Over the past few years, I've had periodic bouts of sore throats and sneezing come on during the spring and early summer months. Each time I assumed that I was coming down with a cold, and began a regimen of zinc, vitamin C and extra rest. Each time, the symptoms subsided after a couple of days, and I heartily congratulated myself on the successful thwarting of another cold virus. It wasn't until last year when the symptoms showed up that I realized it was coinciding with with an increase in allergy sufferers' symptoms around town. I felt pretty dumb when it finally occurred to me that I have seasonal allergies (plus it took away my cold-related health victories), but at least I know how to treat it now.
Today is, hands down, the worst day of allergies I have ever experienced. I've been crazy sneezy, sniffly, watery-eyed and spacy. I don't feel bad, exactly, just useless. Blah. I spent the afternoon on the couch, mouth breathing and staring blankly at the television.
Just took a couple of benadryl - don't know how much it'll help relieve my symptoms, but I'll sleep like a baby.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
My prescription.
Let me start first by saying that individuals should not stop or alter their medical treatment plans without first discussing it with their healthcare provider. Secondly, I am not against the use of pharmaceutical treatments - when used appropriately, they can be a useful tool in improving the health of an individual.
Now, with the disclaimers out of the way...
The other day I read an article on Yahoo news, which discusses recent research about sleep and the processing of emotions. It's an interesting read - if you have a few minutes you should check it out. But the basic gist of it is that current research suggests sleep is important in the process of emotional regulation. During sleep, the mind reviews and files away the events of the day, and in doing so it processes the emotional aspect of the experience as well. They also looked at the role of sleep and rest as it relates to an individual's ability to recognize social emotional cues. In this particular study, researchers provided some people with naps and kept some awake, and then all participants were asked to decipher facial expressions of people in pictures. The people with more rest (specifically those who had achieved REM sleep) were more readily able to recognize positive emotions, and those without the additional sleep were more sensitive to negative emotions.
Interesting, right? But maybe it shouldn't be news - maybe this should be common sense.
I have been dealing with depression since my mid-teens. In my early twenties I began antidepressant therapy, and it helped me immensely. I was able to get a leg up in life. Getting my depression under control was the first step in getting my life back under control. After seeking treatment for depression, I was able to remedy other problems in my life. I got out of an unhealthy relationship. I joined Weight Watchers and lost weight, and I became more physically active. I began to feel good about myself. As I became more attuned to the nuances of my physical and mental self, I began to recognize my triggers for feeling low. My mom (a wise woman, always with good sound advice), suggested that to stay healthy, I monitor three things: food, sleep, and exercise. I took that advice to heart, and it works amazingly well. I find that if I'm feeling gloomy or physically run-down, generally I'm falling short in one of those three areas. I took the antidepressants for about a year, and it was a tremendous help. However, I am now able to manage my emotional health by managing my physical health. (Though if I ever felt as though I needed more help, I would certainly see my doctor about getting back on medication.)
I share this personal information for several reasons. First, I believe that mental health is important to talk about. We need to get rid of the stigma around these issues and start talking. If we don't know, then we can't help. Second, my personal experience strongly colors my views on health and wellness. Third, body and mind are connected. Interconnected. In western medicine, for some strange reason we separate them into two different entities, though we should know better. Each is entirely dependent on the other, and each can affect the other.
Watch television for a few hours, and see what kind of ads you see for medications and treatments - you know, the "ask your doctor if the purple pill is right for you" kind of ads. I'd lay money that two of the most common issues you'll see are weight control and depression. I believe that this isn't a coincidence. I believe that these are symptoms of a bigger issue in America. Our lifestyles have become extremely sedentary, and so many of our food options are in high quantity and low nutritional quality. What we have gained in the name of convenience, we have lost in quality of life. Our bodies are built to retain excess calories taken in - our early ancstors used to burn every calorie they consumed just procuring their next meal. Our bodies are built for work - work we're no longer doing.
