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How To Get Rid Of Heartburn

Ever had a great day ruined by Heartburn? That burning discomfort in the upper part of your stomach (midline) associated with acid “back-wash”? You may experience heartburn in the lower chest or had it spread right to your throat, leaving an acid taste in your mouth. These tips will show you how to get rid of heartburn!

What you may feel when you have heartburn

A burning pain over your breastbone (main symptom). This is usually worse when you bend over, lie down or after eating
Unpleasant taste in mouth

Heartburn occurs when the muscle ring between your stomach and your food pipe allows your digestive acid to back up into your food pipe (Oesophagus).

Your stomach produces acid to aid food digestion and to eliminate bacteria. Stomach acid is corrosive and your body compensate for this by producing a mucus barrier.

The Stomach Ring (Sphincter) is also designed to remain tightly closed. So, when this Ring is not tightly closed the stomach acid may leak and irritate your food pipe (Oesophagus).

Other possible causes of Heartburn

Pregnancy: As many women will tell you, heartburn is one of the many prices you pay to become a mother!

As many as half of all pregnant women are estimated to have heartburn. This is partly due to hormones, particularly progesterone, which are believed to cause a lowering of the sphincter pressure.

The two primary causes of heartburn in pregnancy include an increase in intra-abdominal pressure. Another cause is incompetence of the lower oesophageal sphincter.

Overweight: Well, just thinking about the size of the abdomen of the gentleman below, I’m sure you can imagine why he might suffer from symptoms of heartburn

Tight clothing : Well, speaking for myself, tight trousers are really just another way fashion designers have devised to punish us! Come on! Who is comfortable in those tight trousers??

Certain foods like french fries and fried foods

Use These Lifestyle Interventions To Prevent & Reduce Heartburn

Avoid or reduce your alcohol consumption

Avoid fatty foods. Also, if you are prone to heartburn very spicy foods may increase your chance of getting more heartburn.

Avoid late meals that are close to your bedtime. Instead, eat smaller food portions, have regular meals and ensure you chew your foods slowly and very well before swallowing.

Eating gentle foods that help digestion should help. Examples are Oatmeal (rich in soluble fibre and is slowly digested); Rice and probiotic foods like some yoghurt or probiotic health supplements (taken every day for at least 28 days).

Stop smoking by trying stop smoking aids. You may want to try to quit smoking with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Try to gradually decrease the number of cigarettes you smoke daily. Until you are ready to quit altogether!

Make lifestyle changes that will help you reduce your body weight, if you feel you need to (get in touch with me if you want me to help you with this!). Check my shop for more lifestyle ideas & products

Raising the head of your bed (20cm/8inches) may help. Using pillows to keep your head raised is a good idea.

A high consumption of coffee can increase your chance of getting heartburn, so decreasing your coffee intake may help.

Some medications can cause heartburn as a side-effect, so confirm from your GP or Pharmacist if you take medicines like NSAIDS (Piroxicam, Indomethacin or Ibuprofen).

6 Things To Watch Out For. Contact Your General Practitioner or Pharmacist If You Experience Them:

If you are 45 years and over and having this pain for the first time, experiencing this very frequently or you get this with increasing frequency

If you have severe pain

If you have heartburn associated with weight loss

Vomiting blood

Difficulty swallowing

Black tarry stools with blood

Thanks for reading my blog. I would like to hear from you, whether with suggestions on how to improve this website or questions you have on this topic.

If you like my posts, sharing them would be much appreciated 🙂

Have a great week and remember to enjoy your life and continue to smile no matter what comes your way this week.

To Your Optimum Health & Well-being,
Cecilia Scheyerle, MPharm

9 Simple Ways You Stop Cystitis Misery!

Cystitis, inflammation of the bladder and urethra, occurs in women and uncommonly in men. Use these 9 simple ways to stop cystitis misery! Cystitis results from bacteria getting into the bladder and growing there. Ever had that unforgettable burning feeling down below?!

