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How Do You Handle Depression And Anxiety?

8/9/2011

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Depression may be expressed in any number of ways such as increased irritability and dissatisfaction, withdrawal from others, crying spells, moodiness, nervousness, anxiety, unwillingness to get out of bed in the morning, tiredness, insomnia, headaches, muscle aches and pains and/or palpitations. Depression may also be expressed through "sudden" anger and aggressive behavior.

Depression has become so widespread, particularly in the U.S., that Europeans call this country the "Prozac Nation". It is very common for those with symptoms of depression to turn to antidepressants. It is not unusual for women to experience mild depression before or during menses, after childbirth or through peri/menopausal years. 

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), there are actual physiological causes for depression that can be treated and improved. Thus, it is important to determine and correct the root cause of depression. While there are many patterns and causes for depression like hormone imbalance, deficient Kidney chi due to chronic stress, pregnancy and childbirth, in TCM, the most common is stagnant Liver Qi. Just as a tree spreads out freely in all directions, so does the Liver promote unrestrained and regular movement of Qi and Blood throughout the body. In its ideal state, Qi flows smoothly and disperses and circulates freely. When imbalanced, its flow is irregular and Qi doesn't flow smoothly, evenly or in the right directions. This can occur in anyone - male, female, young, or old - but because the Liver is so intimately involved with women's monthly cycles, menstruating women tend to experience it more often (this is probably why more women feel depressed). When Liver Qi stagnates, it has far-reaching effects, many of which co-exist with depression: pain and distension in the ribs, breasts and lower abdomen, moveable or fixed cysts, fibroids and other lumps in the abdomen and breasts with little to extreme stabbing pain; irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea or amenchronic diarrhea, abdominal distension, loss of appetite, or jaundice.

Smooth Liver Qi harmonizes emotions with the Mind by keeping a happy state, sensitivity, ability to reason, an even disposition and a sense of ease. Thus, obstructed Liver Qi adversely affects emotions, causing emotional swings, irritability, frustration and depression. It also triggers pain in chest or under ribs, sighing, a feeling of a "lump" in the throat and PMS symptoms.
As well, the Liver is associated with the Ethereal Soul (Hun) in TCM, the part of us that dreams, plans, envisions, creates and imagines. If the Ethereal Soul is unsettled, Mind (Shen) is cut off from the Universal Mind, resulting in a lack of direction in life, feelings of aimlessness, and unrealized dreams and plans. Such "isolation" leads to moodiness, sudden outbursts of anger or aggression and depression.

GENERAL TREATMENT
At first signs of depression, physicaly move your body - this is the most efficient way to move stagnant Qi and change emotions. Do whatever is easiest and most satisfying - walk, run, dance, pound pillows, garden or do yoga, Qi Gong or something similar. A half an hour is ideal but you should feel noticeably better after five or ten minutes. Moving in nature is even better, as nature is powerfully healing.

In general, daily exercise is beneficial for preventing and treating depression, as it keeps Liver Qi healthy and stimulates production of endorphins, natural mood-elevating chemicals.

And if you are angry know that anger is energy so it must be expressed and released in healthy ways. Bottled up it can morph into anxiety and acute panic attacks that can be dibilitating. If you are feeling anxious, angry frustrated and resentful, move, cry, scream, clean up the kitchen, unload old drawers/closets, or run around the block -express and release anger energy in healthy ways.

Since stagnant Qi results from any long-term suppressed or repressed emotions, it is important to discover their underlying causes and outlets. Do not repress or stuff emotions, as this creates more depression and anxiety. Take time to explore your feelings with a spiritual counselor/therapist. Journal write, as this unloads repressed feelings, moving energy and inviting insights, solutions and ideas that may help sort through painful emotions and clarify decisions. Go on a retreat, take time off and explore what is not working in our life so you can come up with a plan for change. Identify stressful factors in your home and work environments and modify them. Put energy into creative outlets since creativity opens doors to your subconscious mind, allowing energy to flow again. It doesn't have to be a big project, simple activities as decorating or gardening or singing is beneficial. Any form of appropriate self-expression moves stagnant Qi.

