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Swine-flu vaccine clinics Wednesday

The Lake County Health Department is having H1N1 immunization clinics at Leesburg and East Ridge high schools on Wednesday.

You don't need an appointment, but you do have to be a member of one of the federal government's "priority groups" to get inoculated, according to the health department. Those groups include pregnant women, health-care workers and anyone 6 months through 24 years old.

The swine-flu vaccine will be available first come, first served from 3 to 7 p.m. in both of the schools' cafeterias.

Leesburg High is at 1401 Yellow Jacket Way in Leesburg. East Ridge High is at 13322 Excalibur Road, Clermont.

What is ADHD and How do you live with it?

What is ADHD and How do you live with it?

This post will be as “non” clinical as possible with some good behavioral management tips included as well.  ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder.  If you think that you or a family member may have ADHD keep reading!  As this article is written for ordinary people it is full of generalizations.

 

 

If you lived through childhood with ADHD there is a real good chance that you have become a successful adult!  Some of our greatest business men and women have ADHD.  These are the idea people that can’t organize their desk or paperwork to save their lives.  These are the people with tons of energy and who have a hard time speaking in complete sentences as they interrupt themselves with other great ideas.  Attempting to follow their thought processes can give those of us who do not have ADHD a headache!

 

 

People with ADHD often say exactly what is on their minds and don’t  have much of a filter that tells them that they may be hurting someone’s feelings, or are making statements that are outrageously politically incorrect.  They are often revered as people who speak their mind.  This trait in children looks like impulsive interrupting.

 

 

People with ADHD think they can accomplish a huge list of tasks in one day and greatly underestimate the time that it will take to complete just one item on the list.  People with ADHD generally lose all track of time when they are engaged in pleasurable activities or those that capture their attention.

 

 

People with ADHD generally forget really important items on a more frequent than “normal” basis – like keys, cell phones, purses and brief cases.  These folks are also known to start several tasks but finish only a few.  Some people refer to folks with ADHD as “absent minded professor types”. 

 

 

Women are more likely to have a type of ADHD that doesn’t include hyperactivity.  These women have trouble staying focused on the task at hand and can easily slip into daydreams or attend to other thoughts circulating inside of their minds.  Sometimes women with ADHD have accompanying anxiety problems that create excessive worry or fears. 

 

 

Women may also have the hyperactive type of ADHD which usually includes excessive or rapid talking and difficulty adjusting to social cues in conversations.  As a result of these problems they find it difficult to relate to other women and may find it easier to relate to men.

 

 

ADHD comes in many different varieties and those who think they might benefit from diagnosis and treatment should consult a mental health clinician or a Psychiatrist.  General Doctors do treat ADHD but few specialize in helping to manage the disorder.

 

 

Behavioral management is the key to helping children live successfully with ADHD.  Children have to be taught organizational skills and they must live by checklists to ensure they have their materials for school and extracurricular activities.  Children with ADHD thrive in structured environments where the limits and boundaries for acceptable behavior are clearly established.

 

 

Parents who have children with ADHD need to take extra time to give instructions to their children for completing tasks.  Eye contact should be made and instructions should be repeated back by the child.  Parents need to establish time limits for task completion and help their child learn to manage time while performing tasks. Consequences for inappropriate behavior should be clearly outlined with a warning system in place to help the child self correct.

 

 

If you think your child has ADHD, you should also wonder if you or your spouse has the disorder.  ADHD is genetic and there is a 50 percent chance that you or your spouse has ADHD if your child has the disorder.

 

 

Everyone has their quirks and most everyone has some type of “issue” they struggle with during their life time.  ADHD is definitely NOT one of the worst problems to have!  People with ADHD have extraordinary energy and when they get “stuck” in something they love to do, they can hyper concentrate for hours and produce outstanding work.  These people also take risks and live life with extra spontaneity.

 

 

The best way to manage ADHD is to acknowledge that one has the tendencies or the disorder.  Medication can help child in with concentration in school.  Adults may benefit from medication as well. 

What is Bipolar Disorder?

As a therapist I have been asked a number of times to explain what Bi-Polar Disorder is and how you might know if a friend or family member has this disorder.  I will explain the symptoms in layman terms.

Bipolar Disorder means two polar opposite ends of the mood disorder spectrum.  In order to have Bi-Polar Disorder, there must be at least one documented manic episode lasting for a week or longer in addition to depressive episodes.  What is a manic episode?  People that are in manic episodes usually need very little sleep.  They often have rapid speech and shift ideas frequently in conversation.  People who are manic have impaired judgment and they may believe that they have the answers to all of the world's problems.  They may go on wild spending sprees or may become paranoid that people are out to get them.  Often times there is extensive involvement in pleasurable activities which may cause painful consequences later.  People in a manic episode have an inability to reason and do not demonstrate any insight into their irrational behavior.  The average age of onset is between 18 and 30 years of age.

The hallmark feature for a manic episode is that the symptoms described above cause significant impairment in social, and occupational functioning.  Relationships become extremely strained due to these factors.  People that are in a manic episode can become easily agitated and dangerous.  People that have bipolar disorder are most at risk for suicidal attempts.  Depending on the individual, anger can either be turned outward towards others or inwards toward themselves.  Family members need to remember that a loved one in a manic episode can be dangerous.

