OLDER NURSE'S NOTES

DEPRESSION CAN KILL YOU!

Before graduating from college, I thought I wanted to be a psychiatric nurse, so I specialized one quarter in that speciality. After working many years as an intensive care nurse in a hospital, I was offered a job in a mental facility. I took it since I was temporarily burned out with taking care of critically ill patients.

Depression can be a debilitating dianosis and can cause a lot of mental pain. Mental pain can "hurt" just as bad as physical pain. For many years, I personally suffered from chronic depression.

In my college studies, and working in the mental facility, I found that depression can be a result of a situational problem (divorce, abuse, etc.) or from a chemical imbalance. Patients can become depressed as a result of either problem, or they can suffer from a combination of the two.

For situational depression, talking with a therapist can help. They can validate whether the situation is as bad as the patient thinks, if the situation can be changed, and the therapist can give good emotional support. Sometimes, this is the most effective treatment. A person who is living in a bad situation has trouble thinking positive thoughts because they are being subjected to too many attacks on their mental status. They need to learn how to "change the subject" in their thought processes, because "feeling sorry for oneself" only drives a person further down into a depressive state.

For patients who are suffering from a chemical imbalance, they need to see a psychiatrist or a psychologist who is licensed to test for a chemical imbalance and can administer the proper drugs that will help the patient cope with their depression.

For those poor souls who suffer from both situational and chemical imbalance problems, they must acquire the services of someone in the mental health field. The average doctor is not totally qualified to deal with mental problems.

Depression can kill you! Is that an absurd statement? No, because most people who suffer from depression frequently entertains the idea of committing suicide. If a depressed patient does not get help, they might commit suicide. My experience is that they don't really want to die, they just want to escape the mental pain that haunts them. While most patients do not kill themselves, many do kill themselves and this is an avoidable tragedy.

A LUDICROUS OLD SAYING: If someone threatens suicide, ignore them because they only want attention. It is the quite ones that will kill themselves. When a person threatens suicide, it is a serious matter and must be taken seriously. In most cities, there are mental health clinics that can help a depressed person deal with their depression.

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TAKING TOO MUCH MEDICATION CAN BE HARMFUL:

Many people run to the doctor with every little ailment, especially the elderly people. Some doctors feel obligated to give them some medication, otherwise, they will think he is not trying to help them. Other times, patients see more than one doctor for all of their different type of ailments, and the doctors do not all know what has already been prescribed. This is not good! It is up to the patient to make sure each doctor knows what they are currently taking, and what medications have been deleted. Taking too many types of medications can be harmful.

TRUE STORY: I had a male friend who was a high-powered individual, but I had not seen him for a couple of years, until my husband and I met up in Birmingham with him and his wife to go to an Alabama football game. I was shocked! My friend had changed dramatically. At dinner, he hung his head, barely ate, and did not join in the conversation. I asked his wife what was going on with him. She said he had a lot of ailments, and that he was on about twenty medications.

This made me furious! I told her that when they got back to Mobile, to change doctors, to find a competent one, and tell the doctor to take every medication off of my friend except the ones he absolutely needed. She did as I advised, and the new doctor took him off of all of his medications except four of them.

My friend returned to the world of the living, changed jobs, went to work for a huge real estate company, and he became their number one salesperson within a year. This was the friend that I had always known. He had heart disease, but he lived many more productive years.

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I have decided to include this page with my blog. I am licensed as a registered nurse with the state of Alabama. I have a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I have worked for over twenty years in a hospital setting, primarily as an intensive care nurse. Over the years, I have accumulated a lot of experience, yet I do not claim to be an expert in the field of medicine. However, I am frequently asked for medical advice. This page will be dedicated to addressing common medical questions. My final advice is to see your medical doctor!