Losing weight is hard. In our culture, food is everywhere. In all cultures, food is used to celebrate, to connect with others. And overeating is a difficult addictive behavior to break, because unlike smoking or drinking or gambling, you can't quit eating altogether. You have to eat to live, so you must alter the behavior rather than extinguish it. But it can be done.
The reason I bring up weight management and depression in the same discussion is because there is a treatment that can help with both: Exercise. Research has shown repetedly that physical activity can alleviate symptoms of depression¹². And as we all know, the basic science for weight loss is to move more and eat less.
I am not saying that everyone on antidepressants should give up their medication and start jogging. There are great benefits from these drugs, and they help people. There are some people who are going to need pharmaceutical treatment, period, and there's nothing wrong with that. Let's compare it to another health issue, like high cholesterol. Everyone could take Lipitor and reduce their cholesterol. But we could also alter our diet and increase our physical activity and reduce our cholesterol that way. Some people, just because of their particular body and the way it works, will not be able to get their cholesterol down far enough with diet and exercise, and may still need to take the drug. But, even if they need to continue the drug therapy, they will benefit from the diet modification and increased activity. In my opinion, same could go with mild to moderate depression. Everyone with depression could treat it with medication and get results. If we add regular physical activity, some of those people could probably achieve good results without the meds. And some people, because of their body and the way it works, will need the medication even with the activity. But whether or not you wind up needing the medication, you will benefit from the exercise.
Whe I chose the above example, I didn't realize until I was typing it out that it is another health issue which can be modified with diet and exercise. What others are there?
blood pressure - improve by lowering body weight, decreasing salt and caffiene intake. (mayoclinic.com)
type II diabetes - manage by decreasing body weight, modifying diet to decrease volume of processed sugars, increasing activity. (interesting side note - exercise helps the body to improve its use of glucose (sugar/fuel). Insulin is a hormone that helps the body's cells to take in glucose, which is what they use for fuel. During physical activity, glucose is more easily taken up by the cells, which lowers levels of sugar in the blood. (diabetesjournals.org)
arthritis - regular, low impact physical activity has been shown to decrease pain and improve mobility in arthritis (uw orthopaedics and sports medicine)
stroke - exercise and healthy diet decrease risk
heart disease - exercise and healthy diet decrease risk
cancer - healthy diet and exercise can help decrease risk for some forms of cancer
All of this leads me to my own personal mantra for health:
Food, exercise, rest.
Food: eat foods that have nutritional value. Limit the intake of highly processed foods, high fat and high sugar items, and decrease the quantity of everything.
Exercise: get moving. Move every day. Get the heart rate up and the body sweating.
Rest: get enough sleep. Schedule it in, make it a priority.
I'll get down off my soapbox now. I know most of this isn't groundbreaking stuff, but I have to admit - it was for me. This changed my life. I'm happier, healthier, and stronger than I was. I hope my exceedingly long post may help someone - anyone, to take a hand in improving their own health.
1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2192427
2. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/depression-and-exercise/mh00043
Now, with the disclaimers out of the way...
The other day I read an article on Yahoo news, which discusses recent research about sleep and the processing of emotions. It's an interesting read - if you have a few minutes you should check it out. But the basic gist of it is that current research suggests sleep is important in the process of emotional regulation. During sleep, the mind reviews and files away the events of the day, and in doing so it processes the emotional aspect of the experience as well. They also looked at the role of sleep and rest as it relates to an individual's ability to recognize social emotional cues. In this particular study, researchers provided some people with naps and kept some awake, and then all participants were asked to decipher facial expressions of people in pictures. The people with more rest (specifically those who had achieved REM sleep) were more readily able to recognize positive emotions, and those without the additional sleep were more sensitive to negative emotions.
Interesting, right? But maybe it shouldn't be news - maybe this should be common sense.
