Mental & Emotional Health

There was a time when I was younger, I was very independent and my father was part of the reason for that.  He started at a young age insisting that I be independent.  I had to order my own food in restaurants and make and attend my own doctor’s appointments once I could drive.  I felt totally in control.

I went through some really tough depression years where it simply was not feasible for me to be as independent as I once had been.  I mean, honestly, I could barely get out of bed in the mornings, never mind actually do all that needed to be done for myself and the demanding tasks that my family and friends put on me. 

After I met my preset husband I was able to come out of that horrible depression but I found myself depending on him more and more to make decisions.  I did make some but I talked everything over with him.  I do that quite often now but if the purchase is extremely insignificant, I go ahead.  A couple of years ago I wouldn’t have done that.

But, slowly as we bought the daycare and I had to exercise my brain cells alot.  Now that I’m getting more and more opportunities that require me to think through my own plans, figure out  my own strategies and slowly but surely, I am returning to a portion of that independent woman my father wanted me to be.

For those of you out there who rarely step foot in a doctors office, this post is not for you.  I mean, really, even if you only go for the yearly check up and a flu shot, this post is not for you.  So, who is it for? 

This post is for those of us who suffer from all kinds of quirky little things like thyroid disease, diabetes, mental illness…you know, all those simple things that doctors know exactly how to treat.  Bah…they know nothing if you ask me.

I’m a firm believer in the fact that the patient’s symptoms should diagnose a problem and then blood work can help detail the medication, if any, is needed.  I’m having a hard time convincing most of my thyroid doctors of this though as for some reason, they all seem to think that the fact that I am .2 inside the normal range, but even on the low end, I should be fine. 

“No reason to increase your medication, your levels are fine.”  I hear it over and over yet I still have 90% of the symptoms of thyroid disorder.  And please, don’t get me started on the family history.  Father, grandmother, aunt, cousin and that’s just to name a few who have suffered from thyroid issues. 

As for the relationship between the thyroid and anxiety and depression, I suggest you consult this site, good stuff right here, good stuff.

I mean c’mon please, if you aren’t over-weight, or obese, you don’t get it.  I started walking on my treadmill three weeks ago.  And, after one day, I came down with a horrible sinus infection.  So, I didn’t exercise again that week.  The next week I walked 2 days and then I earned this horrible crick in my neck.  I’ve been down ever since.  I finally gave up today and saw my general practitioner so that I could get a specialist to see me.  But, that’s a long drawn out process and it will even be the first part of next week before I can even get the initial x-ray.

One x-ray to warrant an MRI to start the process of going to see a specialist who is probably going to order yet another MRI.  And, this about where my insurance starts acting crazy because gah, all these MRI’s.  I just had a brain MRI this week, nothing there…ahahaha, ,old joke, always funny. 

But, really, the brain is normal and the sinus’s were clear.  That means that this horrible knot on my neck and this horrible ear pain and arm weakness on the same side are not related to sinuses.  And, so I guess I spend the weekend doped up on muscle relaxers yet again…which is what I did last weekend.

I’m telling you, it’s hard to work when you can’t hold your head up and even I get tired of sleeping.  Anyway, I’m over-weight and every time I make good on my promise to myself to get back to exercising, something happens to mess me up. 

Now, if you had experienced all this crap in the last few weeks, you too would probably be suffering psychologically as well.  And, by suffering emotionally from the physical pain, my weight continues to be an issue.  Does that make any sense at all?

My oldest son is 5.  He is in kindergarten and within week two he had already found himself sitting at the back of the room alone.  He talks incessantly.  It just goes on forever.  I’m certain he is going to grow up to be a radio sportscaster because the kid doesn’t even breathe between sentences.

His teacher assures me that he is a good kid, follows directions, stays on task and is good to his classmates.  He got his first report card yesterday and it too tells the same story.

But…you knew that was coming, right?  We had him tested when he was three.  There were several reasons for it.  One, he wasn’t talking much.  He communicated fine, he just wouldn’t string words together.  Another reason was his intelligence level (although not in speaking) was out of this world.  And, finally, he had about as much attention as a gnat. 

Yes, the good doctor (and I do believe he was good for several reasons, I’ll mention those in a minute) believed that my son very well may have been on the edge of some ADHD issues.  The reason I believed in this doctor so much also comes in parts.  One, the doc agreed with us that we should tolerate as much of his antics at home as we could, choosing no medication for him until much later.  He agreed that once he started school and the teacher was calling me every day and he was making everyone in the room miserable, then we would talk about medication.  But, incessant talking does not ADHD make!

