blog 13 to admit is to be stong

I believe it takes a lot of courage for a woman to finally admit they have a drug problem and need help. It is not a sign of weakness. Thousands of people struggle everyday with drugs, many of which never get the help they need. Some who do get help often relapse. It takes a lot of inner strength to finally realize you are powerless of the addiction and that you can't help yourself on your own. The "-ism" is to powerful once it grabs hold of a person.I think it's a sign of weakness when a person doesn't take the first step towards recovery by admitting their problem. After all, that would be the harder path and it's easier to remain in the comfort of their addiction no matter how debilitating it is. I think this is the shortest blog I have ever written but it's in response to a pretty cut and dry question!
I have personal experience, not with drugs and alcohol, but with a particular recovery program that deals with any person's habits and hang-ups. In this recovery program you find people coming from all walks of life battling different things. The women that I have met within who are trying to recover from drugs or alcoholism are so strong. They are honest in recovery and what their goals are and know that they can't do it alone but that it is a daily personal choice as to whether they will relapse or not. Now to me, that is not weakness but an incredible amount of strength to wake up everyday and sometimes hourly, choose to be sober and live that way. To give up is to be weak.

blog 12- Mental Illness

Isn't it sad that even with all the medical advances and discoveries and education available society still maintains a certain stigma against mental illness? I think so. Working in healthcare, I tend to find that when people don't know much about this type of illness, or what an umbrella for a variety of illnesses it is, they tend to judge or group those patients as "mentally retarded." All it really is is a lack of education and understanding. Why would a person uninterested in health take the time to research or learn about mental health especially if they aren't directly effected? Sometimes, even when a person is diagnosed, or a loved one is diagnosed, education lacks because the notion that the doctor will handle it takes over. Years and years ago, medical professionals didn't know what was wrong with people when they exhibited multiple personalities or developmental delays...eventually, many people weren't treated properly and sent off to insane asylums. It's actually quite an interesting history, field of work, and field to study. It really reminds you of how far the world of medicine has come. Education is a necessary approach to bring understanding about mental illness to light. A great avenue would be the media. People seem to plan their evenings around favorite sitcoms and reality TV or atleast DVR it. So, how about the networks develop characters in their programs that maybe have an illness or two? Medical programs already do this, but that doesn't always appeal to everyone. If someone likes comedy they might choose "Office Space" over "House." Also, channels like Discovery Health and TLC do a decent job in touching on mental health sometimes. I just think that if characters on TV could be developed than viewers could get a better sense of what a range it is for them to appear as. Also, it could show some care-giving or treatment methods. Media is creative enough to make such a character comedically fit into a show. My opinion. Another way would be to encourage late night viewing such as "Dateline" to spotlight mental health/illness. People just don't realize the spectrum and don't realize that it just isn't a severe case of Schizophrenia that makes up mental illness. And what were those stats again?? Something like half of all Americans will experience mental illness in their lifetimes (Alexander, L., Alexander, W., Bader, H., Garfield, S., LaRosa, J., 2010). That is a major deal and worth educating about. Frequent or routine physician visits are a way to ensure you are staying on top of your health. Your doctor may be able to pick up on something going on that you didn't think anything about and then refer you to the necessary professionals or for some testing to be safe. Mental Health is just as important as physical health.

For anyone really interested in Mental health or specifically OCD, have a look at this trailer put on by VH1. It's called The OCD Project.
http://www.vh1.com/video/misc/503670/the-ocd-project-supertrailer.jhtml

Reference

Alexander, L., Alexander, W., Bader, H., Garfield, S., and LaRosa, J. (2010). New Dimensions in Women's Health. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Blog 11 Celiac Disease and my Best Friend

     I am so grateful to have a handful of people in my life whom I consider my best friends. I have heard that old saying talking about "if you can go through life with atleast just 1 of these types of friends in your life then you are just fine"...or something like that, do you know what I am talking about? Anyway, luckily, I feel like I have a few of these people. Friendship is a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, disagreements, celebrations, good times and bad...much like a marriage! Included in this realm is health. It strikes each of us differently and at all different times. With this blog, I wanted to talk about Lindsey. She is one of my longest friends and very close to my heart. Ya'll know a little about her already....she has the granny that wants her to settle down. Well Lindsey was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in her early-mid twenties, she couldn't quite remember. For those of you who aren't familiar with this disease let me give you a quick overview..the disease is considered autoimmune because the body's own immune system causes the damage. The website http://www.counsellingresource.com/ defines it as: "Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine  and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, which is found in wheat, rye, barley, and possibly oats. When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging the small intestine." A diagnosis like this, although things can always be worse, still took some getting used to, especially, at that age.
      I asked her a few questions, such as how difficult has it been to change your life to accommodate Celiac?, does this disease frustrate you?, how often are you sick from it?, and what do you do today to maintain optimal health and keep the flare-ups down? Having been friends for so long, I have seen her healthy and I have seen her sick. Here is a summation of her answers not verbatim:
It took a few months for me to get used to it because I had to evaluate everything I was eating and everywhere I went to eat. I had to learn to check ingredients and what the triggers were for my digestive/stomach pain. Sometimes I felt embarrassed at restaurants when the chef would have to visit me personally to discuss what was in the food cooked. I all the sudden felt so limited in what I could eat, yet I knew the pain caused by trigger foods wasn't worth it. Explaining my health when I would go on a date wasn't fun because I just felt like dealing with it was a pain. Fortunately, that was my insecurity and my situation always ended up being understood. Sometimes even today, it's hard to not give in to the foods that people will eat in front of me, and the people closest to me tend to order or serve with me in mind. I am not sick very often with this disease, thankfully, because I loaded myself up with education on it. Already being a healthy person who exercises made the transition of paying closer attention to ingredients etc. a bit easier. However, I do trigger a flare-up occassionally when I just have to satisfy a craving for some food with gluten in it, like pancakes, or a dessert. The way I maintain optimal health is through constant awareness of what I eat. I feel like I have to pay closer attention because of the digestive exacerbation on me than the person at the booth over. I realized that once I went an extended period of time without the foods I had to cut out, I had less desire/cravings for them. My body naturally adjusted to excessive amounts of veggies, fruits, and meats. Since I am living in Libya right now, this disease has been easier to handle than in America. The appealing food options here are much less...it's a way of life-vegetables (raw or cooked), camel, goat, fish, and fruit....most anything else around here is questionable!

