Military Mental Health Services Seen Lacking

Military mental health services seen lacking|Health|Reuters.com

"NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The psychological needs of U.S. military personnel and their families are straining the current mental health services of the military, concludes an American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force charged with looking into the issue"

Many military families are going without needed mental health services because of the limited availability of such care, according to Palomares, a psychologist on the APA staff and a Task Force member, who has served active duty in the Air Force and Army National Guard.

I really think the entire military population and their families should undertake mental health assessments and necessary treatments as often as other families use basic medical treatment. I can't think of a more stressful environment for soldiers or their families, especially in a time of war. This is an issue an aggressive congressional candidate could use to really benefit their consituents, and show their care and concern.

Study Suggests Vasectomy-Dementia Link

Study Suggests Vasectomy-Dementia Link:

Having a vasectomy may increase a man's risk of developing a rare form of dementiadementia, early research suggests, although more study is needed to confirm the finding.

Weintraub theorized that vasectomy may raise the risk of the rare dementias by breaching the protective barrier between the bloodstream and the testes.

When that barrier is broken, as occurs with vasectomy, sperm become exposed to the bloodstream. In response, many men who have had the surgery produce antisperm antibodies.

These antibodies may affect the brain, causing damage which can lead to dementia.

"...I would hope that men would not be frightened by this study, which is very preliminary," says Sharlip.

Frightened? It was one of the most terrifying events of my life, and my wife and friends just laughed at me. Well, I'll show them, I'll get dementia to spite them.

Actually, my vasectomy was pretty easy, although there was one funny thing. I'm on the cold stainless steel table, my guy taped off to my stomach to keep it out of the way, and the doc announced that he'd have a student assist and observe. Yep, you guessed it, in walks a Dr. that looks like Izzy Stevens (from Gray's Anatomy). I burst out laughing, and said "I'd like to say I'm glad to meet you, but..." and we all had a laugh. It was a funny ice-breaker.

A Few Updates

A few family updates.

My oldest son graduated from college in August, and has been looking for a job since then. He just found one, and is very excited. It’s in a city about 2 hours away, so it’s not so far that we can’t see him regularly. In fact, if you look at the heartland of the US, there are 2 major cities 150 miles or so apart. We’re in one, and he’ll be in the other. He found out yesterday, and starts Monday. He has some friends he’ll be living with, so he’ll be throwing stuff in the trunk of his car and leaving in a few days.

Then to Kyle, our 22 year bipolar son. Kind of a long complicated story leading up to this, I wrote about it on my BipolarConnect blog, I’ll post a link when they finally publish it. But the bottom line, we haven’t heard from him in several days, and neither has his girlfriend. Life got too overwhelming, and he took off. The irony is, what overwhelmed him was the prospect of not having to worry about anything.

Mardi Gras comes to the heartland! When the band The Iguanas comes to our area the wife and I never miss them. They are one of New Orleans most popular bands, and they are always a lot of fun. Here it is Fat Tuesday, the peak of Mardi Gras, and The Iguanas are in our area for a Mardi Gras party and show! Woo-hoo! I’ve already told the boss I’ll be late tomorrow.

Checking In

Hey all! I haven't posted for a while, not even my favorite "Friday Shorts" the last couple weeks. Thanks for the comments and emails asking if I'm OK. I'm OK, in pretty good shape all things considered. What I've been able to write recently I've sent to BipolarConnect, and they have exclusive rights to anything I send them. And when I only have so many words I can squeeze out in a week, something has to give. I've started a new personal blog for family, political, and more controversial posts, but I haven't been prolific enough to do anything with that either. Just a typical bipolar move, start a project I can't follow through on.

I haven't made the rounds to blogs recently, I'm still a little emotionally shell-shocked. I can't read your blogs without being pulled in a little emotionally, and right now I just don't feel I can take on that load. Sorry if that means I'm turning my back on my friends, I do feel bad about that.

Thanks again all for the thoughts and messages, and I'll be around to your blogs before too long.

BipolarConnect's New Site

Those who have been reading a while know I've been blogging for BipolarConnect.com> for a while, my blog can currently be found here.

In the next few days they will be rolling out a completey redesigned site that I'm excited about. I'm a sucker for online communities, and I'm excited that Health Central has embraced the concept.

They expect to launch their redesigned site in the next few days, so check in regularly.

