NAMI executive's moment of truth: "Why hasn't my son had a physical?"

From http://www.healthyplace.com/depression/shocked-ect/nami-and-censorship/menu-id-1362/
Publisher's Note by Dan E. Weisburd (former NAMI executive)

WELLNESS issue

"What does it take to make you wake up, Dan?" A voice broke into my sleep. I sat up startled. The clock read, 3:15 A.M. "Why hasn't David had a physical?" Was I asking myself? Where had I been? My eldest son has had schizophrenia for 19 years--as many years as he hasn't had it. Do I remember getting him a physical? No. "Where have you been, Dan?" the now exasperated voice demanded. It sounded somewhat like my stern, long-dead father, or maybe it was my internal scolding severest critic--myself. "You'd know full well if David had a physical. He'd have told you. And you'd know the results! You've let him down again, guy. You're just another negligent know-it-all fraud of a family member telling the world he deserves better, and how much you love him!"

It was 10 A.M. before I could reach Martha Long, the director at The Village ISA in Long Beach, the excellent psychosocial rehabilitation program I'd helped to conceptualize, and where my son was now a member. "No, we don't routinely get them physicals, Dan," she answered apologetically. "I'll be happy to pay for a simple Lipid panel, if there's no budget for it," I said. "He eats lots of Chinese food--grease and sugar--loves steaks, and burgers and cheese-- and we both know he rarely gets any real exercise." She agreed to get David an appointment for a blood draw, because, after all, he probably had my genes and I've had a heart attack, five bypasses and three heart surgeries. Given David's life style and genetic inheritance, he could be courting disaster at age 39.

"He is doing well at his job. And he has a lot of friends, here, He seems much happier." She ended on that optimistic note, and I knew it was true. David was thriving on the life the Village staff had helped him attain. He was committed to recovery.

A couple weeks later I got what would be only the first of many reports. Cholesterol 300. Triglycerides 700. Terrible! Outrageous! Much worse than my readings when I'd had my heart attack. "What does the doctor say about that?" I asked. "They'll test him again in three months," answered his personal service coordinator. "What kind of doctoring is that? That's not good enough," I replied and asked for an immediate retest, "And have someone be sure David's done the necessary overnight fast. That alone could skew the results." "Yes, sir," said the voice at the other end.

The retest gave even worse results followed by the same lame "...retest in three months" reply. I had done a little research of my own between the two tests. It seems that the marvelous new atypical medications significantly elevate both cholesterol and triglycerides in most patients who take them. David was on high levels of both Clozaril and Zyprexa. With our family history he could be destined for coronary disaster--especially as a two-pack a day inhaling smoker whose rumbling cough is frightening to witness. Why hadn't his psychiatrist of eight years warned us?

I brought David home, and took him to his mother's internist, Gilbert Ross, an old family friend, who agreed to be David's principal physician, if David agreed to do what he prescribed. David said, yes. Ross would offer his services pro bono because he didn't want to do the MediCal (Medicaid) paper work, and he knew that if I paid (as a third party) it might be used by the bureaucracy to jeopardize David's SSI and MediCal eligibility.

David's blood work came back from Ross' lab worse than ever, and this time I had been the fasting enforcer. Because of David's profile, Dr. Ross prescribed large daily doses of Lipitor, checked with MediCal and of course they refused to pay for it, so he gave David all the samples he had, and we began a six-week test. At the end of six weeks David's readings were normal! Cholesterol down from 320 to 184. Triglycerides down from 700-plus to 130! Ross wrote the paperwork, and now MediCal had to pay for the costly Lipitor. But what about all the others who are lucky enough to get the new breakthrough atypical antipsychotics? Who would advocate for them?

I called some top people at Los Angeles County Mental Health. No one wanted to reply for the record. Off the record I learned they knew of the problem, and that few if any clients got physicals. Who will pay was the question. And if they got physicals, given their below poverty level lifestyles, medical problems were bound to surface. Who will pay for the needed medical care? It was a question of reimbursement--plain and simple. "Has this non-productive population been written off as expendable? Are they, in reality, putting aside politically correct rhetoric, discard people?" I didn't expect an answer. And I got none.

As we read this issue about wellness we would do well to remember that treatment works and that recovery is possible, but never for a moment must we forget that enlightened social policy and dollars to do the job is what will make what is needed available. And, how do we get that? # # # We gratefully acknowledge the efforts of our co-editors Dede Ranahan, Diane Vines, Suzane Wilbur, and Ed Diksa who brought in a majority of our authors.

Link

Dan, if you read your words at this post, please get your son a REAL physical - not one which supports erroneous medical theories upheld by the the pharmaceutical industry and paid for in human lives.
The 29 testable, verifiable and correctable causes of schizophrenia are listed here.
You will find information on drug withdrawal in our Links column.
And we wish you both the best of luck!

