Support for new mothers with epilepsy and mental health problems

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-46064807/maternal-suicide-the-main-cause-of-death-in-new-mums

I saw the story of Bronagh in the BBC news. When I watched it I cried.

Bronagh had epilepsy and after she became a new mum at the age of 21 she became depressed.

Having a baby can put any woman at risk of mental health problems. According to NHS.co.uk 1 in 10 women experience postnatal depression, so GP’s need to be on the look out. Sleep deprivation and anxiety also cause problems. PTSD, OCD and psychosis can also be a problem postnatally. Only recently Adele shared the story of her friends struggle with postnatal psychosis. (1)

Bronagh’s Mum talks about how Bronagh was told she couldn’t be left alone with her baby because of her epilepsy, because she was a danger to her baby. Because of this Bronagh wasn’t comfortable lifting or touching her baby.

This is tragic.

When I read this it made me very angry. Women with epilepsy may need extra support after having a baby, but to be made to feel like she was a bad mother and couldn’t touch or look after her baby is a completely inaccurate and destructive impression to give anyone with epilepsy, or any new mother.

Women with epilepsy can and do have babies all the time. Women with epilepsy are good mothers. I suspect women with epilepsy feel like they have to be 1000 times better than other mothers, because-personally I have found women with a disability feel continuously under scrutiny.

Epilepsy action provides information to women in the UK about pregnancy and how to care for yourself and a new baby. There is no reason why a woman can’t have or hold her baby, or enjoy being a mother. (2) Some things like washing baby are better done when your partner is at home for support and safety, so it must have been especially difficult and frightening for Bronagh to have so much negative reinforcement about her ability as a mum.

Bronagh asked for help from health care professionals postnatally. She didn’t receive the help she needed.

Sadly Bronagh took her own life.

Her story raises the importance of perinatal Care not just in epilepsy but in mental health. In the UK there are only 131 perinatal beds. There are none in Northern Ireland or Wales. This has to change.

As a woman with epilepsy myself I am no stranger to the problems we face in society such as prejudice, ignorance and lack of education.

Unfortunately lack of healthcare is an area which can only be improved by better government funded NHS facilities. I hope the money that has been promised by the government does go into improving this area of health care.

Having a baby should be the beginning of a new life not the end of one.

(1) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/15/adele-shares-story-of-friends-postpartum-psychosis-to-help-new-mothers?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

(2) https://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/daily-life/having-baby/after-the-birth

National Epilepsy Week 19th May 23rd May 2013 What Treatment Do You Prefer?

National Epilepsy Week this week and there is a reason to celebrate, because this month Epilepsy Action magazine published an article about an epilepsy research project titled; ‘Which treatment would you prefer?’.

A very sensible question, its always nice to be asked what you want!

🙂

you can take part by following the information in this link;
http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/research/take-part/projects-you-can-take-part-in/patient-preferences-treatment-options

BIG THUMBS UP TO THIS PORJECT!

*Actually its full title is ‘People’s Preferences and Priorities for Treatment Options and Outcomes in Epilepsy’ but I like to get to the point.

Global Advances In Health And Medicine Journal – Towards Systems Based Health Care

Home

Global Advances in Health and Medicine is – Improving Healthcare Outcomes Worldwide; is a progressive, systems based Journal that is based at the site above.

I got a link to it today and was very excited about articles within it such as ‘Chinese Scalp Acupuncture’by Drs Hao and Hao, review by Honora Lee Wolfe. She suggestes this book ‘would be very interesting reading for neurologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, veterans hospital administrators, and any other specialists who work in any capacity with patients suffering from brain injuries, neurological diseases, chronic debilitating pain, or neuro-psychological disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).’

You may need to register to read the journal,but links on the homepage, such as ‘Evaluating the Economics of Complementary and Integrative Medicine’, are very constructive.

I subscribed to this liink via http://www.heartmath.org/ newsletter.

Paul Mckenna – More Mind Medicine

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/paul-mckenna-i-can-make-you-better-8614417.html

I came accross this article in the Independent about how Paul Mckenna is currently using hypnosis techniques to ease trauma and health problems. The journalist said that he had one session with Mckenna and although  he wasn’t ‘Cured’ he slept better and felt more confident driving. He had been traumatized by being run over. He was still a bit sceptical but I thought it wasn’t bad for one session!

Have you ever used hypnosis for health?

DSM-5 – Doesn’t Seem to Make sense?

Now here’s something you don’t see every day!

For anyone that has ever thought that DSM was just a manual for prescription pharmaceuticals;

The British Psychological Society’s Division of Clinical Psychology have been busy formulating a less than politically correct opinion about DSM-5!

‘Dr Lucy Johnstone, a consultant clinical psychologist who helped draw up the DCP’s statement, said it was unhelpful to see mental health issues as illnesses with biological causes.

