Cover of Ashley JuddA movie about the realities of Depressive Disorder (aka having a Nervous Breakdown)... a very real Dis-ease. The hardships, the struggles. If you have experienced it you will understand. If not, this film will give you a hint at the uncontrollable feelings and urges.
My husband said, "Why would anyone want to see that? It's so depressing." (long pause) People who have not experienced it, just don't get it.
Just as in the movie he said, "She just needs to get out and get some exercise." If only it were that easy.
I found it both enlightening and, in the end, encouraging.
I was diagnosed with Depression for two years after not being able to save a friend (through CPR) from dying under my watch. But the reasons are many. Who knows. Some may be subconscious. Some (if you believe in it could even be from Past Life experiences) if you believe in that sort of thing.
Woke up a little depressed this morning and knew it was time for an Abraham fix. What is Abraham? My husband calls it silly. My counselor called it "Selective Attention: Choosing to Focus Only on the Positive". The equivalent Old School thought would be to Count One's Blessings. But, whatever IT is, all I know is that a little listen helps to make me feel a whole lot better. So here is...
So now it's after the holidays and we're feeling a little bloated, heavy, and slow. What we need is a plan for boosting our energy... so that we can get back on track with our health, weight and physical fitness goals.
1)Drink lots of water. A dehydrated body functions less efficiently. Replace sodas with plain water.
2)Reduce or limit caffeine. 1 or 2 caffeinated drinks per day like coffee, tea or cola can boost your energy and mental alertness, but more than 6 caffeinated drinks per day may make you anxious, irritable, and negatively affect your performance. Plus, your sleep may be disrupted.
3)Eat breakfast. Food boosts your metabolism and gives your body energy to burn. Make sure to include protein to help prevent that mid-morning low blood sugar drop. Symptoms of over-carbing and not enough protein (symptoms of low blood sugar) are drowsiness and the inability to concentrate. A carb eaten alone actually has a narcotic effect.
4)Don't skip meals. Going without food for too long allows blood sugar levels to dip. Try to eat regularly to maintain your energy levels throughout the day. You should never go longer than 6 hours between meals. To avoid low blood sugar symptoms your body needs an influx of nutrition at least every 4 hours. And don't eat more frequently than every 2.5 hours. This can also drag you down (got this advice from MMA Champ Jeremy Horn!).
5)Don't crash diet. Low calorie diets or diets that severely restrict carbohydrates don't contain enough energy for your body's needs. The typical crash diet also deprives the body of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and trace elements.
6)Don't overeat. Large meals can drain your energy. For a healthier diet, try eating 6 meals a day to maintain blood sugar levels and energy. Eating every 3 hours equals about 6 meals a day. Eating every 4 hours, about 5 meals a day.
7)Get enough sleep. Adults need about 8 hours per night.
8)Learn how to relax. A common cause of insomnia is fretting while lying in bed. Experiment with different relaxation techniques until you find one or two that work for you; for example, you could think of a restful scene, focus on your breathing, or silently repeat a mantra or phrase.
Sugar is something that people generally don't think of when it comes to insomnia. But, just like caffeine and aspartame, it can cause you to have that anxiety-provoking constant train of thought at bedtime.
9)Increase physical activity. Exercise!! Physical activity boosts energy levels, while a sedentary lifestyle is known to cause fatigue. It's a law of physics! A body at rest tends to stay at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion. Don't let yourself become a victim of "The Couch Potato Syndrome"!
10)Limit the time you sit down. Reduce sedentary behaviors such as watching television and using computers. Did you know that they now make laptop stands for your treadmill? I need one!
Read more about Shawna's weight loss program here:
A little bit more of MY STORY:
When I first started back to taking more exercise classes than I was teaching, I found that my energy waxed and waned from class to class. My diet was pretty good. I was drinking plenty of water, eating enough protein, and getting enough rest. So what was missing?
But my diet WAS deficient! What was missing was that a few of my 5 to 6 meals a day were protein only. I never eat carbs alone as that is one of the worst things you can do to your body as far as your insulin balance is concerned. I was eating whole grains but I wasn't getting enough vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables. So I started adding a serving of fruit or vegetable with each protein portion.
If I was in a hurry the fruit or vegetable became a 6 oz. can of V8 vegetable juice or a serving of a liquid vitamin mineral supplement (I hate taking pills! Especially those horse-sized pills they call vitamins.) I found the best quality and price for my liquid vitamins at Costco.
