Dual Diagnosis Conflicts
There has been a ton of talk following the death of Amy Winehouse abut the possibility of dual diagnosis. Typically a dual diagnosis is the combination of a substance abuse problem and a mental illness. Unfortunately there are a ton of people who meet the criteria and when you are talking about borderline personality disorder the chance of them being dual diagnosis is around seventy percent.
So why do people choose to go down the extremely dangerous route of drug and alcohol excess and the simple answer is to get away from their reality. When the Vietnam war ended a number of soldiers came back with an addiction to drugs and alcohol and for the most part they were trying to numb their brains so they would not have to relieve the horrors of war. Of course now this is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Put the brain in a intoxicated state and hope the flashbacks will not come back
In terms of Borderline Personality Disorder it is to shut up that internal voice that will just not go away that makes every situation an unpleasant one. Spending your entire life waiting for the next conflict is incredibly draining and for some the problems associated with alcohol and drug addiction are easier to deal with.
Depression and substance abuse go hand in hand for the person dealing with the depression will do anything to feel something else then bitter despair even if it is a false high with drugs and alcohol.
Every psych admission I go through they ask about your alcohol and drug usage which at first I thought it was odd until I started talking to my fellow patients and it turns out I was the odd one. I don’t do drugs and I don’t drink and basically have never have at least to the point where it could be considered a problem. I have a thing about control and with drugs and alcohol you would lose it so I chose to avoid it all together.
Now back to the Amy Winehouse tragic death and of course the arm chair psychiatrists are pointing to a variety of issues from depression to borderline to a few others. I have no idea I do not know enough about this young woman to point at any specific disorder. Maybe Amy Winehouse did not have any mental illnesses but I doubt that for anyone who abuses substances has other issues at hand. I grew up in the era of Grunge rock and of course Kurt Cobain whose suicide shocked the world. Here was a man who was part of a musical group that was at the top, famous beyond belief and Kurt Cobain almost died a couple of times of heroin overdoses before finally shooting himself in the head.
So what do doctors do when it comes to dual diagnosis for it leads to a dilemma similar to the chicken and the egg in terms of what came first. Does the person have mental illness issues that led them to substance abuse or is the substance abuse causing the mental illness. take care
Amy Winehouse Found Dead Photos
Amy Winehouse Dead At 27 Pictures
Singer and troubled musician Amy Winehouse has been found dead in her London home, she was twenty seven years old. Amy Winehouse who has been in and out of rehab for the last few years and had been hospitalized numerous time for a variety of health problems related to her substance abuse problems. Amy Winehouse burst onto the scene with her hit Rehab. Amy was also involved in a very negative relationship with former husband Blake Fielder-Civil who also had a ton of drug problems. Recently Amy Winehouse was set to start her European tour but once she was on stage it became very apparent she was still dealing with substance abuse issues and was believed to be intoxicated during that performance. Amy Winehouse would cancel the tour saying she needed to get healthy and unfortunately a couple of weeks later she was found dead in her London home. Unfortunately Amy Winehouse has now joined a list of celebrities who have died at the age of 27 and lost the battle with substance abuse.
Make Sure To Check Out My New Squidoo Lens What Is Depression?
Fair Weather Friends
I received a message on Facebook the other day from a friend I have not heard from in a very long time. This person knew that in the last six years I had separated from my wife, ended up living alone and of course was diagnosed with all sorts of wonderful things. This person came to visit me the first time in the hospital and promised to be there to help me through the fight of my life. Of course when I was at my lowest this person was no where to be seen
Now I did not expect this person to go out of their way to help, I did not expect this person to save me but I expected this person to at least be there. Those of us who have battled severe depression knows how much a boost it can be when someone calls just to say they are thinking of you and that they care. After my first year of mental illness the phone never rang.
So now I am at a point where I am beginning to see the sun again and these fair weather friends seem to sense the storm is over and beginning to come towards me. Problem is I can not forget that for a long time they were no where in sight.
I do not know what it is but through my entire life I always have felt that if someone needs your help you do not run away from them but run towards them. Heck I entered social work for this very reason and have run this website for three years under the same principle. Someone needs my help I help them.
What is it with mental illness and people who normally have common sense running through their heads? Mental illness is not contagious. If I would have had cancer would they have reacted the same way? No of course not.
Men And Eating Disorders
I was watching the local news today and they were talking about the fast growing health issue of men and eating disorders. Now with men the experts are finding that they spend hours in the gym trying to get that body which seems to be on every magazine. The one where the six pack abs are very prominent and they are risking their health to get it.