To relieve depression, it is extremely important to refine your diet by eliminating depression-causing foods and including stagnation-moving ones. Foods that congest Qi are, unfortunately, very prevalent in the Western Diet. Eliminate: fried, greasy and fatty foods, nuts and nut butters, avocados, cheese and dairy, chips of all kinds, turkey and red meats, alcohol, caffeinated foods and drinks (coffee, black tea, mate, cocoa, colas and chocolate) and recreational drugs. Beneficial decongesting and Liver-aiding foods include vegetables, lemons, dark leafy greens such as kale, collards, dandelion, mustard, beet and other bitter foods.

Lastly, reflect on your lifestyle habits and balance them as appropriate. Excessive activity, sex, or exercise deplete Qi, as do keeping late bedtimes (after 11 PM), working at jobs one doesn't like, overworking physically and mentally, and insufficient activity. To rebalance the Liver, go to bed before 11pm at the latest, get plenty of physical exercise, find enjoyable and fulfilling work and jobs and alternate work with rest and play. Regularity of habits regulates Liver Qi.

Examples of herbs that regulate Liver Qi, moving stagnation and easing depression include vitex, citrus (tangerine peel, both the ripe and unripe fruit of the bitter orange), cyperus (sedge root), sandalwood, Chinese chive, rose petals, mint, lemon balm and cumin, as well as the Chines herbs bupleurum and saussurea. 

To release postpartum depression and acute anxiety I first had my hormones and blood tested and found out I needed progesterone cream and iron. I then turned to an integrated therapist at www.breakingfreemedical.com for 90 minute therapy/bodywork to release the pain on a cellular level and move out of an abusive relationship. I eliminated bad food and ate whole foods and greens and drank plenty of clean ionized high alkaline water fromwww.beyondo2.com. To help provide the necessary precursers for healthy neurohormonal chemistry I drank aminio acid protein shakes and took Coenzyme Bcomplex supplements during the day, Calcium magnesium at night to help me sleep and deer placenta, Women's Jing and Bupleurum and Peony fromwww.dragonherbs.com to balance liver and hormones.

How do you handle Depression and anxiety?
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Postpartum Sleep Deprivation Solution - Stay In Bed!

8/8/2011

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I know what you're thinking...HELP! I'm so exhausted I can't see straight! I can't take much more of this! I'm counting the minutes till my partner comes home so I can collapse but he/she only holds the baby for 45 minutes and then I'm on call again. What do I do?  

What you do is start taking your sleep seriously. Sounds tough I know because it's all you think about but really, are you making it a priority?  Because, provided you're not sleep deprived due to a serious hormone imbalance, all you have to do is stay in bed.  Yup.  You heard me sister. There's no pretending you have the time and energy to be suzy homemaker anymore so let the dishes go, put down the thank you cards.  Call friends and family to drop off nutritious whole food meals and pure high alkaline water and throw in a few loads of laundry while you go back to bed like the Divine Dalais-Mama you are! As a postpartum doula and baby nurse I coach new mothers to do this and it works!  But before we go into the "How To's of Staying In Bed" you should know a few facts about sleep and postpartum balance:

Sleep Deprivation Facts:
  1. A new mom loses about 350 hours of sleep during baby's first year.
  2. Sleep deprivation is defined as a sufficient lack of restorative sleep over a cumulative period so as to cause physical or psychiatric symptoms and affect routine performances of tasks. (WebMed)
  3. Sleep is essential to life and Postpartum Balance.  During sleep our bodies work throughout the night, performing a variety of biological processes to help restore organs and tissues and optimize bodily and cognitive functions. Our body needs adequate sleep to produce important hormones and neurotransmitters that make us feel happy, energetic and balanced. After childbirth, women experience a big drop in estrogen and progesterone hormone levels and possibly thyroid making it crucial to get enough sleep for neurohormonal balance,
  4. According to Uzzi Reiss, M.D., OB/GYN, sleep deprivation can be a contributing factor in many serious health concerns associated with new motherhood including postpartum depression. If a new mom's fatigue is overwhelming and she experiences the "baby blues" for longer than two weeks after delivery, she must see her physician. (Things to look for: low energy level, low mental focus and confusion, irritability, depression, anxiety, diminished coordination, little interest in maintaining outward appearance or losing pregnancy weight, little or no sex drive.

Sleep Deprivation Solution:
The paragraphs below were adapted and edited from a handout by childbirth educator Penny Simkin.  It's entitled: How to Get Enough Sleep in the First Weeks After Birth".  Trust me, it works if you work it and you're gonna work it cause your worth it!  Sweet Dreams....