I have been dealing with depression since my mid-teens. In my early twenties I began antidepressant therapy, and it helped me immensely. I was able to get a leg up in life. Getting my depression under control was the first step in getting my life back under control. After seeking treatment for depression, I was able to remedy other problems in my life. I got out of an unhealthy relationship. I joined Weight Watchers and lost weight, and I became more physically active. I began to feel good about myself. As I became more attuned to the nuances of my physical and mental self, I began to recognize my triggers for feeling low. My mom (a wise woman, always with good sound advice), suggested that to stay healthy, I monitor three things: food, sleep, and exercise. I took that advice to heart, and it works amazingly well. I find that if I'm feeling gloomy or physically run-down, generally I'm falling short in one of those three areas. I took the antidepressants for about a year, and it was a tremendous help. However, I am now able to manage my emotional health by managing my physical health. (Though if I ever felt as though I needed more help, I would certainly see my doctor about getting back on medication.)
I share this personal information for several reasons. First, I believe that mental health is important to talk about. We need to get rid of the stigma around these issues and start talking. If we don't know, then we can't help. Second, my personal experience strongly colors my views on health and wellness. Third, body and mind are connected. Interconnected. In western medicine, for some strange reason we separate them into two different entities, though we should know better. Each is entirely dependent on the other, and each can affect the other.
Watch television for a few hours, and see what kind of ads you see for medications and treatments - you know, the "ask your doctor if the purple pill is right for you" kind of ads. I'd lay money that two of the most common issues you'll see are weight control and depression. I believe that this isn't a coincidence. I believe that these are symptoms of a bigger issue in America. Our lifestyles have become extremely sedentary, and so many of our food options are in high quantity and low nutritional quality. What we have gained in the name of convenience, we have lost in quality of life. Our bodies are built to retain excess calories taken in - our early ancstors used to burn every calorie they consumed just procuring their next meal. Our bodies are built for work - work we're no longer doing.
Losing weight is hard. In our culture, food is everywhere. In all cultures, food is used to celebrate, to connect with others. And overeating is a difficult addictive behavior to break, because unlike smoking or drinking or gambling, you can't quit eating altogether. You have to eat to live, so you must alter the behavior rather than extinguish it. But it can be done.
The reason I bring up weight management and depression in the same discussion is because there is a treatment that can help with both: Exercise. Research has shown repetedly that physical activity can alleviate symptoms of depression¹². And as we all know, the basic science for weight loss is to move more and eat less.
I am not saying that everyone on antidepressants should give up their medication and start jogging. There are great benefits from these drugs, and they help people. There are some people who are going to need pharmaceutical treatment, period, and there's nothing wrong with that. Let's compare it to another health issue, like high cholesterol. Everyone could take Lipitor and reduce their cholesterol. But we could also alter our diet and increase our physical activity and reduce our cholesterol that way. Some people, just because of their particular body and the way it works, will not be able to get their cholesterol down far enough with diet and exercise, and may still need to take the drug. But, even if they need to continue the drug therapy, they will benefit from the diet modification and increased activity. In my opinion, same could go with mild to moderate depression. Everyone with depression could treat it with medication and get results. If we add regular physical activity, some of those people could probably achieve good results without the meds. And some people, because of their body and the way it works, will need the medication even with the activity. But whether or not you wind up needing the medication, you will benefit from the exercise.
Whe I chose the above example, I didn't realize until I was typing it out that it is another health issue which can be modified with diet and exercise. What others are there?
blood pressure - improve by lowering body weight, decreasing salt and caffiene intake. (mayoclinic.com)
type II diabetes - manage by decreasing body weight, modifying diet to decrease volume of processed sugars, increasing activity. (interesting side note - exercise helps the body to improve its use of glucose (sugar/fuel). Insulin is a hormone that helps the body's cells to take in glucose, which is what they use for fuel. During physical activity, glucose is more easily taken up by the cells, which lowers levels of sugar in the blood. (diabetesjournals.org)
arthritis - regular, low impact physical activity has been shown to decrease pain and improve mobility in arthritis (uw orthopaedics and sports medicine)
stroke - exercise and healthy diet decrease risk
heart disease - exercise and healthy diet decrease risk
cancer - healthy diet and exercise can help decrease risk for some forms of cancer
All of this leads me to my own personal mantra for health:
Food, exercise, rest.
