Health

Chronic Pain Like a lot of other people I have to live with chronic pain. As anyone who has this condition will tell you it’s not much fun to live with. If you suffer from chronic pain you are always more or less in pain. It’s just a matter of how much pain on any given day. This can very greatly. Your life becomes quite problematic and challenging. At present there is no cure for it. This chronic pain may be caused by arthritis, fibromyalgia, pain from past surgeries and a host of other causes. The only thing you can do is to learn how to live with it and how to best adapt your life to the condition. A person will usually going through the grieving process when they realize that they have chronic pain. It is also surprising how quickly you start to accept the condition as your new normal. It becomes hard to remember what it was like not to have pain. The sufferer must now learn how to manage their pain and their life. It is the process of adaptation. There are still many days when I...

When Will They Wake Up? As I mentioned in one of my recent blogs I was over at my son’s house watching a video about SNFU and their lead singer. Ken Chinn. This video managed to rile me up again as it showed how our mental heath system it is not doing its job. Actually I can’t blame this video for getting me angry. Even though I have been out of the mental health field for several months now I still think about the mentally ill and their plight every day. What really gets to me is that I know there are answers and solutions out there. They just need to be acted upon. I’m not saying that we can create a perfect life for the seriously mentally ill. What I am saying is that we can give the seriously mentally ill a lot better quality of life than they have now. Why are we not doing that? We are not doing that because of the politics and money that is involved. The seriously mentally ill do not have a high enough priority in our society. Our governments must be prepared and willing to spe...

Is Recovery From Depression Possible? Is recovery from depression possible? It depends upon how one defines recovery. If one is talking about remaining free of the symptoms of depression for the rest of their life I would say that this is possible for some but not others. Some people are fortunate in experiencing only one episode of major depression in their lives. For others the prognosis is not as good. These individuals will likely experience recurrent episodic bouts of clinical depression. Persons in this second group may need to take medication for the rest of their lives. If the side effects are not too bothersome one will become used to taking meds. It will become part of their daily routine similar to taking nutritional supplements on a daily basis, There is another type of depression known as dysthymia. Dysthymia is a mood disorder in which an individual may still be able to function at their job and can meet most of life’s demands. The problem is that they are in a chronic ...

Recovery From Depression In my experience I have found that depression is a condition that cannot be cured but can be managed. I will now list some of the things that I have found help full in maintaining my recovery. 1 getting enough sleep. 2 eating a healthy diet 3 getting regular exercise 4 trying to moderate stress levels 5 trying to find work situations that are not excessively stressful 6 having a counselor to discuss your issues with 7 having a relaxed attitude towards life 8 getting in lots of leisure time 9 trying not to put a lot of pressure on yourself 10 trying to get along with others as best I can 11 having plenty of time to do the things I like to do 12 trying not to rush when working on a project 13 having faith in a Higher Power that is looking after me at all times 14 having pets 15 recognizing my limitations

Living With Depression If anyone finds that they have a significant number of the symptoms I wrote about my advice from one who has been there is to get help. As debilitating as the disease of depression can be, it is treatable in most cases. You do not need to continue suffering on your own. My experience is that few if any actually beat this illness solely on their own efforts. Some form of assistance is usually needed and this is nothing to feel bad about. I have read and heard some say that suffering is good for the soul, but I for the life of me cannot see what it is good for. There probably is only one exception. After you have suffered you can relate to what others are going through. All the same the idea is to stop the suffering. If you have all or most of the symptoms listed in my previous post you should make an appointment with your family doctor. He or she will be able to advise you if you tell them about your symptoms. Medication can be very helpful when it comes to tre...

