Bi Polar: What is it exactly?

When you think of someone having Bi Polar, what do you think of them? Someone who is unstable and suicidal? Someone who is crazy? These stereotypes of individuals, who have such a complex mental illness, is wrongly judged in such a negative way.

Everyone has highs and lows through out their lives. The difference between an individual with Bi Polar and an individual who doesn't, is that their highs and lows are more extreme. These emotions can be too much to cope with. These extreme emotions can get in the way of their daily life, and can also be dangerous for the individual. How these emotions can effect their daily lives is the individual can feel so depressed that he/or she doesn't even want to get out of bed. More extreme then an individual, who doesn't have this illness, who doesn't want to get out of bed. How it can be dangerous is, if someone isn't treated correctly, they can result in self harm. How an extreme high emotion, also known as mania, can be dangerous is the individual can have this burst of energy. That what they can be doing might be dangerous to the individual, or out of control.

A lot of people have a miscomception of this illness. Here are a few myths and facts I found from this article.

Myth: Nothing can be done to manage bipolar disorder.Fact: Bipolar
disorder can’t be cured, but there are ways to help control it. These include
medicine, talk therapy (psychotherapy), and learning more about the condition so
you can take care of yourself.
Myth: Bipolar disorder is easy to
diagnose.Fact: Bipolar disorder is not always easy to diagnose. It may be mistaken for other conditions. There are many reasons why
diagnosing bipolar disorder is hard. Sometimes it’s the way that people describe
the way they’re feeling. Sometimes it has to do with the type of mood they
experience most often.
Myth: People who have bipolar disorder spend their
lives in psychiatric hospitals.Fact: Most people with bipolar disorder are treated
outside of a hospital and have productive lives. Sometimes people go to a
hospital for a short time if they have serious depression or mania.
Myth:
People with bipolar disorder can’t hold down a job.Fact: With proper treatment, people with bipolar disorder can be good
workers. They can live normal lives.
Myth: Once bipolar disorder is
controlled, people can stop their medicine.Fact: Treatment of bipolar disorder is usually
lifelong. Unless a healthcare provider says it’s okay, people shouldn’t stop
medicine just because they are feeling better. Medicine can continue to keep the
condition controlled.
Myth: Bipolar symptoms are always triggered by some
event.Fact: Symptoms of bipolar disorder are often
triggered by a stressful event, but not always. Sometimes mood swings happen
without any obvious triggers.

There is a lot more to learn about this mental disorder. Just to make it clear, people who have this disorder is a human being, just like the rest of us. They deserve to be loved just like anyone else. Help stop the spread of misunderstanding about this disease and the individuals effected by it.

Depression

Depression, when it is a depressed mood, is a state of melancholia. Feeling unhappiness or sadness. Generally this feeling lasts a few hours or days. It is typically triggered by the environment the individual is in. Depression can happen even from your very own place of work. Work can be demanding and quite stressful to the mind, and the body. When it comes to the body, depression can cause neck and back pain to an individual. How this effects a Nurse is that it can cause strain on a Nurse, who does a lot of lifting. Having back and neck pains can result in not doing your work properly. That’s why I would suggest, if you are easily depressed, you should visit a chiropractor regularly to prevent extreme damage.

'We've known for a long time that pain can lead to depression, and now we're finding that each is a risk for the other,' Carroll said. 'Both conditions are recurrent, that is, they can both come and go; and both are very common--in fact, only 20 per cent of the population has not experienced any neck or low back pain in the past six months--so it's important to try to deal with these conditions before they become troublesome and lead to a vicious cycle.'

How depression can effect the mind is that it changes how you would normally act on a daily basis. Makes you feel down and unmotivated to do anything productive. Depression also effects the mind that you can’t perform your job properly, which can lead to extreme consequences considering the field you are in. It’s always a wise decision, that if you get depressed, to have someone you can trust to talk to. Depression can be a very serious matter. If depression seems to last longer than what is consider “normal”, I would suggest get yourself checked out. Especially considering the fact that depression can be a serious thing. You just have to take care of yourself.

Blogging: A Shy Person's Escape

The Blogosphere has become one of the most advanced ways of communicating in the internet world. Bloggers communicate by posting their ideas and thoughts onto their blog. It’s one of the best ways to get your voice heard in the internet community. There are all different kinds of people who blog. It is really beneficial to the people, who in their everyday life, don’t get their voices heard like they should. Either they are too shy or intimidated for various reasons. Even the shy individuals could find a way, in the blogging world, to fit in. It’s definitely a great place to get your voice heard.

