Hope

It is what I need at this moment in time.  Here at work and cannot work because my access is not working right.  I want to work because next week I am going to be gone all week.  I want to finish my work so I do not have to think about it next week all though lately something always goes wrong.  That is the same with life just when you think you are turning the corner and everything will work out and then life throws you a curve ball.  How am I going to handle this, then you think of all the times the lord has helped you before and you say no matter how hard this is I will get through this also.

I will get through this life and things eventually will change for the best.  So I will keep plugging along and wait for the good times again.  The hardest thing to overcome is this mental illness.  It really through me for a loop when I found out that I had schizophrenia and to top it off I was in the state hospital and did not know how long I would be there.  You really look at your life and say I have to change or this is how my life will be always locked up.  It does not matter if it is the state hospital or jail or prison it is taking away a person’s freedom.
I made a change that I am glad I made.  I have not been locked back up since 1994 and I would not even know how many years if I did not think back and count the years.  I have been able to see all my grandchildren born and be part of their lives.  I have never been stopped by the police in all these years and that is by someone who they would stop and stop my friends because we had the same hairdo. I have to have hope because there is nothing else but to give up and I will never do that.
I think the hardest thing that ever happen to me was when I faced twenty four years in prison.  I had to fight that charge I could not have faced all those years and as you all know I had my breakdown in prison.  If I would have not had my appeal it would have been disastrous.  It would have been the hardest time I ever did.  As it turned out being at the state hospital was the hardest time I ever did.  You wore street clothes and they had a restaurant there that is what made it so hard.  I always thought of the streets and how I just wanted a chance to make it. Nothing I ever face again in life will be that tough it just seems that way sometimes.
I always know I will be free again and no problems seem that big just frustrating.  I just have to remember this to will pass.  My oldest granddaughter is sixteen already where have the years gone.  I was in school for a lot of those years even though it did not seem that way they did go fast.  That is how long since I smoked also.  I quit when she was born.  I do not miss it and I was a heavy smoker. I see others light up and I do not miss it. Just have to keep up hope and I will get through today also.

Untreated Schizophrenia Raises Risk of Violence, Study Finds

That is the title of this article I am writing about. “A study that tracked released prisoners convicted of violent crimes found that mental health treatment affected rates of subsequent violence among those with schizophrenia.  Most of the 967 prisoners in the study had no psychosis at about nine months after their release.  However, 94 were diagnosed with schizophrenia, 29 with delusional disorder, and 102 with drug-induced psychosis.  After adjusting for demographic factors, psychiatric comorbidities, and substance use, former prisoners whose schizophrenia was untreated during or after imprisonment were found to be three times more likely to be violent after their release than were prisoners who received psychosis treatment or those without psychosis, wrote Robert Keers, Ph.D., of Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues.” They did not get treatment.  That reminds me of me, when I was locked up the second time for a crime I should not have been locked up for.

The counselor I had told me I was a danger to myself and others.  She did not tell me why or what I could do to get help.  She also told me she was not going to allow me to parole.  I knew I was getting out on appeal they did not believe me because all inmates say that.  I was for real.  They should have told me even though I probably would have laughed at them it would not have been such a surprise down the road. “The fact that a prisoner was untreated for psychosis should be considered a risk factor for violent recidivism, they concluded.”  That is true I hope for those that follow do not have to get out of prison only to end up back there or in the state hospital as I did.  My first breakdown was in prison and the counselor I am talking about was at the second facility I was at just waiting for my appeal when I broke down and had a mental illness after being place in solitary confinement.
Then I went to the infirmary and the psychiatrist listen to my story and was going to declare I was insane but changed his mind and just thought it happened because I was not sleeping.  He put me on a sleep medication called halcyon.  They placed me right there behind the walls because he asked where I would like to go and I said there.  The counselor knew why I was there and I was no longer the same inmate I was when I first entered the place. I went back to the infirmary one more time because I just was not myself anymore.  Little did I know I would never be myself ever again.  I was fighting the stress of making it without going back to prison.  Because the two years I did waiting for my appeal was the hardest time I ever did in prison.
My crime I did to get sent to the state hospital was the worse and yes in could be qualified as violent.  It is the worse crime I ever did that is why I do not talk about it.  The hardest time I did in jail was following that crime waiting to go to the state hospital although I did not know that was where I was going I was insane.  As for hating the state hospital I always will and that will keep me from ever going back there and being insane will always keep me medication compliant because I never want to go through that again.  The state hospital even though I do not like it, it showed that time and groups and learning about yourself and mental illness you can change your life around for the good.  You have to think that a person know matter that they do not think they make a difference they do.  If I would have stayed drinking and drugging would I have met my grandchildren and have them on weekends to share my life.  I do not know but am extremely happy no matter what I went through to get here.  I also have the wisdom to make sure my grandkids do not end up like I was. To read that story here is the link.

