Health Expert Sue Bergeson shares health management news and commentary at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/116/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/116/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/116/index http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/39728/season Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:18:00 -0400 Sue Bergeson   For the past several months, I've been unconsciously singing a song called "Corner of the Sky" from the musical Pippin. I'm not sure anyone remembers this song, but some of the lyrics read:   Everything has its season;Everything has its time.Show me a reason and I'll soon show you a rhyme.Cats fit on the windowsill;Children fit in the snow.Why do I feel I don't fit in anywhere I go?   Rivers belong where they can... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/39728/season http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/37992/make-harder Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:04:00 -0400 Sue Bergeson   Zen Question and Response The students of Tibetan Buddhist Kalu Rimpoche and those of Providence Zen Center founder Seung Sahn arranged for the two Zen masters to meet and engage in dialogue. When Seung Sahn arrived, he picked up an orange, held it in front of Kalu Rimpoche, and asked, "What is this?" The students awaited an insightful reply, illuminating the nature of reality, but Kalu Rimpoche looked stumped.   Seung Sahn... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/37992/make-harder http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/37780/sound-music Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:10:00 -0400 Sue Bergeson   What do Sting, James Taylor, Bobbi Brown, Judy Collins, Axel Rose, Rosemary Clooney and DMX all have in common?   They all live(d) with depression or bipolar disorder. Music plays an important role in the recovery journey for many of us. Some of us have certain songs we play to manage our depression, help energize us, calm us down or help us sleep. We have favorites to play while we exercise or during other wellness... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/37780/sound-music http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/36360/learn Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:32:00 -0400 Sue Bergeson "I'd overcome a problem with drinking long ago-I hadn't touched alcohol in 18 years-but the pain was so unrelenting, I found myself drinking again. If you're in constant pain, you'll do anything. It just wears you down." --Ron, living with arthritis   "Finally, I began to realize the underlying problem: these doctors were not really listening to me. They were not hearing me. They just kept filling me up with the medicines they thought I... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/36360/learn http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/35705/bird-book-disagree Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:33:00 -0400 Sue Bergeson "When the bird and the book disagree, always believe the bird."--James Audubon (1785-1851)   I was on a phone meeting the other day (I know you're shocked to hear this—it seems to be all I do!) and found myself being confronted by a well-meaning health care professional trying to teach me the correct way to talk about the consumer/provider relationship. I was told that the word "consumer" is demeaning and that doctors are not... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/35705/bird-book-disagree http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/35367/understanding Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:59:00 -0400 Sue Bergeson In the last few weeks, I've been in a wide range of settings where it struck me that, while people were using the word "recovery" and clearly thought they understood the consumer-centered concept, they really, really did not understand at the deepest level. I don't blame them ... it takes time to change from a system that was completely patronizing, had limited expectations for us consumers and saw its role as protecting us (or protecting... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/35367/understanding http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/34274/common-mistakes-ssdi Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:14:00 -0400 Sue Bergeson   I thought this article about filing for SSDI was so important that I wanted to run a copy of it as my blog this week. It's from Allsup, a leading nationwide provider of financial and health care related services to people with disabilities; they help people receive their entitled Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Medicare benefits. I hope this article from them can help others navigate the confusing system of SSDI just a... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/34274/common-mistakes-ssdi http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/32759/semiretired Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:07:00 -0400 Sue Bergeson I attended the recent U.S. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (USPRA) conference here in Chicago ... it was great! If you have never heard of USPRA, you might want to check out their website and see what they do: www.uspra.org   During one of the sessions I attended, the presenter (a provider) used an interesting word to describe some of us living with mental illnesses: "semiretired." I'd never heard that before and, with your... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/32759/semiretired http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/32014/things-interesting Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:00:00 -0400 Sue Bergeson Bill Emmit, CEO of one of the largest and most influential mental health lobbying groups in DC, recently sent an e-mail to the CEOs of all the organizations who are part of the lobbying group, Campaign for Mental Health Reform. In his message, he attached part of a story from The Washington Post.    In the story, writer Lori Montgomery notes that DC "think tanks" and policy bodies are beefing up their health care staff in an... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/32014/things-interesting http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/30801/identify-hypomania Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:19:00 -0400 Sue Bergeson Recently, I talked about an article in Current Psychiatry that I found frustrating. This week, I want to highlight one I thought was interesting and has some value to us as consumers. In the June 2007 issue of Current Psychiatry, Dr. David L. Wagner suggested a new way to identify when hypomania might be present.   Hypomania is a problem because, as you know, it's more subtle than full-on mania ... and harder to detect.  Most... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/116/30801/identify-hypomania