Welcome to stage three of my series on grief counseling. Today's topic is depression. Everyone gets depressed once in a while. If someone tells you they've never been depressed and they are over the age of ten...THEY ARE LYING.
That's like the couple that say they never argue. Someone is stuffing their feelings and they are not communicating to each other. They are in big trouble.
You've had a significant loss in your life and it has changed forever. If there is any more greater reason to be depressed, I can't think of one. Everyone gets blue when thinking of what they've lost.
What is the key to recovery? Everybody now: Repetition! I've written about this before here, here and here (journal article; co-author).
Everybody knows that repetitive practice (also known as repetitive task practice) is the way to reestablish executive (brain) control over the body. To regain control of an arm and hand repetitive practice can be used to reestablish that control. To regain control over a leg during walking, repetitive practice (walking) can be used to reestablish control over walking.
It's not rocket science. And it's not brain science, until it is.
On Friday morning, I talked with the nurse at Bob's primary care doctor's office. She had gotten "some" of the pre-op test results back and was waiting to discuss those results with the doctor before giving me the "go ahead" to take Bob off the warfarin and start the heparin bridge that weekend.
She said she'd call me back.
By 4:30 p.m., I hadn't heard from her so called the office and was connected to her voice mail. I left a message and told her that I was waiting for her call. I wasn't too concerned, even though it was late in the day on the Friday before the Labor Day Weekend, because I've dealt with this nurse before and she always follows through, even if it is after hours.
When Medicare was enacted in 1965 breast cancer was a death sentence. It was such a devastating diagnosis that no one talked about it. President Ford's wife was the first woman I heard admit she had breast cancer. Today if you ask doctors what they recommend for treating breast cancer the answer depends on several factors. Is the cancer stimulated by estrogen?
Do you have the genetic form of breast cancer? Has the cancer spread to the lymph nodes? Does a combination of surgery, chemo and radiation therapy increase your odds of recovery?
Smoking cigarettes may cause similar stroke risks for men and women, but women smokers may be at greater risk for a more deadly and uncommon type of stroke, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.
When compared to non-smokers of the same gender, smoking increases the risk of having any type of stroke by 60 to 80 percent in women and men.
Jeff Lichtman is Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard. He received an A.B. from Bowdoin (1973), and an M.D. and Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis (1980) where he worked for 30 years before moving to Cambridge (2004). He is a member of Harvard's newly established Center for Brain Science. Jeff's research interests revolve around the question of how mammalian brain circuits are physically altered by experiences, especially in early life.
He has focused on the dramatic re-wiring of neural connections in early postnatal development. More recently his research has focused on developing new electron microscopy methods to map the entire wiring diagram of the developing and adult brain. One of the principal aims of this "connectomics" approach is to uncover the ways information is stored in neural networks.
"Victor", the Just for Laughs trademark mascot Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is commonly known as a comic, stand-up comic, stand-up comedian or simply a stand-up. In stand-up comedy the comedian usually recites a fast-paced succession of humorous stories, short jokes called "bits", and one-liners, which constitute what is typically called a monologue, routine or act. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is often performed in comedy clubs, bars, neo-burlesques, colleges, and theaters. Outside of live performance, stand-up is often distributed commercially via television, DVD, and the internet.
At the age of 47 and on the cusp of the breakthrough that is every artist's dream, the comedian John Kawie suffered a devastating stroke which he thought would derail his career... and life. With the sardonic wit that landed him gigs as a writer/contributor for comedians such as Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, and David Brenner, John focused on his experiences with the stroke and created BRAIN FREEZE, a hysterical, poignant, and affirmative journey through the bumpy road to recovery and beyond.
Recorded live at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City in front of a rollicking full house, BRAIN FREEZE is sure to delight those who know just how healthy a laugh can be -- and to help teach us all that (to quote John) life is indeed at the curb!
For every Brain Freeze video sold from 8/1/10 through 7/13/15, and after the recovery of startup costs, PARMA Recordings will donate 17% of the retail sales price to the American Stroke Association. Brain Freeze contains adult language and situations that may not be suitable for all audiences.
*For Better and For Worse" is a serious topic of stroke but with a very nice cartoons. It is all about Grandpa Jim had a stroke and 88 further cartoon "strips" that happened to Grandpa Jim. See as well the cartoonist Lynn Johnston.
** I tried to get low or free price at the people http://www.UniversalUclick.com/ for the images for the cartoons. It was too high for Stroke Survivors Tattler i.e. we are not a regular newspaper and our budget is very low. Fortunately, you will have to do only 1-click more to see the cartoon image, it is legit and it is free using GoComics.com and Dilbert.com.
