**Mental Illness and Premature Death

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/07/18/bipolar-disorder-tied-to-risk-disease-early-death/?intcmp=obnetwork
I came across and article on Fox News suggestion that bipolar disorder result in an earlier death rate of about ten years.  This articles contends there are a couple reasons for this.  The suicide rate is high among people with bipolar disorder.  However this is not enough to contend for the entire loss of ten years.  Other contributing factors may be, the nature of the disease, side effects of medications, and lack of health care.
http://www.dsamh.utah.gov/docs/mortality-morbidity_nasmhpd.pdf 
However this earlier study contends that the life expectancy of those with mental illness can be up to 25 years shorter than the average life span.  This points out a much bigger problem.  The increase in morbidity is attributed to several factors:
Preventable risk factors including: smoking, alcohol consumption, poor nutrition and obesity, lack of exercise, "unsafe" sexual behavior, IV drug usage, and exposure to TB in a residential setting.
Vulnerabilities including: Homelessness, victimization, unemployment, poverty, incarceration and social isolation.
Impact of mental health symptoms: impaired reality, disorganized thought processed, impulsivity, paranoia, mood instability, lack of motivation and hopelessness.
Issues as the result of medications: masking physical health symptoms, metabolic syndrome, reduction in pain sensitivity, side effects, weight gain, high tryglicerides, diabetes.
Lack of access to health care.
Lack of coordination between mental health and health care providers.
This article does not indicate if there are underlying physical issues as a result of the mental illness.  However negative effects of a mental illness result in less motivation to engage in needed health care services.
This article proposes a three prong attack to solve the problem.  The first proposal is encouraging families and the community to develop a vision of integrated care.  By integrated care they mean getting physical health care and mental health care in the same place. 
Next to actually achieve integrated physical and behavioral health care through advocacy and education.  And finally to pursue client centered care that is recovery and wellness focused.
This article is a bit dated, and some progress is being made, but very slowly.  There are still mental health clients to lack access to physical health care.  It is also too easy to gain weight on certain medications, and this can lead to other health issues.

**Book Review: Experiencing Grief (Journeying Through Grief)

This is book two of a four part series: Journeying Through Grief.   It is suggested for three months after a loss.  It is written by Kenneth C. Haugk of Stephen Ministries.
I think the most significant thing this book says is "you cannot not grieve."  By this the author is saying that we can put on a happy face, but grief is grief, and we cannot just whisk it away, it will have its day.  The book quotes Therese Rando, "There is no way around the pain that you naturally feel when someone you love dies."  You can't go over it, under it, or around it. ... Going through it is what will help heal you."  The Bible says, "Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Mathew 5:4
Another concept I found interesting was that of firsts.  After a loss, there are many firsts without are loved one.  Holidays and special events become a part of this.  Each in and of it self is a hard time and a reexperiencing of the loss. 
In Isaiah we read of how the Lord can help us through these times:
1...I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

 4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee...  (Isaiah 43)

The Book of Mormon echos this:  17 And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.  (1 Nephi 11)

Another concept from the pamphlet is that of secondary looses.  We not only loss a love one, we loss what ever else that person may have been in our life, financial support, listening ear, etc etc.

This pamphlet suggests going through the emotions; it hurts.  A good cry, or many good cries are ok as we deal with this loss.  The pamphlet concludes with; Is it Christian to grieve?  One might also ask, knowing all we do as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Is it Mormon to grieve?  I think the answer is a resounding yes.  We can have faith, and still feel pain and loss.  "Jesus wept."  (John 11:35)  Many times we too as mortals need to cry, we need to grieve.

**Book Review Dynamic Health: Powerful Strategies for Healthy Living: Chapter 5: Dr. Earl Mindell

This book is a series of interviews with prominent people in the field of health, with the goal of educating us on taking better care of our health.
Dr. Earl Mindell is a vitamin specialist. He has written many books including "The Vitamin Bible."  I found this interview informative.  I came away from it with a sense of needing to take a daily vitamin, and to do something about my weight.  Nutrition is an area where our knowledge is doubling every couple of years.  You have to stay informed.  He concludes with this simple statement, "If you want to be healthy, you have to put responsibility for your health in your own hands.  It's as simple as that.  If you want to be sick, don't worry about a thing--it's going to happen.