Mental Health & Patient Safety: Broadening our Understanding. Building the Momentum

"Mental Health & Patient Safety: Broadening our Understanding. Building the Momentum

Presented by Ontario Hospital Association

Course name: Mental Health & Patient Safety: Broadening our Understanding. Building the Momentum
Course duration: September 17, 2009 - September 18, 2009
Location: Marriott Eaton Centre Hotel
525 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Course code: EP 144

Join colleagues from across Canada on September 17 & 18 as the Ontario Hospital Association and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute jointly launch the research paper, “Patient Safety in Mental Health”. The first paper of its kind in Canada defines the patient safety issues unique to mental health and highlights the important opportunities for improving patient safety in mental health.

The Ontario Hospital Association, in partnership with the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, is pleased to present this one-day national conference on patient safety in mental health. This conference will provide participants with the opportunity to hear about current strategies to address some of the critical patient safety issues in mental health from leading experts across Canada and the US.

Topics to be addressed include: the key findings and themes from the research, using evidence and best practice to provide safer care, suicide and risk assessment, transitions of care, and creating safe environments for both patients and staff."

Link: http://www.oha.com/Education/Pages/CalendarofEventDetails.aspx?eventid=EP%20144


We'd like to see a focus on proper physical workups for diagnosis and healing through nutrition. Drugs are a leading cause of dependency, disability, morbidity and mortality.

Remember the Primum - "First, do no harm".

THE EXTRAORDINARY WALKER EXAM helps us understand diagnosis and correction of the real physical causes of mental disorders....



"The following Field Manual was compiled by order of the California legislature. It reveals that 39% of psychiatric patients studied were found to have active medical diseases, many of which caused or worsened their mental condition. The Manual explains the importance of screening patients for disease and lays out a step-by-step process for doing so.
Prepared for theCalifornia Department of Mental Health and Local Mental Health Programs Pursuant to Chapter 376, Statutes of 1988 Assembly Bill

By Lorrin M. Koran, M.D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,
Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford, California 1991

...The SB 929 Study team performed complete medical evaluations of 476 patients drawn from 24 county mental health programs spread across four Northern California counties and of 53 patients at Napa State Hospital.

The most important findings of that study are: 31,32 para 1. Nearly two out of five patients (39%) had an active, important physical disease.

2. The mental health system had failed to detect these diseases in nearly half (47.5%) of the affected patients.

3. Of all the patients examined, one in six had a physical disease that was related to his or her mental disorder, either causing or exacerbating that disorder.
4. The mental health system had failed to detect one in six physical diseases that were causing a patient’s mental disorder. (Five of 33 cases of physical disease causing a mental disorder had not been detected.)

5. The mental health system had failed to detect more than half of the physical diseases that were exacerbating a patient’s mental disorder. (Twenty-seven of 49 cases of physical disease exacerbating a mental disorder had not been detected.)"
Link - MEDICAL EVALUATION FIELD MANUAL

More on the physical causes of mental symptoms can be found here.

Canada: Police and jail guards will get more training to recognize mental illnesses

From Nova Scotia, Canada:

"Police and jail guards will get more training to recognize mental illnesses and how to deal with people afflicted with them, Justice Minister Ross Landry said Friday.

The province commissioned an expert panel last year to look at the phenomenon called excited delirium and what role it could play in in-custody deaths, to examine the risks of using stun guns and other restraints on people in that state, and to recommend how law enforcement officials should deal with those people.

Mr. Landry said the most significant recommendation in the eight-member panel’s new report is ensuring that front-line justice workers are trained to recognize people with symptoms of excited delirium, or as the panel suggests calling it, autonomic hyperarousal state."

Link to PDF report:
http://gov.ns.ca/just/public_safety/_docs/Excited%20Delirium%20Report.pdf

Little Nemo in NAMI Land - Man Boobs

Little Nemo in NAMI Land - Man Boobs



Read about the original Little Nemo here.

Treating the underlying cause of the gynecomastia may lead to improvement in the condition. Patients should talk with their doctor about revising any medications, such as risperdal, that are found to be causing gynecomastia.
Read about Gynecomastia - here.

Environment: Antidepressants make for sad fish

Link at Science News
and at Science News for Kids

"While medications are meant to help a person feel better, they're not good for wildlife. Over the past several years, scientists have begun to test how common drugs are in freshwater ecosystems. Researchers also are starting to learn more about how medications meant for humans affect the animals that accidentally ingest the drugs.

Recently, several scientists tested how a group of drugs called antidepressants affects freshwater fish. For many people with an illness called depression, antidepressants can be lifesavers. People with depression may feel sad or anxious for extremely long periods of time, lose interest in activities they once enjoyed and have difficulty sleeping or concentrating. Antidepressants help improve these symptoms for some people.

Several years ago, researchers discovered that some species of fish living near wastewater treatment plants had antidepressants in their brains. "Pretty much any water sample in the vicinity of a wastewater treatment plant will test positive for some group of antidepressants," says chemist Melissa Schultz, of the College of Wooster in Ohio. This finding inspired a number of scientists to learn how these drugs affect fish and other wildlife.

