Mental Health Issues: It might be you and not “them”

Since last week was Mental Health Week – I know this not because I am self-aware but only because I have seen several postings from Nikki et al at “Moms Who Drink and Swear” – which is a nationally recognized phenomenon now - (a blog, a book and a facebook page - probably soon a cable TV show - since there is so much swearing it has to go on cable), occasionally quite nasty blog, offensive to some but always funny and true - anyway, MWADS had several blog postings on the subject of Mental Health. Anyway it made me think - about my own journey - and that of my friends and relatives - and those small-ish and irritating people who suddenly developed an opinion about the age of two.  Also - lets not forget my husband - he has issues too.

According to the National Institutes of Health, about 1 in 4 adults are at any one time suffering from some sort of mental health issue.  As with many government statistics – this is certainly vastly under reported as this is likely based on those who are actually diagnosed – or who answered a survey.  In fact there are certainly thousands and thousands more with issues that they either will not see a doctor about – or refuse to admit it even to themselves – even if family and friends already know.

Unfortunately in today’s judgmental society, admitting that you have a mental disorder can disrupt many facets of your life.  First, it will likely affect your friendships – once your friends know that you have a mental disorder, they can hold it against you – be patronizing – disregard what you say, etc.  It may also affect your family relationships – "if you disagree with me, it must be because you aren’t taking your meds" – "are drunk or high" or "are just plain crazy which is "bull$hit" – or "I must make sure you are limited in your exposure to the outside world and therefore you are not allowed to drive or go anywhere by yourself" - or all of the above.

The eCigarette – Is “vaping” better or worse than smoking?

I am ashamed to admit that I have been a 1 pack a day smoker for nearly 20 years.  If you know that I am well over 40 – even with rounding - simple math will tell you that embarrassingly, unlike most other smokers – I didn’t start when I was a teenager.

I tried to start smoking when I was 13, 14, and 15 – it seemed like a good idea at the time but always resulted in nausea, dizziness and an extreme desire to lay down on the nearest flat surface to recover.  These flat surfaces included a backseat and several episodes of lying on the ground – including places such as a gas station parking lot and my best friends driveway.  In any case – I didn’t actually become a smoker until I went to my TEN year high school reunion – at the old age of 27!  How dumb is that?

By that time I was a healthcare professional – a pharmacist – and well aware of the dangers of smoking.  By that point in my life – I still wanted to seem cool in front of these people who had haunted me in high school and beyond even though I really had nothing in common with them but my adolescent past.

Smoking, in particular nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the face of the earth.  It is more addictive than cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, amphetamines, anxiety medication, muscle relaxants, pain medication – and yes, even heroin.  In fact, even heroin addicts will tell you that though heroin withdrawal is immediately painful – if you can go through the withdrawal – quitting heroin is easier long term than quitting smoking.  By contrast, quitting drinking or quitting anxiety medication can be life-threatening but still not as hard as quitting smoking.

To be fair to myself – I hate smoking – it is one of the nastiest, smelliest and downright disgusting habit a person can have and I have tried just about everything out there to quit.  This list includes the patch, nicotine gum, lozenges and lollipops, plain candy, herbal cigarettes, exercise, abstinence and prescription medication – to no avail.  My husband has also been an intermittent smoker for his entire post-puberty life (possibly before) and has an extremely “addictive” personality.  He can “quit” at any time with seeming no negative effects from his point of view.  From the point of view of those who have to live with him, in truth for about FIVE days – he is a raving jacka$$.  But I digress.

Because of his “a$$iness” (in general and not just while he is quitting smoking), I have failed at abstinence – because I become a raving B!tch – which he does not tolerate well.  Consequently, I have continued to smoke.

A few years ago, congress voted to add more taxes onto cigarettes – I escaped this monetary javelin for the first year by buying tobacco in bulk, cigarette “tubes” and a machine to make my own which cost about &1.50 per “pack” vs. the near $7 that actual packs were – but then congress wised up and increased the price of my bulk tobacco from $13/can (about a pack) to $45 a can.  So I was stuck paying at least $5/pack with a lot of hassle – but I kept going for reasons stated above.