Well, what d'ya know. My energy level skyrocketed. My legs no longer felt heavy in my kickboxing class and I didn't just want to plop down on the couch when I got home.
Now, the only time I have trouble with physical energy is around the holidays when I eat a few too many potatoes (one of those evil White Foods you should avoid). What is a White Food? White foods are those high glycemic carbs that boost your insulin level, can cause insulin resistance, and lower your blood sugar so that you can't lose weight and are more prone to illness.
Those White Foods to avoid are: White potatoes, white rice, white flour anything - pastries, cookies, cake, pasta, and corn products. I do allow myself whole corn on the cobb with our summer BBQ's.
One's diet should contain GOOD carbs, which are fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, and whole grains. Some of these, like beans and nuts, contain both carbohydrates and protein. Good carbs supply the fiber, vitamins, and minerals we need for energy and clarity of mind.
If you do eat holiday stuffing, try to make it with 100% whole grain bread (lower on the glycemic index - how quickly the sugar enters your bloodstream) and add nuts (we enjoy pecans or walnuts), plus we add some chopped up turkey sausage for a little extra protein. A good balance of protein with your carbs lowers how quickly the carbs enter your bloodstream, resulting in less hunger, easier weight maintenance, and better health.
Image via WikipediaWay back in 2004, I was prescribed a “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor” (SSRI) for my depression. It was Sertraline. Commonly known as Zoloft. It did nothing for my depression. It just made me sleepy while driving. So I was taken off of it.
That December, at an annual Christmas Eve party, I suffered a relapse of my PTSD anxiety because… someone died. I was outside enjoying my cocktail by the fire when, suddenly, someone came running out of the house,"Grab her!" he exclaimed, "She used to be a nurse.”
I was then hurriedly ushered into the bedroom of this home where a young woman was lying on the floor. The mother was pacing furiously back and forth across the room, in shock, eyes shut, frantically praying. The girl's sister and a friend had been doing CPR but, apparently too vigorously, as there was a good deal of blood everywhere.
I should have directed the sister to continue mouth-to-mouth while I administered chest compressions. But, in the moment, (and after a couple of drinks) I guess I wasn’t thinking that clearly. I immediately began mouth to mouth… mouth to bloody mouth while the sister continued chest compressions. It was gruesome. We didn’t even do Two-man-CPR. Like I said, I wasn’t thinking clearly.
I suspected she was already dead. My mind kept saying,"Don’t look into her eyes. Don’t look into her eyes." But I had to. Let me tell you, that’s a sight no one should ever have to see. They had already clouded over. It haunted me for days. I couldn’t get it out of my brain. It was just there. And all the blood and more… bits and pieces of a life lost.
I began to have panic attacks again. And parties? That was the end of that. I tried. Seven parties in a row was equivalent to seven waking nightmares. I went into a shell and became almost agoraphobic. It was time to go back into PTSD counseling.
So 2005-2009 was hell on earth and it just seemed to get worse… until I was having “episodes” every single day. The counselor never once mentioned to me, though, that an SSRI might help with my anxiety.
In fact, last December, with the whole Susan Powell thing, my paranoia worsened and my counselor had the audacity to say, “None of my other PTSD patients are fearful every day or afraid of their partners.” I felt affronted. Was she insinuating that I was making it all up? She was young and well-educated but inexperienced. I kept telling her that I was menopausal and that maybe part of all this was hormonal, systemic.
It wasn’t until I had returned from an exhausting family vacation (where I was paranoid and terrified the entire time) that things changed. And it wasn’t my PTSD counselor. It was my gynecologist, who I had mentioned this to, that said, “Oh, maybe we should changed your birth control pills. The estrogen is probably a little too high… and we could give you an SSRI to help with the panic.” What?
By this time I was willing to try anything. Having two or three panic attacks every day was exhausting and my quality of life was just shot. So that afternoon I took a Sertraline and, wow, the rest of that day I was panic-free. And the next day and the next. OMG.
I was furious with my counselor. Why had she not told me about a pharmaceutical “cure”. It could have saved me needless suffering. Years of suffering! And those who have never experienced a panic attack or a PTSD episode do not know mental suffering in just the way we do. It is indescribable mental anguish.
Death is there, staring you square in the face and you must either flee or die. You cannot even rationalize it. That is the definition of the dis-ease. Your body just takes over while your mind becomes one big vibrating blob of fear. And your life? Your life is nothing more, in that moment, than a scene out of nightmare in which you are glaringly awake. Every hair is on end. Every pulse rings loud in your ears and you are the star of your very own horror movie.
