Plenty of things happened this week for which I’m thankful. I talked to two of my favorite editors, spent some much needed time with a loved one, realized there was more money in the bank than I thought, and helped someone find a job.

Chopper even found her favorite ball – one that’s been lost for almost two weeks – which means I can stop relying on those tennis ball-type toys that she demolishes in five minutes.

However, I was also reminded once again that money tends to make the world go ’round, which seems to be the only reason the release date for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been pushed back from it’s original November 2008 date to SUMMER 2009.

WHAT?!

Ah, well. It can’t all be peaches and cream.

Luckily, I recovered enough from my shock to round up a seriously plump Saturday Sanity for you folks – enjoy!

This week at Mental Health Notes, there were plenty of resources to pass along, like those for parents of children with mental illness, everyminute.org’s PSA and new site features, free online sessions for people with PTSD and other mental illnesses, and ULifeline for college and university students. NAMI wants the opinions of people who are between 18 and 24 for their new social networking site, while Jane shared her experiences with the Amen Clinics, Erin shared a paper on postpartum depression in China and America, Jason shared pictures from his tour of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, and SAMHSA is sharing tons of mental health freebies. Of course, I shared, too: One of my favorite commercials and an A.S.S. Award.

Regarding mental health advocacy, the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) is offering continuing education credits for peer specialists who register for a one-day course covering “Peer Specialist Ethics and Boundaries” and “Peer-Led Wellness Strategies” at the DBSA 2008 National Conference, “The Power of Peers.” The DBSA also wants input on how you think they can improve their online community. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has information up about their fourth annual “Unmasking Mental Illness” Gala, which is in October this year and is still too pricey for my bank account. Mental Health America has announced their “Jammin’ Away the Blues” events which will begin in the fall of 2008. Protesters from special needs and disability groups are upset with new movie release “Tropic Thunder,” and Timothy Shriver, the chairman of Special Olympics, speaks out in a special CNN article. (Thanks to Kristen for this heads up!)

In the world of mental health news, Beth Baker tackles the controversy around “brain games” in The Washington Post’s Is It Really Smart to Teach Old Brains New Tricks? (you can get some more background on this at OpenEducation.net Explores The Importance Of Brain Exercises), and a recent Reuters Health article reports that people with PTSD have an increased risk of dying early from heart disease. Researchers presented information at Thursday’s annual American Psychological Association meeting regarding stress, anxiety, and worse and lingering allergy attacks, and University of Texas at Austin biologists have developed a model for Angelman syndrome.

Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, Mark at A Dozen Steps shares AA resources in the UK, the ladies at Alzheimer’s Notes want to remind you about their “All About Alzheimer’s” carnival, and Susan at Grounded Fitness is giving up coffee to improve her meditation and gain a more focused mind (whereas I would chew coffee gum if they made it). Liz at Healthbolt tells us about the part of our brains that makes us feel like someone’s following us and Kristen at Lively Woman has a very justifiable rant at the recent treatment of two little girls at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics.

Plus, Kendra at Diabetes Notes is holding a contest (the prize of which is a cookbook of your choice!) and Marijke at Help My Hurt is doing a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card!

Image: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Saturday Sanity: I Will Note Let You Ruin My Week, Warner Brothers

Earlier today, “Jane” shared her experiences soliciting the help of the Amen Clinics for her son. Her story highlighted – from a mother’s perspective – some of the same grief, despair, frustrations, and successes lots of people go through as they try to find a balance among psychiatrists and therapists, good mental health treatment, and a fulfilled life.

During my communication with Jane, she also noted several websites and forums she feels are helpful for folks trying to find support and answers regarding mental health and that she’d like to share with you.

NAMI’s Ten Best Practices for Schools: This page from the National Alliance on Mental Illness lists ten ways school systems can help “students diagnosed with mental illnesses reach their full academic and functional potential.”

Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation: This foundation’s website provides a plethora of information, including an online quiz to see if your child might have bipolar disorder.

NACBT Online Headquarters: The National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists provides a page to help you search for NACBT Certified Therapists.

BipolarParentsT: This Yahoo! Group offers support for parents of pre-teens and teenagers who have bipolar disorder. (It also has many “sister” support groups, so check those out, too!)

