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360- mhaw18 concludes...

This is the last day of #mhaw18 (or #mhaw2018 if you prefer), the most concentrated week in May, Mental Health Awareness Month. We try to raise understanding and to build bridges between us, sufferers, and those around us, who don't suffer, in order to break down stigma and to remind everyone, that though statistics show 1 in 4 or 5 people in any modern society may suffer from mental illness, every person has mental health, and it's important to preserve and safeguard by many means. 

359- My waking hours' LifeStyle

I discussed my sleep in several facets : my difficult, interrupted sleep ; my habits ; the benefits that I wish to attain from sufficient sleep, and today, I'm going to expand this series with my lifestyle in the waking hours. 

358- Benefits of proper sleep

since my pc isn't currently available, I'm using a copyright free image I found online, and only added my text. 

So you know that I sleep rather badly, due to my mental illnesses, most notably depression, anxiety and cptsd. I discussed my sleep habits, and now I'll explain why I wish to improve my sleep. 

Health magazine discusses 11 surprising benefits from sleep, and although some also require a lot of personal effort and commitment, such as training for sports, proper sleep surely plays a role. Each of their points cover more than one benefit. 

357- Self diagnosis ?

Diagnosis, in medical sense, is defined as the "identification of the nature of an illness or other problem, by the examination of the symptoms". Modern Latin derives the full meaning from Greek diagignōskein ‘distinguish, discern’ (from dia ‘apart’ + gignōskein ‘recognize, know’).

Thus, a doctor or therapist learns to decipher and sort out all the sets of symptoms which a patient describes, additionally to whatever the praticien can find from observation and tests, to build a coherent diagnosis, and choose the most appropriate tools/ medication/ therapy available. 

356 - Sleep habits

After my general post about sleep and how lacking sleep can be detrimental to physical and mental health alike, I want to discuss the topic of sleeping habits. In this I don't mean anything scientific as sleep patterns but about the need to have regularity and habits, as opposed to irregular sleeping hours, and how those affect me adversely. 

355- Of Trauma, Sleep and Health

Sleep is an integral part for almost anything that is alive, and this includes us, humans. Science proves how important it is to sleep and have linked insufficient sleep with risk factors in development of physical disease such as the common cold, but also several others, due to reduced immune system which apparently replenishes best when the person sleeps well. This Harvard uni website describes these aspects. 

354 - Ugliness in CPTSD's

As part of a collaborative blog post that Angela posted for mental health awareness week 2018, I volunteered to discuss the ugly side of my CPTSD's, discussing in 100-150 words for her post, which I'll expand further in my own entry here. 

This is the direct link to her entry from yesterday, where my condensed text appears alongside others, covering the ugly side to 11 different mental illnesses. I hope you'll give it a read and support Angela and each participant. 

For this awareness week, I'll post different entries and use the official #mhaw18 & #mhaw2018 hashtags on social media - alongside others for the topics, as well as mental health related twitter chats. This week is also the emphasis of the general month of May that is dedicated to raising awareness about mental health matters and struggles with mental illnesses. 

353 - A museum visit

Anyone who knows me well enough, knows that archaeology fascinates me and that I had even wished to make it a career, which never happened. I love to learn about our past through reading books, articles (and blogs if I find any), watching documentaries and going to museums, specifically to see exhibits about it. 

Yesterday, we went to one, which presented results from recent digs further north from here, when the region was still a capital - during the gallo-roman period. 

352- CBT4Emeto- 2

It has been months since I had shifted my CBT from social phobia to emeto. Indeed, in the interim, if you recall, I had been diagnosed and then underwent a small surgery for DFSP, which is a kind of rare skin cancer. I had also caught a cold for 3 weeks, and my post-op recovery was a slow one, during which I wasn't able to properly walk, and couldn't risk infection by going to my CBT, since it is held in a local hospital .

It took me a long time to be ready and have a green light from my surgeon that I could resume my normal life ; I made the call and set the appointment. I therefore had my second session, today.

From now, trigger warnings apply to all emetophobia sufferers. 

351- Daily Impacts- Mental illnesses

This 9th chapter is the final in my daily impacts series, but it cannot be an end, as my story, and experiences are ongoing, and that my recovery is more or less also on path. 

This 9th chapter serves as a summary to this series, binding and exploring how the sum of my mental illnesses interact to impact me on a daily level - in a 24-hour format, not just daytime.