Recovery Michigan

Parents of children with "critical" congenital heart defects - which require at least one cardiac surgery - are at high risk for mental health problems, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression, according to research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

Health professionals know that mental health issues in parents can lead to long-term cognitive, health and behavioral troubles in their children. Researchers reviewed published data from 10 countries. Among parents of children with critical congenital heart defects, researchers found:

Up to 30 percent had symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of PTSD, with more than 80 percent showing significant symptoms of trauma; 25 percent to 50 percent reported elevated symptoms of depression, anxiety or both; and 30 percent to 80 percent reported experiencing severe psychological distress.

In comparison, the prevalence of PTSD in the U.S. general population is 3.5 percent, with 18 percent meeting criteria for any anxiety disorder in the last year, and 9.5 percent meeting criteria for any mood disorder.

This is not a hypothetical scenario. This is what life is like for those who suffer from what doctors and scientists call a “completely locked-in state.” These people, unlike those who are simply “locked-in,” are unable to make even small eye movements or subtle blinks. While the situation would seem utterly hopeless, using something called a brain-computer interface (BCI), scientists have—for the first time—enabled completely locked-in people to take part in two-way communication.  The study that achieved this breakthrough was published today in the journal PLOS Biology.  

With this setup, locked-in patients were able to respond to questions with a “yes” or “no” by focusing their attention in a specific way, which caused two distinct patterns of blood oxygen level changes that could be detected and classified by the BCI.

However, offering a diagnosis in such an unethical manner parallels what is occurring in government leadership at this very moment: a definitive conclusion offered on a lack of sufficient evidence. Furthermore, it does so at the expense of millions of individuals labeled as mentally ill. Discrediting President Trump by associating him with a psychiatric diagnosis does nothing more than play upon the stigmatized fears people hold related to mental illness. In the end, leaning into such stigma is unlikely to have a significant impact on Trump, but undeniably is detrimental those who suffer daily from this stigma and are not protected by the privileges of race, class, gender, and power.

A new Deakin University and Barwon Health study has found an old treatment for bipolar is much more effective than a newer medication.

The study tested the effects of lithium, a mood stabiliser introduced in the 1970s, compared with those of quetiapine, now a more commonly prescribed alternative, on patients who had had a manic episode for the first time.

Lead researcher Professor Michael Berk, Director of Deakin's Centre for Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Treatment at Barwon Health, said lithium seemed to be better than quetiapine in protecting the brain after a first episode of illness.

Professor Berk said it was important to independently test the effectiveness of mental health medications, as sometimes their popularity was affected by factors outside of successful treatment.

"Mood stabilisers are the mainstay of treatment of bipolar disorder and are essentially used to keep people well," he said.

"The oldest drug we have is lithium, but there are some new contenders, principally medicines called atypical antipsychotics, which are usually used for schizophrenia, and quetiapine is one of the best examples.

"Lithium has a lot of side effects and the newer agents have gained traction such that they have become first-line and widely used treatments.

On the surface, postpartum depression (PPD) looks much like other forms of depression. New mothers struggling with it often withdraw from family and friends, lose their appetites, and of course, feel sad and irritable much of the time. However, many people and clinicians have underestimated the uniqueness of mood and emotional disorders that arise during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth. Psychologists explore the neurobiology of postpartum depression and anxiety in a review published in Trends in Neurosciences.

"Motherhood really can change the mother, which is something we often overlook. And we forget about examining the neurobiology of maternal mental health and maternal mental illness, particularly anxiety," says behavioral neuroscientist Jodi Pawluski of University of Rennes 1 in France, who co-authored the paper with Joseph Lonstein of Michigan State University and Alison Fleming of the University of Toronto at Mississauga.

Overall, fMRI studies show that neural activity in women with PPD compared to people with major depression who had not given birth involves distinct patterns for new mothers with PPD. For instance, the amygdala is usually hyperactive in anxious and depressed people, but for the women with PPD, the amygdala can actually be less activated.