Now I spend four days a week in the gym and have done so since the beginning of the gym so I get to see how other members are basically killing themselves to get that perfect body, most do not last for more than a couple of months for there is a line where your body just shuts down. I hear young guys asking question after question about getting that elusive six pack that they believe every women in the world is expecting them to have. By the way six pack abs do not mean healthy it means your body fat is low enough for the ab muscles to show through.
What the experts are finding is that men are very reluctant in seeking help when their quest for the perfect body gets out of control and usually a major health problem leads them to the specialist.
Then another day I read the fastest growing fitness group is child bodybuilders. I am talking kids under twelve who spend hours in the gym each week to get the muscles of their heroes. Now I am not a fan of this for I really would not think that a child’s body should or can endure the stress of weight training and it is sending the wrong body image into the child’s brain, that they are not good enough the way they are so they have to push themselves to improve. Of course this is also a parenting manner as most seven or eight years old can not afford gym memberships with their allowance so someone is footing the bill.
Imagine all of these little kids when they grow up who are still searching for that perfect body, or at least what they think is the perfect body, and experts believe there are problems now of men and eating disorders
Trying To Figure Out The Future
For the last six years my battle has been with my mental illness and it has been my focus. Now I am trying to look ahead and determine what my future path is going to be and it has not been easy. I did go to college for Social Work but returning to that field especially in the work I use to do seems like a red flag for me and that is part of the problem.
I know how to get by day to day now and keep myself in a healthy mental position but I do not know what added stress would do to me. It has taken a longtime to get this point and I am worried that I will be sent back to the bottom of the hill.
Right now I keep myself busy with a variety of internet projects and though it helps pay for the bill it is still a long way off from where I had hoped it would be. The good part is I work according to how I am feeling so I split up my eight plus hours a day something I could not do with a so called regular job.
Then there is the part of the massive gap on my resume. There is six years that I have not been gainfully employed. How do I explain my prolonged absence. Of course I could say it was health related for that is what it was/is but if it goes down to specifics telling the truth will shut all of the doors around me especially in Social Work.
Tons of things to think of and hopefully the path will become much clearer. take care
BPD Did You Know
Borderline Personality Disorder Did You Know?
- More people have Borderline Personality Disorder than Bipolar Disorder
- Borderline Personality Disorder has a higher suicide rate than depression
- Up to two percent of the population has Borderline Personality Disorder
- The name of Borderline Personality Disorder comes from back in the day when psychiatric illness was classified as either psychotic or neurotic, take a guess where we fall in, yep right on the borderline between the two
- Doctors want to rename Borderline Personality Disorder as Emotional Regulatory Disorder hoping it will get rid of the stigma associated with the disorder.
- Over fifty percent of those diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder also have problems with substance abuse
- DBT or Dialectical behavior therapy significantly improves the odd of recovery yet there are vast areas where it is not available
- DBT was created by Marsha M. Linehan who has recently admitted that she is diagnosed with BPD
Coming Off Of Mental Meds
There has been a ton of searches lately regarding withdrawal of Pristiq so I figured I would go through a number of tips that have helped me coming off of a variety of mental meds
1. Make sure your doctor/shrink/counselor/family members know that you are coming off of your medication. I have seen way too many people go through a ton of difficulties and support is definitely needed.
2. Drink a ton of water. Water will help speed up the withdrawal symptoms by helping to flush the medication out of your body
3. Remain mentally aware. It is important to realize that your brain has become dependent on the medication so there are going to be side effects that will hinder your mental state. If you find yourself in a really bad place Call Your Doctor
4. The slower the better. You will have to trust me on this one but suddenly stopping a med like Effexor should take months and not days. Your body will freak if you stop this med and many others cold turkey. Heck a number of the stronger antidepressants warn about discontinuation syndrome which is basically hell on earth if you suddenly stop taking their meds
5. Be honest with yourself. If you realize during your withdrawal process that you were better off on the meds do not count this as a failure but as an accomplishment for you are taking care of your mental health.
As a freebie, like I charge for anything but some people do, I will tell you the most successful way of coming off of Effexor.
1. Break open the capsule and count all of the little beads inside
2. Subtract 5% of the beads, so if there is hundred remove five beads and take what remains so the other 95.
3. Four or five days later subtract another 5%
4. Repeat til the capsule is empty
Note: At any point if you feel that your mood is going the wrong way or the physical symptoms are getting to strong than chances are your withdrawal process is too fast. Remember slower is better. Of course before stopping Effexor or any other drug make sure you talk to your doctor and let him or her know about the Effexor Withdrawal plan
As for withdrawal from Pristiq that is a bit more difficult as Pristiq comes in a solid tablet so trying to go off of it slowly would be a neat trick as there is no way to measure accurately how much you are deducting. If I had too, I would clear it with my doctor first, I would break the tablets carefully in four pieces and would subtract a quarter a week.