So…
I got on the internet and began doing a little research. Yes, Sertraline was used for anxiety. And surprisingly, one of the things I read was that patients occasionally do not have a relapse of symptoms after a few months of treatment. I thought, well that wouldn’t be me.
But then, a few months in, maybe four or five, I forgot to take my daily dose. Nothing happened. I got right back on it. In a couple of weeks I forgot again. This time for two or three days and nothing happened. Had I become one of the lucky few?
I began experimenting. Longer periods, however, did result in more episodes and paranoia. Still, I persisted, telling myself that when the negative symptoms appeared, I would take my meds again. This worked except for the problem of recurring negative side-effects.
Most pharmaceuticals have negative side-effects. With the Sertraline mine were sleeplessness at night, drowsiness during the day, jaw clenching, teeth chattering, and ridiculously dry nose and mouth. So, even though these meds helped with my illness, they were no picnic. This was a good part of my wanting to be off of them.
Now, the doctor had also prescribed Diazepam (Valium). I hadn’t messed with those much. After eight months I still had 10 out of the 15 prescribed. I began taking those instead of the Sertraline, for my now occasional anxiety (because of the negative side-effects of the Sertraline). Now, mind you, if you STAY on the Sertraline, they say that those symptoms recede after a while. But going on and off? That just caused them to recur every time.
So the Valium worked, to my amazement, and without any side-effects at all other than the complete disappearance of my paranoia and anxiety. But when I talked to my doctor the next time she suggested,"Let’s try a different SSRI then” other than the Sertraline. So last week my doctor prescribed a new drug for my anxiety episodes: CITA-LOPRAM HYDRO-BROMIDE.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"Citalopram (trade names: Celexa, Cipramil) is an antidepressant drug of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It has FDA approval to treat major depression, and is prescribed off-label for a number of anxiety conditions.
History
Citalopram (pronounced /saɪˈtælɵpræm/)[2] was originally created in 1989[3] by the pharmaceutical company Lundbeck. The patent expired (at first glance I thought it said “The patient expired”) in 2003, allowing other companies to legally produce generic versions.
But, just like the Sertraline, it made me feel really weird the next day - like I was on a drug. I had a strange buzzing in my belly. I had taken it at bedtime for anxiety as prescribed and, unlike with the Zoloft, I slept great. Plus, I had no midday drowsiness or nose and mouth dryness the next day. But... there was more on the downside: Some slight teeth-clenching, although not as intense as with the Sertraline and... I had three panic attacks! So, Citalopram was not for me either.
Oh, yes, I forgot about the loss of appetite (also with the Sertraline). Great for weight reduction but I’d rather eat and enjoy my food (and have to pay with exercise later) than have my appetite completely destroyed artificially. By 5pm that day I’d had only 230 calories. Not healthy.
The first thing to do for your weight and health is quit sugar. See my book The Sugar Addict’s Diet: A Primer for the Low Sugar Lifestyle (New Century Publishing, 2001). Sugar causes all manner of mental as well as physical symptoms and is the main culprit of binge eating.
So I decided to go back to the Diazepam for my occasional episodes. It works great for me in that regard. I’m only taking it as needed which, for me, is about 3-4 times a month. Compare that to the 2-3 times a day episodes before any medication. So I am actually a convert to pharmaceuticals. I used to be entirely opposed, believing that all-natural living could cure anything. Menopause relieved me of that opinion.
Still, there’s a place for self-education and experiment. The doctor reminded me, though, that everyone responds differently. My negative symptoms with the Sertraline were more severe than most and less severe than most with the Valium. She noted that the Diazepam (Valium) was considered highly addictive and that I was one of the lucky few that didn’t seem to have a problem with that.
So…
Last words: Do see a counselor. And you don’t need to avoid medication entirely. It might be the answer you’ve been looking for.
P.S. Okay, so they weren't my last words. I'd really like to end on a lighter note. Everyone should learn CPR. Here's a video to get you started.
So I've decided that I hate the title of my Blog (PsychiatricSelfCare). But I don't know how to change it other than by creating a new blog. And I'm a little bit concerned that Blogger stated somewhere that I had a 100 viewer limit?
What the heck does THAT mean? Don't all bloggers aspire to millions of readers? Hmm. Once again I'm baffled. I searched "Best Blogs" and came up with some really interesting things: ZenHabits.net, PostSecret, and PerezHilton, among others.
