Trouble Sleeping? It May Affect Your Memory Later On

That’s the title of this article.  It has to do with the how many times you awaken during the night. “The amount and quality of sleep you get at night may affect your memory later in life, according to research that was released today and will be presented the American Academy of Neurology’s 64^th Annual Meeting in New Orleans…”  It affects your memory later in life. “Disrupted sleep appears to be associated with the build-up of amyloid plaques, a hallmark marker of Alzheimer’s disease, in the brains of people with memory problems… Further research is needed to determine why this is happening and whether sleep changes may predict cognitive decline.”  It is disrupted sleep that seems to be the problem.

My memory has never been a problem.  Especially numbers, although lately if I try to remember something I always forget one thing.  I remember it before it becomes a problem.  Although it is not too worrisome for me, I sleep and do not wake up that many times a night. It goes on to say: “Researches tested the sleep patterns of 100 people between the ages of 45 and 80 who were free of dementia.  Half of the group had a family history of Alzheimer’s disease. A device was placed on the participants for two weeks to measure sleep.  Sleep diaries and questionnaires were also analyzed by researchers.”  It is good to note they had a family history of Alzheimer’s.
The article goes on to say: “After the study, it was discovered that 25 percent of the participants had evidence of amyloid plaques, which can appear years before the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease begin. The average time a person spent in bed during the study was about eight hours, but the average sleep time was 6.5 hours due to short awakening in the night.”  What is causing them to awaken during the night?  They do not answer that question.  I rely on my memory so that would be hard on me if I was ever to lose it.  I do make a list when I go to the store as I would forget something if I did not.
It must be different than just having insomnia. “The study found that people who woke up more than five times per hour were more likely to have amyloid plaque build-up compared to people who didn’t wake up as much. The study also found those people who slept ‘less efficiently’ were more likely to have the markers of early stage Alzheimer’s disease than those who slept more efficiently.  In other words, those who spent less than 85 percent of their time in bed actually sleeping were more likely to have the markers than those who spent more than 85 percent of their time in bed actually sleeping.”   Do they get less than 85 percent of sleep every night?
What are they going to do with this information? “The association between disrupted sleep and amyloid plaques is intriguing, but the information from this study can’t determine a cause-effect relationship or the direction of this relationship.  We need longer-term studies, following individual’s sleep over years, to determine whether disrupted sleep leads to amyloid plaques, or whether brain changes in early Alzheimer’s disease lead to changes in sleep, … Our study lays the groundwork for investigating whether manipulating sleep is possible strategy in the prevention or slowing of Alzheimer’s disease.”  Only my grandfather had dementia.  None of my other family members lived long enough to know if they would have any other diseases or stuff wrong with them.  I just have to stay exercising and do the right things and I am sure I will be alright.

A New Psychiatric Tool

The patients of mental health and family members concerned about mental health seem to be in a state of confusion, because the figure head of the Federal agency which finances mental health research has issued a statement about the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders The Director of the National Institute of Mental Health has led us to understand that the current DSM.V needs a newer classification system, involving biology, not just psychiatric opinion and definition. The problem with this is that it will take another 10 years to have a defined biology based manual. The Director made aware that the new revision of the reissued DSM.V since 1994 is “mostly modest alterations.”

Shortcomings of a Psychiatric Bible - NYTimes.com
I have peaked and scanned the DSM and I found that I could look at all my friends quite differently, even past acquaintances and if I chose to define their lives and my own as well, I would not see any one quite the same as if I first met them. I was told it’s the frequency of what you do which is defined as a possible illness, not that you act a certain way or respond in a certain way. What the DSM defines is diagnosis about symptoms that are associated with a certain disease, yet it does not on an objective laboratory scale or measure, say for instance blood count or other kinds of biological measurements. There has not been produced any such data which is needed to design a manual based on any such biology of the human body or any cognitive measures involving the biology of a person with any particular mental illness. At one time the NIMH began a program to finance research in biology, genetics, neuroscience and cognitive science, of which their goal was to help scientist define disorders by their causation rather that defined symptoms. The DSM (diagnostic manual) remains a tool to guide clinicians to diagnose disorders and treat their patients. Having understood that the biology of the human brain and body itself is being suggested as a part of all symptoms as well in our physical state of well being, changes how we see our education through psychology and psychiatry as consumers, leading us into a different aspect of learning about ourselves and our relationship to the environment in which we live in.

Written by Donald S.

Belief in God Tied to Greater Psychiatric Treatment Response

Well this article just fell into my lap this morning.  Last night I finished watching the last of the Bible series.  I had recorded it to watch at my leisure.  I was thinking how I would write that I believe in God although I do not believe in religion.  I could call myself Catholic if I want to drink.  Religion just makes it harder to believe because of all their rules.  I open up the news looking for something to write about and here is an article.