Anyway, this doctor also explained that our next source of problems would come as he got older and matured.  You see, at the ripe age of 3 years and 3 months, he tested out at 2nd grade 7th month.  That’s pretty self explanatory even for the non-education people I think.

Anyway, I refuse to medicate him until I see that he is out of control.  And, for now, his teacher seems fine with his ability to talk until everyone falls over in their chair and she seems to get a kick out of some of the stuff he can dream up. 

Do I still think he might have a edge for ADHD?  Absolutely.  Is it a problem?  Absolutely not.  Will we medicate?  NO way!  My husband has ADD and he was only diagnosed a few years ago.  He says he wished he had been given the opportunity to take medication as a child.  His grandparents figured a good spanking was the best cure.

Anyway, in my reading, researching and writing, I have found numerous sites to be helpful.  We recognized before my 5 year old was ever born that he had an aversion to anything grape.  Yes, I was pregnant and drinking good ol’ sugar-high grape kool-aid.  After about 5 trips to labor and delivery, we figured it out. 

He still can even drink grape juice, 100% grape juice.  It sends him way over the edge.  And, he doesn’t tolerate sugar well where my 3 year old seems to be unaffected by its effects. 

I recently received an email from Jane Faus regarding this very issue.  I thought I’d share some of her thoughts here as well .  They are in the comment section but this just makes it easier.

"take a look at the research that has shown omega-3 essential fatty acids to be very helpful for both depression and ADD.  One benefit is that they do not have negative side effects, including depression — which is sometimes a side effect of ADD drugs."

"Another trigger for many of our modern ailments is the enormous amount of synthetic chemicals being added to our food"

Although I am OCD in many ways, I don’t get so close to the ADD or ADHD spectrum as my husband and son, but, read this…this is me,

"My husband used to get horrible 3 and 4 day migraine headaches from the dyes and a few other synthetic additives."

"You can read all of part one of my book "Why Can’t My Child Behave?" on our web site www.ADHDdiet.org; it will give you quite a lot of information on the diet/behavior/learning link."

Anyway, for anyone who thinks that they have ADD or ADHD or that their child has problems, you should definitely go read some  of the information on Feingold before you take any action by the way of drugs.  There’s so much to learn there, I can’t imagine trying to work it all in, but we are modifying as needed until we can get a bit calmer version of my wonderful little boy.  (My husband is trying some diet modifications as well.)

If you have any questions, shoot them my way and we will see what we can come up with!!

Just so you know that my thoughts about my size didn’t come strictly from my mother.  My father was a small man.  He was about 5′7" and when he wasn’t smoking and was instead nibbling on every thing in sight, he weighed maybe 130.  So, by the eighth grade, I was bigger than my dad.  I out-weighed my dad early in my life.  That alone wasn’t easy to accept. 

My paternal relatives are all small.  My grandmother at a whopping 95 pounds, and my grandfather probably 130 or 135.  My dad’s sister probably doesn’t weigh 100 pounds either.  So, it isn’t like I necessarily have the gene of being a big woman.  However, my maternal grandfather pushed 300 pounds most of my life.  But, my maternal grandmother and her family, little people as well.

It was kind of like when the dice were rolled to choose my gene for my size and I had a one in four chance of being a large woman, I lost. 

But, back to the fact that my mom isn’t the only one who left me with bad memories of my weight.  I’ll be the first to say that I started being very conscious of my weight by the age of 13.  I had entered puberty way before most of my classmates and I had curves that no one else had.  Once in high school, I fit in a little better and it wasn’t to bad.  I would run from 120 to 130 depending on the time of year.  I played fall and spring sports with the spring sport carrying over through the summer.  But the winter?  Oh the winter was hard.  I would always gain weight during the winter, but once spring rolled around, I could shake it off.

It was a never ending see-saw.  So, since I’ve told you way more stuff that is pertinent to this story, I’m going to try to get to the end.  My father passed away when I was 19, so you know that the comment from him had come my way basically from the age of 14 til 19.  What comments?  It was as if he was a parrot on my shoulder, watching what I ate, watching me gain weight and lose it and while I paid no attention in any way to what was happening.  I didn’t try to lose the weight any more than I tried to gain it.  It was just the part of the cycle of my activities.

