As it relates to breastfeeding versus formula feeding, you’ve probably heard that breastfeeding is the preferred way to feed your baby. You may have also heard the phrase, “fed is best,” meaning that regardless of how you feed your baby, he or she will be fine so long as there is food in that tummy. I’m not here to argue […]
Financial burden is a barrier to health care and mental health care is no exception. This goes for both the uninsured and the insured. As a result of what I later learned was bipolar disorder, I was without health insurance for about four years while I recovered and essentially started my life over. I was able to find affordable mental […]
When I was still early in my first trimester of pregnancy, one of my great mom friends told me that parenting begins before your child is born. As I progressed through my pregnancy, I learned firsthand what she meant by that and also that she was right for saying it. Think about it: Growing a whole human being inside of […]
Bipolar disorder is a complex and unpredictable mental illness affecting millions worldwide. Those with bipolar disorder endure intense mood swings that can swing between the depths of severe depression to the heights of euphoric mania. The manic episodes can bring forth feelings of overwhelming joy and excitement, accompanied by a surge of energy and a decreased need for sleep. However, […]
As a former facilitator for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Connection Recovery Support Group, I began each meeting by reading a list of objectives provided by NAMI. One of the objectives states: Understand that mental health conditions are no one’s fault and can be traumatic experiences. To be clear, not everyone who lives with mental illness has experienced […]
I began writing this post on March 5, 2022. That was over a year ago, y’all! I didn’t get far. Besides the title, all I had written at that time was this: It’s time to start tracking my moods again. I stopped because day-to-day was the same thing, so it seemed pointless. Now, there’s been a shift in my emotional […]
My thought on getting a second medical opinion is that it doesn’t hurt to get one if you have any qualms about what your provider is advising you to do or not to do. Even if you don’t have any qualms about what your provider is telling you, it still wouldn’t hurt – if that’s what you choose to do […]
Imagine that you have just had a health emergency that has rendered you incapable of making medical decisions for yourself that you would otherwise be able to make. For situations like this, you (i.e., the principal) can get a type of advance directive called a power of attorney (POA), which would legally authorize another person (i.e., the agent) of your […]
Sometimes you don’t know you need a crisis plan until you do. Or until someone who cares about your well-being does some homework and encourages you to write one. My then boyfriend (now husband) encouraged me to create a document called a crisis plan that would help him help me if I ever had another mental health crisis like the […]
It was not until the end of my 36th week of pregnancy that I was diagnosed with gestational, or pregnancy-induced, hypertension. To my knowledge, I had never had any issues with my blood pressure prior to the late third trimester of my pregnancy. I did not even know that my blood pressure was high – who knows for how long […]