A couple of years ago – eCigarettes made their debut.  Electronic cigarettes involve a liquid that is heated by a battery device and inhaled.  It provides the nicotine but little of the “other” stuff in cigarettes – the “smoke” exhaled is largely water vapor, quickly disseminates and doesn’t smell.  In fact it can even be obtained in flavors.

I resisted the eCigarette for a long time – even though my best friend (oddly from high school) had raved about how great hers was.  My husband called me one day from the local “vaping” store, saying that he was going to buy a kit.  This included 2 batteries, 2 reservoirs, a bottle of nicotine “juice” and a case – for $129.  You can actually get them cheaper on the internet.  In any case once we paid for the initial investment – we had 2 devices that cost in maintenance about $1/day each, vs. the near $14/day we had been paying for both of us.

He took the bait first – used it for a week or so – and then quit (he was still and a$$ for several days). But he quit with less frustration.  Still I resisted until diminishing financial support forced me to reconsider – so I tried it, costing me about $30/month vs. the $210 I had  been paying. 

About the same time – the medical community and the FDA said they were going to investigate and possibly start regulating eCigarettes because the risks were yet “unknown”, had not been studied and may contain toxins, harmful to human health.  Oddly, the FDA does not regulate the consumption of tobacco which contains literally thousands of toxins – probably the worst of which are carbon monoxide (the same stuff that people use to commit suicide by locking themselves in their car) and tar – which is mostly what gunks up your lungs and causes cancer.

This is a clear representation of the government’s ironical behavior in what they choose to regulate.  Common sense will tell you that inhaling vapor from an eCigarette is much less harmful than smoke.  Any attention to the news will tell you that the government is doing a piss poor job of inspecting tons of crap, including sheet rock, medication and children’s toys that pour into the US by a ton on a daily basis and is sold to the unwitting American consumer.

The medical  community, large pharma and the tobacco lobby cannot stand to have anything that is not under their control available to the public – especially if it circumvents the large number of dollars that are made from both cigarettes and traditional “stop-smoking” regimens.  The AMA and the tobacco lobby are huge, influential entities in Washington – i.e. in the pockets of elected government officials.  Despite all the hullabaloo, even my dad, who still has a drugstore in a small town and who quit selling cigarettes years ago – carries a version of the eCigarette. He said that some people just can’t quit and this is way better.

The point is that nicotine is a very addicting substance – it has a weird mechanism of action where it simultaneously causes a bit of a calming affect while at the same time provides a bit of stimulation – which is why it is hard to quit, because there is a double reinforcement mechanism.

In any case, my journey to quit smoking is on the road – I haven’t touched a cigarette in over 6 weeks.  I can also decrease the nicotine in the “juice”, thereby slowly getting rid of the amount of nicotine in my eCig – and eventually quitting, in a controlled manner which will be a lot easier on those who are forced to be around me in these troubled times (a little melodrama).

Again – the big point is, no matter what alarms the mainstream media reports directly from the government’s health – no matter that adolescent and teenage use of eCigarettes has doubled – they aren’t smoking, they likely aren’t starting with eCigarettes and it isn’t nearly as harmful as the actual smoke.  Notice carefully that NONE of the information is comparing the drop in cigarette use to the increase in eCig use.  That information would actually allow you to think for yourself – which they don’t want you to do. 

In the meantime – I will continue to “vape” while those around me are relieved that they no longer have to smell the cigarette smoke and hear the morning hack.  Just my opinion.

Hippie medicine to the rescue

Just a few short years ago, if you believed that yogurt could cure what ails you, people considered you a hippie nutcase. Ok, well maybe it was more than a few short years. In any case, it wasn’t that long ago that physicians and the “legitimate” medical community did not believe in any type of “nutraceutical” medicine. That is to say that whatever you ate had no bearing on your general state of health. Vitamins were unimportant and people who claimed that natural bacteria – such as is found in yogurt – was helping them were dismissed.

Recently, the commercial medical community has latched onto the advantages of lactobacillius bacteria and its ability to correct digestive issues and restore balance to entire physiologic systems. We now have “Activia”, “Danactive”, “Fem-dophilius” and even “Phillips” probiotic capsules. In case you didn’t know, “Phillips” is the maker of “Phillips Milk of Magnesia” long known for treatment of diarrhea.

It amazes me that things that the “hippie-freaks” have known for years finally make it into the mainstream only when big companies can make money from it and now it is the biggest news in digestive and immune health. DUH.