You may be at risk of getting cystitis if these conditions apply to you:

have urinary tract infection (UTI)
take certain medicines
exposure to radiation
Use catheter for prolonged period
use irritating hygiene products

You may have cystitis if you have these signs and symptoms

– Pain when urinating, with pain worsening towards the end of you voiding your bladder

– Increasing urgency to pee

– Difficulty peeing and some blood in your urine

– Sudden onset of symptoms, not a long gradual start

If uncomplicated and not due to more serious causes, cystitis will usually clear up fast when you do some of these well-being interventions:

9 Lifestyle Changes You Can Use To Make Life Better With Cystitis

1. Use Alkalinising Agents like Sodium citrate (Cymalon cranberry extract or Canesten Oasis for cystitis) or Potassium citrate, to neutralize the higher acidity of your urine.

2. Increase your fluid intake by drinking about 5L within every 24-hour period. This will help you urinate more and help to flush bacteria out of your bladder.

3. Try drinking cranberry juice

4. Avoid sex until cystitis clears up

5. Avoid alcohol

6. Always clean your bottom using a front to back motion

7. Avoid “holding on” when you feel the urge to use the toilet. Do it!

8.Try urinating immediately after sex as this may prevent/minimize further attacks of cystitis by flushing out bacteria from the urethra

9. Use a hot water bottle for abdominal pain relief

Other Remedies / Book I Have Found Useful In Cystitis Management:

IC Naturally : A natural approach to the treatment of interstitial cystitis, a book by Diana Brady, BA, M.S. This book would be good for the woman who is interested in natural ways to prevent and manage cystitis.

The Patient’s Self Help Book On Cystitis by Angela Kilmartin offers broad information on urinary infections from the acknowledged world self-help expert. It’s been Five star-rated on all chat/forums/review boards.

The Patient’s Encyclopaedia of Urinary Tract Infection has three sections of tips to prevent and treat cystitis.

Cystitis remedies you might want to read about

Other conditions That May Be Associated With Cystitis

diabetes
kidney stones
HIV
enlarged prostate
spinal injuries

Things To Watch Out For – Consult Your Doctor Or Pharmacist

-Talk with your doctor or pharmacist if these symptoms have lasted for 5 to 7 days

-If there is vaginal discharge involved

-If you are over 70 years or if a child or male

-If you also have pain in loin area

-If you also develop a fever, are diabetic, pregnant or have a weak immune system

Feel free to share this post, like it, ask questions and leave comments below!

I appreciate your support and wish you a great week.

If you like this post, please subscribe and get my posts directly in your email.

To Your Optimum Health & Well-being,

Cecilia Scheyerle, MPharm

http://www.apexwellyou.com/

http://www.apexlife.co.uk/

Why You Should Worry And Treat Bleeding Gum. The Start Of Toothache!

Do you have bleeding gum? It’s the start of toothache. Not just one of those annoying things. Worry about it. Better yet, learn to treat your gum disease now!

You are not alone, thinking bleeding gum is harmless, though.

Most people think this is normal. But seriously, it’s not! Even if it’s widespread. Let’s just get that out of the way.

It’s the start of toothache and possibly, more health problems.

Bleeding gum is a major warning sign from your body that your immune system is under heavy attack!

If you ever experience any of these signs:

• Red, swollen gum

• Bleeding gum when brushing or flossing under normal conditions

• Some blood on your toothbrush or floss after brushing or flossing

I will be blunt – you have a developing case of active gum disease, also called gingivitis at this stage.

This means you are starting to develop active gum disease (gingivitis at this stage).

Bleeding gum is not harmless ! This is your major warning sign that the bad bugs that cause gum disease have gained direct access to your blood system.

Not just that. Those little bugs (look below) can enter into your whole body system!

Listen to your bleeding gum – it’s telling you something worth taking fast action to stop!

But bleeding gum is common. A whopping 90% of adults (over 30) experience it. So most people think it’s normal.

9 out of 10 of adults over the age of 30 has gum disease.

