Sleep: Beauty & the Beast

Tricks to falling asleep:

• Head hits the pillow and its lights out? 
• Relax your body, from top down or bottom up, one muscle at a time?
• Recite the alphabet starting from z, slowly, until sleep comes?
• Keep eyes closed and think of nothing.  Focus on the nothingness...?
• Count sheep?

I've tried one or another of the above.  Sometimes, it feels like magic.  Other times, it feels like torture.  The average healthy individual requires sleep to function optimally.  Much more the individual struggling with mental illness. Medication works up to a point.  Positive thinking, eating well, exercise, humour, support, etc., all contribute.  Yet, without sleep, the mind and the body suffer.

Last night, I went to bed hoping that sleep will come easily since I had a busy day.  I tossed and turned, and tried to keep cool.  I remained awake for too long.  So long that when my son came to wake me, I could not speak properly.  My speech was slurred.  My eyes refused to stay open.  I begged for ten more minutes.

It is mid morning, but I am not ready for the day.  I've completed my walk and sent my son off to school.  My bed is calling out for me.

Good night, friend.  It looks like I will have to bid another beautiful morning adieu.  See you later?

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More Information:  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-a-lack-of-sleep-cause

Melancholia

Before the birth of my child, I did not have any worthwhile understanding of depression, schizophrenia, melancholia, or any other form of mental illness.  I knew someone or someone's someone who was experiencing something.  I empathized and offered kind wishes for strength, support and recovery.  Beyond that, nothing.

I am a different person today.  I became a wife and a mother.  I relish both roles and continue to invest my best efforts toward being a supportive wife and friend, as well as a patient, tender hearted mother.  Along with these identities, I am learning to "co-exist" with a melancholic version of myself.

 

1st-art-gallery.com

At least once a month, I visit a medical professional (MD/doctor/specialist); a wonderfully strong and intelligent woman.  She helps me to see beyond depression.  Assuming you are unaware, it is easy to think of depression as if it is a part of me like my nose or my hair colour, or as something I "picked up" like a cold or a virus.  Thankfully, there is medication that can help lessen the hold of depression.  In fact, there are so many choices of treatment that it is possible to try one, or a combination, or tweak dosage from season to season, or from one episode to the next.  As recently as today, I even learned there is a lamp that can bring more sunshine and less depressive darkness.

For some lucky individuals, mental illness is a short visitor who visits once in a while under some predictive situations.  For others, it is a distant relative you bump into once and no more.  And, for yet others like me, mental illness is, well, here for a little bit longer, and definitely longer than we like.  We live with it, manage it, and teach ourselves to be better, stronger, happier, and more IN SPITE OF it.

Today, I made the decision to share my experience with mental illness with anyone who wants to know more.  Maybe you know someone.  Maybe you are a professional who wants to understand it in order to help your patients.  Maybe you are a parent, sibling, spouse, or friend and you want to be there for a special someone.  If so, begin by subscribing to this blog.  My commitment to you (and myself) is to be honest and open. 

My name is Jie-Jie, and I suffer from mental illness.  I invite you to join me on my journey.

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More information...

Ten Things to Know about Mental Illness

1. Mental illness can happen to anyone.
2. Mental illnesses are common. Each year more than 50 million people
in the U.S. are affected by mental illness.
3. Mental illnesses affect the way people feel, think, and act.
4. There are more than 200 different forms of mental illness.
5. No one knows the exact causes of mental illness, but genetics, brain
chemistry, or very stressful or traumatic events are some factors.
6. Depression can cause someone to feel long-lasting sadness, guilt,
fatigue, helplessness, irritability, and even hopelessness.
7. Bipolar disorder can cause extreme mood swings, including
depression.
8. Anxiety disorders can cause someone to be filled with fear and
uncertainty for no concrete reason.
9. Schizophrenia is a thought disorder and may include hallucinations and
delusions.
10. Treatment works! With treatment, most people get better and
stay well.

Famous People with Mental Illness (just to mention a few)

• Abraham Lincoln (16th President – depression)
• Edgar Allen Poe (poet, writer – bipolar disorder)
• Elton John (singer, composer – depression)
• Harrison Ford (actor – depression)
• Jim Carrey (actor, comedian – depression)
• John Nash (Nobel Prize winner – schizophrenia)
• Mark Twain (author, humorist – depression)
• Vincent Van Gogh (artist – bipolar disorder)
• Marlon Brando (actor – depression)
• Alanis Morissette (singer – eating disorder)
• Janet Jackson (singer – depression)
• Marie Osmond (singer – postpartum depression)
• Courtney Love (singer – depression)
• Mike Wallace (news correspondent – depression)
• Sheryl Crow (singer – depression)
• Ray Charles (singer – depression)
• Paula Abdul (dancer, singer – eating disorder)
• Trent Reznor (musician – depression)
• Drew Carey (show host – depression)
• Patty Duke (actress – bipolar disorder)
• Eric Clapton (musician, singer – depression)
• Billy Joel (musician, singer – depression)
• Charles Dickens (author – depression)
• Terry Bradshaw (football great, announcer – depression)
• Ludwig Van Beethoven (composer – bipolar disorder)
• Princess Diana (Princess of Wales – eating disorder)
• Brooke Shields (actress – postpartum depression)



Information from COAD, Mental Health Services, 930 E. Lancaster Ave,
Exton, PA 19341(email:mhs@coadgroup.com)( phone: 610-594-9740)