I’ve gotten notes lately from folks who’ve read enough of this blog to know I have Crohn’s Disease. They have it, too, and seemed to appreciate that they’re not alone. Some ask what the disease has to do with the mental illness and addictions at the heart of this blog. And so I’ve made this …
Continue reading “What’s Crohn’s Disease Got to do With it?”
The author votes for some of each. Though only 2 ounces of potato at a time. Mood music for this post: “We’re All Gonna Die” by Iggy Pop and Slash: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ5Rmt7jYhQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&] At the suggestion of my friend Christy Hubbard, I decided to check out Kathleen Des Maisons’ book “Potatoes Not Prozac.” She suggested I take …
The author has lived most of his life with Crohn’s Disease and has developed a few quirks as a result. Mood music for this post: “Bleeding Me” from Metallica: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftV_XepIwpo&hl=en_US&fs=1&] As the reader knows by now, I’ve spent most of my life with Crohn’s Disease, an affliction that in the long run has been more …
The author on why it’s true that mental illness leads to physical sickness. Mood music: [spotify:track:24PttQAgkYLdpR4TOgdV4C] I’ve heard a lot of people argue over whether this person’s or that person’s aches and pains were “all in their head.” You know the types: Never any real underlying disease, but they’re always calling out of work with …
Continue reading “When Pain Drips from the Mind to the Body”
The author discovers that winter makes his depression worse and that there’s a purely scientific explanation — and solution. My therapist and I recently agreed that my Prozac intake should go up a bit for the duration of the winter. I’m doing well for the most part, but there’s a three-hour window of each day …
A tale of terror in newsrooms across the state of Massachusetts. I love my job. I love the subject matter (IT and physical security, emergency preparedness, regulatory compliance). I love the people I work with, many of whom I’ve worked with at other points in my nearly 19 years in journalism. And I love my …
My 12-year-old has a few things in common with his dad. Both of us have mental disorders (his is ADHD, mine is OCD with wintertime undercurrents of ADHD). Both of us take medication to help manage our ills. But until last weekend, he had never asked the big question: “What do these pills do, anyway?” …
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I had a vicious temper when I was younger. To call it a byproduct of OCD, depression and addiction would be pushing it, because I think the temper would have been there even without the mental illness. Mood music: http://youtu.be/A-nULlfJDvk Examples of my temper include: Hurling a fork or steak knife at my brother in …
Awhile back, I wrote about learning to roll with the unexpected punches life hurls at you. I called those occasions plot twists. Yesterday I got one hell of a plot twist, and at first I had trouble following my own advice. Mood music: The back injury I wrote about yesterday is much worse than I …
A friend once lamented that she tries to make everyone around her happy. She’s a self-described people pleaser, and it’s led to a world of hurt. She wanted to know how I got past it and was able to out myself. Here’s my attempt to answer the question. Mood music: I used to be a people pleaser. I probably still am to …