They fail to deal with at the initial first sign of gum redness and bleeding before more damage is done.

What’s the mission of these bad bugs (bacteria)?

Their mission is to invade, colonize and devour the gum and bone tissue in your mouth! No less!

AND, wait for it…… they also contribute to the development of other diseases including diabetes, heart disease and cancer!

It’s more than bad breath and rotting teeth. This can affect your whole health and well-being!

Check these other oral health conditions out. Consider getting help if you suffer from any of them.

Have a great week. Don’t forget to get in touch with your questions and suggestions.

To your health & and optimum well-being!

How Wealthy Are You? You Are Really Stinking Rich!

How wealthy are you really? What is true wealth and how do we create it? You are really stinking rich!! Let’s look at your life and health!

Consider this – as a healthy person, you can embark on attaining goals you set for yourself. Your goals may be small but they are life-enriching for you and your loved ones.

Possibilities abound when in good health! you can set out to do small but life-enriching things. Or you can achieve great things – scale mountains…enrich lives…earn lots of money…support yourself and your family.

You can set out to do small but life-enriching things. Or you can achieve great things – scale mountains…enrich lives…earn lots of money…support yourself and your family.

When in good health, you can do whatever you set your heart to do. The world is your oyster and you can reach for the stars. If you believe, that is.

However, when and if you are not healthy, whatever greatness you have will not be seen, felt or heard of as it will not come to light at all or manifest at optimum capacity.

Your brilliant mind, your boundless energy, creative ingenuity and capacity to enrich yourself as well as other lives will be thwarted.

Sometimes all it takes is a visit to a local hospital to remind you of all the things you take for granted! Try it one day!

We tend to treat money as the wealth we have to pursue at all cost.

Here is a plan that some of us have – when we are rich, that is, after we have amassed enough money that we think will make us wealthy, then we will have time to concentrate on our health and well-being!

The art of happiness is more than amassing money!

We forget that none of us knows what tomorrows has in store for us! Moreover, whatever you are doing to your health now will always count! Your health keeps count of everything you are subjecting it to – good or bad!

Your health & well-being success is the sum of your daily efforts. Repeated. Day in and day out!

If you treat your health well, it will serve you well. So, remember that your health is your wealth, your true wealth as Mahatma Gandhi famously quoted.

Your health is an asset to be nurtured – on a long-term basis. lovingly managed like any other asset to ensure a good, safe and happy life.

Happiness is a choice!

Lovingly managed like any other asset to ensure you can enjoy a good, healthy and happy life.

Do you agree that true wealth is more than what you own?

Depression – Why Your Milk Of Human Kindness Is Needed. Not Stigma!

This day and age depression is still associated with much stigma. But no one gets it by choice, design or because of personal weakness.

You don’t get depression by choice!

No one who has been affected by this debilitating mental health condition chose to get it!

This is quite a sad thing, really. Considering that it’s a medical condition, like any other. No one would think less of someone just because they had a fall – except, of course, that happened as a result of drunkenness!

Again, no one looks down on a person with migraine, a broken leg or Type 1 diabetes.

So, why is it that when someone has depression so much negativity is associated with it?

So much negativity that it’s a triumph for them to admit, even to themselves, that they have depression.

Let’s show more understanding instead of stigmatising people who suffer from this condition. Show more tolerance and understanding. This way they can admit it to themselves that they have a medical condition. And get help when they do.

And get the help they need, for themselves and their families.

Especially children who won’t understand why mum or dad is unhappy .

Everyone would like to be happy! Or not??

But for someone going through depression, it’s not a case of “happiness is a choice! Be happy”!

Partly due to the stigma and misunderstanding attached to depression, sufferers often deny they have a problem.

In fact, when someone can admit to the fact that they have got depression, they have won half of the fight!!

Here are some Depression Aids I find helpful. The more we understand this condition, the more we are able to help ourselves and others suffering from it:

As a health professional and a mother, I believe that a healthy lifestyle is a cure all! Or almost! So, I really like Stephen Ilardi’s program on beating depression.