IEP_guide: Another Yahoo! Group, IEP_guide offers support and information for parents dealing with public schools.

CrazyBoards: What a name, huh? CrazyBoards is a gigantic home to forums to discuss all sorts of mental illnesses and conditions, including depression, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, and substance abuse.

If you are familiar with any of these resources, or have some more you’d like to share, feel free to make use of the comments section below!

Image: Newscom

Post from: Blisstree

Online Resources For Parents Of Children With Mental Illness

I recently met a very insightful woman (with whom I’ve had some just as insightful conversations!) and through her I’ve learned about the Amen Clinics, one of which provided her family with help during a troubled time for her son’s mental health.

You see, the Amen Clinics are brain imaging centers that offer “brain SPECT imaging, comprehensive psychiatric evaluations and treatment,” but rather than bog you down with my own highlights about the Amen Clinics (information you could gather on your own from the website), I thought it’d be great for Jane to share her experiences with and thoughts about them.

Don’t you agree?

Then read on!

For many of us, the most frustrating part of have a brain chemical imbalance is playing Medication Roulette. Doctors list symptoms and then guess which med (or meds) might help make things better, hopefully without too many side effects.

My older son, “Jeffrey,” was 12 when he began to develop depression, anxiety, and rude behaviors. Although he was identified as intellectually gifted, at puberty his brain chemicals had become very unbalanced. A mild head injury at the playground didn’t help things, either. At age 13 Jeffrey couldn’t stand it any more; he confessed that he was hallucinating 24/7! It was totally unbearable for him. He had a short in-patient stay at Spruce Pavillion teen psychiatric ward, and we found a psychiatrist after discharge.

We took Jeffrey for an independent evaluation with a respected neuropsychologist in our area, Margaret Kay. She did a complete learning evaluation. Dr. Kay told me that the one and only med he was taking, Abilify, was not providing adequate control of Jeffrey’s symptoms AND was causing significant cognitive dulling (brain working slowly and not able to hold much information at a time). He would probably not do well without the right medication. Our formerly gifted child was flunking most classes. Dr. Kay referred us to the Amen Clinic in Reston, VA for special brain scans called SPECT MRIs.

There are four Amen Clinics in the US. Three are on the West coast; the Virginia center (near Washington, DC) is the only clinic on the East coast. We live over 5 hours away from Reston, but we were determined to go. Jeffrey (then 14) didn’t want to go; he argued that there was nothing wrong with him, and no logical arguments would change his mind. It’s hard to motivate someone to participate in his care when he denies there is a problem!

I was able to convince our private insurance company to pay for 90% of Jeffrey’s testing, which was over $3,000. It still wasn’t cheap for us. You have to be at the clinic for a few hours, three days in a row. I was self-employed and missed three days of work (my husband took paid vacation). We had to pay for a hotel room and meals for our family of four (our other son was 4 at the time).

Day 1, we did a lengthy intake with one of the employees. Day 2 Jeffrey received two types of MRIs (resting and concentration). On the last day we met with the doctor to hear the results of Jeffrey’s testing and get our questions answered. We received a ring binder with a copy of this report, plus the brain scans themselves with written interpretation, and other information on how to understand and improve brain functioning. There was a long list of treatment ideas, with contact information.

One of the first benefits was that Jeffrey stopped denying anything was wrong. He had seen his brain scans and heard the doctor. He took his meds when asked after that.

There was a very long list of things we could do to improve Jeffrey’s brain functioning. Some included a special diet; hyperbaric oxygen therapy; cognitive therapy; pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplements; and med changes. We immediately contacted a dietician to work with us.

I would love to tell you that after this we lived happily ever after and one day was better than the last. That would be a huge lie. The worst was yet to come.

Since we lived over five hours from the clinic, we needed a psychiatrist nearby to be our partner. While the man we were seeing was extremely nice and agreeable about our plan, he did not have enough time to help us make big changes. Any time you are changing meds on an already unstable person with psychosis, you should expect the unexpected. We were given new prescriptions (the ones recommended by Amen Clinic) and told to return in three months!