It says: “Belief in God, but not religious affiliation, is associated with a greater likelihood of treatment response among psychiatric outpatients, according to a study published in the April 25 issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders.”  They used to call me lucky because I would get out of so many cases against me.  I have seen miracles and as I have said I read positive books by Norman Vincent Peale.  I still can quote scriptures from those books my heart they helped me so much.  I was a very negative person.  If a miracle happen to me once and I would try the same thing again.
As for recovery I would not have recovered if it had not been for my belief in God.  How do you get by all those lonely times, your family not around and also I did not have my daughter while I was at the State Hospital.  She did not come around until three years after I was released.  “The researchers found that among treatment responders, belief in God was significantly higher compared with non-responders.  Greater reduction in depression and self-harm and greater improvements in psychological well-being also correlated significantly with higher levels of belief.  The correlation between belief and changes in depression and self-harm persisted even after controlling for age and gender.  The relationship between belief in God and depression was mediated by perceived treatment credibility/expectancy, but not by emotional regulation or community support.  Religious affiliation was linked to treatment credibility/expectancy, but did not impact treatment outcomes.”  Where do you think my hope comes from?  It is my belief that God will work things out sometimes a lot slower than I liked.
Although things always work out for the best, as always in A.A you are asked to believe in a higher power.  To succeed you always have to believe in something.  I was brought up religious and it has always just been there for me.  As I have said I have seen miracles where my own lawyer did not know how I was not charged. You would have to be there to understand.  Without those magazines from Norman Vincent Peale about people who went through tough times and came out alright, I cannot say that my time at the State Hospital would have went a lot harder and longer.
I do not force anyone to believe I am just telling my story of recovery and what I believe that keeps me going.  I am not doing so badly.  I believe that if you think positive and work towards what you want you will achieve it. No matter what mental illness you have there is always hope that they can find a medication that will help you to achieve what you want out of life there is always hope. One reason I have never talked about it is I have seen many people with mental illness that believe that they are or have been talked to God.  I separate the two in my life.

Gene Helps Overcome Depression

There have been studies of animals and humans that may give thought that certain mental illnesses, such as depression, can be treated with a new aspect: gene therapy.  It is known that depression strikes at least one in 15 adults across the nation, yet there has been a study in mice and human brain cells which finds a lack of a protein named p11, which might play a role in depression.  Fixing that particular gene would produce those certain proteins which could affect depression. 

Psychological disorders anymore are being seen as brain disorders.  Most depression drugs used in these modern times, affect brain levels of a certain hormone called serotonin, which has been linked to the p11 protein in its effects on mood.  Mice have been bred to have depressive symptoms, then “by infecting their brain with a virus carrying a gene for the protein”, scientist are able to alleviate the depressive symptoms.

 Humans have been used in these studies that have Parkinson’s disease.  As the mice have been treated, they began to respond and behave like normal mice and in the experiments in human brain cells, those people who were depressed showed a lack of the protein.  These experiments though showed that there is a new way to treat depression, as well as the possible production of new drugs to curtail the disorder.

Certain doctors look to drugs rather than a direct treatment to the brain, especially through gene therapy; this is safer for treating depression.  Seemingly the design of drug molecules which would deliver the p11 protein or other compounds to a particular place in the brain would have to be done so without affecting other parts of the human body or brain, where the protein might serve otherwise different purposes.  “No single thing probably causes any human disease, yet the study author, goes on to say, but we can say there is evidence here of a role of this protein in depression.” 

Donald S.

Catherine Zeta-Jones: Her History of Mental Illness

She is back in the news as she has went back to a treatment center for her Bipolar II disorder that is what this article says.  Another news story  says she goes in periodically for a preemptive step to ensure that she continues to be in good health.  She also was absent this past Saturday from the 2013 White House Correspondents Dinner, which her husband Michael Douglass attended.  She has been candid with her mental illness.   She talks about her struggles with this disease.

She first went public about her mental illness in 2011: “After her husband, Michael Douglas, received the good news that his Stage IV throat cancer was gone that January, she couldn’t fight a lingering depression. In April of that year, she checked into a mental health facility in Connecticut and during her five-day stay there, she was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder, a mental illness marked by prolonged periods of depression alternating with episodes of mild mania.” It is good that she lets people know that she has this disease.  It can lessen some of the stigma associated with mental illness.
It is a disease a lot of us do not understand because we have never went through it or understand going through highs and lows I would guess.  I know my mental illness some would not understand also.  The article goes on to talk about why she discloses:  “This is a disorder that affects millions of people and I am one of them,’ the actress told People at the time.’ if my revelation of having bipolar II has encouraged one person to seek help, then it is worth it.  There is no shame in seeking help.’”  That is encouraging to people to get help if she can so can others.  I know from experience the shame was on me.  It was hard to face my old friends even though they did not know what I was going through.
My breakdown came in prison I was already in the hole or as they call it segregation.  One if my friends were already on the other side of the cellblock that I was on.  The other friends did not know what was going on with me.  They told me they would help me though whatever I was going through.  I was taken to the hospital in Canon City.  The doctor asked where I would like to go to back to Buena Vista or where.  I told him right there behind the walls.  I did not want to go back and face my old friends.  I saw one of my friends from Buena Vista when I was out for about ten years already.  He waited until I was finished shopping at a store and came to speak to me.
He never brought up what happened just told me about his life.   I told him that I had been out about ten years and then we said goodbye.  The shame of this mental illness was mine.  Catherine Zeta-Jones says it best: “Everyone has things going on and we deal with them the best we can, ‘ she continued. ‘We can’t jump from rooftops shouting, you know, about, I have this, look at me, victim.’ No. We all have issues in life and I’m really happy that I have great friends, great support, and that’s all I can do.”  I guess I should have heard that before.  One reason I gave up all my old friends and I do not know if they would understand.  I would do anything for any of my friends that is the type of person I am.  Yes I have done time for a friend and did not snitch.  For me to go on being free I had to give them up.  A friend’s mom told me once it is not you it is your friends.  I did not understand that at the time.  How could that be they never go to jail or get in trouble just me? I am glad I read this article it is time someone lets people know they get help for a mental illness.