The following approach will help you get as much (or almost as much) sleep as you need. (It does not work as well if you have other children, unless you have help with them.)
  • Calculate how many hours of sleep you used to need regularly before pregnancy in order to function well. Six hours? Eight hours? That is the amount of sleep you now owe yourself everyday
  • Since you cannot get this amount of sleep in one stretch because of interruptions for feedings and baby care, you will require more hours in bed to get your allotted amount of sleep.
  • Plan to stay in bed or keep going back to bed until you have slept your allotted number of hours. This means that with the exception of meals and trips to the bathroom, you do not get up. You do not brush your teeth, shower of dress in the early morning. Make a mental note of approximately how many hours you have slept since you went to bed (but try not to obsess about it). You may have to stay in bed from 10PM until noon the next day to get eight hours of sleep! If that’s what it takes, do it. Then brush your teeth, take a shower, dress, and greet the day.
  • Many parents find it easier to follow this regime if their baby sleeps with them or nearby.
  • As your baby grows and begins to sleep for longer stretches, it will take you less time to get enough sleep.
  • Hiring a postpartum doula is also a great way to ensure you get enough sleep while baby is taken care of and the house isn’t falling apart while you’re snoozing.

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Post Title. USING FREE TIME FOR SELF CARE

2/25/2010

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A while ago I was working with a beautiful new mama that was challenged with the issue of self care.  She didn't know how to use her free time to nurture herself.  She had the perception that self care was selfish.  I told her that we Mothers need to fill our cups and give from the overflow so we can handle the responsibilities of Motherhood.  I forwarded her the following article written by Martha Beck to inspire her to create her own self care practice.  I share it here with you in hopes that it will serve you as well.

FEAR OF FREE TIME by Martha Beck
When we're not prepared to use empty time, finding ourselves in the midst of it is frustrating and boring.  Here are some ideas that can turn unexpected free time into treasure rather than trash.

If you have one minute:  Go limp.  Settle into the most comfortable position possible.  Inhale deeply, hold your breath a second or two, then relax your body as you exhale.  Your body will repay the gift of oxygen and relaxation by becoming calmer and more energetic.

If you have five minutes:  Forget everything.  Jot down a quick to-do list, and let it be your "task memory" so you can let your mind roam free.  Patiently and nonjudgmentally, watch where your mind goes, what it says.  Then go back to your to-do list.  You'll find that you feel as if you've had a brief but refreshing vacation.

If you have an hour:  Find a reason to laugh.  If you're too stressed or sad to laugh, let yourself cry.  Both behaiors release physical and emotional tension, connecting your mind, body and circumstances..

If you have a free afternoon: Disappear.  There will be time later for doing; this afternoon is for being.  Roam your favorite places.  Drink in all the beauty you find.  Tell no one.

If you have a whole day:  Live it on purpose.  Start by reminding yourself what you want your life to mean. Take one small step in the service of your purpose.  Then give yourelf a gift.  This will remind you that receiving and giving are inseparable and put you in the zone where you simultaneously forget your ego and remember who you really are.
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First Post!

5/1/2008

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HOW TO CREATE A MOTHER SUPPORT TEAM: 8 FRIENDS EVERY MOM SHOULD HAVE AND FOUR TO AVOID

Congratulations on becoming a new mom!  As you'll undoubtably see, motherhood is a marathon, not a sprint.  This is a 24/7 job ladies and you need a team of people to cover all the shifts. 


The first thing to know is that we all have a support system, we just need to uncover it, tap into it, nurture and tweak it.  It's up to you to find the value in each special person in your life, to really evaluate what type of support they naturally provde and in some cases, look at where some people may not be capable of providing support.   Below are 8 People Every New Mom Should Have In Her Life and Four to Avoid.

