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

It is a travesty there are more mentally ill in prisons than in hospitals.  Part of that is there are few state hospitals and often the money disappeared.  It, often, did not go for the necessary community services to provide the support some people needed.  In fact, the budget for service for the mentally ill already bare bone keeps getting trimmed.  What ever happened to the idea we are our brothers’ keeper.  Now the jails are being forced to treat the mentally ill.  And they want to use as little money as possible, use the cheapest drugs when other new ones would be more appropriate.  If you are manic they force you to take Thorazine for it is a cheap but is an outmoded treatment.  If you are a prisoner and happen to be mentally ill you have no civil rights or say about the matter.  It is really disgusting and inhumane.

Tags: civil rights, community services, jails, medications, mental illness, our brothers' keeper, prisons, state hospitals, the mentally ill in prison, Thorazine
Posted in knowledge&learning, life, mental health, money, politics, time | No Comments »

The worst diagnosis I ever received was being considered mentally ill.  I had to fight for decades for my sanity.  I doubted my own mind.  I did not trust me.  And that is devastating when you do not even trust your own mind.  I had to understand me and also be able to rely on me.  The stigma my parents felt when I started breaking down became internalized.  I hated me every time I end up in a hospital or psychiatric ward.  The treatment I received was, also, devastating.  I was no longer treated as a citizen with all the rights due me.  I became a second class citizen with no civil rights.  They were all taken away from me because I broke down in a way society frowned upon.  It was not my fault.  Some people become drug addicts.  Some become alcoholics.  I was punished by the system because I was manic-depressive.  They would shoot me full of Thorazine to stamp out the mania which was not my fault.  I was stigmatized for being mentally ill.  I read everything I could to understand me and how to find a way I could exist in this society.  I do take medication now for my condition but all I do is take some pills in the morning and then evening and then forget about it.  I know who I am and like who I am.  I have learned to reach out to others.  I do not want others to go through the hell I did.  If reading this blog makes it a little easier for you on your journey I will be happy.  This is part 1 of this discussion.

Tags: hospital, mania, manic-depressive, mental illness, mentally ill, my parents, no civil rights, no longer treated as a citizen, psychiatric medications, psychiatric ward, reach out to others, stigma, Thorazine, trust your own mind
Posted in balance, knowledge&learning, life, mental health, relationships, time, wisdom | No 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 »

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
Posted in balance, health, knowledge&learning, mental health, time | No Comments »

An open letter to an young adult struggling with mental illness:

I am sorry you had to spend New Year’s in an hospital.  I pray you get the help you need in the hospital (and when you get out).  You hardly eating for several days did not help.  Medications can do strange things if you are not eating properly.

Unfortunately when you get diagnosed mentally ill and exhibit aberrant behavior like paranoia and psychosis others simply say you are “mentally ill” when the very drugs you are taking may be causing you those symptoms.  I can’t say for sure.

I still don’t think you are on the right medication.  You did well on one drug but it had an unfortunate side effect.  It is very difficult taking medication because you have to admit you have a problem.  After all these years I still don’t like I take medication.

I urge you not to go back to your parents.  It is not good for you.  Everything centers around a job.  You may not get there immediately.  Your independence.  Your residence.  Your ability to choose your own doctor.  Everything.  It is up to you.  You have to take more responsibility for your life.  It does not happen overnight.

You have to find a regiment of medication that helps you.  It is just an aid–no more.  You still have to help yourself.  When you become stable again please look for work.  Don’t expect others to take care of you.  You still have to take responsibility for your life.  The more you do so, the better you will feel about yourself.

Love

From one who went through it and wants to make the journey for another a little easier.

Tags: doctor, get a job, help yourself, hospital, independence, look for work, medication, mental illness, paranoia, parents, psychiatric drugs, psychosis, residence, take care of you, take responsibility for your life
Posted in balance, knowledge&learning, life, love, mental health, relationships, time, wisdom | No Comments »

There is nothing I can do but pray.  My daughter is in a bad way, has been for awhile.  I feel helpless.  I know what she can use but I have no idea how she is going to get it.  I want to help, but I can’t easily.  I can just be there when and if she comes to me.  All I can do is pray.  I know in my own life things did not turn around until I hit bottom.  She is close and I can’t help her.  The only thing I can do is get on my knees.  That is the only thing I can do:  get on my knees.

Tags: daughter, feel helpless, get on my knees, God, help, hit bottom, mental illness, nothing I can do but pray, pray, prayer
Posted in children, God, knowledge&learning, life, love, mental health, relationships, time, wisdom | No Comments »

We have been home (from the Jersey Shore) less than 24 hours and what I most appreciate is the quiet here.  All I hear here is the ?crickets or is it the ?cicadas.  And the occasional “whoosh” of a car passing nearby.

The bed and breakfast we stayed at for three nights was on a busy road.  It was very difficult to make a left hand turn.  It was only a block away from the ocean.  New Jersey just had too many people.

For some reason I become very unsettled in crowded areas.  It is not my fault.  I just do.  I will appreciate my house better.  It is not on a main fare.  I watch the birds come to and fro my feeders all day.  Especially the hummingbirds who never fail to delight me.

There is a reason mental hospitals always were situated in the country.  They used to be called rest homes.  Many years ago the array of medications to treat mental illness did not exist.

People who had nervous breakdowns were sent to hospitals in the countryside to recuperate and recover.  There is nothing like the calm found in nature to do so.

I will appreciate my home better.  It is just a relief to be here.  My trip to the Jersey shore reminded me how fortunate I am to be on the edge of country.

Tags: Atlantic ocean, bed and breakfast, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, calm found in nature, cicadas, country, crickets, crowds, edge of country, home, hummingbirds, Jersey Shore, medications, mental hospitals, mental illness, nature, nervous breakdown, New Jersey, quiet, recuperate, rest homes
Posted in beauty, birds, God, health, life, local, mental health, nature, time, wisdom | No Comments »