Many bloggers, who were always considered the shy and quiet type, represented the fact that the Blogosphere is a way to let their voices be heard. Drew who has social anxiety, Shy & Quiet, expresses his every day struggles of having Social Anxiety Disorder in his blog posts. Drew is a great example of a shy person who gets their voice out there by blogging. He expresses well about his every day struggles and his life story in different posts. Drew give great information on what life is like for someone with this social disorder. Finally having his voice heard through his posts. A great example of a post, Drew wrote, was about his opinion on extroverts. He explained about how he gets intimidated during any social situation. This particular post was titled, Interacting With Social Extroverts. You can tell after reading Drew’s entries, even with his disorder, he wanted his voice to be heard. Why wouldn’t he if he started up a blog account?

An article that I bumped into, Shy Techies, describes how “blogging has become the voice of shy techies“. Sreekala G, the author of the article for The Economic Times, brought up some really great key points to back up how blogging has helped with shyness. Sreekala G had great key points in his beginning paragraph: Times surely are a changing. With blogs emerging as a nifty information-management tool, techies are donning the mantle of new age communicators. While they code for a living, blogging is their favorite pass time. For most of them, web logs offer multiple options, from being a discussion forum to a platform to mobilize public opinion against an issue to a place to share inner most fears and funny experiences. Blogging has helped shy people with keeping their voices heard through commenting on different people‘s blogs and posting their own entries. Communication with un-known people is harder for a shy person, but for them to be able to get involved with conversations through blogs is beneficial for them. They don’t have to feel judged or shy through blogging. Blogging is a great way to get their views out there and known. It’s a lot easier to over come your shyness when you can’t see the person who you are discussing certain topics with.

Blogging helps the shy individuals to feel that they are part of the world in some way. Shy people have trouble feeling a part of something, because of the fact they keep to themselves and don’t have great social skills. Blogging helps them with this, because they can contribute with giving out information to people who need it. They also feel part of something, because they socialize in a different sort of way. The socialize in a way that they can give feedback to different bloggers. Even have “conversations”, through their comments, with the author or reader. Being a part of something is a great feeling.

In my personal experience with the Blogosphere, I’m naturally a very shy person in class and certain social situations. I’m not much of an extrovert, except when it comes to people who I’m very close to or at least feel comfortable with. All of my academic life, I’ve had teachers and professors tell me I need to speak up more, get my voice out there. I personally have a problem with that because if I’m not comfortable enough with my fellow classmates, I’m very intimidated to express my views or opinions. I can definitely see why shy individuals, such as myself, would start up a blog and express their opinions. A blog is not going to make fun or you for thinking the way you do. It’s a safe and simple way of expressing your opinions and getting your voice heard. I got into blogging very quickly, and I think it helps that I’ve always wanted to state my opinion but was always afraid to. Blogging is very important to our way of life.

Interview

Why did you choose to blog about Nursing?

I decided to blog about Nursing because that is the career field I'm studying for. I feel that it would be an easy subject to write about. I also feel that people should know more about the Nursing field and medical professions in general. It is a very important field and I feel that aren't nearly as respected as they should be. I'm really dedicated to becoming a Nurse. It's my dream job.

Do you feel readers could get something out of your blog?

I would definitely hope so! Especially for anyone who is a Nurse, studying to become a Nurse, knows someone personally who is a Nurse, or is just interested in Nursing as a whole. I hope they can get great information and great sources from my blog.

Has blogging changed your life in anyway?

I definitely think it's changed my life in the way that I can speak my mind, without actually speaking. I'm a very shy person, so writing blogs has definitely helped me with getting my voice out there. I truly believe that blogging has many positive benefits. Especially for the individuals, such as myself.

10 Nurse Stress Tips

Nursing is one of the most stressful jobs in the job field. Stress can get in the way of your daily tasks at work and can take its toll on your body. I found this article about ten great ways you can prevent and/or relieve stress from day to day demands. I thought this article gave great information and advice. I give my thanks to Diane Cate, who came up with this article. Stress is something everyone deals with at sometime in their life. More so than others. Nursing can be sometimes hard to deal because of all the stress that comes into play when you are in that field. We can certainly see why that is the case. You have to care for people constantly and it's very demanding. Nurses go through so much that sometimes they don't get enough credit for. Diane's first step to relieve stress, which is to give positive reinforcement to those around you, is a great tip. Considering the fact that, when you are in the medical profession, it sure helps to be acknowledged when you do tasks right. It sure also perks the individual up when they are having a rough day. Diane also suggested to take "time outs" when needed. People sometimes need a break when things are getting stressful at work. You also need to react to change well in your work environment. You need to be a flexible human being when it comes to change and be willing to accept it. Diane also suggests to ask for help when needed and help someone who asks for it. If you don't know how to do something, or you can't do something on your own, ask for help. Two brains are better than one, when solving a problem, and having more than one person sure helps the task to get done a lot faster. I thought the whole article is a very helpful source to anyone. I just wanted to share everyone this great article, that I find very informative and helpful.

