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"Sicko" is Not Controversial; It is a Challenge

By John McManamy, Health Guide Thursday, July 05, 2007
Yesterday was Fourth of July. I love my country, which is why I want it back, along with everything it stands for.   You’ve been warned. If Rush Limbaugh and other glib sociopaths are your heroes, you can stop reading this right now. Actually, I take it back. Chances are reality is setting i...
7/ 5/07 10:03pm
When I was first diagnosed, I thought I would be well-covered, especially during that black "honeymoon" when I believed that a little Lithium and some time off work was all I needed. After all, I was employed as a Registered Nurse at Community Hospital, Inc. And in addition to my stellar benefits, I also had secured myself a great little short-term disability add-on from the company that quacks like a duck. That company (in the fine print) did not cover psychiatric illnesses. So---No income, huge deductables, large copays on those more exotic drugs because Lithium monotherapy didn't work, and after exhausting the 12 week Family Medical Leave Act, I either had to go back to work to keep my insurance or resign and apply for Medicaid. But only after I spent my entire retirement savings, because before that I was "over-resourced".

Well, two years later I have to admit that Medicaid does a better job at meeting my medical/financial. Without it, I would be another high-functioning homeless/incarcerated/dead bipolar. I think it's sad that we have two extremes in this country: insurance poor and poor with insurance. In most cases, neither get treated very well in dealing with complicated rules, codes, lack of preventative care, and follow-up.

And in this little town at the southern end of a red state, movies like "Knocked Up" and "Transformers" are playing, so we must go out of town for "Sicko". Last time Michael Moore had a movie here, it was banned because, ahem, GW's motorcade came blowing through town on a campaign rally.

"Ya can't fix stupid."--Ron White
John McManamy, Health Guide
7/ 6/07 12:37am
Hi, ALS. The scandal is we have the resources and the technology to treat everyone who needs treatment. You're right - stupid is very hard to fix.
7/ 6/07 7:50am

One answer for bipolar people is to learn not to need such services ?


There is only one letter different between MEDICATION AND MEDITATION - called C2T. One of them, however, is free. One of them relies on one's own resources and responsibility. Medication has its place to get you where meditation and hence mindfulness works. Unemployment in the psychiatric field might be a useful side effect of the C2T change, as would be a drastic drop in the drug intake.


Of course turkeys do not vote for Christmas ... so the knowledge of how to better manage bipolarity via C2T is not going to get out there via the conventional routes .. indeed there is likely to be every means used to discredit it.


We in the UK still have the same problem .. whilst we do have 'free' healthcare. Unfortunately it would seem that in the UK the psychiatric profession (Institute of Psychiatry) wish us who aspire to stay well .. to stay with a "Mental Illness" label. They do not wish to know about or publicise the Nassir Ghaemi quote:


http://bipolarperceptions.wordpress.com/


Nick

7/ 6/07 10:07am
Hi Nick,
I must admit that I winced a bit at your suggestion to "learn not to need such services?" But as I read on--including the link--I think I get some of what you are saying. I had to overcome a huge sense of shame to go from productive taxpayer to subscriber of Federal and State Aid. But it doesn't end here for me. I use my time daily learning about the disorder, reading every book, every website, monitoring symptoms, educating family and friends, and re-training personal boundries and limits. I've found that I need to be alone most of the time, and I am probably using the C2T method without even realizing it.

Well, what I am getting at is this: I don't like the mental illness label, and I don't feel "sick" except for the two times I was hospitalized. I DO have brittle control, even with the medication and lifestyle management, and on some days, some unpleasant med side-effects. I "work" at trying to be the best mother to my four children that I can, given the circumstances.

Psychiatric care needs so much more than an Rx. It needs to educate its bipolar patients on ways to function with less medication (less side effects&non-adherence), and really good follow-up. But I just cannot realistically see learning not to need such services via meditation alone.

--Angie
John McManamy, Health Guide
7/ 6/07 11:27am
Hi, Nick. I agree with a lot of what you say, and I intend to follow up this point in future blogs. Also, the whole purpose of doing these blogs and my other writing is so we can better manage our illness and be less dependent on our broken healthcare system.

Hence my strong emphasis on proper diet, exercise, support, stress management, meditation and yoga, mindfulness, sleep hygeine, spirituality, and on and on.

As I grew more skilled in managing my illness, I became less reliant on meds treatment, to the point where I am on just a very low maintenance dose.

But often only meds can do the job. If you suffer from persistent psychosis you are going to need an antipsychotic. Abilify retails at $13 a pill.

Also, for some individuals the right med is a godsend. One friend of mine was able to add five working hours of cognitive functionality to his day by taking Provigil. Provigil is not for everyone, but for him it was a miracle med. Unfortunately, Provigil retails at $6.50 a pill.
7/ 6/07 4:04pm

Dear Angie


You are doing the right thing learning all you can. I am in a priveleged position with the experiences I have and am now dedicating my time to developing the approaches that bipolar people need to "have their cake and eat it" .. see comment 9 on John's Eight Fold path. I am working with a behavioural medicine specialist who was my GP for 20 years and allowed me to be free of psychiatrists for 24 years. We developed a Self Management technique using Mindfulness or awareness of mind/mood state so action could be taken to prevent further elevation.


We are now developing onward from that after I drifted away from being mindful with dire consequences. Four years later and a failed suicide I am back to stability and a new life at 60. Mindfulness has to be for life - we must never forget we have the capability of becoming ill !!!


We have made discoveries which will become apparent over coming months which we believe will enable many bipolar people who have the will .. to slowly and carefully go drug free. It is like riding a bike .. you have to learn and often it is best to do so with stabilisers.