This program focuses on lifestyle and practical ways to help you reclaim six ancient lifestyle elements that can improve or eradicate depression:

The 6 Steps Program To Beat Depression

Underneath The Lemon Tree – A Memoir On Depression

I would love to hear about your opinions regarding depression. Have you, or anyone you know, got some experience you would like to share?

Please get in touch. The more we talk about depression the better it will get for the eight to ten percent of the population who suffer from this debilitating condition in any given year.

To Your Optimum Health & Well-being!

Cecilia Scheyerle, MPharm

7 Lies We Tell Ourselves To Make Depression More Powerful

Depression is invisible. But real and can have devastating consequences. Check these popular myths about it. Read why it’s not by personal choice, design or weakness.

Some of us may have had these thoughts, or even spoken them aloud, at some point in time: depression is a myth!

Do you think like this – Other people get depression, not people like us?

Or this – depression is just a condition lazy people invent to excuse their laziness.

Here are some other popular myths about depression – real men don’t get depression; I am a busy woman and I have no time to be depressed; depression is a condition

– Real men don’t get depression

– I’m a busy woman and I have no time to be depressed

– Depression is a condition hypochondriacs develop when they run out of medical conditions to complain about

– I’m too strong to be depressed

– I wouldn’t be depressed if everyone else would just leave me alone

However, depression doesn’t happen by choice or design! Nobody chooses to get depression.

But how they choose to deal with it may be a matter of choice.

Depression has no respect for a person’s status. Anyone can develop it – rich, poor, old, young, executive, teenager, man or woman.

It can happen to anyone, at any time, slowly or over time. It can hit you hard when you least expect it.

Real, strong men can not get depression. Yes, they can, and they do!

In fact, if you think like this, you are more liable to suffer more from depression – you remain in denial longer. You cause more emotional harm to yourself and your loved ones, and you would be more liable to lose your job!

Now to the people who often think they have to be strong towers – women. They may think they have no time to be ill.

They are too busy – they have to run the family, take care of all the people they love, run businesses and ensure their careers are upwardly mobile, always!!

Who else is going to do all these things we alone as women can do??

Yes, women have to make time to take care of ourselves, too.

Otherwise, there may no one and nothing left for us to care for!

The fact that we cannot see the physical signs and symptoms of depression does not make it less real.

Depression does not develop because you are weak. It’s not a matter of lack of strength on your part.

If you fall down and break a leg, do you regard this as a lack of strength on your part? Or does someone get cancer because they are weak?

You don’t get depression because you are too weak to overcome the obstacles of life and flourish!

You do not get depression because you are a weak person. It’s not a matter of emotional strength or weakness!!

Another myth is believing that the depression we are experiencing would cease to be if everyone would just leave us in total peace.

Absolute peace and quiet. From our children, our partners, colleagues, neighbours and bosses.Since that is never going to happen, we will have to confront depression from another angle- treat it as a condition it is and not just the fault of everyone in our lives.

This is never going to happen. No one is an Island!we will have to confront depression from another angle- treat it as a condition it is and not just the fault of everyone in our lives.

We have to confront depression from another angle- treat it as the condition it is. Not just the fault of everyone else in our lives!

Take it that you need some intervention. You need some help, just like everyone else, at some point in life. Period!

You know, it’s possible to have outer quiet and still suffer from inner turmoil. Especially when you realise you need help. But remain in denial.

Let’s give a helping hand and treat depression as the medical condition it is. Not something weak people develop; not a condition that happens by choice or weakness; not something hypochondriacs get when they run out of conditions to suffer from; not for a certain age or class of persons. It can happen to anyone!

1 Way To Know How Wealthy You Are!

You can only achieve your best when you are in best health. So, how wealthy do you consider yourself to be when you are healthy? Poor or rich?

