You are currently browsing all posts tagged with 'Illness'

I feel like the biggest loser because my daughter has a drug induced mental illness?

  • Posted on January 4, 2011 at 11:20 am

and she is 20yrs old… shez been smoking “crystal meth” for 5yrs or more but has blamed me for everything which ever went wrong in her life…. all because I was a bit strict and gave her boundaries, and consequences. Today the police were called to her home for domestic violence and they called me…. when I arrived all she did was spit and cuss me……… what on earth can I do?????? I always thought I was a wonderful mom…………..was I wrong, am I really to blame????????

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If your child has a persistent cough, but no other signs of illness do you give cough syrup?

  • Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:25 pm

My daughter (technically she’s my step-daughter) is six years old. She lives with us full time and very rarely sees her mother (last time was last January for about 30 minutes). She’s had a pretty persistent cough lately but it doesn’t seem to be in her chest or hurting her when she coughs, she just coughs a lot. She asked me to give her some cough syrup to make the coughs go away and I was tempted to because I hear her all night long. However, when she used to see her mom on a regular basis her mom and maternal grandmother would give her medicine for every little thing. If she stubbed her toe or got a small scratch they would immediately give her children’s tylenol. So then she’d come home and demand medication for something that wasn’t wrong.

I’m afraid to give her cough medicine if it’s not a painful cough. She says she has a dry throat. I keep her drinking lots of water and fluids, but she still wants the cough syrup. Do you give your kids cough syrup if the cough isn’t really bothering them and they don’t have any other signs of illness? This cough has been happening for about four days now.

I’m just curious as to what other moms do. Thank you!

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Leon and Michelle: Two Real Stories of Mental Illness and Substance Abuse

  • Posted on January 11, 2010 at 12:08 am

Leon

“Leon” thinks his drinking first got out of control in 1978 – the year his first wife left for good with their four children. Over the next 25 years, his life was littered with brushes with the law, hospitalizations, incarcerations, and another failed marriage.

Leon, who suffers from bipolar disorder, says his illness could cause him to spend $1,000 an hour in a manic fit to being so depressed he couldn’t leave his home for weeks. Alcohol helped him feel better for a while, but he didn’t like who he had become.

After several tries at becoming sober on his own, Leon was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. The people who worked with him made two things very clear. “I had to stop drinking, and I had to take medication for my bipolar disorder,” Leon said.

After being sober for four months, he made amends with his former wife and their daughter. Leon’s mood swings have stabilized, he recently celebrated his third anniversary of continuous sobriety and he has gone back to school to become a licensed drug counselor.

Michelle

After overcoming a journey of painful addiction, “Michelle” brought her child to the mountains in search of hope. There she found knowledge, hope, and compassion.

Michelle, mother of five, ranging in age from eight to 23, came to a local mental health center two years ago with her son “Bruce.” Her youngest, a first-grader, was having behavioral problems in school, making it necessary for her to take over sixty days off work to help deal with her son’s challenges. This led to problems with her job. Disciplinary methods and short-term answers did not help in managing her son’s behavior.

Michelle brought together twenty concerned friends from school, daycare, and people whom she knew cared about her son in an effort to generate ideas of how to help Bruce. A number of options were discussed. Bruce was lucky to have so many believers who could see his potential. As by chance, someone in the group knew about a local mental health center and that is how Bruce’s story of renewal began and continues.

Michelle accompanied her son Bruce to the local mental health center in September of 2004. In her words, the organization and the people at who volunteered there were a “blessing.” When asked to elaborate, she is eager to tell of their patience and insight in helping to deal with Bruce. As she feared losing her son to a series of transfers to other organizations, the local mental health center gave constancy and stability that helped bring the entire family closer.

His progress in managing his behavior and feelings pleased Michelle tremendously. As the behaviors and emotions started to calm, a new boy began to emerge, and so his potential became clearer.

For the first time ever, Bruce will be realizing one of his dreams: to play on a baseball team. As her child’s and her family’s lives are becoming more grounded, Michelle was also able to reflect on her own personal growth. She has decided that she would like to become a Drug and Alcohol Counselor. Her other son Tony, age 10, is also being helped by a local mental health organization program and is excelling as well. He is currently taking karate, competing, and bringing home trophies. Clearly, this family has been to the mountains and crossed over to the other side.