I now have a huge amount of information regarding brain physiology and how to influence it. Breathing right is absolutely key. Keeping the brain predominantly working in the frontal cortex (thinking brain) instead of the emotional brain is possible when you learn mind changing techniques.


Nick

7/ 6/07 5:14pm

Before meds ... there were mind tools and much understanding that has been lost. My thesis has to be, as we understand more of the physiology and understand more how our individual minds operate and we fullfil our needs and improve the physiology we CAN get control of our mind .. i.e. we can change our minds ... slowly and carefully we can remove the meds and gain confidence.


Yes, as you say we need the hygiene factors right .. but perhaps most of all we need the mind factors right ... connectedness, mindfulness and breath control.


Yesterday at a local bipolar group meeting we connected three bipolar people to a capnometer and checked their blood carbon dioxide levels. Two were below the 'normal' level and one had severe chronic hypocapnia. Search hypocapnia on the web and understand what that condition does to the brain ... severe cognitive thought impairment ... and blood chemistry imbalance. Hypocapnia, which is caused by overbreathing, can be corrected by breath retraining but it can take a lot to achieve it. How many bipolar people unknowingly suffer from a degree of hypocapnia ??? a physiological problem. It is a very destabilising condition. As the body works to compensate it excretes electrolytes. Hypocapnia causes a lot of other physical complaints that defy diagnosis ..


Nick

John McManamy, Health Guide
7/ 6/07 6:02pm
Hi, Nick. I've witnessed individuals do a lot better with a "Godsend med." Also, I've seen individuals stabilize on acute phase meds treatment. Recovery is all about considering all our options, which includes meds.
7/ 8/07 2:28am

Meds have the advantage of working regardless .. my 24 years of stability used mindfulness to realise I needed to 'slow down'. The action was to relax, walk or whatever. When all else failed then a few (2 or 3) 0.5mg Haloperidol capsules always did the trick.


Same will apply, but as confidence builds .. read meditate instead of Haloperidol ? The jury will be out for a few years shortly, when I ween myself off everything.


Nick

7/ 6/07 3:45pm
A very bold post, and I applaud you for making it.

But what's the solution? Certainly not "tax credits" as some or the "glib sociopaths" would have us believe.

This issue may not be solved in the very near future, but IMO it's the single most pressing issue of our time.


John McManamy, Health Guide
7/ 6/07 6:18pm
Hi, GJ. Until we start valuing intelligence and citizenship nothing will change, so I'm really not optimistic. Incredibly, we knowingly re-elected the worst President since James Buchannan, and we're perfectly capable of electing another one. A Democratic-controlled Congress, you will remember, shot down Clinton's universal health care proposal, so I am bipartisan in my outrage.

We can all start by emailing our elected representatives and respectfully inform them that they can consider themselves fired unless they start taking instructions from upper management - namely us.
Anonymous
Anonymous
7/ 8/07 2:01am
One of the things I'm most proud of in my life is the fact that I didn't vote for george bush either time. I agree completely with you that he is the worst. I don't feel like the people of this country have been heard at all about anything in the last seven years. My sister works at our local hospital and has her insurance through the hospital. She was in the emergency room one day for two or three hours, and she had to pay out of pocket over a $1000.00. We live in a small town about 15,000 and have no realiable mental health professionls and very few good general doctors. My husband is Bipolar and we have to drive 1 hour and 1/2 to see his psychiatrist and thats just for his meds. He has to take a days vacation from work to go to the doctor. I think since I've been grown and actually paying attention this country is in the worst shape I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, I love my country, but ****, I'm about ready to move my crazy crew to Canada. Thank You, Emma
John McManamy, Health Guide
7/ 9/07 2:05am
Thanks, Emma. Instead of moving to Canada, I'm hoping we can import some good Canadian common sense. But I get your point.
Anonymous
Margaret
7/ 6/07 3:46pm
Thanks for this.

If we could find a way to really reach the people who make the decisions for health care, I know we could make a possitive difference for ourselves and for others that deal with any sort of dis-ease.

Emailing is easy - but with all the emails they receive, who knows if the lawmakers actually see them, or does the person/s who sift through them all, decide to delete it, thinking their boss probably isn't interested ?????

I need a lot of alone time too and choose carefully what I watch on TV and what movies I see.

Thank you for being our voice.

Blessings,

Margaret
John McManamy, Health Guide
7/ 6/07 6:24pm
Many thanks, Margaret. I strongly advise emailing your elected representatives. (See my reply to GJ above for how to frame your correspondence.)

Also, never give up on your personal power. Cynical as I can get at times, I refuse to extinguish hope. Hope is what animates us, motivates us. Without hope, we'd be the walking dead.

Look after yourself, but don't be afraid to get involved. Even tipping windmills can be healing.
Lynne Taetzsch, Health Guide
7/ 8/07 6:01pm

John,


I saw "Sicko" this past weekend and agree with all you say about it. We, the people, need to take back our power from the lobbyists.


There are groups working to change things--I signed a petition at the movie theatre that showed "Sicko."


Move-On.org and other groups are trying to get universal health care on the agenda. Right now, only Kucinich is for it.


Education is a key, and you are doing an amazing amount of that.


Lynne


Author of THE BIPOLAR DEMENTIA ART CHRONICLES

John McManamy, Health Guide
7/ 9/07 2:10am
Hi, Lynne. I really hope this movie is the catalyst for serious political action. It's encouraging to see political street action taking place outside the theatres. Let's hope it snowballs.

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By John McManamy, Health Guide— Last Modified: 06/16/12, First Published: 07/05/07