Consider this, only when you have good health and well-being can you achieve all those great things you want – scale mountains, get to the top of your profession. Have boundless energy. Do whatever you set your heart to do.

Continue reading “1 Way To Know How Wealthy You Are!”

How To Get Rid Of Constipation Using 7 Healthy Lifestyle Tips!

Ever wondered how to get rid of constipation? Feel like trying natural ways to improve it? Using these 7 simple & natural healthy lifestyle tips helps. Improve your well-being by knowing the different types and causes!

When can you class yourself as being constipated? According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney diseases, this is different for different people!

What’s normal for you may be abnormal for another. It’s normal for some people to “go” up to three times a day while for others once every three days is normal. Read more

Going to the toilet can be a relaxing time when constipation is not involved!

It is defined as a reduction in a person’s normal bowel movement, followed by more difficult bowel movements/ and or hard stools.

It’s normal for some people to defecate up to three times a day while for others defecating once every three days is normal.
Who does constipation affect? Everyone! It’s common to all age groups, especially the elderly, where an estimated 25 % to 40% of people over the age of 65 have it.

Causes of constipation include any metabolic process that facilitates water resorption from the colon, including:

Some medicines: medicines known to cause constipation include:

-Antacids for heartburn/dyspepsia – aluminium and calcium salts

-Iron

-Anti-depressants

-Beta-blockers

-Calcium channel blockers

Lifestyle changes can affect you and result in physiological conditions like depression, which can manifest as constipation.

These include job changes, divorce, separation or other relationship changes.

Poor nutrition

Sedentary lifestyle

Chronic illness

Decreased fluid intake

Pregnancy

(Image above is courtesy of www.beyondessential.com)

Constipation in pregnancy is due to a combination of increased circulating progestogen, displacement of the uterus against the colon by the baby, decreased mobility and the use of iron supplements in pregnancy.

Pregnancy is a common cause of constipation, as many women know!
Bump To Birth, the eBook above by Lleanon Rao is a guide of holistic remedies for common pregnancy ailments and natural childbirth.

Also, if pregnant and you suffer from constipation, even after taking the steps above, you may want to try natural ways you can alleviate constipation

And/or consider speaking with your health care practitioner!
Fight Constipation – Use Healthy Lifestyle Methods!

Drink water!!

Increase your fluid intake by consciously monitoring how much you drink daily!

Get an attractive water bottle! I did this and discovered that what I thought I was drinking and actually drinking were two different things.

But since getting my water bottle, I have found it easier to increase the amount of water I drink by preparing and setting aside the bottles of water I want to drink on a daily basis.

This way, I can monitor the volume of water I actually get to drink daily.

So How Much Fluid Do You Need Daily??

This has been calculated as the amount of fluid your body needs to function properly and replenish what you lose daily through perspiration, urine and bowel movement, as well as through your breath.

Adequate fluid intake for men is about 3L and for women roughly 2.2L.
Read more about your daily water requirements for healthy life
Other Sources of fluid include watermelon, spinach and other fruits and vegetables.

Drink tea!!

There are varieties of teas to choose from and you are likely to find the tea you like, as long as they hydrate you and not the dehydrating types!

Personally, I prefer the organically grown teas, especially organic green teas.

They contain no sugar, additives, pesticides and other unhealthy substances.

Try Nature’s Own Organic Coconut Oil

Find out the reasons organic coconut oil is being hailed as a “superfood”!

For centuries coconut oil has been used by people who were not associated with diabetes, heart disease and cancers.

Not All Fats Are Bad For You!!

Find out why all fats are not equal. Some fats are good for you and others are to be avoided!

Get to know the healthy fats to eat to be healthy and remain healthy and the ones to avoid to keep heart diseases, diabetes, cancer and a host of other diseases at bay!

I used this E-book by Jake Carney (Founder, The Alternative Daily). It outlines 9 reasons to use coconut oil daily. Buy now

Empower Yourself! Learn Other Wellness Steps To Stop Constipation

I found the eBook, Nature’s Quick Constipation Cure by Dr. Scott McLeod good. It is an all natural step by step plan to cure your constipation and learn natural techniques to prevent constipation. Buy now

While some of the methods may require some time to be effective, you will gain long-term benefits when you use them.