But, I remember my father telling me one time, "you know, when you have your eye on a certain guy you lose weight, when you catch him, you put it back on….just like your mother"  I was almost 17 when he said that and I’ll never forget it. And, as it is, he was right.  Those bikini wearing 140 pound days were when I was single…the ballooning up was during times of a relationship, teeter-totter, teeter-totter. 

A memory…yea, probably said without much thought, just a simple observation made by a  father of his daughter.  But it stung, it stung bad.

Share this post :

I have OCD and it was apparent before the age of 8. How do I know this? Because the nurse for my psychiatrist did my intake. Half way through the intake, he stops and says, "Do you still count things?" I was totally baffled as to how he would know this. I had not been around this man since I was at least 8. My OCD manifested itself in counting way back then. So, why didn’t anyone see this 31 years ago?

I suffer from anxiety. I didn’t do this too bad until I reached college. I was the teacher’s kid. I got special treatment. People knew I was a "good kid" who made "good grades" because my father was well-known in the teaching community. Thus, I was given many a privilege just by my name alone. When I entered college, reality slapped me cold in the face. I had no clue that the world was so cruel. And, anxieties set in that to this day I haven’t over-come. Medication helps. Medication helps a lot. Medication helps A WHOLE LOT. Get me. I simply don’t back down on these issues. I’m passionate. Period.

I suffer from depression. I suspect my family situation lent itself to my depressive behavior, I didn’t have a very happy childhood. I suspect genetics lends itself everyday to my depressive behaviors. My mom is depressed and has been most of my life. My father was more of a manic person. Happy as a lark one day, a terribly unhappy sap the next. I am a clone of my father. It isn’t bi-polar, it is simply, depression. My maternal grandfather, my paternal grandmother and grandfather all suffer/suffered from depression. All of my mother’s siblings and one of my father’s siblings suffer/suffered from depression. People, it is in my genes. Just like cancer. Just like diabetes. Just like thyroid disorders. I could go on forever.

My father died when I was 19. I entered a state of depression that would have likely took down most folks. I say that because I’m telling you, my childhood was rough. Let’s just leave it at that. If someone out there wants to challenge me on this, a private email will do, I can settle it. No, I was not homeless or abandoned. It was a plethora of minor offenses that led to depression with me.

Anyway, my father died when I was 19. I’ve already mentioned that my father was important to me. I lived with my father from age 13 to 19. He and my mother divorced when I was 4. He taught me everything I know. I can’t think of anything I learned between the ages of 4 and 13 that was good. I see you rolling your eyes. Just listen.

Two years after his death and I was failing at a major university. My father’s one and only goal was to see that I got my Bachelor’s Degree in something. I chose teaching. He didn’t approve necessarily. I got my degree and I couldn’t care less about it. I still don’t except for the fact that it led to a Masters that I just got last year. So, even still, I give my father credit for that.

So, two years and I’m failing at the very of event of living. I sought help. I got it. I didn’t however get a good doctor. The one I got said, "I believe you are depressed, wrote me a prescription for Prozac and waived her magic wand." It was years later before I hunted a doctor that knew something about my problem. Family doctors simply weren’t getting it. They were writing and re-writing a script that a neurologist years before had started because she had no explanation for my body’s behavior…except depression.

This would get real long if I went into "my body’s behavior" so just trust me again on this one.

When I was 34 I met my present husband. Having tried out three others that didn’t fit me, I found a man who is 100% meant to be my husband. The depression started to fade. I continued my medication. I got pregnant and decided that it was best that I not take the anti-depressants. My doctor convinced me otherwise. I am quoting Kristen over at Motherhood Uncensored here but basically this is exactly what my OB said to me:

But the truth of the matter is, if we don’t take care of ourselves, then we won’t be around to take care of our kids.

Yes, I purposefully sought out a female OB. She got it. She understood. She put me on a different medication. Which family doctors continued to write without asking any questions after we moved a state away when I was 38 weeks pregnant.

We moved home and I found a psychiatrist who KNOWS HIS STUFF. It took a while. He didn’t automatically find the write medications and the right doses immediately. I would say it took close to 7 or 8 months. No, really it did. Now, I exist on a small dose of 2 different medications. One specifically to treat depression; one specifically for anxiety. And they work. Both are long term drugs. Neither are of the "let me go get a pill for before I go crazy" variety. I have those. I rarely need them. I rarely need them because………..I TAKE MY MEDICATION THAT WORKS ON THE IMBALANCE. Simple.

