Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

Sometimes the answer (from God) Is No.  No matter how badly we want the answer to be yes.  We don’t understand why we suffer.  Often there is just silence.  And other times it is a definite No.  Otherwise He would be just this person who we just ask to do this or that.  His purposes are beyond our understanding.  He does choose to heal.  But not in every instance.  Even Paul prayed that God take away his ‘thorn in his flesh’.  And He didn’t.  If you ask the question why, there is often no answer.  And if you keep asking that question, it will only torment you.  Sometimes the answer from God is no, no matter how fervently you pray.

Tags: "thorn in the flesh", answer to prayer, beyond our understanding, Bible, fervent prayer, God, healing, New Testament, pray, prayers, question why, silence, St. Paul, why we suffer
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I am one of the lucky ones.  My medication helps.  The medication, though, is an aide.  I take it and then forget about it.  For many medication does not help.  And doctors keep wanting to put others who are diagnosed mentally ill on them.  And the medications just mess up their patients.  There is definitely an over emphasis on medication to treat mental illness.  For many the side effects are intolerable.  Or the medication does not really help.

I remember one doctor telling me he could eliminate all my symptoms with medication but then I would be a zombie.  And too many doctors keep trying to do that.  Often you can’t function.  And the side effects are worse than the symptoms the doctor is treating.  If you are a patient and your doctor puts you on a new med or increases the dose of one, you need to question the doctor about everything–the side effects, how long it takes to work, whether or not it works (the time frame), everything.  After all, you are putting the drug in your body.  You need to question everything.  The doctor relies on your feedback.

Tags: ask questions, doctors, give feedback, medication, mentally ill, patient, psychiatry, question the doctor, side effects, symptoms
Posted in balance, health, knowledge&learning, mental health, time | 2 Comments »

Feeling shame is the worst thing about experiencing mental illness.  It isolates you.  It keeps you in a prison of your own making.  The truth is everyone has problems.  Unfortunately those diagnosed being mentally ill are singled out.  And others around them by a wall of silence tacitly agree something is wrong with that person.  And the stigma becomes internalized.  While all it really is, is another set of problems.

And the truth is the only people who don’t have problems are those “under the ground.”  Society perpetuates the stigma in all kinds of ways:  the media is one big way.  Of course, the pharmaceutical companies want to sell their drugs.  Each version of the DSM has more diagnoses and is driven by the drug companies.  They want to push their drugs.  I find it interesting we are the only country to use the DSM.  And they don’t care about the side effects.  It just means they can then prescribe more drugs to treat them.

I have become very cynical about the drug companies.  Most people want nothing to do with these drugs.  For many people they don’t work and even make things worse when you are prescribed them and you go off of them.  Medication is overused to treat mental illness.  Medication can only help you so much assuming they are even helping you, which is a very big assumption.  In fact nowadays most family doctors prescribe them.  Most people do not want others to know they are seeing a psychiatrist.  There is just too much shame about it.

Tags: diagnoses, drug companies, DSM, everyone has problems, family doctor, medication, medication overused to treat mental illness, mental illness, pharmaceutical, psychiatrist, shame, side effects, stigma
Posted in health, knowledge&learning, life, mental health, time | 2 Comments »

Feelings can be somewhat deceiving.  I wake up every morning depressed–at least it seems that way.  I don’t take too much stock in it.  I’ve learned, as a rule, the first hour I am awake I don’t feel good.  It usually lifts after I am up for awhile and I had my morning coffee.  That is just par for the course.  It has something to do with my metabolism.  I only get concerned if my depression lasts beyond the first waking hour.  Feelings can be deceitful.  Sometimes they are totally due to physical reasons.  And I always look at that explanation first.  I am also careful how I eat.  After a certain point in the morning, I make sure I eat something substantial and keep away from sugar.  Your diet can matter.

Tags: depression, eat right, feelings can be deceiving, metabolism, morning coffee, mornings, sugar, wake up depressed, your diet, your feelings
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Your feedback is essential to the psychiatrist.  In the beginning patients want to be “fixed.”  They want the medication the doctor prescribes to solve everything.  You have to take an active role in your treatment.

Question everything the physician does, every medication you are put on.  After all, it is your body you are putting the medication in.  Learn what to expect, with every medication adjustment.

Learn what a therapeutic level is.  How long it takes to get there, what changes to expect.  Learn the side effects of each medication you are on, whether you can live with them.

Learn, also, what changes will occur in you body and mind, when to determine whether the medication is, truly, helping you.

You are not a passive participant.  The doctor can not prescribe medications properly without your accurate feedback.

Know the time frame of each medication, how long you have to wait before it works properly, if at all.

The medication is only an aid.  You still have to help yourself.  The medication does not work properly if you do not take care of yourself:  that means eating correctly and sleeping enough regularly.

You have to know if the doctor is listening to you.  Don’t be afraid to change doctors if they are not.  I have fired a few in my time.  This is harder to do if you are going to a mental health center but it can be done.

Learn everything you can about every medication before you take it so you know what to expect.  Your feedback is essential to the doctor.  He can not do his job properly without it.