*** Changed from "Pickles" to "Betty" -- "Betty" is a excellent cartoon and Gary Delainey & Gerry Rasmussen are authors/artists/cartoon-strips and they live in Edmonton.
I changed the format space and efficient scanning and reading:
Showing the maximums of EVERY article is less than 1 screen and then,
it will show "Read more ===>>" and you can click-it and you will see the full article if you wanted it.
This format is much more efficient in space (approximately +/- 1/4 article) and much, much faster for scanning in SSTattler. I used to use before some long articles but now I will follow the maximum of every article. Take a look at good an example of another site: My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery.
So my first thought was of all the really caring, understanding people who seem to ignore the “nail” in my head. Sometimes I have conversations like this:
Me: “I don’t think I can get through everything I’m supposed to do today/tomorrow/this week/etc.” Caring Person: “You’re having a really hard time, aren’t you?” Me: “Uh, yeah, and I really don’t think I can do this.” Caring Person: “I’m so sorry. It sounds like you feel really overwhelmed.” Me: “Yeah, actually, it’s not just a feeling. I mean I literally can’t do this.” Caring Person: “Hmmmm. That must be really awful.”
I met a guy recently who has Multiple Sclerosis. He was diagnosed about 15 years ago and was bed bound for a while. He has COMPLETELY controlled his MS through diet. It’s called the Swank Diet. Now, there is absolutely no information out there about diet for stroke survivors, except the generic eat a healthy diet BS. I think I’m gonna try the Swank Diet for a couple of months and see what happens. If it helps one neurological condition maybe it will help another. The biggest thing about the Swank Diet is no dairy. That will be really hard, I consume a crapload of dairy. No ordering pizza? Oh man. And no lattes at Starbucks??????? Well, if it helps me get over this it’s totally, totally worth it.
By the way, I socialized last night. For the first time since my stroke I went and hung out with a group of people who I mostly didn’t know that knew nothing about me. This is something that I ABSOLUTELY would not have done a few months ago. I went to dinner and a comedy show. If it wasn’t a comedy show I probably would not have gone. I went to see Kevin Nealon, he was hilarious. I highly recommend going to see him live. I’m paying for it today because I woke up with a headache but that’s ok, that was a big step for me.
From Rafael Casal - Louis C.K. is one of my favourite comedians because he manages to find the hilarity in our routine and both make it funny and insightful. To me, the best comedy is comedy that sticks with me and helps give perspective on things I may have never considered dissecting. I often forget how intimidating the dating process might be for a woman, and this was a hilarious but much needed reminder. Bravo to the ladies who give us a shot.
RLprod All 4 have great acts but Louis seems to be the most hilarious just being himself. Scott Boyle Funny is relative to the situation. Gervais is hilarious, but he is not really a stand up comic. Seinfeld is the least funny in my opinion. Rock and CK are brilliant on all levels. But, comedy is my opinion driven. I love Bill Burr and Brian Regan also. Some people don't. HMC7 A lot of people don't seem to like Gervais on here. I'm willing to bet that the majority of these people are seeing him for the first or second time on this video. He was hilarious in The Office and his stand up (the first video that comes up when you type his name on here) is hilarious. He's a thoughtful individual and a brilliant mind. To go off of what Rock said, Gervais doesn't do stand up for a living, so it stands to reason he won't be the funniest based off that.
Recovery from a stroke varies significantly from person to person. While a minor stroke may take several weeks to recover from, a more serious stroke may take months or even years to recover from.
While a person is recovering from a stroke, it is likely that he or she will have to take time away from work. The resulting lack of income combined with costly medical bills can cause financial trouble to quickly spiral out of control. Fortunately, if you have suffered from a stroke, you may be eligible to receive Social Security Disability benefits. Disability benefits can help alleviate financial distress and allow you to focus on your health.
This article will provide you with a general understanding of Social Security Disability benefits and will prepare you to begin the application process.
Defining Disability and the SSA’s Stroke Regulations
Two and a half years ago, we started a group of Stroke Survivors in Edmonton to play darts, we had a lots of casual conversation, and played nearly every week. The rules of darts we tried, usually, 301 and sometime 501. If you know or you don't know how to play, it is does not matter but just have fun and you will absorb the rules by playing.
We started the name of our group, "Ad hoc Darts", and it stuck -- we tried as well "Friends of Frazier", "Coffee Klatch", ... (by the way Frazier was ALWAYS there!).