Food: eat foods that have nutritional value. Limit the intake of highly processed foods, high fat and high sugar items, and decrease the quantity of everything.
Exercise: get moving. Move every day. Get the heart rate up and the body sweating.
Rest: get enough sleep. Schedule it in, make it a priority.
I'll get down off my soapbox now. I know most of this isn't groundbreaking stuff, but I have to admit - it was for me. This changed my life. I'm happier, healthier, and stronger than I was. I hope my exceedingly long post may help someone - anyone, to take a hand in improving their own health.
1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2192427
2. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/depression-and-exercise/mh00043
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Birthday wishes
A very happy 30th birthday to my beautiful sister Rachael!
Us, summer 2008.
Us, spring 1997.
Rachael is kind, thoughtful, generous, ridiculously witty, and amazingly beautiful. (And she's older than me!) I'm lucky to have such a wonderful sister and friend. Happy birthday sweetie!
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Happy April Fools Day.
I have always regarded April first warily - I'm very gullible, and thus always fall for at least one silly prank. Rest assured, there will be no jokes from me...
______________________________________________
I haven't written much lately, mostly because I haven't had much to report. I'm still job hunting, and I recently expanded my search to include positions in neighboring towns. My initial plan didn't include commuting, but times are tough, and I'm hoping that flexibility will pay off. I am fortunate that I am in a position in life where I can travel if I need - no kids or pets (yet) to require my presence at home every single day. If I get a position in another town, I'll probably request consecutive shifts and just stay over for those days. Really, after a twelve hour shift I won't be doing anything but sleeping anyhow, so might as well not drive the hour or so back to Missoula just for that. I'm hoping that once I have some experience, I will more easily get a job here in town. It's nice to have some sort of plan - makes me feel more in control of the situation...
______________________________________________
It's very strange, not having any demands on my time. No schoolwork, no exams to study for - it's weird. The other day I crashed out on the couch and watched hours and hours of the DIY network, and the absence of some other task or project to feel guilty about neglecting was - well, at first it was refreshing, but after a while it became unsettling. I actually function much better if I'm busy. So now I'm back to the house stuff, coming up with some projects to keep my mind occupied and give me a sense of accomplishment. Next up, making curtains. I have almost no sewing experience, but I'm sure I can figure it out... :)
______________________________________________
I haven't written much lately, mostly because I haven't had much to report. I'm still job hunting, and I recently expanded my search to include positions in neighboring towns. My initial plan didn't include commuting, but times are tough, and I'm hoping that flexibility will pay off. I am fortunate that I am in a position in life where I can travel if I need - no kids or pets (yet) to require my presence at home every single day. If I get a position in another town, I'll probably request consecutive shifts and just stay over for those days. Really, after a twelve hour shift I won't be doing anything but sleeping anyhow, so might as well not drive the hour or so back to Missoula just for that. I'm hoping that once I have some experience, I will more easily get a job here in town. It's nice to have some sort of plan - makes me feel more in control of the situation...
______________________________________________
It's very strange, not having any demands on my time. No schoolwork, no exams to study for - it's weird. The other day I crashed out on the couch and watched hours and hours of the DIY network, and the absence of some other task or project to feel guilty about neglecting was - well, at first it was refreshing, but after a while it became unsettling. I actually function much better if I'm busy. So now I'm back to the house stuff, coming up with some projects to keep my mind occupied and give me a sense of accomplishment. Next up, making curtains. I have almost no sewing experience, but I'm sure I can figure it out... :)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Midwest, redux.