Chronic diseases and autoimmune diseases range a great spectrum from severe and debilitating to mild and manageable. I have learned a lot from my friend, nutritionally, and perspectively. If your health is important enough to you, you will make the changes you need to make to adapt, in the end  your body will thank you for it and you will be a happier you.

Reference

National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC). Celiac Disease. Retrieved November 10, 2010 from http://counsellingresource.com/distress/chronic/celiac/index.html 

blog 10~~The Motivation Behind Reducing Cardiovascular Disease

     Majority of people know that Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally right now. The media (i.e. news stations) do a very good job at delivering health messages, my opinion...that's where I first learned this info anyway. However, there are many people that lack education about the disease, especially when you think globally. Developing nations don't have the technology for media resources, let alone electricity sometimes. So, how can anyone be motivated to make healthy changes for something as radical as this disease when they know nothing about it, or how their current lifestyle compares, in the first place?
     Education is a key factor in just about every topic these days. How do you know who to vote for in elections if you don't know their policies? How do you cook a meal if you don't learn how to boil water? How do you control the population if you don't learn about prevention methods? How do you gain motivation stronger than for a "to look good" goal if you don't hardly know anything about cardiovascular disease and how anyone is at risk?
     Our question for this weeks blog is this, "what factors can influence women to adopt heatlhier lifestyles and engage in preventative behaviors so as to reduce their risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer?" My response is clearly education about the disease. Now, after one has taken a few minutes to google the topic or, in a developing world, listen to that educator that journied into a village to discuss the matter, the person can now take a personal inventory on what their risk factors are. Here is a categorized list provided by the American Heart Association at www.heart.org:
           1.) Factors that can't be changed include: age, sex, and ethnicity
           2.) Factors that can be changed or managed include: smoking, weight, Diabetes, sedentary   lifestyle, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, stress, alcohol intake, and nutrition

With this knowledge, we can apply it to our life and who we are and judge where we stand as a risk for developing CVD. Also, bringing up the subject or asking for the necessary testing (ex. CBC-complete blood count) from your physician isn't a bad idea either. Personally, my motivation comes from my basic knowledge of the disease and knowing that there are measures I can take to avoid it the best I can. I also am motivated, as a woman and a mother, by those roles. I want to live to see grandchildren, weddings, and graduations. I want to reach my older years and know that I lived a long, happy, and healthy life the best way I knew how. It's about education for me. Smoking is a great example. If a person knew the in-depth harmful effects of this disgusting habit on their body than shouldn't that be motivation enough? Afterall, these effects include CVD and lung cancer. I have heard many times about those cases where a person justifies their habit by saying that "perfectly healthy people who have never smoked got lung cancer so why can't I just enjoy my smoke if I am at risk either way?" I hate that, it makes me cringe. Here's my answer: "You only get one body and why are you going to purposely cause harm and irreversible damage to it, as opposed to not, just to relax a little when there are plenty of other relaxing things you could do? It's lazy, dumb, and ignorant." Maybe if someone knew that those factors that can't be changed, in combination with their current lifestyle, potentially raised the bar greatly for probability of getting that diagnosis, then maybe they might be inclined to make smarter and healthier decisions.
     Common sense tells us that we need to eat a balanced diet, drink water, get ample rest, and incorporate physical activity into our crazy lives. I understand how some of these things can be challenging to a person, but ultimately it's up to the individual to compensate. If you are a busy working woman and don't have time to get to the gym or go for a walk at home, then make sure you ate wisely that day and parked further from the front door so as to get that extra walk in!
Seek out the education on your health and make an effort to treat your one and only body as best you can! Don't let the circumstances of life have complete control over your health.~~my advice and good motivation.

Reference for CVD
American Heart Association. (2010, November 3). Understand Your Risk of Heart Attack. Retrieved from http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/UnderstandYourRiskofHeartAttack/Understand-Your-Risk-of-Heart-Attack_UCM_002040_Article.jsp 

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