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Bipolar Disorder: The Shared Mental Illness of a Mother and Daughter

  • Posted on January 3, 2010 at 12:21 am

“Annette’s” struggles began at age 14, when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It was at this time, that her mother, also suffering from this illness, committed suicide. When she needed friends the most, she was ostracized by her schoolmates once they learned of her illness. Throughout her life she had the loving support of her father and sisters.

Annette’s 26 year struggle to take control of her illness was sidelined numerous times due to repeated hospitalizations. For this reason, it took her 10 years to earn her Bachelor’s Degree. Her efforts to be independent were also impacted by her illness costing her to lose employment several times.

In 2001, Annette sought help at a community mental health organization. As she started to manage her symptoms, her work hours and responsibilities were increased. She was doing well until 2003 when she relapsed and was hospitalized four times in an eight month period. It was during this period that she learned self-help techniques to gain control of her illness–and she’s never looked back.

Once back at work, she worked part time in the mental health center’s outpatient and day treatment program. Now that she has her life on track, she shares her personal experience with clients and works hard with them to help them understand that they too can gain control of their illness.

In just five years, she went from consumer to a full time mental health worker (case manager) at the community mental health organization. She has been struggling with bipolar disorder for 26 years yet she never gave up hope. Her compassionate and heartfelt message to others with mental illness is, “If I can do it, you can do it too.”

Bipolar disorder is a disorder of the brain that can result in drastic changes in mood and personality. Nearly 6 million adults, roughly 2 and 1/2 percent of the population, suffer from bipolar disorder. Although there is currently no cure for bipolar disorder, it can be treated and individuals suffering from bipolar disorder can lead relatively normal adult lives under the proper care.

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Live Poor Or Die Early: How Serious Illness Treatment Can Drain your Life Savings

  • Posted on January 2, 2010 at 1:20 pm

Many families in America have been affected by medical bills and costly prescription medications associated with Serious Illness. People say that you can’t put a price tag on human life, but can you reach the point where you are just preventing the inevitable? Where holding on for just a few years or months is going to produce years of financial hardship on your family?

As horrible as it seems, there are people who have and will be faced with a decision such as this one. Experts at the Medco Drug Trend Report say that in the last year the cost of biotech drugs to treat serious or terminally ill patients rose 22%. Even with a good health care provider or Medicare, patients can easily spend over $10,000 in the first year on prescription medication. According to a report in the journal Cancer, one in five patients miss or delay treatment because of financial complications and if uninsured, nearly 70% miss or delay treatment and 43% went without vital medication.

Frank Beck is 62 years old and is suffering from an advanced form colon cancer that usually claims its victims in less than 2 years. In an interview in USA Today Frank said, “You add all these things up and you say, how can I justify that? Am I taking money away from everybody else just so I can be around a little longer? …My children tell me I’m worth it, but I don’t know.” Frank cost his health care plan and family more than $150,000 in his first six months of therapy and estimates that he has paid more than $12,000 out-of-pocket towards his treatments and medication. Frank has also had to finance several of the treatments he has taken.

Despite Frank’s apprehension towards his high health care costs he plans to continue to fight the cancer to be true to his families wishes. “I told him the best thing that we could ever have is him alive,” said Liliani Beck (Franks daughter), to USA Today. Frank walks 2 miles a day to keep his strength up and stay in the best shape possible.

Health care costs are hard to combat because the United States is the only modern country that does not have price controls on their prescription medication. Alan Holmer, the president and CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America says, “The principal problem with price controls is you have limitations on access to medicines, and you don’t have the newest most innovative treatments.” But when asked in a report by ABC’s John McKenzie, “representatives of the pharmaceutical industry could only identify eight drugs not available on Canadian shelves, and three of those are contraceptives.” On top of not having price controls, the pocket books of American drug companies are so deep, they have a heavy influence on the laws that are passed. Even Dan Burton, the state representative from Indiana said, “There’s no question in my mind that the (FDA) is too dependent on the pharmaceutical industry for their attitudes and decision-making.”

The burden of high priced medication can be lightened by a new company called ePharmacies.com. ePharmacies.com is a pharmacy resource website that will help you locate the cheapest online pharmacies to help cut down your prescription cost. The owner, Cary Byrd said, “We want to help people that are in a strenuous financial situation to be able to get the prescriptions that they need. No one should have to go without their medication because of the outrageous price of prescription medication here in the United States. It’s like kicking someone while there down.”

Visit this Consumer Advocacy website for more information on ordering from online pharmacies.


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