In their experiments, researchers exposed species of fish in a laboratory to different brands of antidepressants. Then, the scientists tested the fishes’ responses to a number of things, such as the cues predators make or the appearance of prey animals.

Some hybrid striped bass exposed to the antidepressant Prozac eventually began hanging vertically in the water — a highly unlikely pose — and stopped eating.

The researchers found that antidepressants affect fish species in numerous ways, from diminishing their response to predators to slowing down their prey-hunting techniques. One unexpected result even showed that a type of antidepressant called fluoxetine acts like estrogen, a primarily female hormone, when in the bodies of adult male fathead minnows.

Fluoxetine, sold under the brand name Prozac, caused these male minnows to produce an egg protein normally made only by females. In addition, males exposed to fluoxetine did not make the bright colors and facial bumps usually used to attract mates. More testing needs to be done to determine whether these changes affect minnows' ability to mate."

Kay Jamieson and John McManamy say the brain is like a pond, an ecosystem, but they want to put drugs into it. We hope they don't keep goldfish.

UK: Nuke Nation Leader on Antidepressants?

Is Gordon Brown taking an MAOI antidepressant? If this is true, the UK's Prime Minister is very ill and should not have the powers of Britain's head.
Link
Link

Now NAMI has a Theme Park for Information!

A virtual theme park.

NAMILand link. Enter at your own risk.
Here's a sample from their "Wellness Center". There is nothing there about correct diagnosis of the physical causes of mental/brain disorders, and nothing about nutrition. You will, however, find that information on this site and a list of the 29 medical, correctable causes of schizophrenia is here. Correcting schizophrenia with vitamins and caffeine avoidance costs pennies a day, and will stop a lot of drug use - both prescribed and illicit self-medication.

NAMI
WELLNESS CENTER

A major focus of NAMI’S 2009 convention is health and wellness, and as part of that focus we are proud to present our first-ever Wellness Center. The Wellness Center is offering activities and information throughout the convention to promote healthy living.

The Wellness Center will be located in the East Lounge outside the Exhibit Hall in the Continental Ballroom. In addition, Wellness Center activities will be happening in various locations throughout the hotel and outside of it.

WELLNESS CENTER ACTIVITIES

Let’s WALK! Join the NAMIWalks team for a relaxed early-morning walk around the neighborhood. Tuesday and Thursday, 7:30am – 8:00am.
Drumming Circles. Drumming is one of humanity’s most ancient and universal activities. Recent clinical studies have documented many physical, mental, and emotional benefits of focused drumming activities – including stress reduction and enhanced clarity and focus. Drumming energizes the mind, body and spirit. Two classes, Tuesday, 12:00pm – 12:45pm and 1:00pm – 1:45pm.

Exercising at Home. A certified fitness instructor will show you how to use what you’ve got in your house (for example, using canned goods as weights) to design your own exercise program. This class will be especially valuable to people who don’t have the time, money, and/or inclination to leave home to go to an exercise class. Wednesday, 12:30pm – 1:30pm,

Sing Before Your Supper. Singing in a group – regardless of your vocal abilities, has been shown to raise serotonin levels, is a big contributor of cohesiveness and team-building, and – it’s fun! Join us for this 30-minute group sing-a-long. Wednesday and Thursday, 5:30pm – 6:00pm.

Strength Building. Small, inexpensive rubber balls – available at sporting goods stores, toy stores, or dollar stores – can be used for strength building exercises. Come find out how. Thursday, 12:30pm – 1:30pm.

Yoga Class. A restorative way to end a busy day. Thirty minutes of gentle movement will be followed by 15 minutes of reflective relaxation. Taught by a certified yoga instructor. Wednesday, 5:30pm – 6:15pm.


WELLNESS CENTER ADVICE AND INFORMATION

In addition to the activities described above, experts in the Wellness Center will offer information and advice on a number of topics that contribute to healthy living. The Wellness Center will be open as follows:
Tuesday 11:00am – 2:00pm
Wednesday 8:30am – 2:30pm and
4:00pm – 7:00pm

Among the topics to be covered are:

Medications. Pharmacists will be on hand to offer information on medications, medication interactions, side effects, and adherence strategies.

Dental Hygiene. Many people with mental illnesses have trouble with their teeth. We will have a dental hygienist available to give advice and giveaways to promote dental hygiene.

Nutrition. One-on-one advice on good nutritional habits and how to overcome some of the special nutritional challenges posed by psychiatric illness and psychiatric medications.

Blood Pressure Checks. We will offer blood pressure checks, as well as tips for dealing with hypertension.

Smoking Cessation. While overall smoking rates have declined dramatically in the last couple of decades, rates of smoking among people with mental illnesses remain extremely high. We will offer workable strategies for quitting.


Several individuals and organizations have contributed their time, money, and expertise to make the Wellness Center possible. We would like to thank:
OptumHealth
The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center
The College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists
Lisa Halpern
Linda Long
Barbara Bate
The NAMIWalks Team

Sorry, folks, but there's nothing to see here. No surprise... Pharma money is NAMI's bag.