Tags: eating correctly, help yourself, medication, mental health center, mental illness, patient feedback, patients want to be "fixed", physician, psychiatrist, question your doctor, side effects, sleep, therapeutic level
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It is by grace I am here.  Alive and well.  I knew too many who did not make it back.  They became lost in the labyrinth of their minds.  And did not find their way back.  I did.  I knew many swallowed by the “system”.  After awhile it no longer mattered why they were there.  The damage was done by the caretakers.  My family could have easily given up one me.  There were points in my life where my situation seemed hopeless.  It is only by grace I am here–only by the grace of God.  I am a walking “miracle”.

Tags: "the system", caretakers, family, God, grace, grace of God, labyrinth of their minds, mental health, miracle, only by grace, situation seemed hopeless, your mind
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Black moods often follow when you have slept badly.  Not all the time for peoples’ constitutions differ.  There is nothing like a solid good night sleep to restore your mood and dispel depression due to fatigue.  Your emotions sometimes are deceivers.  You can’t always rely on them to be accurate.  If you are eating correctly (yes, a poor diet heavy on sugar can exacerbate depression) and sleeping well and you are often depressed, there is another reason you are depressed and you have to look at that.  In any case, realize a bad night sleep can darken your moods and all it takes is a good night sleep to brighten your day.  Depression can be solely physiological due to a bad night sleep.  Sleep is restorative.  When you sleep, your body purges itself of poisons.

Tags: black mood, depression, depression can be physiological, dispel depression, eating right, emotions, fatigue, good night sleep, sleep, sleep is restorative
Posted in balance, health, mental health, time, wisdom | No Comments »

Life is always a question of balance.  First it gets tipped one way.  Then the other direction.  You go back and forth.  The same thing happens internally in your body.  The term is homeostasis.  One example is your blood sugar.  The level in the blood stream goes up and down.  When it reaches a certain low point your appetite is activated.  You eat and your blood sugar goes up.  How quickly depends on what you eat for different types of food are metabolized at different rates.

A person has to have quiet moments to analyze the direction he/she is going in their life.  There is a reason one of the commandments is to observe the Sabbath.  God does not need to rest.  Humans do.  One day a week they need to get off their treadmill and rest and reevaluate their life.  Does the person have to do something different in their life–go  in another direction.  You can go faster and faster but get no where.  Life is always a question of balance.

Tags: appetite, balance, blood sugar, God, homeostasis, life, metabolism, observe the Sabbath, question of balance, quiet moments, ten commandments
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You always pay for convenience.  I was at a check out counter in the local supermarket and the woman in back of me noticed I had two bags of fresh cranberries.  She asked me, “Are they hard to make (referring to the sauce)?”  And I quickly told her, “You just add a cup of sugar and water for each bag and heat and stir a bit.  I said, “they taste great” and repeated “they really are not hard to make”.  The cashier then popped up and said “I am a ‘can’ person”.  My argument for making fresh cranberry sauce had no effect on the customer in back of me.  She said, “I am still going to buy the can.  It is so much easier to open the can and pour it out.”  I just shrugged my shoulders and left the store.  I am well aware of the price of convenience:  It costs more and often does not taste as good.

Tags: cashier, cranberry sauce, customer, fresh cranberries, price of convenience, supermarket
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In every life some tragedy falls.  It does no good to bemoan your fate.  Some people die, get sick, have accidents.  Life is not fair.  It does no good to compare yourself with others.  You deal with the “cards dealt you”.  That is all you can do.  Every life has tragedy.  There is no way to get around that.  Each life has problems.  You should be grateful.  Life is, indeed, very precious and all you can do is deal with your unique set of problems.  And how you face them will determines your character.  We are all tempered by the crucible of fire.

Tags: accidents, be grateful, bemoan your fate, crucible of fire, death, everyone has problems, God, gratitude, life is precious, sickness, tempered, tragedy, your character
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It was the old fashioned way.  And it did not occur to me until I learned my dryer was not going to be fixed immediately.  It had been out of service for at least a week and the service person had to order a part, which would take over a week to arrive.  I was running out of clean underwear and socks and had become desperate.  I had to improvise.  First I had considered going to the nearest laundromat.  That was twenty minutes away.  Then I remembered I had clothesline so I strung it up.  We were going to hit a good stretch of weather.  It was going to be warm and no rain.  My wife dug up some clothes pins so we were in business.  This is the way people always dried their clothing (before the advent of electricity and driers).  She was thrilled she could air dry her clothing and what did not dry was hung up in the bathroom overnight.  This was the way it was always done at one time.  It certainly was economical.  We had to rediscover it.  She was so thrilled.  And I had clean underwear and socks again.  And other clean clothing.

Tags: broken dryer, clean underwear, clothes dryer, clothes line, clothes pins, laundromat, laundry, service repairman, socks, the old fashioned way, warm weather
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Why you should never give up on anyone:  you never know when they will turn the corner.  Of course, when this person has failed over and over, you are tempted to but you have to resist this feeling.  Some drug addicts have gone through one rehab after another and still have gone back to using.  Some alcoholics repeatedly have gone off the wagon.  These are just two type of problems.  Nevertheless, you have to keep trying to help others.  You never know when they will turn the corner and it is true some never do but one never knows when they recover from their weaknesses and begin to lead more fruitful lives.  Never give up on anyone.  Never give up hope.

Tags: "off the wagon", alcoholic, drug addict, help others, hope, life, never give up on anyone, rehab, turn the corner
Posted in death, God, health, knowledge&learning, life, love, mental health, relationships, time, wisdom | No Comments »