**Suicide: A Major, Preventable Mental Health Problem

This is another flyer on Suicide.  This flyer is produced by NIMH.  I like the title “Suicide: A major, preventable mental health problem.”  It starts by talking of the significance of suicide, as the third leading cause of death for persons 15-24.  I was curious what are the leading cause of death (accidents) and 2nd leading cause (homicide).  Of note is that almost half of all accidental deaths are vehicle related.
This flyer talks of risk factors (that that might be correlated to suicide but not always, and signs.
Risk Factor: depression or mental disorder, substance abuse disorder, prior attempt, family history of suicide, family violence, physical or sexual, incarceration, exposure to suicide of others.  Signs for suicide: Talking about wanting to die or kill oneself, looking for a way to kill oneself, talking about feeling hopeless or no reason to live, acting anxious or agitated, increased use of alcohol or drugs, withdrawing, showing rage, displaying extreme moods, talking about being a burden to others.  If these signs describe you, or someone you know, it is good to remember seeking help is a sign of strength.  The national suicide helping can help.  1-800-273-TALK.  They can also be found online at suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

** Eye Health from Vision Service Plan

Who new there was so much to know about your eyes.  I didn't even realize there was such a thing as "Computer Vision Syndrome."  This article is from Vision Service Plan and came to work.  It includes many links for additional reading.  It is interesting how nutrition and exercise play a part even in eye health

Enjoy Your Vision… for a Lifetime
By taking care of your eyes, you can see a lifetime of enjoyment!  Here’s how:
·         Get annual vision exams… starting at six (6) months of age through our Golden Years. ·         Exercise regularly…to help keep your eyes healthy and prevent conditions linked to chronic illnesses. ·         Eat foods rich in antioxidants… to protect your vision over a lifetime and help prevent developing eye conditions. ·         Protect your eyes…by wearing sunglasses or protective eyewear to lower your risk of damage or injury. ·         Give your eyes a break…by following the 20-20-20 rule to prevent “Computer Vision Syndrome”.   The rule is after viewing screen for 20 minutes look at something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

**Documentary Movie Review: *When the Bough Breaks

http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/about_the_series.php

This documentary explores the relationship between prejudice and racism, and the health of the victim.  When the Bough Breaks is a movie that is part of the series Unnatural Causes which was produced for PBS by California Newsreel.  I understand the series is going to be presented again on PBS.  It originally aired in 2008.  For better or worse this series is part of the policy discussion in health care.
I was at a training yesterday, in which the movie was shown and it has me thinking.  Perhaps my previous blog "Racket Sports Make You Smart" was a sarcastic reaction to this movie.
The movie presents data about low birth weight babies.  The statistics show that African American mothers have twice the chance of having a low-birth weight baby as a whit mother.  It indicates the researchers thought this must have been due to difference in socioeconomic class.  However when they ruled this out, the gap became wider rather than narrower.  The movie presented the story of an African American mother, lawyer and successful in terms of things of the world.  However her baby was born just over two pounds if I remember, and was another statistic in this debate.  It pointed out that upper economic classed African American women have babies with lower birth weight than the babies of White women.
They decided this must be something in their genetic code.  However when they looked at recent immigrants from Africa, their babies had the same weight on average as white babies.  However after being in the United States for a generation, then their statistics reflected the African American population at large.  Consequently they concluded it wasn't genetic factors.
They concluded that the reason for the low-birth weight among babies born to African American woman had to be racism.  That racism, over a life time effects the Black women in such away as to make affect the health of their babies.
The movie points out the infant mortality in the United States is not much to be happy about.  It seems the United States ranks 34 overall in the world.  Even taking away the African American babies we still rank around 23.  So the health and risk of low-weight babies is prevalent amongst our entire population, and more prevalent among the African American population.
In our own family, our little Tony was born with low-birth weight.  He was in the hospital for 10 days.  In his case his birth mother was very young.  I also find that drugs may have something to do with low-birth weight.  It seems doing foster care, most or all of our babies have been exposed to drugs.  I wonder if age of the mother and drugs could be factors? Another factor could be multiple births.
During the past year there have been four low-weight babies born among my extended family.  The wife of my nephew had triplets, all of low-birth weight.  They are all doing fine now.  My niece also had a baby who was born too soon.  Unfortunately she lost her baby when he got an infection in the hospital.
Low-birth weight is not confined to babies of African American women.  I wonder if this issues is more complex than just blaming it on racism.  Are their other factors at play with regards to the make up of the African American family that could play a factor as well?

**Book Review Dynamic Health: chapter four, Carolyn Finch

This book is a series of interviews with prominent people in the field of health, with the goal of educating us on taking better care of our health.
Carolyn Finch is a specialist in body language.  The greater percentage of our communication is done through body language, rather than written or verbal.  She describes four personality types, analytic, driver, amiable and expressive.  She talks about the left brain and right brain, and using Brain Gym.  She says using brain exercises we can solve many issues, including sight.  She talks about using the whole brain. To be honest, I think this went over my head and I did not get anything practical from it.