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The Links Between Mental Health and Physical Health
So many of my patients who suffer from migraines will also have a mental health diagnosis, i.e. depression, anxiety, PTSD, BiPolar, etc. Also, when patients come into the hospital with suspicion of stroke, I will ask if they have been under stress lately and 100% of the time I get a resounding Yes. This yes…
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When the Provider Becomes the Patient
It has been a rough month. This is in regards to my health. I started to have abdominal pain one day at work. I knew immediately that it was my gallbladder (based on where the pain was located). The thing is that sometimes you have to play the healthcare game and I knew this. The…
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How Does a Person With Anxiety/Depression Handle Good Times?
This is tough. We live our lives prepared for the worst situations. Sometimes it seems like we drown in terrible situations, but sometimes we kind of thrive. What happens to our bodies when everything is going well? How does our body adapt when family is behaving, work is thriving, and we are happy? Even better,…
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My Thoughts on New PTSD Treatment Studies
New studies are being done on specific drugs (MDMA and psilocybin, the active ingredient in mushrooms). We have not gone back to the 70s, we are just learning more about how they can make people feel safe and open. In recent years, large universities have gotten special permission to do research on these drugs and…
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Healing and Friendships
Real friendships are worth more than gold. If you can rely on your true friends during tough times, then you have hit the jackpot. Never let those friends go. The great thing about those friends is that they are also amazing work relationships that you get to tap into for free. Let me elaborate. There…
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Finding the Right Team
Sometimes it can be so frustrating to find the right team. It does take a team of people though. At a minimum, you need someone to prescribe medications and a talk therapist. You may need more beyond that. You may strike out a time or two. I cannot tell you how many therapists I have…
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How Trauma Can Silence Us
My trauma caused a lot of damage to my psyche. I learned worthlessness, that my voice does not matter, that I do not matter. It took me many years to realize the depths of this. It also took me many years to figure out that it was not true. I cannot remember this ever actually…
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The Year of the Horse
I learned last week that this is the year of the horse. To really appreciate this, you have to know that 2025 was the year of the snake. Last year was a year of shedding. I don’t know about you, but I did a lot of shedding. I learned a lot about why I am…
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Navigating Holidays After Family Abuse
The abuse already happened. There was already a victim and an abuser. That should be the end of it, right? It is not so simple when this occurs inside of a family system, even if it was not inside of the nuclear system. Holidays are seen as a joyous time. This is not necessarily the…
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How EMDR Helped Me
I had a miscarriage at 18 years old. This was something that I held a lot of guild over for many years. I was 17 weeks along. I labored, at home from Sunday to Thursday, to give birth on a toilet, and flush a fetus with never looking back. I was alone at the end.…