National Nurses Week: May 6-12

I'm proud to say that this week is National Nurses Week. The theme for this year is Nursing: A Profession and a Passion. I thought I should honor the individuals, who are in such a honorable profession, by writing my Top Five Reasons on why you should become a nurse.


Top Five Reasons:

1. It's a very meaningful career because it is very rewarding. You'll be saving people's lives everyday, and the feeling of saving a person's life is the most rewarding feeling a person could ever have.
2. There is a nurse shortage in this nation and around the world. In order to be able to fix this shortage is to advertise the career more, in order to attract more people to go for Nursing as their career.
3. There are millions of people in the world that need nurse's helping hands. As sad as it is, people are in need of medical care everyday. If no one was there to take care of them this world would be in a terrible position.
   
4. It is a career you can be very passionate about. Passionate about taking care of people who are in need of your care.
   
5. The pay is great. It's a stable occupation and you are needed anywhere in the world. You could never be out of the job.

If you personally know someone who is a nurse, thank them for choosing the career path that they decided on. It's a very demanding career and they are not nearly as respected as they should be.

The Nurse Stereotype

Responding to and summarizing someone else’s work can sometimes be difficult, although it is easy in the sense that it’s not your work. The fact that it is not your writing makes it easier to pick out the little details that just doesn’t quite fit. You can pick out grammar mistakes much easier than when you proof-read your own work, because you’re looking for the little details. Making sense of someone else’s writing is another step when responding to their work. Try to get the over all idea of what they are trying to say. While I was responding to this blog entry, all of these key elements came into play. The title of the post is, Heart Attack Grill. The author likes to be referred to as, Babs RN. If you would like to check out this specific post, you can read it at: Babs RN The thesis that came out to me while reading her entry is nurses are not as respected as they should be. I definitely agreed about what Babs RN wrote in her post.

The blog entry that I came upon for this assignment was from a person whose career is actually in Nursing. She comes off as venting in this particular blog entry about two basic key points. The first one she mentions is how she doesn’t like how people and/or patients sometimes look at nurses as beings who just give them things even though they don’t need them. People who would just mock a healing profession as, how Babs RN put it, "glorified waitresses" don’t appreciate medical professionals. Her second key point, for which she referred to Sandy Summers, who is the executive director of the Center for Nursing Advocacy from Baltimore, is how nursing has become the most sexual-fantasized profession in the world. Some people actually view nurses as something sexual rather then a very needed health profession. She quotes Sandy Summers in her blog entry: "We're asking people, if they're going to have these fantasies, please don't make it so public. Move these sexual fantasies to other professions.". Babs RN then gives her input on how she agrees with Sandy Summers. She shows this by saying how she can’t tell how many times she gets hit on by online strangers when they find out she’s a nurse. The online strangers would ask questions and make comments like, “What do you wear under your scrubs?” “Are you a naughty nurse?” and “I bet you cause a lot of uncomfortable situations as a nurse.”. The second half of her blog entry she explains how she feels about both of these stereotypical nurse roles. She expresses her emotions really openly in this entry.

When I first started reading the blog entry, the first paragraph sort of got me off track. It wasn’t until she started to describe the first stereotype of nurses that I got back on track, and knew what she was going to write about. I really like how she brought out the two mains points that she was going to write about by listing them. She described both stereotypes well with examples and had great details on both of her points in the entry. During the second point she was describing, she added Sandy Summers’ quote, which I particularly liked. It helped bring out her second point very well and helped give me a better idea about her entry. The three arguments she made against those two stereotypes were very well informed. She gives many examples and relevant information as to why it is wrong to think of nurses in that way. Since she is a nurse herself, she can definitely bring her own experience in her argument. I really enjoyed reading her ending paragraph which was this: “I'm liking the Grim Reaper idea. Instead of their "nurses" wheeling them out to their cars after dinner in wheelchairs, perhaps they could provide their bills on toe tags and roll them out on a morgue cart instead. Now that would be cool.” I thought that came off as really dark humor, which I find not only amusing, but it’s also helpful in bringing out her overall disgust of people who think like that. She had a lot of great detail in her entry.

After reading this blog entry I can say I definitely agree with Babs RN, especially since I want to become a nurse. I couldn’t believe that people would actually think of such an honorable profession in such a manner. Being a nurse is not to be something sexual or that nurses give the patients whatever they want even though they don’t need it. It definitely felt close to home reading this blog entry.