Mental and Physical Health

[Sci-2]

http://awaare.org/

Site for dealing with emergencies arising for kids with autism:

NAA has created two new safety toolkits that can be downloaded here:

Caregiver Toolkit | First Responder Toolkit

Take Action in Your Home & Community:

Download and begin using your Big Red Safety Toolkit today.

Provide a copy of the First Responder Toolkit to your local police department. Ask them to implement Reverse 911 in your county and read the included Directive from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

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[Guest Raidne]

Dude. It's the Adderall. It's the left-handed amphetamine - the benzedrine. It's lasts longer in the system. I've been out of Vyvanse for a couple of days and have been taking Adderall instead and am having all the same symptoms and I'm not nearly as happy - in the joyful sense, not the satisfied sense, if you know what I mean.

This webpage is interesting: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/mim/drugs/html/adrenaline_text.htm

[Sci-2]

Anyone else hear that grapefruit can fuck up all sorts of medications you're on?

Apparently this is a thing?

Fuck.

[brook]

I was specifically warned about grapefruit juice when on blood pressure meds following my first pregnancy, both by my doctor and the pharmacist that filled my prescription.

[karaddin]

Anyone else hear that grapefruit can fuck up all sorts of medications you're on?

Apparently this is a thing?

Fuck.

Well while my beta blocker isn't on the list I did read that it can interfere with liver absorption anyway. Estradiol however is on the list. Grapefruit juice is out the window for me! Lucky I don't like it and never consume it anyway :P

ETA: 6 days on propranolol now, I still had a migraine the day after I started but haven't had one since. At the rate I was having them this is starting to be convincing, and I've felt almost every day like I should have a migraine (either I've had a headache briefly flutter in, then go away, or my neck has felt tight in the fashion that would normally cause one to be forthcoming) so this is looking very promising.

[Sci-2]

I was specifically warned about grapefruit juice when on blood pressure meds following my first pregnancy, both by my doctor and the pharmacist that filled my prescription.

I'm just amazed a juice has all these potential adverse effects on a variety of medications.

ETA: 6 days on propranolol now, I still had a migraine the day after I started but haven't had one since.

Ah, good to hear. I was wondering about all the migraines you've been getting. I like those hand held massage devices, good for relaxing the muscles which I find helps with various body aches.

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Parents can make keep their own form in case of an emergency as noted here:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/104/4/e53.full

Also, the Delaware Special Needs Site has some English and Spanish forms that might prove useful, even if you're not in that area I think it's useful just to print out and keep in an accessible location:

http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dph/ems/emscsnap.html

There's a long form:

http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dph/ems/files/snap911eif_en.pdf

And a short form:

http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dph/ems/files/snap911enroll_en.pdf

Best to ask local EMS providers which one to hand over in case of an emergency.

[Sci-2]

Still updating resource links in my sig, with an update section.

The Blame Game! Are School Problems the Kids' Fault?

Dr. Alessi noted that in IEP disputes, "family factors are invoked most often when the parent does not attend the meeting, or if the parent is involved in a way deemed ‘inappropriate’ by the school staff. Otherwise, child factors alone seem to carry the explanatory burden for school learning and behavior problems." (Page 149)

Based on the results of these 5,000 reports prepared by school psychologists, "the results indicate clearly no need to improve curricula, teaching practices, nor school administrative practices and management. The only needs somehow involve improving the stock of children enrolled in the system, and some of their parents." (Page 149)

Alessi expressed serious concerns about his findings. If school psychologists define children’s learning problems as existing

solely within the child, "it is equally unclear how school psychologists can help resolve this kind of problem. School psychologists seem to define school problems in ways that cannot be resolved."

When Dr. Alessi shared these findings with the school psychologists, many protested that "all five factors are indeed responsible for school problems in the cases they studied, but that informal school policy (or ‘school culture’) dictates that conclusions be limited to child and family factors.

Many feel that they could lose their jobs were they to invoke school-related factors. Certainly, they claim, their professional lives would be made very uncomfortable . . . The fact remains that no school psychologist in the group had determined that any existing problems were due to school-related factors." (Page 149)

[Persicaria]

Hello everyone,

I've been looking for a thread like this for awhile. My anxiety has been acting up pretty badly since I started my holidays. Actually before then too. I'm 30 and I think that's probably been an issue too, as I am not where I thought I would be. I used to go to therapy, but I was never very diligent with medication and medication wasn't always nice to me. I gained weight, had mood swings, broke out, which also didn't help with my underlining feelings of depression. I stopped therapy because the therapist office (the office was home to a psychiatrist and three to four counselors) kept on pushing meds; meanwhile they were not diligently following up on my counseling needs. I had a schedule which made scheduling counseling difficult. I would think they would have tried to help me work around it so that they could make sure that I was actually ok, not packing me off with pills.