“On the contrary, there is now overwhelming evidence that people break down as a result of a complex mix of social and psychological circumstances – bereavement and loss, poverty and discrimination, trauma and abuse,” Johnstone said. The provocative statement by the DCP has been timed to come out shortly before the release of DSM-5, the fifth edition of the American Psychiatry Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/may/12/psychiatrists-under-fire-mental-health

Who knows?

NEXT they may suggest that ‘a complex mix of social and psychological circumstances – bereavement and loss, poverty and discrimination, trauma and abuse’ can’t be fixed by pills! But that would be REALLY far out.

DSM – 5, Does it Make Sense to you?

addendum

also see posts:

http://wellcallmecrazy.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/breaking-news-this-just-in/ VERY PROMISING

http://ahmritanaturalmentalhealth.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/natural-therapies-holistic-vs-conformist/ very good points about holistic treatment

I would also add that the human body made up of its billions of cells, and billions of neurons is not something that can be put into the latest version of ‘windows’. Trying to put the body and mind into boxes or categories is only useful if you look at the relationships between the categories (ie anatomy and physiology, psychology and physiology etc in a similar way to Chinese Medicine).

Until we look at the whole picture healthcare will continue to perform like a broken record, which is tragic because so many lives would not be needlessly wasted, all because of our failure as human beings to look outside of the box of an outdated, mechanistic model of the mind, body and spirit.

Looks like lots of people are beginning to step out of the box and ask questions about our health care and beliefs.

Mind Over Medicine – Lissa Rankin Book Launch

Lissa gave regular readers of her blog the opportunity read the first excerpt of ‘Mind Over Medicine’ by Lissa Rankin MD available to buy from a link on her blog.

I thought that everyone with an interest in healing (themselves or others) would be interested in her book, the subjects talked in the excerpt I read are; The placebo effect and its physiology, spontaneous remission from cancer, healing and belief. That was only a short extract!

Can’t wait to read the whole thing!

http://lissarankin.com/an-eggy-book-launch-happy-birth-day-mind-over-medicine?inf_contact_key=c0c764d605a6c01aaca9c07c0aa6fa3b21abd769dc36d07e70955d70cdb7a98e

What The Bleep Is Neurofeedback You Ask?

more insights into Neurofeedback, not just for robots!

WELL CALL ME CRAZY

 

I have been wanting…..okay attempting…..to write a post about the internship I was doing in neurotherapy. Specifically, a post that would explain what neurofeedback is and its use in treating brain disorders of any kind. The post would be easy to understand, comprehensive without being overwhelming, with a bit of humor thrown in for good measure. I was on draft number four of writing said post when a peer emailed me the article below and I thought, “Wow,this guy just took the words right out of my mouth…..and did it better than what I was imagining!” So, of course I have to share it with all of you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and that it spurs you on to learn more and share with others.

 

 

Neurofeedback: Alternative Health Care for Robots?

 

by John Anderson, M.A

 
Many people interested in…

View original post 1,082 more words

Dr Oliver Sacks “The Inbetween Part Is Missing”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22301843

The quote relates to gaps in our knowledge about consciousness. It is taken from this short 3 minute film from the BBC which is a lovely introduction to the work of Dr Oliver Sacks, by himself, and his thoughts on the study of consciousness.

Singing for Alzheimer’s and Mysicophilia by Oliver Sacks

 

I recently had cause to dig out my copy of Oliver Sacks book Musicophilia and lend it to a friend, because she has started to volunteer for an organisation that is using singing to help people with Alzheimer’s. This improves memory, health and wellbeing.

For those of you that are interested the Alzheimer’s society project link is very interesting.

http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=760 and shows a video of the project and has links explaining what it is.

I know a lot of people who have said sound effects their epilepsy, I found this  newspaper review that explains what Musicophilia has to say about Alzheimers and epilepsy.

If anyone wants to borrow my copy just let me now and I can lend it to you when it gets back to me!

‘Sacks tells some very moving stories about those with terrifyingly profound amnesia, or Alzheimer’s disease, for whom music can “restore them to themselves”. People with aphasia can be taught to speak again through singing. On the other hand, previously healthy people begin to have “musical hallucinations”, blasted by intrusive ghostly music during every waking second; and others have seizures in response to music, or “musicogenic epilepsy” – which, intriguingly, can be selective. One woman Sacks cites “had seizures only in response to ‘modern, dissonant music,’ never in response to classical or romantic music” – and her husband was a composer of the type of music that gave her seizures, which one suspects may be a hint. But such a violent response to certain music might be more common than suspected: “Many people, [one researcher thought], might start to get a queer feeling – disturbing, perhaps frightening – when they heard certain music, but then would immediately retreat from the music, turn it off, or block their ears, so that they did not progress to a full-blown seizure.” Indeed, certain styles of free jazz have always made me physically nauseous.’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/nov/03/scienceandnature.music review Stephen Poole The Guardian Newspaper

How your mind can heal your body – book review

I have been anicipating this post from Holistic yoga with Alyson for some time on the book by www.drdavidhamilton.com which I think is a great review of a book about ‘how your mind can heal your body’. Well worth checking out!