So today is Funny Friday because I say so, and it’s a lame title with a cheap use of alliteration, but that’s what happens when you are a mom, you just get lazy with some things (like changing the batteries in the smoke detector, or sex). Take it or leave it. I especially like this Wikipedia reference on alliteration in different languages: “Swahili: Wale wanawake wawili waliula wali wa liwali wao (those two brides ate the rice of their confidants)” But I digress. Don't lose me here, it gets better.
So I not only succeeded in using alliteration for my Friday series, but I furthered the alliteration by choosing a topic that also started with “F,” namely, flies (see, better?). Flies are what I am going to talk about because I got them on my brain. Literally, they are sitting on my cranium right now as I type.
We have some spastic ones inside my house because of the kids being in and out, opening and closing the door, and I think the flies came in because they are really interested in seeing my book collection. Flies make me so anxious because they are so anxious. I tried feeding them some of my lexapro covered in peanut butter. I know, good idea, right? But wrong. Perhaps I will try xanax next time. I have a message for you flies: Calm down, flies, life is short. Especially your lives, because you are insects. Stop and smell the roses, but stop smelling my dang food and then spitting in it.
I have fears of my home becoming a third world country where flies love to multiply and make homes on peoples eyelashes. But the worst part is that the people just give up caring, like they don’t even bat them away when they are landing on their eyeball. I refuse to stop caring! I noticed though that if I turn the TV on, they like to land on the eyelashes of people on TV. Take that suckers!!!!! Sorry Hollywood, sign of the times.
So my question for you today is: what is annoying to you that starts with an “F”?
Anxiety about Anxiety Medicine.
Today is Touchy Topic Tuesday! (And welcome to my new blog design, courtesy of Funky Faith Designs! )
I want to tell you a story about a girl. This girl thought anxiety medications were bad. She said they were being pushed by greedy pharmaceutical sales people and prescribed by doctors who were cozy with drug companies. She thought they were for people who were weak-minded, looking for excuses and shortcuts to fix their problems. She liked to judge people who took them, without knowing their situation in full. That is, until she herself suffered a disabling nervous breakdown and was put in a psych ward.
I’m sure you guessed by now that this girl is me.
When I first started taking medicine four years ago, I felt guilty about it. It went against everything I learned and everything I believed, and I felt weak and like I had somehow failed.
But there are a few things I learned in the years since I began the medicine:
1) Sometimes you need to just get stable to get help.
The medicines were meant to help regulate chemicals in the brain so that you are able to function in a normal capacity again, even if for just a time. A counselor once wisely told me that my ailment didn’t mean it was a life sentence.
2) The brain is a physical organ.
Unfortunately modern science has not yet discovered how to regularly test the chemical levels in the brains for people seeking mental health treatment. Therefore, psychiatrists seem to be taking a stab in the dark as to which anxiety or depression medicine would best work for that patient, but one thing is for sure: the brain can suffer dysfunction just like any other organ. As I always say, anything that can go wrong in the body, probably does in someone. Considering we live in the age of anxiety, it is certainly more prevalent to find people suffering these ailments, and we are more open to talk about it. But just like someone suffering high blood pressure or high cholesterol needs to take a daily pill, so do people who are not efficiently regulating chemicals.
3) Doctors do at times overmedicate.
Yeah, we all know the doctor who gave out the vicodin like it was candy. I still believe in some conspiracy because our health system is profitable, and where profit is to be made, there is greed. However, I don’t think we should throw the baby out with the bath water.
4) Counseling is effective at rewiring the brain.
Getting to the root of the issue is priority. Why am I having this anxiety, and how do I cope when faced with it? Counseling operates to help an individual learn these coping skills that are lacking, and sometimes train the brain to rewire itself so that medicine is no longer needed. This is my hope for my own brain some day.
What is your take on anxiety and depression medications?
I’m sure you guessed by now that this girl is me.
When I first started taking medicine four years ago, I felt guilty about it. It went against everything I learned and everything I believed, and I felt weak and like I had somehow failed.
But there are a few things I learned in the years since I began the medicine:
1) Sometimes you need to just get stable to get help.
The medicines were meant to help regulate chemicals in the brain so that you are able to function in a normal capacity again, even if for just a time. A counselor once wisely told me that my ailment didn’t mean it was a life sentence.
2) The brain is a physical organ.
Unfortunately modern science has not yet discovered how to regularly test the chemical levels in the brains for people seeking mental health treatment. Therefore, psychiatrists seem to be taking a stab in the dark as to which anxiety or depression medicine would best work for that patient, but one thing is for sure: the brain can suffer dysfunction just like any other organ. As I always say, anything that can go wrong in the body, probably does in someone. Considering we live in the age of anxiety, it is certainly more prevalent to find people suffering these ailments, and we are more open to talk about it. But just like someone suffering high blood pressure or high cholesterol needs to take a daily pill, so do people who are not efficiently regulating chemicals.
3) Doctors do at times overmedicate.
Yeah, we all know the doctor who gave out the vicodin like it was candy. I still believe in some conspiracy because our health system is profitable, and where profit is to be made, there is greed. However, I don’t think we should throw the baby out with the bath water.
4) Counseling is effective at rewiring the brain.
Getting to the root of the issue is priority. Why am I having this anxiety, and how do I cope when faced with it? Counseling operates to help an individual learn these coping skills that are lacking, and sometimes train the brain to rewire itself so that medicine is no longer needed. This is my hope for my own brain some day.
What is your take on anxiety and depression medications?
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