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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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Stories of Life After Depression

  • Posted on January 7, 2010 at 5:24 am

With depression, when it happens, it’s the same way.  You can’t just return to your old ways of dealing with stress and use the same coping skills that got you depressed in the first place. It’s time to see what your priorities are and what needs your attention most.

Let’s take Ralph:

He’s 64 years old, retired, and enjoys playing golf, going fishing, and hanging with his old friends who are also retired. He drinks a little more than he should but he never had a DUI so he thinks he is OK. His wife has many friends and is involved in church work and helping the local animal shelter raise money.  Ralph’s wife meets Tom at the senior citizens’ center and they immediately have a good mojo. Within weeks she and Tom are planning a future together.  When Ralph learns of his marriage falling apart he drinks a quart of alcohol and runs his truck into a cement post.  He is not seriously hurt but is diagnosed as seriously depressed.  He is treated for two weeks in the hospital. His wife has shown concern but does not plan to stay with him.  Ralph needs to find a way to live his life in a way that he does not need a steady flow of booze to keep going. He realizes after he’s gone through detox that he will have to change his lifestyle and become more active doing things that don’t involve booze. He tells himself that maybe getting divorced isn’t the worst thing in the world since he and his wife were never really that happy.

Annie is another example.

She is 46 years old and her 24 year old daughter was killed by an abusive husband. Annie has not been able to deal with her depression over this and has had to go to court to see her former son in law tried and sentenced. She takes sleeping pills and tranquilizers; sometimes to the point she slurs her words and stumbles when she walks. She is a realtor and does not have to report for work at any given time so she lays in bed much of the day.  She has a friend who is handling her real estate closings. Annie was very close to her daughter and was not really close to her son who lives nearby. Her husband died of a heart attack and she lives alone in a lovely condo. Her diet is terrible and she looks bad. Her son comes over one day and tells her that he is taking her to a mental health clinic, that he has already made an appointment.  She agrees reluctantly and when she tells her problem to a counselor, she is given anti depressant medication. Within 3 weeks she is feeling better and has more energy. She realizes that she will always grieve for her daughter but that relationship she counted on was gone.  She checks out the local recreation center to see what classes she can take and she signs up for a gym member ship. She also feels much closer to her son and is trying to repair old grudges and arguments with him.

Jim was in a toxic relationship.

Jim is 28 and was living with Laura, 26. She is a nurse and he works for a drafting company.  He dated her for five months before asking her to move in with him. When she did, their relationships seemed to go south.  She never wanted to help with the cleaning and cooking and felt that they should go somewhere every night.  The sex was good but she was always suggesting how he could make it better.  He was very turned on by Laura because she was pretty and well built.  However, he noticed there were phone calls coming in and Laura would take them in the bedroom and talk for an hour. He asked who it was but she didn’t say.  Finally he answered the phone and talked to the man who had been seeing Laura on the sly. Jim blew up and screamed at Laura to get out of the house. There was a terrible scene and the neighbors called the police who decided to arrest Jim.  When he got out on bail, Laura had cleaned out the TV, stereo, and his computer.  He was so depressed he could barely go to work.  His mind would wander back to how he had gotten involved with a woman like her.  He didn’t want to go out with any friends and just got fast food to eat.  His parents called and asked him to come visit as they only lived an hour away but he wouldn’t go.  He just sat and brooded. Finally he was causing so many screw ups at work that his boss told him to get help or he would be out of a job. Jack went to see a psychologist and let it all out. The counselor was understanding and arranged for Jack to get on antidepressants.  He also told Jack that he needed to find out why he had been attracted to a woman like Laura and decide what was important in a woman that he would want to have a relationship with.

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Brain Cancer Survival Stories

  • Posted on January 1, 2010 at 7:20 pm

The new prescription is, Assisted Suicide as medical care. Brain Cancer Survival Stories Currently Oregon and Washington state are the only two states to legalize doctor-assisted suicide. I’m not going to debate the merits of doctor-assisted suicide. I’ll leave that for your conscience to decide. I am however referencing this for what I am about to tell you next.

Imagine your doctor checks you over and says “You have cancer.” Now imagine your government run health care plan won’t pay for the treatment because in their opinion the treatment is too expensive and not cost effective. Your doctor pulls out his or her prescription pad and says, “they will offer a quick, cheap and painless death.” “This prescription of barbiturates to end your life will cost you less than $100.00.”

You don’t believe that this can happen? It already has. Meet Randy Stroup from Dexter, Oregon. At 53 years of age Randy has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Randy received a letter from the “Lane Individual Practice Association” which administers the Oregon health plan in Lane County, Oregon. The letter stated his cancer is too advanced to warrant a pricey treatment. The state was willing to cover his prescription for doctor-assisted suicide. They wouldn’t pay for the treatment and medication to possibly save his life but they would pay to end his life.

Barbara Wagner, another Oregonian, also has cancer. She too received a letter from the Oregon health plan in Lane County, notifying her that her treatment was too expensive. The letter stated, “treatment of advanced cancer that is meant to prolong life or change the course of the disease, is not a covered benefit of the Oregon health plan.” However, “the plan does pay for comfort care or physician aid in dying.” This same letter has gone out to other terminally ill patients throughout Oregon.

Lung Cancer Secrets Revealed Click here

Oregon doesn’t cover life prolonging treatment unless there is a “better than 5% chance” it will help patients “live longer than 5 years.” Imagine this is your son or daughter or your spouse. I’ll take the 5% chance of survival. You’ll find people all over this country who have defied these odds.

Managed care plans aside, private health insurance plans pay for your treatment. This is what insurance is supposed to be about. Who are the legislatures to decide who lives and who dies. They all have great private health insurance that pays these expenses. The plan is paid mostly by us with our tax dollars. They have a choice of the finest doctors.

Senator Ted Kennedy is battling brain cancer. On the Oregon run health plan he would already be dead. He would have been given his prescription for doctor-assisted suicide. But Senator Kennedy is privileged to have the finest doctors and the finest health insurance coverage.

Health provisions have already slipped into the stimulus package. The government will monitor your treatment and make sure your doctor is doing what they determine is appropriate and cost effective. As we get closer to government run health care could the Oregon plan become the model in other states?

Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

lung cancer treatment breakthroughs Click here

 

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