The Corners of Depression

People at times, get sad or feel blue when thoughts or feelings, even the reality of their livelihood isn’t right.  Yet all of this passes on within a couple or even a few days.  If you’re depressed, it gets in the way of your everyday life and causes pain not only for yourself, but also for those who care about you.  Depression is not only a common illness, but a very serious one as well.

There are several types of depression.  There is major depression, which disables a person from functioning normally, yet with clinical help can be overcome.  There is dysthymia, of which a person can have symptoms of depression for many years.  Minor depression leaves you with symptoms up to 2 weeks or longer, but there is no criteria for major depression, yet without treatment,  people with minor depression can develop major depression if a person with such goes without treatment.

There are other types of depression such as psychotic depression, postpartum, Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and Bi-polar or manic-depression.  People who suffer from depression do not have the same symptoms or go through life having the same experiences.  They may have signs of depression such as being sad or anxious, they may feel hopeless and there can be guilt or low-self esteem.  A loss of interest or of things which give a person pleasure can exist as well as fatigue, loss of memory or an inability to concentrate, insomnia, even thoughts of suicide.

Depression can be caused by a myriad of factors, which can be genetic, biological, environmental or psychological.  Depression is an illness which is a disorder of the brain and what is important to know is that depression is about the brains ability to communicate and when there is no balance there is no communication.

Stress can also trigger depression within a person and this can be any stressful situation such as, trauma or a difficult relationship of any kind.  When I am experiencing a manic episode, and become depressed, I get tired and am often irritable and late at night I have trouble sleeping.  I used to fill myself up with alcohol or drugs, yet it took some time for me to realize this was only due to frustration and anger.  Psychotherapy groups and medications helped me to find a better way to respond to the world around me and today I have a different attitude due to such treatments.

A person under the duress of depression may not want to find a way in the beginning to get away from the pain of this illness and though it may take weeks even years to overcome this illness’ hold over a person, they and others should bare no shame in seeking professional help to stand up against depression.  Do not wait to seek help, try to remain active, set goals for yourself, do not isolate and most of all think positive and you will begin to smile again with feeling.\

Written by Donald S.

Knowing Diabetes

It’s been suggested that mental health consumers who live with schizophrenia and/or the bipolar disorder are much more inclined to developing diabetes.  There is no direct connection between the three unless there are certain other attitudes associated, which are (1) a poor diet, (2) lack of exercise and (3) a drastic weight gain from antipsychotic medications.

The management and control of diabetes is a concern, especially when a mental health consumer has schizophrenia and at this, the managing of diabetes can be complicated.  If a person has schizophrenia, living their life with a psychosis is not exactly easy and controlling and a disease such as diabetes at the same time is just as complicated as managing their daily life with schizophrenia or a bipolar disorder.  There are certain complications that can follow a person with diabetes who is a mental health consumer, though not all will suffer any of them, many still do, as I have, such as, (1) Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), (2) Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) or (3) Diabetic Ketoacidosis (the body breaks down fat if it is starved for energy, producing a toxic acid called Ketones, which cause, heart, brain and central nervous system failure).

These are all short term complications, which results from the lack of management of the diabetes, leading to serious physical ailments or even death.  I understand I have diabetes, yet there are days I think I can “cheat” on taking care of the necessities of controlling the disease.  My wanting soda’s instead of water, or a Danish instead of a salad, candy instead of fruit warrants setting myself up for failure when I should be managing the disease and exercising with respect for my own life.  At this point I am walking myself into long term complications without the lack of sincerity to maintain and control the diabetes.

There are statistics which leave a person in fear and searching for a change in their lifestyle, yet if you are schizophrenic or bipolar you have to understand the risk factors that conceive the development of a coronary disease, stroke or type 2 diabetes.  These factors once understood can let you know if you are at risk; poor cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and excessive fat.  Finally knowing that a mental health consumer in treatment with antipsychotic medications, people with schizophrenic or bipolar, are the highest at risk for developing diabetes. One reason is some antipsychotic medications can raise blood sugars and cholesterol to very high levels and produce significant weight gain as well. This is the reason why I should be more careful about what I eat, when I eat and what I drink, so that the world around me can see that I do care about myself, even if I am a mental health consumer as the many other clients/consumers should. 

Written by Donald S.