Preparing for Retirement I was inspired to write this column by a fellow blogger. This blogger is looking for suggestions as to what he should do during his retirement years. One's retirement years can potentially be the best years of your life. First thing you are going to need is enough money to be comfortable. You will also need enough money for your hobbies. If you constantly have to worry about money it will be difficult to enjoy your retirement. If this is an issue you may have to look for part time work on temporary work. It will be good if you could still have approximately half the week for your leisure activities. I would also recommend getting a job that will not be very stressful. Retirement is to be enjoyed and is to be as stress-free as possible. The next thing you are going to need for a successful retirement is good health. If you have been taking care of yourself right up to retirement hopefully this will not be much of a problem. If you have health issues you m...

Getting Old Sucks Today I have the energy level of a tree sloth on Quaaludes. I feel like a semi must have rolled over me while I was asleep but I can’t find any tire marks on my tee shirt. I’m pushing sixty; maybe that’s my problem. When I was a young man I could usually get myself back into shape in about a week. The first few days I’d be in pain but after I got over the hump it was pretty much smooth sailing. Not any more. No matter how much I exercise or how consistently I work out, the day after always feels the same. In other words get out the ice packs and the Tylenol and take your time getting out of your chair. Yesterday was a good example of this. I went out for a bike ride in the morning only to get a flat tire when I got to my destination. Don’t you love those people that break glass bottles on the street? This meant that my return trip was going to be on foot and not by bike. It also meant that I would be pushing my bike home not riding it. It didn’t help that it was ove...

The Symptoms of Depression Depression is the common cold of mental illness. It can be very debilitating and one may never know that they suffer with this condition. Here are some of the symptoms of this mood disorder: 1)       a persistent feeling of sadness that you can’t seem to shake. 2)       Having trouble sleeping on most nights. 3)       Finding that you are sleeping excessively but do not wake up feeling rested. 4)       Having trouble concentrating and remembering details. 5)       Having very low energy. Feeling exhausted for a good portion of your day. 6)       Thinking excessively pessimistic thoughts about the future. 7)       Often thinking, “What’s the Use?” 8)       Finding your work to be drudgery even if you recall enjoying it in the past. 9)     ...

A Good Summer I have been having a really good summer. There are two major reasons for this. One is that I have been retired for several months now. This, unfortunately, is only a temporary situation. I will likely be rejoining the labor force in one form or another in September. Although most of us need to work to survive, the working life is often very stressful. There appears to be only a minority of people that honestly enjoy their jobs. The problem with stress at work is that it can really deplete your energy and will often leave one too exhausted for the things in life that they really enjoy doing. This is a tragedy because life on this earth is short. I have found that one really needs to enjoy the good times in their lives. The other reason that I have been having a good summer is that the weather has been great in Winnipeg . We have long cold winters here so we really appreciate the warm weather in the summertime. We finally have air conditioning in our house this year and i...

What Is Success? This week I have started reading a book titled The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill. I have also been listening to the audio book version. As I get older I find that my eyes get tired more easily. For this reason audio books have been a Godsend for me. This book started me thinking about how one may define success. The answer to this question will vary depending on the individual. What follows is some of the things that I would include in my perception of the concept of success: 1)       Enough money to live comfortably and to be able to afford a few luxuries. 2)       Being able to live at peace with one self. 3)       Being in optimum physical and mental health. 4)       The ability to calmly and reasonably deal with adversity. 5)       Having people in your life who love you. 6)       Having a close and peaceful relati...

The Forgotten People In a few of my previous blogs,   I may have touched upon the topic of schizophrenia. For thirteen years I worked as a mental health worker in two residential rehabilitation facilities for persons with severe and persistent psychiatric disorders. The vast majority of the clients I worked with had schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a biological brain disorder that can render some very debilitating symptoms grouped as either positive or negative symptoms. The positive symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations and delusions. The negative symptoms include fatigue, lack of motivation, blunt affect, poverty of speech and a few other disabling symptoms. The prognosis for a person receiving a diagnosis of schizophrenia is usually not very hopeful. The supposition is that the person with schizophrenia is going to lose many basic things associated with a good quality of life. Theses include things like gainful employment, a good education and a decent material stand...