Remember I am not a doctor or a pharmacist or a guy in a white coat so always check with your own doctor before beginning any withdrawal process
What Happened Last Week On Untreatable Online
I have been running Untreatable Online since January of 2008 and to be honest there has been times where I was just tired of it. Most mental health blogs do not survive the first three months let alone three years and there are a number of reasons why which I have gone through in the past. So last week I decided to delete Untreatable Online in its entirety.
So a few days went by and I started to miss it which is really odd as I have gone weeks before actually posting anything original on this site. In a way Untreatable Online is still my only real place where I can get the weight off my chest so it is nice to know it is there whenever I need it. Thankfully Blogger does not automatically delete everything and I was able to restore Untreatable Online back to where it was before for the most part. So if you wondered what happened last week that was it. take care
Blame It On The Drugs
Medication and mental illness go hand in hand, that is just the way it is and for some of us that is the way it will always be. I have spent months in therapy and when I reached the end I felt better about a number of issues that I have been lugging around for years but at the same time I realized that without the chemical help I would be in trouble in a hurry.
For whatever the reason my brain does not produce the right chemicals to have what the sane people, lol, call a “normal” brain. My brain picks everything apart, notices everything within a 100 feet radius and is prone to slide straight down to the negative in a heartbeat. Now when I am feeling a bit of anxiety I can refer to deep breathing exercises and meditation to right my brain back up. If my brain is going 100 mph dodging brick walls and looking for a cliff to dive off of then it is way to late for meditation. Thankfully one of my meds keeps my brain running at 60 mph so I can see the dangers coming.
I think to damn much. When I am trying to go to sleep my brain is running through every single thing I did that day and the day before and the day before looking for what I did right and what I did wrong. Needless to say I now take meds for that so my brain shuts down fast and I am able to sleep and another med keeps me asleep when my nightmares begin to take control. Eight hours of health sleep does wonders for the mind and the body
At one time I weighed in excess of two hundred and sixty pounds. Still do not have a clue how I managed to gain so much weight so fast but it had to do with the med that I was taking at the time. This has been proven as this particular drug company has lost a ton of lawsuits due to increased risk of diabetes, heart attacks and death.
Was completely down and out fighting to get out of bed each day let alone eat or do anything that can be considered productive. New drug comes along and all of a sudden I could not lay down for more than a couple minutes, could not sit down to eat breakfast and now I had all of the energy in the world to carry out my darkest thoughts. Fricken med is responsible for that one and the two month psych stay that followed. Severe depression and suddenly manic is not a safe combination.
Now I take two antidepressants Pristiq and Cymbalta as my brain just does not produce the right chemicals to keep a smile on my face and to keep me out of that black hole of hell. I take an antipsychotic called Seroquel which allows my brain to run at a nice and steady pace which has ended my self harm and gives me the time to make the right choice/decision/action which was so foreign to me in the borderline mindset. I also take a sleeping med called Temazapam which I have taken for the last three to four years and without it I just do not sleep. This is the drug cocktail that I take and do not get me started on the pain and anguish it took to reach this point
It Is Always A Choice
I was talking with a family member whose son suffers from mental illness and she was saying that she and her husband were amazed that I have gone through what I have gone through over the last six years basically alone. I replied it is a choice.
Now some people who have never suffered from mental illness and especially depression may thing that I was referring to the decision to fight the demons or basically let the parasites do as they will. Of course what I was referring to was the choice between living and dying.
There have been days, weeks and months where the choice had to be made every single day, hour and minute. Severe depression is a battle that you need to go through to fully understand.
At times it feels like you just had the absolutely worst day of your life and you know that tomorrow is just going to be a repeat. It gets to the point where you are willing to do absolutely anything to make the dangerous thoughts in your head go away. The desire for quietness in your brain is something that turns people to substance abuse, self harm and of course suicide.
When you are being assessed by a shrink for what I like to refer to as dangerous behavior one of the questions they ask is do you have a suicide plan. Now most of us in long term depression will reply no to keep our butt off the psych ward but the reality is that most of us have suicide plans carved in stone.
I have always said the reason I continue and the reason I fight is for my son and this is true. The demons that live in my head have convinced me at times that he would be better off without me but thankfully clarity jumped in to save my ass. I had a dream once where I was watching my own funeral and my little boy was there crying and in so much pain and I realized I caused it. That fuels me to do what I do and continue to fight. It is always a choice
New Projects
Hemorrhoids Relief
My Kitchen Reviews
Golf Drivers 2011
My Exercise Equipment Reviews
Kitchen Stand Mixers Review
Pocket Multi Tool Review