I personally have been a big proponent of probiotics for many years. Doesn’t really matter if you eat natural yogurt with live cultures or take refrigerated lactobacillus capsules from your health food store….the stuff works. I recognized this when, as a young college student, I had a series of vaginal yeast infections. I treated them several times with over the counter antifungal vaginal products but they kept coming back. This particular ailment is one of the most agitating situations a woman can experience – not dangerous just really irritating. I came to a conclusion one day…..if the natural bacteria is gone, and now there is an overgrowth of yeast which causes irritation and itching…..and I kill the yeast off…..what grows next? So I went to the health food store and purchased some lactobacillus capsules to insert vaginally. Seemed kind of gross, but so was the yeast infection. After about 2 days – I was much, much better. Way better than the week it took the antifungal to work. Over the years I have continued to use and recommend this treatment. It always works.

That being said, I guess I am dumb – or stubborn and don’t always follow my own advice. I have told people for years – if you have diarrhea, try eating some yogurt or taking lactobacillus. Then a year or so ago I developed chronic diarrhea. I guess I figured that it was my due time – since I am over 40 and my grandmother had Irritable Bowel Syndrome for years and my grandfather had a colostomy at 35 or so due to Ulcerative Colitis. I just endured.

My husband, who is older than me has Diverticulitis (I call it an old man’s disease – which is very mean) and has bouts of severe abdominal pain which must be treated with 2 different types of antibiotics which leaves him with diarrhea so each time, I dutifully treat him afterwards with yogurt. Always helps.

Then I got really busy – didn’t have time for breakfast most days and started making myself a breakfast drink from fruit juice and….yogurt – because we already had it in our refrigerator. After a few days – damned if my “IBS” didn’t clear up. Actual formed poop…..! And as much as I hate commercialism in medicine….it was actually Activia yogurt that did it. That irritated me more than the fact that I had diarrhea for an entire year out of stupidity. I actually inadvertently took the “Activia Challenge” and it worked. No doubt, any live yogurt or lactobacillus capsules would have worked but apparently I am a slow learner when it comes to my own health.

What's the deal with perimenopause?

I did not choose to have any children until I was nearing the category "advanced maternal age" - read....old mom. I was almost 35 when I gave birth to twins (without the advanatage of fertility treatments) and then to my shock, I found myself pregnant again 13 months later. Within 21 months, I gave birth to 3 children by c-section. I then chose to have a tubal ligation.

Shortly thereafter, I began having problems with my menstrual cycle. Suddenly after years of being able to set my watch by when my period would come (28 days every month - arriving at 6am), I would sometimes go 45 days, 22 days, 37 days, 18 days. It had become totally irregular. I also experienced painful ovulation called "mittleschmerz disorder" and menstruation that was much heavier and much more painful than even when I was a teenager. The worst part was that I developed polycystic acne. This is much worse than "pimples". This is the type of acne where hard bumps form far beneath the skin. They are very painful, cannot be removed and last for months before going away - often leaving behind a scar. Great....my doctor said there was nothing wrong. My sister in law said it was because I had a tubal....huh? The last straw was when I actually had a hot flash.

I started doing some research after reading about bioidentical hormones from both Suzanne Somer's book and Robin McGraw's book. I learned a lot - it turns out that the main problem is that I am 40...really?

The main sex hormones: Progesterone, Estrogen and Testosterone exist in a balance and when one of them is deficient - the others can become "over expressed". This may result in symptoms of perimenopause.

Bioidentical hormone treatment is all the rage in Hollywood. Unfortunately, I was a stay at home mom and did not live in California nor did I have the financial resources to have my blood, sweat, saliva and other body fluids tested and treated with prescriptions specifically compounded for me. So I did a bunch of research and decided to take a risk and try natural progesterone cream from the health food store. My theory was that I could either get better, get worse or nothing would change.

At first I used 1/2 teaspoon as recommended - that turned out to be too much as I started feeling a little pregnant. I cut the dosage to 1/4 teaspoon rubbed on my inner arm or stomach each day for the 2nd half of my cycle (14 days after I start my period). I do this daily for 14 days of each month. It has been a miracle for me. My painful ovulation stopped, my periods are "normal" for me again, I don't get the acne and I haven't had anymore hot flashes. Really!