If you've had a stroke, your spinal cord still works fine. The spinal cord takes over some aspects of movement. The first step in this process of the spinal cord taking over is spasticity. The brain can't move you, so spasticity, generated in the spinal cord, takes over. And as much as we hate spasticity, things could be worse. Spasticity is better than nothing. "Nothing" in this case would be a completely flaccid affected ("bad") side. And being flaccid is worse than being spastic. Trust me on this.
But if we go a step beyond spasticity towards recovery there is an intermediate step. This intermediate step is known as synergy. The spinal cord basically allows for basic movements. The brain is not working, the spinal cord takes over, and the spinal cord allows very basic movements.
The synergies, although often disparaged by clinicians, are brilliant. In the upper extremity, synergy allows for the most important movement you can imagine:
I'm still finding parts of myself that went missing after the stroke.
For instance, a few weeks ago, I was watching Nova. Some of the program was about test anxiety, and it showed nervous students taking a test. As I watched the show and tried to put myself into the students' shoes, I realized I could barely remember that feeling of performance anxiety. Before the stroke, any of these situations--taking a test, or speaking in public, or even thinking about some students taking a test on a TV show--would have gotten my heart rate up.
It's not that I don't feel anxiety sometimes now. But more often, it feel like I have a switch with two settings: crushing fear, or a strange calmness. In the few times I have had to speak in front of a group since the stroke, I haven't felt much of performance anxiety.
Researchers from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University found that a very low dose of the active ingredient in marijuana (THC) may protect brain cells before and after brain injury, and can also protect against the development of cardiac damage. The research was published in the journal Experimental Brain Research.
Bob's second foot surgery was scheduled for August 26, but was canceled by the foot surgeon as the pre-op tests picked up a urinary tract infection. This after the primary care doctor gave the "go ahead" for the surgery. The primary care doctor didn't think a UTI was reason to cancel surgery, but the foot surgeon nixed the whole idea. Bob's been on antibiotics since and I just collected another urine sample for the lab yesterday.
Now, this surgery is scheduled for next week, September 6th. If the urine sample comes out clean...
Trouble is, we won't know if the urine sample is clean until the lab results come back and that takes 72 hours. And we are approaching a weekend and a holiday.
I have the perfect personality to be a stroke survivor.
To paraphrase what Peter Levine says (in Stronger After Stroke), someone who didn’t bother to keep in shape before a stroke is unlikely to do so after a stroke. Corollary: An athlete who has a stroke can be expected to work hard physically to regain fitness; a couch potato will still love watching TV eating Doritos (Admit it!!).
Pre-stroke I was an introverted navel-gazer who loved soul-searching, and I have retained those tendencies. The perfect personality to be a stroke survivor. Yes, I was active – physically and mentally – but sitting alone in a room with a new book and Word open on my laptop was the way I recharged my batteries back then; dealing with people, especially acquaintances, in a social setting, sucked the energy out of me.
For today it's part two of the grief series that deals with anger. You know that emotion where there's this devil on your shoulder poking you until it overrides the angel whispering in your ear.
After a stroke or a death of a loved one, your emotions are raw and exposed for all to see. But with strokes sometimes comes the added bonus of inappropriate responses like I suffer from. I can explode in anger or break down in hysterical tears, or laugh myself sick at the drop of the hat. That is understandable to all that know it is part of my injured brain being over stimulated, but with strangers that's another story. My medication goes a long way in suppressing these but all bets are off id I'm under stress like the one wedding I officiated at or with coping with my husband's recent downhill health turn.
Rehabilitation for stroke survivors focuses on physical recovery and functional skills like dressing. Yet physical and functional abilities can only partially predict a person's quality of life (1). Clarke discovered underlying mechanisms that explain why some clients experience a sense of well-being after a stroke and others don't (2). Physical and cognitive disabilities are less disruptive when they: (a) permit participation in self-defining activities that contribute to a positive self-identity and (b) are counterbalanced by adaptive strategies and social resources.
A couple of days ago, I posted a note about how hospitals increasingly give powerful clot-buster for stroke. A related item, showing the importance of early treatment shows that the quicker the treatment, the better chances of a better outcome.
... [T]he new study found that when these clot-busting drugs were administered even sooner -- within 90 minutes of the appearance of stroke symptoms -- patients had little or no disability after three months compared with patients who got the drugs later.