Increasing rates of premature death, conviction for a violent crime in people with schizophrenia since 1970s, study shows

That is the title of this article I am writing about today.  We have heard from previous articles how people with schizophrenia die earlier than the rest of the population this article goes further. “New research, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, show that rates of adverse outcomes, including premature death and violent crime, in people with schizophrenia are increasing, compared to the general population.  The results come from a unique study, led by Dr Seena Fazel, at Oxford University, UK, which analyses long-term adverse outcomes—including conviction for a violent crime (such as homicide or bodily harm), premature death (before the age of 56), and death by suicide – between 1972 and 2009 in nearly 25,000 people in Sweden diagnosed with schizophrenia or related disorders.”  It is people with a mental illness.  That age 56 is still young to be dying so early.  I guess I really have to watch myself if I want to live to see my grandchildren grow up and get settled.
The article goes on to say: “Overall, the results show that within five years of diagnosis, around 1 in 50 men and women with schizophrenia (2.3% of men and 1.7% of women) died by suicide; around one in 10 (10.7% of men and around one in 37 (2.7%) of women with schizophrenia were convicted of a violent offence within five years of diagnosis.  Overall, men and women with schizophrenia were eight times more likely to die prematurely than the general population.  Analysing the changing rate of adverse outcomes across the study period (1972—2009), the researchers found that the risk of premature death, suicide, and conviction for a violent offence has increased for men and women with schizophrenia in the last 38 years, compared with both the general population, and their unaffected siblings.”  If you read the news about people getting more violent than you have to look at the whole population that is getting more violent than when I was growing up in the seventies.  People did not go around shooting up malls and such as they do now.

Finally the article says: “According to Dr Fazel, ‘In recent years, there has been a lot of focus on primary prevention of schizophrenia – preventing people from getting ill.  While primary prevention is clearly essential and may be some decades away, our study highlights the crucial importance of secondary prevention –treating and managing the risks of adverse outcomes, such as self-harm or violent behavior, in patients.  Risks of these adverse outcomes relative to others in society appear to be increasing in recent decades, suggesting that there is still much work to be done in developing new treatments and mitigating the risks of adverse outcomes in people with schizophrenia.’ However, they add that, ‘importantly, we should remember that, when reporting about the intricate links between schizophrenia and these adverse outcomes, most people with schizophrenia and related disorders are neither violent or suicidal. Despite the need to ensure people with schizophrenia are provided help to reduce their risks of suicide, violence, or premature death, researchers reporting findings also bear the burden of ensuring that most people with schizophrenia and related disorders, who are not violent, are not left to contend with stigma and discrimination.  Policy makers, researchers, and clinicians need to remember the importance of appropriately weighing up the issue of schizophrenia relative to the myriad of other factors that contribute to increased risk of violence and suicide.”  I guess working out and taking my walks I have to make sure I do to stay healthy.  That is about the only thing that worries me because you hear as you get older your body starts to get old also and wear down.  Life’s ups and downs are enough to handle without worrying if I am going to die early or not.  I know that I want to be there as my grandchildren grow up because life is hard and I need to be there when they have problems so I can help.

‘Simple’ Solution to Antipsychotic-Related Weight Gain

That is the title of this article that I am going to write about with an extra link that belongs to the same article, although it tells how to use program.  “A simple, easy-to-use, free program appears to stop antipsychotic-related weight gain and delivers durable weight loss in patients with schizophrenia, new research shows. ‘One out of 4 people lost over 5%, or roughly 10 lbs of weight, and they kept in off for 6 months without any intervention, which was amazing,’ principal investigator Cenk Tek, MD, director of the psychosis program at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, told Medscape News.” I believe everyone is waiting for this news.  Although I believe it is what I did to lose twenty pounds.  Which was cut my portions in half and I have continued to eat that way.

There way is to: “To help patients with schizophrenia lose weight, the investigators developed the SIMPLE program, which is tailored to the unique needs and challenges of this patient population, including cognitive, educational, and social problems observed in schizophrenia.”  That is the population that needs it the most.  I go up and down about five pounds usually.  “The problem of overweight and obesity in these patients has always been there, but it was accentuated after the introduction of new generation of antipsychotic medications, which caused an incredible amount of weight gain.”  My weight started when I quit smoking and I was on and older medication.  I gained weight so fast I could not stop it.  Then I was sick at the same time so I really could not lose the weight back then. How do they lose weight?   “We took basic weight loss and standardized concepts and simplified them as much as possible-we simplified the wording as much as possible, and we introduced a lot of repetition – so essentially, you repeat, repeat, repeat to reinforce the concepts.”  That seems a good way with repetition.  That is the best way to get something in your mind or whatever with repetition. What else they do is: “The supermarket environment is very cluttered, so what we do is teach people how to navigate the supermarket, how to calculate the calories and read labels, he added.”  That is what they teach that helps.  If we do you how to read labels for all the bad stuff and just eat the good we should lose weight.
As we all know people do not like to take their medication because of the weight gain.  If this works then I am all for it, because everyone would like to be in their right mind and not gain weight just to be that way.  The second link simple program tells how anyone can do it.  I know I have to lose more. “In addition, said Dr, Tek , SIMPLE participants successfully maintained their weight loss with no additional intervention for 6 months.” That is good news. If you can keep it off for that long you can keep it off for longer. This could help people with mental illness live longer if they can lose the weight and keep it off. “There is no other disease where you have a doubling of cardiovascular risk in the first year.  This is a critical period in the disease that requires intervention, so physicians really need to know what they are prescribing and, if at all possible, start with lower weight gain liability agents, said Dr. Tek” I for one know how hard it is to get the weight off and keep it off so if this works great. It does not talk about exercises so if you exercise also would you lose more weight it would be good to find out.