Jeffrey’s mental status fell apart immediately; he was extremely paranoid, hallucinating, mostly out of control, and got in trouble at school for semi-stalking a female student. Our local psychiatrist wouldn’t return calls. I called the Amen Clinic in VA, in desperation. The first time the doctor was nice; the second time he told me in an unkind voice to not call him again. When we finally got in to see our own psychiatrist (took a week to get him to call us) he said come back in six months! I was flabbergasted.

We had already begun looking for a new psychiatrist and had an appointment with him (recommended by Jeffrey’s Mobile Therapist). But it wasn’t fast enough. By then Jeffrey had to be admitted to an in-patient psychiatric facility for teens. A friend recommended KidsPeace.

The doctor there refused to read the report from the Amen Clinic: “I don’t have time for that!” He thought he was God, so the brain scans and the Amen Clinic report were a bunch of crap to his way of thinking. That doctor proceeded to incorrectly diagnose Jeffrey; the main diagnosis was Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. I told the doctor that I work with autistic children, and Jeffrey did not have autistic behaviors as a child so he couldn’t suddenly become autistic as a teen (after he developed psychosis he would sniff objects and show other autistic-like behaviors, but that doesn’t make one autistic). After 11 days we took him home against medical recommendation.

What followed were two months of suffering, a Hell I never knew could exist, called Living With An Out of Control Psychotic Person! The new psychiatrist worked with us closely, even gave us his own cell number. At the end of those two months I thought Jeffrey should be admitted to the teen residential facility where our psychiatrist worked. The three of us living with Jeffrey were exhausted, depressed, and anxious.

He suggested that we try changing meds from the ones prescribed at KidsPeace. We changed to Lithium, and stayed with the Seroquel the Amen Clinic had started him on. In only two days there was a positive change. After a month I cried tears of joy when I was able to have the first normal conversation with Jeffrey in quite a long time.

Over the next year, as Jeffrey’s brain recovered, he gradually returned to normal! Amen Clinic diagnosed him with ADD and recommended a med they thought was compatible with his type of ADD, as shown on the brain scan. Our psychiatrist wanted to try two other meds first, because they were non-stimulants. They made Jeffrey feel worse after only 2 doses. Since he was stable, he knew the difference. We started the med recommended by Amen Clinic, and it was perfect!

Jeffrey has been stable for almost two years. He has felt and acted normally for the last year ( the ADD med perked him up and compensated for the other drugs that made him tired). He had mostly B’s last school year and is learning to drive.

We are still using the results and the report from the Amen Clinic as a guide to what will help Jeffrey improve even more. Now that he is 16 and more mature he is willing to try things and stick with it long enough to see if they will help. He has started to exercise recently and is trying the fish oil, even though he’s a life long vegetarian. He is thinking of trying hyperbaric oxygen therapy over Christmas break, which means giving up a lot of free time with friends. That was his own idea, not mine. His goal is to improve his lifestyle enough to be able to decrease his medication levels a bit. They make him very thirsty. But he ALWAYS takes his meds, because he wants “to feel normal.”

SUMMARY:

• Amen Clinics are a place to get real answers about brain-related problems. If you live near one of the clinics you are incredibly lucky and should do what ever you have to do to get the money for the brain scans and follow-up care at the clinic! Have fund raisers. Have yard sales. Call Wal-Mart about donations. Have your doctor write a letter of medical necessity to the insurance company (that’s what we did). Get in the local newspaper. Humble yourself and ask people for money. It’s a medical problem when brain chemicals are not working properly!
• I strongly urge you to avoid fast med changes no matter how excited you are to try it, and no matter how much any doctor (even at Amen Clinic) urges you do to so. My son, and other teens/people I have read about, is very sensitive to new meds.There is that “recommended starting dose,” but Jeffrey does best when he starts with half of that. In the beginning of his illness the doctors wouldn’t believe me, none of them. When we got to the last psychiatrist (the GOOD one) I convinced him that Jeffrey would be totally destabilized unless we went about half as strong and half as fast as the average patient. And by following that course, all has gone well.
• Never give up! There are some great resources out there, but you have to keep looking and asking around.

© “Jane”

Stay tuned later today for a list of mental health websites and forums Jane recommends!

Image: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

One Mother’s Experiences With The Amen Clinics