"Despite the time window of 4.5 hours to give clot-busting drugs, there are clear differences between patients treated ultra-early -- within 90 minutes -- and those treated later," said lead researcher Dr. Daniel Strbian, an associate professor of neurology at Helsinki University Central Hospital in Finland."
Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the United States, so quicker treatment to reduce these outcomes should be a high priority. I'll end this with the same note I ended the last posting: It's vital that a stroke patient get help quickly. Recognize the signs of a stroke and don't hesitate in getting aid!
I went to Europe for a month and have bounced back into my normal routine at home within a couple of weeks. My therapists say the break from rehab did my body good: My spine looks straighter and, mentally, I'm recharged.
I had anticipated that frequent changes of accommodation would be exhausting. The time we spent in England changing location every couple nights was tough. By the end of that week my affected hand had reached its limit and was no longer able to help stabilize bags that needed stuffing and zipping.
Published on May 7, 2012 by Mark A. Ittleman M.S. Houston, Texas Teaching of Talking
This video explores how to select a speech language pathologist to work with your loved one. Mark stresses that you evaluate the credentials of a therapist you are considering and determine if he or she has experience treating the kind of speech difficulty your loved one demonstrates. Often there are caps on the number of visits allowed for speech therapy and it is vital that you choose wisely.
ReJoyce is an upper extremity rehabilitation workstation developed for patients with movement impairments resulting from stroke, spinal cord (SCI), brain, and other neurological injuries. ReJoyce features a range of exercise games with adjustable difficulty levels and a standardized hand and arm function test for maximization of motor recovery.
The ReJoyce Therapy is based on the following five core principles:
Provide standardized upper lim exercises representing activities of daily life (ADL)
Disguise intensive training with motivating games
Track functional improvements with an automated, objective hand and arm function test
Offer patients the opportunity to continue ReJoyce exercise therapy in their own homes after leaving the clinic, tele-supervised over the Internet
Enable therapists to tele-supervise from anywhere: the clinic, their own home, or even while travelling
Have you ever felt your heart flutter, race or skip a beat? Most of us have at some point. But if this happens more frequently, you may have atrial fibrillation (Afib)—and an increased risk for stroke.
Join WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease and National Stroke Association for a three-part webinar series to learn the signs and symptoms of Afib, how to manage stroke risk, what to do if you have a stroke, who is on your healthcare team and the promise of effective rehab.
More than 2.5 million people in the U.S. live with Afib. Even though it is more common in men, women with Afib are more likely to have a stroke. Untreated, Afib can also lead to heart failure and chronic fatigue. Are you at risk?
To learn more, register today for each webinar!
Sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
I've seen this with the letters out of order, but this is the first time I've seen it with numbers. Good example of a Brain Study: If you can read this OUT LOUD, you have a strong mind. And better than that, Alzheimer's is a long long, way down the road before it ever gets anywhere near you.
Tom Hanks narrates the epic story of the 9/11 boatlift that evacuated half a million people from the stricken piers and seawalls of Lower Manhattan. Produced and directed by Eddie Rosenstein. Eyepop Productions, Inc.
BOATLIFT was executive produced by Stephen Flynn and Sean Burke and premiered on September 8th at the 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Summit: Remembrance/Renewal/Resilience in Washington. The Summit kicked off a national movement to foster community and national resilience in the face of future crises. See www.road2resilience.org to become a part of the campaign to build a more resilient world. The film was made with the generous support by philanthropist Adrienne Arsht, Chairman Emerita, TotalBank (www.arsht.com)
Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani takes to the TEDxSummit stage in Doha, Qatar to take on serious issues in the Middle East -- like how many kisses to give when saying "Hi," and what not to say on an American airplane.
Writers William Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift perfected the art of political satire. Canadian politics seems ripe for mockery. How does Rick Mercer intend to capitalize on that? He sits down with Steve Paikin.
Rick visits the Sabian factory in Meductic, NB to make cymbals with The Trews drummer Sean Dalton, then joins Sean on stage at the Fredericton Playhouse to test them out.
Comments:
Pamela Zätterberg Rick Mercer IS the coolest Canadian ever! TheLids7If you live in or near Calgary, Alberta, this cymbal was graciously donated by Rick Mercer for the Alberta Diabetes Foundation's "A Creative Affair". It's being auctioned off May 31st! beaner290 Rick has the best job in Canada. And he can play the drums! More comments seeRMR: Rick and Sabian Cymbals in YouTube.
Welcome to stage three of my series on grief counseling. Today's topic is depression. Everyone gets depressed once in a while. If someone tells you they've never been depressed and they are over the age of ten...THEY ARE LYING.
