Blog 12 Mental Illness

Have you ever known some one with a mental illness? How did/does the illness impact his/her life? What have you learned about mental illness just from knowing them?

Currently I know a few people with some type of mental illness. These people are in my family. It has been an adjustment since they are on my husband's side of the family. My husband and his dad have battled with depression. We have finally found a medicine that my husband will take daily and that has helped us in our relationship. One of his other family members has schizophrenia.
The way the depression has impacted my husband has been hard. Before we found a medicine he would take, he would just stay in bed some days or be very moody. We almost divorced over it. There had been changes in jobs for both of us and we were not making as much as before and the bills were piling up. We were behind on our house and close to foreclosure. He had called in sick to work and I told him that when I got home from work that he needed to be gone because I could not take it anymore. He told me that he called in so he could go to the doctor to get "happy pills." Since he has been on this medicine, things have got alot better between us.
The person with the schizophrenia has had a hard life. She is always thinking some one is after her children. She has been on medicines and was doing well. She had her own place and a job she loved. Last year she almost died because she had not been taking her medicines and had a dream some one was hurting her children. When she woke up she said she could see the guy and ran after him. She lives up north and it had snowed alot that night. It was in the middle of the night when she went after the guy. When she did not show up to work the next morning everyone went to look for her. A construction man found her unconscious. She had frostbite and was hypothermia. The doctors said if she would have been there 15 minutes longer she would not have survived. She has recovered physically but not mentally. She is living in a group home within the state hospital. She is back on her medicines and is slowly making progress. It has been a long hard road for all involved.
I have learned how different each illness is and how it effects all involved whether they have the illness or just family members trying to cope with a situation. It takes a lot of patience when dealing with some one when their illness has flared up. It has taught me how fragile life is, and not to take anything or anyone for granted.

Amy Morrow

Blog 11

If everyone lived "with our future in mind," do you think we would live differently? (Different habits, behaviors, etc)

To answer the above question, yes, I believe most people would live differently. I think more people would exercise, have healthy diets, and not smoke cigarettes as much.
People tend to think "that won't happen to me." They think this way for different reasons. Some may think just because a family member smoked for 50 years and did not get lung cancer, they can do the same. It is the samething for some one to believe they can eat foods that are bad for them and not exercise and always have a "normal" check-up at the doctor because that is what happens to a family member. What they don't understand, is that they can still get lung cancer either by second hand smoke or from them smoking. They can smoke for 5 years and wind up with lung cancer. The person who thinks he can eat whatever foods he want and not exercise is shocked when he finds out he has high cholestrol, clogged arteries, or high blood pressure. Some people do not understand that their bodies are different and it's not always about the genes. There are some people that do everything right, but still wind up with an illness or disease.
I do believe if everyone lived "with our future in mind," that there would be more healthy people. People would take the time to go to the doctor for check-ups and if the doctor said to change their diet, they would listen and do what the doctor said. There would be less people smoking and more people exercising. Maybe we should start living our lives by the above quote.

Amy Morrow

Heart Disease

Heart disease runs in my family so I know I am more at risk to get it. My maternal grandmother had a triple bypass when she was in her early 70's. My dad had a heart attack 2 years ago. He had 98% blockage in one artery and 99% in the another. To everyone's surprise the only reason we found out, including my dad, is because he went to the doctor for fatigue. When the EKG was done it showed the heart attack. He had 2 stents placed and is doing good.
Both doctors recommended exercise to keep their hearts healthy and a good diet. My grandmother did some walking and watched what she ate. She lost alot of weight which helped her start stay healthy. My dad is not so much a rule follower. After seeing how much longer my grandmother lived, I try to encourage my dad. I myself need to follow my own advice. Having heart disease run in my family is not my only risk. Being overweight, lack of exercise, and not a healthy diet, increases my risk even more. I do not want to end up like my dad or grandma, so I need to start making changes now.

Amy Morrow

Blog 9 Biggest Challenge

Let me start with the word challenge. I don't think trying to find time to exercise or have a healthy diet is a challenge as much as it is finding an excuse not to do them. For me, I would never have the time to exercise. I could find time to watch t.v. or play on the computer and now it is doing school work.
As far as a healthy diet goes, it is an excuse as well. It goes from other members of the family may not like vegetables or the meal that is made to eating out while at work. A person can say it is challenging, but to me it is an excuse not to have to do it.
The way I plan on changing this, is by adding time for exercising in my schedule. It is easy for me to make a time line of my day. Like 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. read a chapter in my health book and 11:00 a.m.-noon eat lunch. I will just add in a time for exercising. Eating healthy can be done easily once a habit is made. My plan is to make healthy meals for the week so that it is easy to grab and go. If some one in the family does not like the meal that is prepared, they can make their own food. I'm not going to make things I know they will not eat on purpose, but we all need to try new foods.
Hopefully in five years I will be able to look back and see how this plan has helped me and my family become healthy individuals.

Amy Morrow