EVENTS SUCH AS BIRTH, DEATH, MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, ETC CAN CAUSE A CHEMICAL IMBALANCE. I refuse to back down on this one even though it is probably very much fifth on my list priority-wise.

I was a depressed child. No one knew anything about depression and anxiety way back then. Hey, I’m just 39???

I got wordy. I will save the rest for another post. Just remember and come back for more… please? Although I am passionate about this matter and I will not waiver, I prefer you give me an opportunity to explain myself before you write me off as CRAZY! Yea, I said CRAZY.

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ADHD Kids’ Brains Mature More Slowly
To summarize this article, researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute (McGill University, Canada), with funding from the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Health have found that parts of ADHD diagnosed children “develop slower� than those of other children. The part of the brain that controls inappropriate actions and thoughts, the attention focusing ability, the moment-to-moment activity memory, the work-for-reward and the movement control areas of the brain may be lagging behind in development by as much as three years. (So now, when you your mother in an exasperated telephone call that you can’t get your seven-year-old to act her age, there may be a biological component as to why.)

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If you Google health information, you have the option of 110,000,000 different links to choose from. Google-ing mental health information and your results are a little more specific, but still leave you with 70,800,000 links! 110 million links? 70 million links? Where do you go to get information that you trust from experts? Where do you go when you’re looking to meet someone who deals with the same generalized anxiety disorder or the premenstrual induced migraines that you live with?

You go to WEGO Health!

You sign up***,
You read and post on the forums,
You see what sites the experts recommend and you can rest assured that you are being provided with the best health content there is on the internet.

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When you’re dealing with chronic stress, your cortisol (those steroids that get into your DNA and change your genetic expression!) is increased. Your blood sugar and your insulin levels are both increased, which can be dangerous and lead to diabetes II. Your immunity is “dysregulated.� (Today I am absolutely feeling dysregulated, I may write another entry about this later!)

There are actual tests that one can have done to see if they’re in a state of chronic stress (as though you could not already tell!). You can have a cortisol test done (normally by a naturopath). Your salivary cortisol will vary throughout the day, however, so speak with your naturopath before you settle on a final cortisol number. You can have your catecholamines tested as well.

Acute stress in females suppresses testosterone, but in other stresses, it can be elevated. Speaking with your physician about this will help you decide if a testosterone test is the best test for you.
Finally, there is a waist to hip ratio test that will work to show chronic stress as well. For women, it is best to have a waist to hip ratio of .8 or less. For men, it should be less than one. (To figure this out, divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement; it’s really that easy!)

There are ways to cope with this stress (and the stress of stress). Coping is, by definition, a “response to a perceived threat in the environment or within oneself.� You can have adaptive coping (problem solving & emotional regulation - keeping yourself put together during stress & then picking yourself up afterwards) or you can have maladaptive coping (with avoidance or overconsumption - of cigarettes, food, television, alcohol and whatnot).

There are hundreds of studies available that show humans who are less stressed are more healthy. We need to learn to manage the regular stressors in our lives so they don’t turn our bodies against us

mental & emotional health, stress, cortisol, coping with stress

Are you sick of learning about stress yet? Have I stressed you out enough yet? We’re on day EIGHT of the Stressball entries. I am enjoying writing them, and I seem to be receiving a lot of comments on how people are reacting to ‘em. Guess I’ll finish things up with a bit on how stress effects your nervous system.

Your nervous system responds to stress alongside the endocrine system. It is trigger by the “subjective perceptions of threat” whether the stress/threat is real or imagined. (So even when you just think of stress, your nervous system begins to react!) There is a disruption of your sympathetic & parasympathetic branches of your body during reactions to stress.

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I’m still working on continuing sharing what I’ve learned from my recent PHE 363 lectures on stress. (I did well on the quiz today, for anyone who remembered that I had it! I think I may have even earned one of the two extra credit points!)

I left you hearing about Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome, where portions of your brain are actually increased portions of your brain due to chronic stress. Scary, huh? Well just wait until I start talking to your stressed out selves today!

(BTW, thanks for the comments lately, guys, I’ve triggered something in ya’ll with these stress posts, and it’s exciting that I get so much email about ‘em!)

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Today I’ll be spending some time continuing yesterday’s Stressball V post. I am both prepping for the quiz (all this stuff will be on my quiz on Thursday at 2pm, wish me luck if you read it before then!) and educating my blog-readers. I’m so very happy with this circle!

There are three different types of stress:
eustress: a good stress (planning a wedding, learning your planned pregnancy is going great, winning an athletic competition),
neustress: neither good nor bad stress (a tornado hitting an unoccupied land would be neustress), and
distress: a bad stress, it can be both acute as well as chronic (failing a test, not being able to pay a certain bill, being stuck in a traffic jam)

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This post was actually written on Tuesday evening … I like to do the future-post thing!

Today’s lecture in PHE 363: Chronic & Communicable Diseases was about the horrible things that stress does to your body.

Guess who left the class more stressed out than when she walked into it?

Oh, yeah, that would have been me!

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Unfortunately, the past few weeks have been highly stressful in my life. With quitting my job, taking a week off, starting school, having to write two mini-papers in the first 7 days of school, and friends moving away, you could say that I’ve had a lot on my plate. It’s been disconcerting going from a very stress free job to a job that the rest of my life could depend on. It has me thinking about how stressed I really am allowing myself to get for something that I could be more relaxed about.

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