I'm heading back to Kansas next week to help the family out after my dad's upcoming surgery. He's a trooper, and I'm sure he'll heal up just fine. :) I just want to be there to help out with whatever they might need. I'm looking forward to seeing family again - the downside of living so far away from my hometown is that I see my folks once, maybe twice a year. It's not enough, really, but we make the most of the time we do get, and we supplement with lots of calls and texts and photos.
So all things considered, it should be a good trip. And I took a quick look at weather.com-- this doesn't sound so bad either:
So all things considered, it should be a good trip. And I took a quick look at weather.com-- this doesn't sound so bad either:
Friday, March 13, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Big One.
Tomorrow I take the NCLEX-RN (stands for the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses). This is the exam that proves my competency to practice as a registered nurse, and upon passing I will receive my license to be a nurse in the great state of Montana.
It would be much easier if I could just promise the state board that I'm safe and competent, but that doesn't appear to fly. Instead, I'll drive to Helena, get fingerprinted and frisked, and go in to sit the exam. I have six hours to complete it, and I will answer somewhere between 75 and 265 questions. It's a computer adaptive test, so it bases the question selection on how I've answered previous questions.
I don't get much test anxiety, but I'm nervous for this one. For the past few weeks I've reviewed and answered practice questions for anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, most days of the week, but right at the moment it's not feeling like enough. I have friends who studied by just taking practice questions, and other friends who reviewed for hours a day, several weeks. So far, everyone from my class has passed. At first that was reassuring, but then a new thought occurred to me - what if I become the only flunkie of the bunch?
On the bright side, for $10 I can see my test results online the next day. It used to be that you had to wait for a letter, and it took a couple of weeks to get your results.
I booked myself a nice hotel in Helena for tonight - my test is at 8:00 in the morning, so I need to stay in town the night before. I found one with a workout center and a hot tub - two ways I loooove to relax. My current plan is hard workout, hot tub, dinner, wine, sleep, pass exam.
Any number of variations on the plan are acceptable, so long as they include that last step.
In a few minutes I'll pack my bags and hit the road. Wish me luck!
It would be much easier if I could just promise the state board that I'm safe and competent, but that doesn't appear to fly. Instead, I'll drive to Helena, get fingerprinted and frisked, and go in to sit the exam. I have six hours to complete it, and I will answer somewhere between 75 and 265 questions. It's a computer adaptive test, so it bases the question selection on how I've answered previous questions.
I don't get much test anxiety, but I'm nervous for this one. For the past few weeks I've reviewed and answered practice questions for anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, most days of the week, but right at the moment it's not feeling like enough. I have friends who studied by just taking practice questions, and other friends who reviewed for hours a day, several weeks. So far, everyone from my class has passed. At first that was reassuring, but then a new thought occurred to me - what if I become the only flunkie of the bunch?
On the bright side, for $10 I can see my test results online the next day. It used to be that you had to wait for a letter, and it took a couple of weeks to get your results.
I booked myself a nice hotel in Helena for tonight - my test is at 8:00 in the morning, so I need to stay in town the night before. I found one with a workout center and a hot tub - two ways I loooove to relax. My current plan is hard workout, hot tub, dinner, wine, sleep, pass exam.
Any number of variations on the plan are acceptable, so long as they include that last step.
In a few minutes I'll pack my bags and hit the road. Wish me luck!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
March first?
Boy, how time flies when you're in a freefall.
The past few months have been very surreal. I have been mostly unemployed since January 1st (randomly picking up receptionist shifts for my old company when I can), living somewhere new and not going to school. Any of these changes alone would be stressful, but doing it all at once has thrown me way off balance. At times I've almost felt as though I stepped into someone else's life. I've had a hard time getting into any of my normal routines - I haven't been to the gym since I was in Topeka!
I'm going to start back to the gym today. The first of the month always seems like a good time to make changes, and I'm hoping that by getting back into that routine, I will be able to garner some normalcy for myself.