[Persicaria]

I haven't really, but I would be open to any suggestions. I just don't know enough about that stuff to distinguish the fluff from the real deal.

I've been looking at what I've been experiencing from every angle, and ultimately I think it all comes down to high anxiety levels and sleep deprivation. I feel like these two things have created a feedback loop that I'm trapped in. High anxiety causes me to not be able to sleep, which causes me to deal with the anxiety less effectively, which in turns causes me to sleep less. Sleep deprivation more closely matches my symptoms and would make a lot more sense than a previously unknown about psychosis or anything else. The problem is breaking that loop.

It's amazing what sleep or lack of sleep can do to an individual. I used to work with an individual who was a self-professed insomniac. She could be a sweet person one day and a complete arse the next. Unfortunately she didn't break the cycle. I wish I had some great insight to help you. Only things I can think of are perhaps meditation, and physical exercise to help you reach a physical state of exhaustion. Long periods of exercise also produce endorphins . Webmd has an article about it:

http://www.webmd.com...helps-you-sleep

I don't know what you currently do, so far all I know you have already tried this approach. I know a good long walk during my lunch made me a little less anxious in the afternoon. It's too bad that the area I work in now isn't so nice.

Also an article on yoga and sleeping:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kripalu/yoga-and-sleep_b_3572950.html

[Sci-2]

Persicaria, definitely seek out some other counseling if possible.

Are you in the UK?

[Persicaria]

Persicaria, definitely seek out some other counseling if possible.

Are you in the UK?

Nope, I'm just outside of NYC

[Sci-2]

Ah, the word "arse" through [threw] me off.

There's a bunch of resources in my sig in the mental health section. For example, I believe there is a hotline just for anxiety. Also various forms of online support.

There's one link, about cheap access to mental health, that you might find particularly useful.

[Persicaria]

Thank you for that! It's really frustrating sometimes, because my anxiety and depression tend to come in cycles. I think I have finally beaten it, I'm normal and okay and then little by little until the full force hits bang back at square one. I have to find something that will I can commit to, and not something that is too easy to ignore once I hit an uptick.

I like British euphemisms and pronunciations. When I was young (12 - 15) I used to watch masterpiece theater on television and I thought the British accent sounded so intelligent and sophisticated. Then I read the Harry Potter books and absorbed the lingo. Then I heard about Russell brand and rethought the whole British = intelligent/sophisticated. Still, I cannot fault a culture that turned out Terry Pratchett.

[Sci-2]

Thank you for that! It's really frustrating sometimes, because my anxiety and depression tend to come in cycles. I think I have finally beaten it, I'm normal and okay and then little by little until the full force hits bang back at square one. I have to find something that will I can commit to, and not something that is too easy to ignore once I hit an uptick.

I like British euphemisms and pronunciations. When I was young (12 - 15) I used to watch masterpiece theater on television and I thought the British accent sounded so intelligent and sophisticated. Then I read the Harry Potter books and absorbed the lingo. Then I heard about Russell brand and rethought the whole British = intelligent/sophisticated. Still, I cannot fault a culture that turned out Terry Pratchett.

Heh, Russell Brand apparently is pretty smart? At least I've heard that.

I would definitely seek out help even if you are in a good period of your cycle.

=-=-=

Work Incentive Seminar Webinar on Employment Law

Work Team and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is celebrating the 23rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with a national Work Incentive Seminar (WISE) webinar about disability rights in the workplace this Wednesday, July 24 at 3:00 p.m. EST.

The webinar will explain the EEOC’s role in enforcing employment laws, the protections of the ADA and the Ticket to Work program’s career development services.

Registration is free:

http://www.thearc.org/page.redir?target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.chooseworkttw.net%2fwise%2fjsp%2fwise.jsp&srcid=26748&srctid=1&erid=4534033&trid=1cc94ebd-6aec-44ed-8698-18dbceaab737

and following the webinar, there will be a Facebook Question and Answer session:

http://www.thearc.org/page.redir?target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fchoosework&srcid=26748&srctid=1&erid=4534033&trid=1cc94ebd-6aec-44ed-8698-18dbceaab737 with EEOC to provide participants a chance to have their questions answered by the experts.

[Sci-2]

Televisions are sending thousands of kids to the E.R. every year

Today in weirdly specific statistics, a recent study concludes more than 17,000 children are treated every year for TV-related injuries. That's about one every half hour, and roughly double the number seen in the early '90s. The reason? Televisions have become too skinny. Ah, the scourge of technological progress!

"Lighter weights coupled with a less bulky design may make flat panels more easily tipped than CRTs (cathode ray tube) and may be contributing to the observed increase in the rate of injuries associated with falling TVs," write study authors Ana C. De Roo, Thiphalak Chounthirath and Gary A. Smith in the latest issue of Pediatrics.

Read the full study, free of charge, in Pediatrics.

eta:

Still adding resources to the doc in my sig by the way.