Mental exercises are a great way to get your mind off of the day’s worries and board the train to snooze town. But counting sheep the old fashioned way isn’t as effective as it could be. Here’s what you should do instead.

In this video from the Business Insider YouTube channel, Dr. Michael Breus, sleep doctor and a Fellow of The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, shares his best tips for falling asleep faster. Some we’ve talked about before, like keeping a worry journal, but Breus has an interesting approach to the old “counting sheep” approach. Instead of counting up one at a time, he suggests you count backwards from 300 in threes (300, 297, 294, etc.) The process is complicated enough for your brain that you can’t think of anything else, and it’s boring. Two things that are sure to help you finally get some shuteye.

Fibromyalgia affects roughly 2 to 8 percent of the United States population. Although 80 to 90 percent of people with fibromyalgia are women, men of all ages may have fibromyalgia as well. In fact, up to 1.5 million men in the U.S. may currently have fibromyalgia, and many more will experience it in their lifetime.

Some people are at higher risk of developing fibromyalgia than others. As well as gender, other risk factors for developing fibromyalgia include the following:

• A personal history of other rheumatic diseases including lupus
• A history of mood or depressive disorders 

• A family history of fibromyalgia

A man's fibromyalgia symptoms may be very different from the symptoms experienced by a woman.

Symptoms of fibromyalgia in men may be as widespread as they are in women, but they are often milder and last for less time.

Although they may be milder in men, fibromyalgia symptoms can still range from mild to severe and debilitating. Symptoms will vary from person to person and can include: 


• Pain and tenderness 

• Fatigue 

• Morning stiffness 

• Irritable bowel syndrome symptoms 

• Brain fog 

• Depression

In order to be diagnosed with fibromyalgia, these symptoms must last for 3 months.

Dietary changes are not part of the standard treatment or treatments for fibromyalgia. However, a nutritious diet can almost always help a person with fibromyalgia live as healthy a life as possible.

The Cleveland Clinic recommend an anti-inflammatory diet for those who experience chronic pain. An anti-inflammatory diet isn't a specific diet, but rather a set of principles and guidelines regarding food choices.

Examples of anti-inflammatory diet choices include:

• Eating eight to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Choosing colorful fruits and vegetables whenever possible ensures the greatest range of nutrients. Examples of especially nutrient-packed foods include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage.
• Choosing whole grains. Refined sugar and simple carbohydrates can have inflammatory properties. Examples of healthier whole grain foods include barley, buckwheat, oats, quinoa, brown rice, rye, wheat, and spelt.
• Limiting excess dairy intake. While dairy is a source of calcium, having too much in a diet can cause inflammation.
• Reducing red meat. Red meat should be an occasional food, not an everyday one. Replace red meat with turkey, fish, and vegetarian foods. Boneless, skinless chicken is also a good option, but may not have the anti-inflammatory benefits that some other foods have.

While an anti-inflammatory diet isn't necessarily a weight-loss diet, it is one that often helps a person maintain a healthy weight, which is of great benefit to those with fibromyalgia.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, food additives called excitotoxins may worsen fibromyalgia symptoms. Examples of these foods include glutamate, aspartate, and L-cysteine. These are often added to sugar substitutes such as aspartame.

Another food additive, monosodium glutamate (MSG), is often added to many Asian and frozen foods. Research hasn't fully concluded that these additives can make fibromyalgia symptoms worse. However, some people with fibromyalgia have found that they experience less pain when they remove these additives form their diet.

In addition to avoiding additives, some people with fibromyalgia have found relief by avoiding the following foods:

• Dairy products
• Gluten-containing foods
• Refined flour
• Sugar

While avoiding these isn't necessarily going to eliminate all symptoms, those with fibromyalgia may benefit from keeping a food journal and commenting on any symptoms they may experience after eating particular foods. If a person identifies patterns between foods they have eaten and painful symptoms, they may consider removing particular foods from their diet.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), taking vitamin D supplements may help to reduce fibromyalgia symptoms in people who are deficient in the vitamin.