I really miss going to school. I love to learn (though fortunately I'm studying for the NCLEX, so I'm still doing that part), but more than that I miss my classmates. I spent every day with those people for two and a half years, and they really began to feel like a family. I still see and talk to some of them, and everyone passes along updates and good news about one another's lives and jobs, but it's just not the same. A lot of them are working as nurses already, which means long shifts, often nights and weekends. Others are holed up, studying for their NCLEX. And lots of them have scattered, moving for jobs or to be with family. For the first month I felt a dull ache in my chest when I thought back to being in class with everyone. The day before the semester began at the university I even had a dream about being back in school. I think my loneliness was compounded by the fact that I was spending all day, every day at home by myself. It's been much better the past couple of weeks - since I've been filling in more at the office I'm getting some social interaction with old friends and coworkers. I enjoy having time to myself from time to time, but I'm a social person, and I really need to be around people.
The work situation is one that I have little control over, and I'm trying to be patient. I did interview at a hospital several weeks ago, but the first thing nurse recruiter told me was that they had frozen several of their open RN positions due to low census. (Low census is when there aren't very many patients in the hospital. Even hospitals are feeling the economic crunch.) I had a pretty good interview with her, but I haven't heard back since. I don't know if they are holding off still on hiring for that position or if they have filled it. I am trying to put that job out of my mind, and just watch for new ones opening up. Something will work out in time.
I hate to sound like a whiner. I love our new house (and that we can afford it even with me unemployed, thanks to my hard-working (and tenured!) husband), I'm proud of graduating from college, and I'm excited about all the new things in my life. But positive change is still change, so it's still stress. Remembering that helps me be kinder to myself when I feel a little out of whack.
The past few months have been very surreal. I have been mostly unemployed since January 1st (randomly picking up receptionist shifts for my old company when I can), living somewhere new and not going to school. Any of these changes alone would be stressful, but doing it all at once has thrown me way off balance. At times I've almost felt as though I stepped into someone else's life. I've had a hard time getting into any of my normal routines - I haven't been to the gym since I was in Topeka!
I'm going to start back to the gym today. The first of the month always seems like a good time to make changes, and I'm hoping that by getting back into that routine, I will be able to garner some normalcy for myself.
I really miss going to school. I love to learn (though fortunately I'm studying for the NCLEX, so I'm still doing that part), but more than that I miss my classmates. I spent every day with those people for two and a half years, and they really began to feel like a family. I still see and talk to some of them, and everyone passes along updates and good news about one another's lives and jobs, but it's just not the same. A lot of them are working as nurses already, which means long shifts, often nights and weekends. Others are holed up, studying for their NCLEX. And lots of them have scattered, moving for jobs or to be with family. For the first month I felt a dull ache in my chest when I thought back to being in class with everyone. The day before the semester began at the university I even had a dream about being back in school. I think my loneliness was compounded by the fact that I was spending all day, every day at home by myself. It's been much better the past couple of weeks - since I've been filling in more at the office I'm getting some social interaction with old friends and coworkers. I enjoy having time to myself from time to time, but I'm a social person, and I really need to be around people.
The work situation is one that I have little control over, and I'm trying to be patient. I did interview at a hospital several weeks ago, but the first thing nurse recruiter told me was that they had frozen several of their open RN positions due to low census. (Low census is when there aren't very many patients in the hospital. Even hospitals are feeling the economic crunch.) I had a pretty good interview with her, but I haven't heard back since. I don't know if they are holding off still on hiring for that position or if they have filled it. I am trying to put that job out of my mind, and just watch for new ones opening up. Something will work out in time.
I hate to sound like a whiner. I love our new house (and that we can afford it even with me unemployed, thanks to my hard-working (and tenured!) husband), I'm proud of graduating from college, and I'm excited about all the new things in my life. But positive change is still change, so it's still stress. Remembering that helps me be kinder to myself when I feel a little out of whack.
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