I've been trying to figure out if a blog post is supposed to be designed as an article or as a journal entry. It seems that the ones I found were all written from the personal perspective (as in journaling) but... still they had a focus (as in an article).
And how concerned do I need to be about web searches? All these great sites had great names. My crappy site name came from my trying to find the best search term for my subject area. "Psychiatric" had the most searches in one month in regards to mental health and physical fitness.
Anyway...
My Menopausal (aka Anti-Aging) Workout for the Day
2 Hours Total:
1 hour and 15 minutes of CARDIO:
= 30 minutes on the treadmill (set on Manual with walking, climbing, and a short run), 30 minutes on the elliptical machine (again set on Manual), and 15 minutes on the Stair Master. I have a membership at Golds Gym. What's great about that is that most of the machines have a television monitor now and cable TV (something we don't have at home).
In case you haven't figured it out yet, we're cheap bastards. That's probably why we're not sweating the recession as bad as we could be. We have money in the bank! Yes, and it's not because we make great money (we don't). It's because we're CHEAP BASTARDS.
We don't make a lot of money and I've been out of work for six out of the last 12 months. But we don't spend anything... well, groceries. And we get those at the seconds store!
Yes, there are second hand stores for groceries... sort of. What happens is that they take the stuff that's about to go out of date and send it to this store... WAY marked down. We save about $400 a month by shopping there. In the summer we stock up on clothes and other essentials by (what we call) "Garage Sailing". All this frugality, we figure, saves us about $20K a year.
We dine out with "2 for 1" coupons, cut each other's hair, drive used cars, and seek Entertainment with the word FREE attached. And, thanks to Jerry and Esther Hicks, I can truly say that I (we) find joy in every single day.
So, all we have is money in the bank. Which ain't so bad. It's funny because, at the bank, I'm treated like GOLD. And there I am in my little red 1988 Mazda.
Anyway... back to the workout! I digress.
So we have 1.25 hours of cardio (my new MENOPAUSAL STANDARD is a minimum of 1 hour a day exercise!) and 15 minutes of weight lifting (both free weights and machines) and 30 minutes of yoga cool down. Whooh!
Here's the low-down:
In my 20's - 30 minutes three times a week was enough to maintain a flat (a very flat and sexy!) belly.
Then in my 30's - I had to up that to 1 hour three times a week.
In my 40's - 4 to 5 hours a week was plenty.
Then one day, at the ripe old age of 49 I noticed that I'd gained 25 lbs. What? Yes, it had been creeping up for some time at the rate of about 1/2 lb. per month. Virtually undetectable. I started increasing my workouts and nothing seemed to happen.
Finally, after going back on Atkins (which used to work like a charm!) I realized that I'd better take it a step farther. Now I'm counting calories (not something I used to be concerned with) AND I've DOUBLED my workout time. Apparently your metabolism slows down so much during menopause that double is what's needed.
So, in the last month, I went from 4-5 workouts a week to 7-10 AND I've started watching my caloric intake (reducing by approximately 500 calories a day).
Thank God I measured because... in that month's time I GAINED 2 lbs net but lost 5 inches. Yea! Finally some results. I guess the moral of the story is that it gets harder not easier. Pa-dum-pa-dum!
That's it folks.
Oh, P.S., I still watch the sugar and white foods (white bread, pastries, cookies, cake, potatoes, rice, and pasta). For bad health, they're the worst culprits. I wrote a book about my healing experience in relationship to quitting sugar. It's called The Sugar Addict's Diet by S.J. Wise. And, just for the record, it's out of print. Which just means that I no longer receive any money for its sales. Still, I recommend it if you have health issues. This program literally saved my life.
Oh, by the way... nightmares two nights in a row? I forgot to ask myself the key question: Did I have sugar? (It slips back in so easily) Yes!
Every now and then I forget and have a little. I had eaten one, make that two over two days, yogurts with added sugar. Thought I could get away with it, but NO. The nightmares were my clue.
Do YOU sleep well? Try quitting sugar for a while and see what happens. No more waking up at 3am and having difficulty getting back to sleep.
Cover of Ashley JuddA movie about the realities of Depressive Disorder (aka having a Nervous Breakdown)... a very real Dis-ease. The hardships, the struggles. If you have experienced it you will understand. If not, this film will give you a hint at the uncontrollable feelings and urges.
