Stress, Growth, Life, & Hormones

As with most families caring for a child with a severe prolonged illness, our family was under tremendous stress when our little girl was very ill. It was not a good kind of stress. It was too severe. Too prolonged.

But in the long run, I do believe it helped us grow as individuals. It made our marriage stronger. It made our family stronger. It helped me to see the wisdom and strength of my extended family, who all extended moral support in spite of physical distance between us. But that was in the long run. I also know that the chronic, prolonged nature of that horrific stress was physically damaging.

ICD-10 vs DSM-V

At what point should a diagnosis be medical—in the ICD—as opposed to mental—in the DSM?

Psychiatrists are working on the next version of the hefty psychiatric "bible" of diagnoses (DSM-V) to replace the current DSM-IV. In newspapers around the country, an article is circulating about it. Here is a link to one copy of the article, in the New York Times: Psychiatrists Revise the Book of Human Troubles

The debates are passionate, because many “mental” disorders are “medical,” “biological,” “physical.”

Plastics & The Brain

It is now common knowledge that ingredients in many plastics (especially when heated) may affect the growth and development of our children's brains. They can even lead to inflammation, increasing risk of diabetes and heart disease.[1] Research is showing these chemicals (Bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates and flame retardants (PBDEs)) can affect mood, cognition, and our endocrine system.[2,3,4]

From our own personal experience, some children are simply more sensitive to some effects than others. Our own daughter was found to be quite sensitive to the endocrine system disrupting effects, and was sent to an endocrinologist about it-- SIXTEEN years ago!

Sleep: A Critical Yet Under-addressed Component of Health

Sleep is critical for human life.

Grossly disrupted or disturbed sleep is often an early indicator that something is going wrong. Many neurological and endocrinological problems have disturbed sleep as a symptom.

Disturbed sleep can cause physical distress as well as mood and psychological issues(*). And physical distress, as well as psychological and emotional issues, can also cause disturbed sleep.

Teasing out what is causing what and, more importantly, addressing the issues that need to be addressed, can be a daunting task.

The Stress Connection: Meeting Hormonal, Nutritional, and Metabolic Needs

Many chronic illnesses are affected by stress (see Stress, Immune Response, and Illness). There have been many links between psychiatric symptoms, stress, mitochondrial function, and the endocrine system. A common thread connecting them all is nutrition.

The United States' government organization, NIMH, is currently running studies using nutritional substances to augment treatment of some neurobiological brain disorders such as autism, bipolar and schizophrenia.