There are many varieties of Bipolar Disorder.  People that carry this diagnosis may spend more time in depressive episodes than manic episodes.  Some anti-depressant medications can actually provoke a manic episode in people that have bipolar disorder.  The opposite can also occur where a person may cycle vary rapidly between manic states and depressive states.

Most people with bipolar disorder require medication to stabilize their moods so that they can become or remain productive citizens.  The most difficult problem for family members is that people with this disorder often stop their medication if they agree to take it all.  Some people with bipolar disorder enjoy manic episodes and do not want any intervention to stop the euphoria.  They will sometimes complain that they feel drugged or "zombie like" when they take medication even though people surrounding them see their behavior on medication as closer to "normal". 

For family members, the struggle to help their relative understand that they are better off on medication is the constant battle.  People with bipolar disorder often turn to substances such as alcohol, marijuana, or pain killers to self medicate.  Drug abuse and bipolar disorder often go hand in hand.  When the two problems occur together they both have to be treated together or single interventions will not be successful.

One case example that I helped to treat as part of treatment team follows.  The 26 year old female patient was picked up by police and taken to the hospital when she was caught taking off her clothes from the waist on up in a local bar.  She was soliciting sex although she had no history of affairs prior to this, her first manic episode.  She had been married for 5 years.  The patient was intoxicated when she entered the hospital.  The following morning the patient again attempted to take off her top at the state hospital in the lounge area.  She had slept only three hours.  She was loud, demanding, and cursing at the nurses in the nursing station.  The treatment for this individual included both an anti-psychotic medication and a mood stabilizer. 

As a family therapist, I had several sessions with close relatives to fully inform them of her diagnosis and long term treatment recommendations.  Relationships had been damaged as a result of her hyper sexual behavior and her inability to reason with family members.  This manic episode lasted approximately six weeks.  The patient started to show remission of some symptoms after the third day of medication.  She was released from the hospital on day seven.  Today, she may have never been admitted to the hospital and simply given medication and the family charged with watching her 24 hours per day (due to insurance company coverage and tightly managed care).

The long term outcome included three more hospitalizations over the course of about 5 years until the patient lost most of her family support.  She finally began to gain some insight into her illness and decided to stay on medication and attend regular therapy appointments.  She also had to agree to stop abusing alcohol and therefore required treatment for her drinking problem.

I welcome any questions you may have regarding this illness.  I can NOT suggest treatment as a clinical interview and history must be taken before treatment can be recommended.  Please remember that anyone with this diagnosis requires the care of a Psychiatrist.  A psychiatrist has an MD and can prescribe medication.  Therapists may have a doctorate or master's degree.  They can not prescribe medication.  Therapists are most helpful for monitoring the symptoms and providing education and support to the patient and the family.

Cindy Barrow, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Individual and Family Therapist

Swine Flu Shots to Start in Three Weeks as U.S. Cases Spread

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu vaccinations may begin in three weeks, earlier than previously anticipated, after the first U.S. tests found a single shot to be effective in eight to 10 days, U.S. health officials said.

The first shots may be available by the end of this month and administered to patients the first week of October, said Nancy Cox, director of the flu division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Health officials had previously planned for vaccinations to begin in mid-October, requiring two shots administered three weeks apart. Read full story at Bloomberg.

2009 H1N1 Flu: Situation Update

From the CDC 

Click on Fluview image

September 11, 2009, 7:00 PM ET

Key Flu Indicators

Each week CDC analyzes information about influenza disease activity in the United States and publishes findings of key flu indicators in a report called FluView. During the week of August 30-September 5, 2009, a review of the key indictors found that influenza activity increased in the United States compared to the prior weeks. Below is a summary of the most recent key indicators:

• Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) are increasing nationally. Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness are higher than what is expected during this time of year and have increased over the last four weeks.
• Total influenza hospitalization rates for adults and children are similar to or lower than seasonal influenza hospitalization rates depending on age group, but are higher than expected in the summer months.

• The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was low and within the bounds of what is expected in the summer.
• Eleven states (Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee) and Guam are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time. Any reports of widespread influenza activity in August and September are very unusual.
• Almost all of the influenza viruses identified were 2009 H1N1 influenza A viruses. These 2009 H1N1 viruses remain similar to the viruses chosen for the 2009 H1N1 vaccine, and remain susceptible to antiviral drugs (oseltamivir and zanamivir) with rare exception.

CDC: Swine Flue now "widespread in FL"

Florida has passed an unhappy milestone in the H1N1 “swine flu” fight, becoming one of just six states where flu activity is “widespread.” The change can be seen on the map posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can also look at the map for the previous weeks. Below is a copy of the map. Click on it for a full size map.

The previous CDC map had shown Florida with only “regional” flu activity, meaning there were hotspots but they affected fewer than half the state’s regions.

The change in status is no cause for alarm, said Susan Smith, spokeswoman for Florida DOH.

“We’re seeing exactly what we expected to see,” she said. “We attribute that to schools starting back.”

Schools offer the virus a convenient locus for rapid spread. Southern schools begin in August, while other regions typically wait until after Labor Day. In addition to Florida and Puerto Rico, the CDC map shows widespread activity in Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina.

Florida has already reached the top category in the flu watch weeks before a vaccine will be ready, probably in October. Smith said county health departments will distribute it rapidly when it arrives.

“We are prepared,” she said.

Today's DOH update will show 77 Floridians have died from the novel virus, Smith said. More information will be available later today on county, gender and age.

Read the complete story