Prilosec! The burning truth.

Please check with your doctor if you are using Prilosec to control stomach acid problems!!

A recent published study indicates that people who use the medication Prilosec (a type of proton pump inhibitor) for more than 2 weeks may experience severe difficulties when they attempt to stop using it.  Apparently the cells that produce stomach acid multiply dramatically when Prilosec  prohibits them from secreting the acid in our stomachs, as they try desperately to overcome the medicine.  When a person then stops using Prilosec, these extra cells begin to pump copious amounts of acid into the stomach, causing serious stomach and bowel problems.   It’s been reported that severe pain can result.  Please consult a physician before you try to stop the medication.

I mention this because many clients who experience serious and debilitating anxiety also have stomach acid problems.  While the link between the two may not be clear for every person, several of my clients have used Prilosec to help control stomach distress.  Little did we know that they may have been setting themselves up for even more distressing digestive problems.

 Certain foods, as well as alcohol, can seriously exacerbate stomach acid problems.  Using Prilosec so that you can endure the gastrointestinal effects of drinking may be a sign that you need to deal with your drinking as well.  Please, consult a physician soon if you are using Prilosec, and discuss a plan to wean yourself off of the Prilosec to a less complicated (albeit less effective) alternative such as Zantac combined with dietary changes and the reduction or elimination of alcohol. 

Medical Procedures: healing hands that sting the spirit.

Most of us visit a physician from time to time for general physical exams, and occassionally for specific procedures.  These visits may occur infrequently and be absorbed as “glancing blows” to our sense of personal privacy and body integrity.   We are able to give ourselves over to being touched, sometimes gently and sometimes not, and while doing so we may enter a special sort of mental zone wherein we are there but not completely.  

At other times, due to a serious acute problem or a chronic condition requiring regular treatment we may need regular and even daily medical intervention.  This then requires us to enter that special zone frequently, and perhaps even stay there for long periods.  Going through a series of hands-on medical exams and procedures…to be touched intimately yet impersonally… can be a deeply dehumanizing experience.  Even when our handlers are aware of their impact on us and strive to be as gentle and compassionate as possible, and to  “normalize” our experience, it may leave us feeling as if our “self” has been quietly removed, displayed, altered and taken apart in some unexplainable way, then put back together… but not quite in the same way, and a little more tattered each time.

Over the course of a series of treatments, manipulations, pokings, prodding and producing samples, you may feel your spirit deflating, like air seeping from a balloon.   You can emotionally “immunize” yourself – to reduce the impact of on-going medical examinations and procedures – by learning relaxation techniques that might include breathing exercises, visualizations and meditation.  You can also relieve some of the stress of these visits by visiting a qualified mental health professional and talking about your experiences. 

Mind and body do work together, play together, learn together and suffer together.  If  you need medical attention that may leave your mind and emotions tattered, call your psychotherapist when you call your medical provider, and engage the healing spirit for both your body and your mind.  They’ll be glad you did.

Coping With Your Own Chronic Illness

An oft used word, “coping” is something we all must do, and may do with good or not so good results.  How we actually meet and manage the various challenges we face can be put on a scale ranging from: very active, somewhat active, somewhat passive, and finally very passive.  People who have a more active coping style act assertively to identify specific challenges and fashioning new ways to meet them.  They also tend to be more communicative about their challenges with those who are close to them, and feel confident in seeking support, information and professional assistance.  Needless to say, people with an active coping style have much better outcomes than do the passive people, who too frequently wait for others to identify their needs and then volunteer to help.  Importantly, those who are active feel more in control of their circumstances, and may not therefore feel as helpless or hopeless as do people who are passive in their coping style.

Active coping also helps to maintain strong relationships with family members and friends.  Often family members have had to assume more of the ordinary household tasks, and can themselves feel frustrated and exhausted by the additional load (if you are a care taker, see my prior post on self care dated 11/06/08 for tips on Personal Care).  By being active and reasonably assertive, and doing as much as possible for yourself, you can remain a greater part of the family’s day-to-day experiences.   Being active in the family tasks also assures your supporters that when you ask for help they are really needed, and helps to reduce any tendency for them to feel misused or even resentful of the extra work they do.  It can be very helpful to the emotional and physical health of your family supporters to encourage them to go out and enjoy themselves as often as possible, even though you may not be able to go along or participate if you do go.  Your family members who are not experiencing illness should be able to enjoy their

Finally, it is helpful for everyone if you have a plan for those times when there is a temporary increase in your symptoms.  This allows your support providers to plan ahead, and to have a clear sense of what they can do to help without needing to figure it out in the middle of the situation.  It also helps everyone to know when extra support is no longer needed.  Being confident that they will have a break when when you are able to resume some activities for yourself leaves your support people more willing to jump in next time you really  need them.

Tips for Caregivers

The magazine Caring Today offers advise and resource suggestions for caregivers of those with chronic illness.  The November/December 2008 issue has these practical yet important tips, using the author’s experience with her husband Gary who has dementia:

• Go With the Flow:  Rather than become frustrated with behaviors that are slightly exaggerated, try to find a way to re-define the behavior as helpful or positive, even if unusual.
• Appreciate the Small Stuff:  Try to recognize the person’s contribution to your life or to the household, no matter how slight, and take pleasure in their own feelings of inclusion and participation.
• Get Plugged-in:  Having accurate information about the illness you are witnessing as well as the available professional and community resources will relieve your stress and anxiety, and help you to be a better helper.
• Find Helping Hands:  You cannot and should try to handle all situations all by yourself.  Develop a team of supporters, perhaps both paid and volunteer, to give you respite and to take on particular tasks.
• Share Your Challenges and Successes With Others:   Sharing both helps others just beginning to learn how to be a care-takers, and makes it possible for you to learn from those who have discovered resources you don’t know about.  It creates a learning environment for everyone.  This network can also provide emotional support during crises or periods of discouragement.
• Endure:  It’s important to realize and accept that you, along with the diagnosed person, will probably have to live through some trying times.  The distress and heartache of witnessing the deterioration of a loved one may sometimes seem impossible to endure, yet, as the author says so poignantly, “Quitting is not an option.”  Taking good care of yourself, because you deserve it and need it, will enhance your capacity to endure.  

You can find more of the above at www.caringtoday.com

Emotional Health and Chronic Illness

Any long-term illness presents emotional challenges along with the physical illness.  You will better manage your illness AND your emotional health by paying attention to a few critical issues.

Recognize that you will experience emotionally painful losses when coping with any chronic illness.  These losses may include the one listed below (and many others not listed):

• The loss of full physical functioning (for example: difficulty climbing stairs, dressing or driving).
• The loss of control over what is done to, for and with your body, giving oneself over to confusing and discomforting medical procedures.
• The loss of a reliable future; being uncertain about the course and pace of the illness.
• The loss of career; real or feared progressive difficulty performing standard work tasks.
• The loss of self-identity; no longer the primary household earner.

Any of these kinds of losses result in stress and anxiety, and so it is important to understand how they impact you as well as others.  Having a clear sense of what challenges you now face, and may face in the future, will enable you to plan ways to manage your life more effectively and to preserve the greatest degree of self-reliance.  Learning to manage the stress and anxiety associated with chronic illness, through self-reflective therapy, will also help to maintain strong relationships with family and friends who want to assist and support you, and will allow for improved outcomes in your medical treatment as well. 

The benefits of maintaining your emotional health as you cope with chronic illness are often overlooked.  Learn to take care of yourself in all realms, and enjoy your life to the fullest extent possible.