Probation For Casey Anthony? It appears that Casey Anthony may have to return to Orlando , Florida for her probation hearing. I cannot see any sense in this order. What good is it going to do to bring Casey back to Florida to serve out her probation sentence? If Casey is forced to live in Orlando , and abide by a probation order, is this going to make her a better person? This seems to be unlikely. What might be of more benefit to everyone involved, is to allow Casey to attend a mental health rehabilitation facility. It seems that there is a desire out there to continue to punish Casey Anthony. A majority of people do not seem to agree with the not guilty verdict. They think that the courts should find a way to punish Casey some other way. I don't think these people have anything to worry about. Casey Anthony's life will likely be rough enough. There also appears to be some politics involved in making this probation decision. There seems to be no love lost between Judge Stri...

Depression has been called the common cold of mental illness. This speaks of how prevalent this medical condition is in our general population. I have noticed some parallels between the common cold and influenza and a major depressive disorder. I have experienced a bout of depression making itself manifest in much the same way as a virus that is attacking your body. You may wake up one morning and notice that you don’t quite feel yourself. You feel tired with no apparent reason. Your thinking may be foggy. You feel down and aren’t sure why. You may feel irritable and don’t want people talking to you. You just want to be left alone. If you have a bunch of responsibilities that you need to carry out that day you don’t know where you’re going to find the energy to do them. You may also notice that your body hurts. You may experience aches and pains throughout your body. Theses are some of the common symptoms of a major depressive disorder. (to be continued).

Fitness After 50 This weekend I took it fairly easy as far as my personal fitness program was concerned. On Friday Night I went to Shapes and worked my arms and legs, I didn’t seem to have much jam on Saturday and Sunday. There were no weight workouts on these two days. I kept it down to one forty minute bike ride per day. The weather was very hot this weekend so this may have contributed to my lack of energy. Oh well, Monday starts a new week of training.

Instinctive Training As my main goal is to try to lose some body fat the majority of my training is now aerobic. The great July weather that we have enjoyed in Winnipeg has allowed me to do my aerobic program outdoors. At my age I have found by trial and error that exercising for short blocks of time a few times per day works better for me. When I first got back to my conditioning program I would train for longer periods of time. The drawback to this approach was that I found recovery to be very difficult. Using this approach I would often wake up the next day feeling like I had been run over by a truck. During the day I would feel exhausted, weak and sore. In other words my first day would be devoted to exercising vigorously and the next day would involve rest and recovery. After a few weeks I didn’t find this system to be viable. I did not want to spend every second day tired and in pain, I knew that an adjustment to my training routine would be benefici

Anyone who has ever tried to get back in shape after age fifty will likely tell you that it's not easy and they're right. Trying to lose weight or increase your physical fitness level can be a daunting task. Firstly, it requires a lot of commitment. Commitment to me means being able to force yourself to do something or force yourself not to do something when you just plain don't feel like it. Motivation and will power definitely play important roles. People are very departmentalized when it comes to things like willpower and motivation. For example I find that it is easier to exercise when I am tired and sore than to refrain from eating junk food. In fact, my desire to eat junk food is more easily rationalized when I tell myself that I will be going to the gym later in the day. Intellectually, I know darn well that I will not be able to burn off all the calories that i consumed by eating that chocolate bar. But it is amazing how rationalization can usually triumph over acad...

In my opinion quality of life basically comes down to two things; health and money in that order. It is extremely difficult (but not impossible) to be happy if your general health is poor. I don't know how much time I have on this earth. I could be dead an hour from now or I could still be writing my blog twenty years from now. Medical science could do numerous tests on me and thoroughly analyze my medical history. From there they could work with mathematical probabilities and come up with a fairly precise date on which I will be leaving this world. While these studies are interesting they cannot account for all the possible variables. Life is unpredictable as are people. There is always plenty of room for surprises. Furthermore, science cannot compete with God. God knows the exact day, hour and second that I'll be leaving this earth. If I believe that I will be going to Heaven based on the finished work of Jesus Christ (and I do) then I should have no fear of death. The questi...