People who don’t know…simply don’t know. I don’t mean to sound like I’m preaching, I’m simply trying to help you understand. Notice I didn’t say I was trying to MAKE you understand, I can’t make you. I simply want you to try.

I will hang on tight to the following statement and I’ll tell you again that it is a direct quote from Kristen AND an OB in Gainesville Florida…..

But the truth of the matter is, if we don’t take care of ourselves, then we won’t be around to take care of our kids.

How does that old saying go…….walk a mile in my shoes

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.

Share this post :

It’s been a while since I did a news day and that’s because it’s been rather slow. I had to actively search for mental or emotional health news today, nothing much going on. Kinda strange!

Depression Pushes Middle-Aged Workers to Retire - In many cases, depression is a deciding factor for men and women considering retirement, according to new research. Middle-aged men who suffer with symptoms of depression are more likely to retire early, while retirement-age women often take the leap even if their depressive symptoms are mild.

Mental Health Bill OK’d in Senate - The Senate passed legislation last night that would require equal health insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses when policies cover both. The bill, passed by unanimous consent, moves advocates one step closer in their quest for mental health parity. “This new legislation will bring dramatic new help to millions of Americans who today are denied needed mental health care and treatment,” said Senator Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts. (AP) (That is the entire “article”.)

Soldiers Getting Brain Tests Before Deployment - Before they leave for Iraq, thousands of troops with the 101st Airborne Division line up at laptop computers to take a test: basic math, matching numbers and symbols, and identifying patterns. They press a button quickly to measure response time. It’s all part of a fledgling Army program that records how soldiers’ brains work when healthy, giving doctors baseline data to help diagnose and treat the soldiers if they suffer a traumatic brain injury — the signature injury of the Iraq war.

Little-Known Purging Disorder Is Often Missed - An Iowa researcher is studying a little-known eating disorder that some doctors may miss: purging disorder. Though similar to women with bulimia, patients who fit this description don’t binge-eat. Yet they feel compelled to purge, usually by vomiting, even after eating only a small or normal amount of food, said Pamela Keel, the University of Iowa researcher who led a study on the subject.

Elderly Are At Highest Risk for Suicide - Not long after 72-year-old Anne Beale Golsan had retired on disability from her job as a librarian, she put a stack of paid bills out for the mail, hung up a freshly pressed outfit and taped a note to the front of the house. “Don’t come in by yourself. Get somebody to come with you. Sorry, Love Beale.�?

Sick? Lonely? Genes Tell the Tale - Lonely people are more likely to get sick and die young, and researchers said on Thursday they may have found out why — their immune systems are haywire. They used a “gene chip” to look at the DNA of isolated people and found that people who described themselves as chronically lonely have distinct patterns of genetic activity, almost all of it involving the immune system.

mental & emotional health, mental health news, retirement, middle-age depression, Senate, soldiers, brain tests, Iraq War, purging disorder, eating disorders, elderly suicide, suicide risk, lonely

mental and emotional health, alcohol, alcoholism, alcohol abuse, American Academy of Neurology 2007 Annual Meeting, genetics, calorie restriction, Salk Institute, PHA-4, Foxa, Louisiana State University, mental health, Margaret Trudeau, Pierre Trudeau, CBC Newsworld, medical checkups, persuasion, arguing, Thank You For Arguing, Jay Heinrichs, Three Rivers Press, book reviews, how to fight, conflict, education, interpersonal dealings, negotiating strategies, negotiation skills, phantom pregnancy, pseudocyesis, pregnancy, news

Health Day News writes that, according to a team of researchers, genes from a “specific region of chromosome 15″ may lead to depression!

“We should be able to hone more finely into the gene,” said Myrna Weissman, co-author of one of the papers and a professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia University and head of clinical and genetic epidemiology at New York State Psychiatric Institute, both in New York City. “Then, we can see mutations and develop treatments,” she said.

Look for the full article in the February issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry written by lead scientists at Stanford University. Researchers write that about 10 to 15 percent of people suffer from depression at some point in life and between three & five percent have depression chronically. Scarily enough (because I am a woman), women are twice as likely as men to live with depression.

Although no single gene (scientists guess that there are several genes instead) has been decided upon as the responsible one, studies of families, and especially twins, have revealed that depression is partly genetic. While things may be genetic, one must take the environmental factors (including psychological trauma) may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Once the actual genes are found is very important and it may teach researchers exactly how genes are involved in depression, and maybe one day, what genes actually do.