Not Much To Report

I haven’t been posting much, as I really don’t have much to post. My health, both mental and physical, is great. I am stable, and enjoying life. I don’t want to turn this into a “what I did today” blog, not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not my style. My son with bipolar disorder, Kyle, I haven’t seen for a few weeks, so I have nothing to report there. I’m sure he’s OK, he just gets self conscious and doesn’t come around when he can’t tell us something positive. I wish he would come around anyway, but that’s how it is. So, until I have something relevant to post…

Supplement Questions

Hey All – looking for some input here. I had a cold hit me Saturday, and I’ve been miserable since then. It feels like some flu is at work also. I went out over lunch and picked up some vitamin C and zinc, but I’m not sure about the right dosages. The C I’m thinking 500 mg every 2 hours, and the zinc 50 mg every 2 hours. For those “in the know” about supplements, I’d appreciate your input.

Also, on my last pdoc visit, the doc told me about chromium. How it can help glucose metabolism, cholesterol metabolism, aid in weight loss, and so forth. Has anyone used this before? I just started taking 200 mg a day, and wondering if that’s a good dosage.

Super Bowl

First, the football was great. I’ve been a Bears fan since I was a little kid, watching Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus. But I was also a Colts fan from way back, so I really didn’t have much of a preference. I did want to see Peyton Manning have a good game, I like that kid. I missed the first quarter as I had to work the part-time job, so I missed the exciting first 2 minutes of the game. But it was still a great game.

The halftime show was the best in recent memory, in my opinion. I really like Prince, he’s an incredible showman. A little out there, but a top notch performer. Standing out there in the pouring rain, he still put on a hell of a performance, and never let on that it bothered him at all.

The ads were a disappointment. There were some good ones, but the number of CBS ads was disgusting. It reminded me why I NEVER watch CBS, there’s not a single show I watch on that network. The animated Coke ad that’s a takeoff of Grand Theft auto is spectacular, but it’s been running for a few weeks now. The Garmin ad with the animated monsters was awful. The Career Builder jungle ads were pretty good, as were a couple of the Doritos ads. The Bud Light slapping ad was great, and the Frito Lay ad about history was heart touching. Most of the ads in the second half sucked, but the Bud Light hitchhiker ad was great, as was the Kevin Federline ad.

How about anyone else’s opinion?

Friday Shorts

Not much to say today. Physically and mentally I feel great – as good as I have for years. But emotionally I’m a little shell-shocked. So pardon me if I don’t make it around to read and comment all your blogs for a day or 2, I’m worried about triggering something I’d rather not live with.

I haven’t heard from Kyle for over a week, but I’m not particularly worried. We’d hear if he was in trouble, and I think he’s feeling self-conscious about not working. This is too bad, because I REALLY enjoy his company, working or not.

It’s boring for everyone when I keep talking about working out, but I can’t say enough about the HUGE benefit it’s bringing to my mental health and frame of mind. I knew there would be a difference, but I never imagined it would be this significant.

Michael Vick, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, was recently arrested for trying to smuggle marijuana through airport security. Here is an SNL video that is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a football fan to appreciate it:
SNL Michael Vick clip.

I have a new post up on my Bipolar Connect blog. It’s one of those "you know you have bipolar disorder if…" type of things. It’s all original, I didn’t steal it off the internet, knowingly anyway. If you like it, leave a comment.

I’m a HUGE NPR fan, and Juan Williams from NPR did an excellent interview with President Bush. Whenever Bush opens his mouth you want to cringe, but take a look at this paragraph:

The Iranian people have got to know that this government and the United States bears no hostility to them. We're just deeply concerned about a government that is insisting upon having a nuclear weapon, and at the same time, rewriting history – the history of the past, and regards, for example, the Holocaust. It troubles a lot of people in this world, and I'll continue to work with, you know, friends and allies to send a clear message.

It’s just so typical, you can understand what he’s trying to convey, but he’s just not making it happen. How about this "Bushism" from above: "…rewriting history – the history of the past…"
Find the complete transcript of the interview here.

Did anyone catch the Law and Order episode from a while back? It dealt, none too sympathetically, with bipolar disorder. They talked about someone overdosing on "Depaquel".
Update: Due to all those landing on this post by Googling "Depaquel", it should be pointed out that Depaquel is a TV invention. Thus, my tongue-in-cheek reference. The name most likely comes from a contraction of the words Seroquel and Depakote, both legitimate medications used to treat bipolar disorder.

Well, for having little to write about, I managed to stretch this out. Everyone have a GREAT weekend!