[karaddin]

Was stuck on a packed train making it hard to read last night, so decided to listen to a podcast from ABC radio national (basically our equivalent to PBS radio) and the most recent one from the program I like was on Adult ADD. I learnt some new things on it, like the reason that people can get through childhood without having any issues but manifest the symptoms in adulthood comes from the higher cognitive load at University etc surpassing what they are capable of without it kicking in, where they were capable of getting through school without getting stressed to that point.

They refer quite a bit to a book that I think was called Racing Minds but I can't seem to find it with a quick google, I'll have to check the podcast and get it's name and author later. Was wondering whether you are familiar with it at all Raidne? Since you are the goddess of ADHD knowledge on the board as far as I'm concerned :P

[Sci-2]

They refer quite a bit to a book that I think was called Racing Minds but I can't seem to find it with a quick google, I'll have to check the podcast and get it's name and author later. Was wondering whether you are familiar with it at all Raidne? Since you are the goddess of ADHD knowledge on the board as far as I'm concerned :P

I'd be curious to hear Raidne's take as well.

In general I wonder about the onset of mental illness later in life. Is it just from experiences, or can a healthy brain physically change to cause things like anxiety and depression?

[Guest Raidne]

They refer quite a bit to a book that I think was called Racing Minds...

I have not read it - it's listed on the podcast page though:

Title: Fast Minds - How to thrive if you have ADHD (or think you might have)Author: Craig Surman, Tim Bilkey with Karen Weintraub

Publisher: John Hopkins Press 2013

http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Minds-Thrive-Think-Might/dp/0425252833

I'll read it on my Kindle this weekend.

I personally did OK in high school - I was senior class president, captain of the debate team, 4th in the state moot court competition, etc. - but note these are kind of competitive things. In classes, I did well when I was interested and not as well when I wasn't (or didn't like the teacher), but I graduated with about a 3.7 even though I also forgot to do/turn in homework, etc., because nearly all my classes were on the "gifted" track and the teachers gave you the benefit of the doubt on everything organizational as long as you did well on the tests.

My senior year, I slacked off a bit and took a few "regular" track classes and did much, much worse in those courses because they were graded heavily on regular homework assignments, etc. - essentially designed to favor people who don't do well on tests. That's always the story with me really - regular homework assignments and required attendance will shave a full point of my GPA. I think I've mentioned the D+ I got in Women's Studies in college?

I was actually pretty much fine until my divorce at the age of 32. Not so much because of the emotional event, but because I was losing my grip on being able to do my job as it became more difficult into my third year, and the acute stress made me realize it. I was also completely unable to manage the reorganization of my life. Before that, I just avoided too much change at once like the plague and avoided over-committed to things. The idea is just to be okay with being, you know, average to above average and to never strive for anything more than that.

This was a strategy that worked in college - I went to Michigan State instead of University of Michigan, never submitted any papers for publication when my professors suggested it, never did much in the way of extracurricular activities, took Gen Ed credits at community college and transferred them in to keep the grade off my GPA when possible, etc. Law school was much, much harder, but everything fell into place when I took Jurisprudence - that's how the ADD brain works. You need a gestalt, global understanding of what something is to understand anything in it or about it.

[Sci-2]

Great post Raidne. Perhaps you've missed your calling a public healthy advocate for mental health. :-)

And I wouldn't worry about Women Studies [not that you do - just an expression], I think you fall into the real world, outside-of-the-tower advocate for feminism as you at least grasp the tenets behind more conservative views. While I try to be polite I at times just bow out of a feminism debate which is kinda sad seeing I'm a straight man, but you seem to manage to at least shift the more reactionary posters by a hair at least.

Curious about your last line:

You need a gestalt, global understanding of what something is to understand anything in it or about it.

Not sure what you mean, possibly because I don't have a firm grasp on jurisprudence beyond Google telling me it's the "philosophy of law".

I've wonder at times that some who bomb out in the problem solving aspects of mathematics might do better if they could see the underpinnings of things like Linear Algebra and Calculus. Not sure if you're talking about something similar though.

[Guest Raidne]

Not sure what you mean, possibly because I don't have a firm grasp on jurisprudence beyond Google telling me it's the "philosophy of law".

That's what it is. Legal formalism vs. legal realism vs. legal pragmatism, etc. The whole question of "how should we do this thing that we're doing here and...what are we doing here?" It's not quite philosophy of law, I suppose, which doesn't involve being a lawyer - jurisprudence inherently concerns how it should be practiced.

I've wonder at times that some who bomb out in the problem solving aspects of mathematics might do better if they could see the underpinnings of things like Linear Algebra and Calculus. Not sure if you're talking about something similar though.

So yes, absolutely the same thing, and yes, I wish someone would have done that for me in math classes all the time. It is so frustrating to have someone be like "here is how we do polar graphing" when they don't tell you what the fuck it IS. Don't tell me what it's good for - I want to know what it IS.