Funny headline of the day
From Australia’s The Age: “We Can Be Fair Dinkum and Bipolar”
Hee.
Click here for the article.
liz | 12:31 PM | Uncategorized
Medisucks Part D: Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee
From USA Today, of all places:
“They are poor or near-poor, old, disabled or both. Some have cancer or AIDS, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, spinal cord injuries or multiple sclerosis. Others have lists of medications as long as the alphabet.
“They’re paying more for their drugs, perhaps as little as $1 per prescription, but often thousands of dollars a year. Some buy on credit without knowing how they’ll pay it off. Others scrimp on food and utilities or rely on the charity of family and friends.
“When things get really bad, they space out their pills or injections, risking medical setbacks. They lose weight or swell up or get nauseated. Some wind up in emergency rooms.
“They are the people that Medicare’s new prescription-drug program has hurt, rather than helped.”
I’m glad some media outlets are keeping this in the news.
Tough choices can be side effects of Medicare plan
liz | 11:44 AM | Uncategorized
BBI: Budget update from NAMI
According to this release from NAMI, there are some Republicans who are on our side. This is like a warp in the space-time continuum. It’s giving me brain freeze.
House Set to Consider Budget Resolution
This week the House of Representatives is scheduled to return to debate the FY 2007 Budget Resolution. The budget resolution that the House will consider does NOT include the $7 billion increase for health and education funding (the Specter-Harkin amendment) endorsed by the Senate on March 16 by a 73-27 vote; more information is available on the NAMI Website.
Fortunately, a group of House Republican moderates — led by Representative Mike Castle [R-DE, pictured above] is working to restore this $7 billion in additional funding authority for health research and services, as well as education programs before the budget resolution reaches the full House later this week. Two dozen House Republicans recently signed a letter to House leaders urging restoration of cuts to health and education programs.
liz | 11:03 AM | Uncategorized
Walking in my socks
I think I can safely say that the best thing I got from having a mental illness is a sense of perspective. My motto is: What’s the worst that can happen? Because the worst has already happened, and I can deal with anything now.
For instance, I realize it doesn’t matter if I get a bad haircut or gain a few pounds when I’m PMS-ing. The hair will grow back; I’ll lose the weight. And time, like sand through an hourglass, will move on.
I’ve also learned that it’s not really important how I come across to others. I mean, I like to behave with decorum, but after so many years of being socially inappropriate, I can’t worry too much if someone thinks I’m a little strange.
Today, walking home from the psychiatrist, I was suddenly stricken with an urgent realization: If I don’t get my feet out of these stupid high-heeled clogs, I’m going to be crippled for life. But I was still two blocks away from work. So you know what? I just took the clogs off and walked in my socks.
Philly is a big city, and people here are used to all kinds of weird sights. A woman walking in her socks is really the least of it. No one even blinked. I put my shoes on right before I got to my building, which was good timing because I ended up running into my colleague’s husband. We smiled and said hi, but it might have been more awkward if I was just wearing socks.
But who cares, anyway? I’m healthy, mostly. That’s all that matters.
liz | 4:24 PM | Uncategorized
A Philly tip
So many people send me emails about their mental-health groups and events, I can’t keep up. There’s something for everyone out there—I wouldn’t be surprised to learn of a Schizophrenic Schnauzer Collective. And here’s another one:
Recovery, Inc. is a free MH mutual aid group for practicing cognitive behavioral techniques. Recovery is typically high functioning men and women growing stronger, helping each oher. In Center City, meetings are available Tuesday nights at 7:30 PM and Saturdays at 2:30 PM in the second floor conference rooms at Graduate Hospital, 18th & Lombard Streets. Meetings are free. Click here for more info.
[Oh, and BTW, I don't endorse this method, necessarily, but I know people are often looking for support groups, so I'm putting this out there.]
liz | 1:01 PM | Uncategorized
First wish-list entry
From Linda:
1. A way to figure out the perfect medicine the first time.
2. The perfect medicine!
3. Differentiation between adolescent bipolar disease and schizophrenia with a simple test—be it MRI, blood test, etc.
4. Raising the minimum age of consent for mentally ill patients from 14.
Send your wish list in: click here.
liz | 12:02 PM | Uncategorized
Wish list
Yesterday I asked everyone to send in a list of demands for May, which is Mental Health Month. Now I realize “demand” is kind of aggressive. How’s about we make a wish list? Like if there were a mental-health fairy, what would we ask her to do?
Here’s my wish list:
1. Insurance parity.
2. A true informed-consent policy around ECT.
3. More community housing options.
4. CIT training for all police departments.
5. An end to stigmatizing and stupid portrayals of mentally ill in popular culture.
Get the idea? So what’s your wish list?
liz | 12:41 PM | Uncategorized
All together, now: Bipolar made me do it
James Classen killed his wife of 31 years, from whom he was estranged, by stabbing her more than 70 times with a pair of scissors. His lawyer said Classen wasn’t culpable because of his bipolar disorder. How tiresome.
The jury didn’t buy it. They sentenced him to 22 years.
Prominent Battle Ground dentist charged with wife’s murder
liz | 11:34 AM | Uncategorized
An e-book worth reading
I’ve been reading some books online today, and it’s not so bad, really. I still think they’re somewhat evil, and that everyone should regularly go to the library—or at the very least a bookstore—but I admit it’s convenient to peek into something during the day when I need to, especially for work.
My latest discovery is Depression: A Primer, by Ellen. It’s quite charming and informative, and a good, funny read even if you know what depression is already.
I depart from her point of view in three ways:
1. I disagree with her characterization of ECT as “safe and effective.”
2. I don’t believe God has anything to do with it.
3. I think her focus on Cognitive Behavior Therapy is unhelpful for people suffering major depression.
That being said, you should check it out. It’s endearing.
Ellen’s Depression: A Primer [Mental Help Net]
liz | 3:51 PM | Uncategorized
Make your voice heard
May is Mental Health Month. This provides an opportunity for mental health advocates like meself to cram useful information down the public’s collective throat—albeit in a disarmingly funny way so they don’t really notice they’re getting their medicine. (It’s how I used to pill my cat too.)
So I want the readers of this blog to write to me with your demands, and then we’ll create a master list that I’ll publish here and in my column.
How can we improve the mental health care system? What do we want our peers, our legislators, our employers and doctors to do differently?
Speak out, good TwS readers, and tell you friends. Let’s mobilize!
[Photo courtesy RendezVousPoint via Flickr.]
liz | 1:00 PM | Uncategorized