1. A LOVING PARTNER (If Applicable).  According to Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks, Ph.d and co-authors of "Conscious Loving: The Journey to Co-Committment, "Love is a powerful force.  If we do not know how to handle its power, we slip very quickly into its powerfully painful distortions, such as conflict and co-dependence.  It is resistance to love that causes the problems.  There is nothing wrong with love.  Love is a force that focuses its light on the deepest shadowy parts of ourselves.  It brings to the surface the parts of ourselves that we most desperately try to keep hidden.  When these parts of ourselves emerge, we often retreat, blaming love and those who have loved us... A co-committed relationship is one in which two or more people support each other in being whole complete individuals."  If you feel challenged living in a state of continuous love and positive energy with your partner you will benefit tremendously by reading this book together and/or - seeking a loving counselor to help you maximise your partnership potential.  My advise - take action if you sense there are problems because a new baby will only magnify any issues you may be experiencing.  We all need to remember that LOVE IS A VERB.   Make every effort to actively love eachother...listen, empathize, appreciate, affirm, reassure and trust one-another!  The love you get is equal to the love you give!

2 UPLIFTERS - These people build your courage and confidence and are inspiring and humerous company.  They will empower and encourage you to move through your fears.  Their favorite words are YES and GO FOR IT.  They always see your magnificence and tell you how wonderful you are every chance they get.  By prizing you they assist you in rising above negative scripting that may be wreaking havoc with your self esteem.   

3. NURTURERS - FOR TLC & ADVICE. These people love and accept you without expectations.   They will comfort you day and night, nurse you back to health and help you explore your choices.  They are empathetic listeners and according to Stephen Covey, author of THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE, they "...know that to relate effectively we must learn to listen and this requires emotional strenght.  Listening involves patience, openness and the desire to understand - highly developed qualities of character."

4. TRUTH SEEKERS - As Eleanor Roosevelt observed, "No one can hurt you without your consent."  In the words of Gandi, "They cannot take away our self and respect if we do not give it to them."  It is our willing permission, our conset to what happens to us, that hurts us far more than what happens to us in the first place.  A truth seeker knows how to move us out of victim mentality.  Truth seekers will have the guts to give you constructive feedback from a loving place and challenge you to take responsibility for your actions and your choices.  They get you to see things from a different perspective, one you might not have on your own.  Italian psychotherapist Piero Ferrucci says "To act honestly -- even at the risk of saying the unpleasant truth, or of saying no and causing distress to others -- if done with intelligence and tact, is the kindest thing to do because it repsects our own integrity and acknowledges in others the capacity to be competent and mature."

5. PRACTICAL PALS  - A new baby and a new mom out number a single caregiver two to one with separate needs that continue around the clock for at least the first month after birth.  So it's reasonable to say that planning for daily help at home will require more than one set of helping hands.  Here's where the practical pal comes in.  She is experienced, most likely a mom herself, or a postpartum doula and will teach you what she knows.  She is handy and organized - a one woman command central for scheduling activities.  She'll know when you've had enough company and lovingly bid them a fond farewell.  She'll be able to look at breastsand bottoms and buy sanitary napkins with aplomb.  She can strap a car seat in correctly, cook, clean and change a diaper.  She knows how to delegate duties to friends and family  - the ultimate support coordinator.  She doesn't mind hauling a loaded infant car seat in one hand and a diaper bag in the other and she knows just when to hold the baby and streamline to do lists so everyone is working smarter not harder.  Most of all, she will never second-guess your new mothering skills.  

6. FUN FRIENDS - Think of those creative, spontaneous, wild and crazy girls you knew in college.  Always curious about the world, new ideas, everything!  They are into the next beig thing - movies, books, you name it.  Call on this friend last minute and she'll go by the seat of her pants.

7. WISE SPIRITUAL WARRORS.  These pepole are conscious and aware.  They are curious about your higher purpose in life and eager to share their life lessons.  They will help you find the blessings in life and will do anything to support you in your healing and growth and they're sensitive to the importance of giving back to others.

8. UNEXPECTED FRIENDS.  These people awaken a part of yourself you weren't aware of.  They are not your usual type of friend but you come to find, perhaps you met in a very unusual way but they touched you in a profound way.

4 TOXIC FRIENDS TO AVOID.

To have a truly effective support team you'll also need to edit out anyone who is bringing you down.  Here are a few to avoid when you are in need of love and support:

The blamer - he/she is very draining.  Can't take responsibility for their own behavior.

The complainer - he/she never has anything positive to say.

The needy friend - you'll quickly spot these people because all of your conversations will be about them.

The gossip - He/she avoids emotional intimacy by talking about others, they are very judgmental and critical.

The shamer - He/she puts you down, cuts you off, makes negative comments about you in front of others.

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