Eat Probiotics Daily!

Probiotics are essential, living bacteria and yeasts that contribute to our health and well-being, especially our digestive system.

They are “the good bacteria” that keep our guts healthy.

You can find them in some yogurts and health supplements.

Here are some resources for probiotic supplements:

Garden of Life Raw Organic Protein

Klaire Labs

Probiotic Premium

Mother’s Select Probiotics

Wholeness Therapeutics Premium Blend

Prebiotics has good health benefits for everyone, including babies. Read more about a study published on prebiotics.

Eat Your Fruits And Vegetables!

I’m sure you have heard this countless times – eat lots of fruits and vegetables, five to seven portions a day!

Know how you can get optimum health and well-being, delay ageing by improving what you know about fruits and vegetables and the way you use them!

This eBook from Yulia Berry Pharmacy In Vegetables teaches you how to use the science of the health benefits of vegetables. Buy ebook

You need them to be healthy. More than that, you need them for optimum well-being. Also, to keep your digestive system functioning properly while preventing constipation.

Also, to keep your digestive system functioning properly while preventing constipation.
You can also supplement your diet with good organic health supplements.

However, I’m sure you know this already, the best thing to do is to ensure that you consume your daily recommended portions of fruits and vegetables.

But, living the hectic life common to the developed parts of the world makes this challenging!

Just ensure you get good quality, organic health supplements, if you do decide to use them!

So, if you ever wondered how to get did of constipation using 7 healthy lifestyle tips, try these methods!!

How To Know You Need More Help Against Constipation

However, you may need more help if you are taking all these wellness steps below and you still suffer from constipation:
– You drink lots of fluids daily

– You eat your recommended portions of fruits and vegetables daily

-You are not taking any medicines that predispose you to constipation (ask your pharmacist if unsure)

– You are having regular, balanced meals daily

– You are having regular exercises

Bottomline: If you are taking all these healthy lifestyle steps, regularly and you are still suffering from frequent bouts of constipation, consider speaking with your health care practitioner.

According to a study published in The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, constipation can have intrinsic and extrinsic causes.

Moreover, there is a difference between occasional bouts of constipation and chronic constipation.

If you want lasting improvement, both types need different management . Read more about this study

If you like this post, please don’t forget to comment and share!

Get in touch with questions or ideas regarding this topic, or any other you would like to see here.

To your optimum well-being,

Cecilia Scheyerle, MPharm

Some references I used

http://www.jabfm.org/content/24/4/436.full

http://- http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/digestive-diseases/constipation/Pages/definition-facts.aspx

http://www.aboutconstipation.org/site/symptoms/colonic-inertia

Feel Like Giving Up? Not An Option! Keep Going!

Feel like giving up? Not an option! How else can you say “I did all I could”?! When the going gets tough, the tough gets going! Yes, trying times come, when nothing in life seems to be going right. Keep going!

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, whatever happens, you can honestly say – “I did all I could do”. I gave that challenge all I had in me to give”! So, giving up is not an option.

You think nothing is going as you planned. Though you spent years planning your life – just the way you wanted it.

Things are not the way you have planned for. You planned so well, didn’t you? You worked damned hard too. Just to make sure you have what you want from life. You invested your time. You invested good money you could have used to enjoy yourself.

When your mates were out enjoying themselves, you slogged it out, working hard. You made sacrifices. You had a plan.

But now, when you think you should be reaping the fruits of your labors- taking things easy – you still have to work hard!

Are you to give up now? What’s the point? Why not just give up the fight and succumb? Admit it – life has defeated you!

You are tired of trying to make it in life. Tired of trying so hard to become the person you know you should be.

Maybe you are stuck, doing the job that you hate. Are you stuck in the marriage that is making you miserable and unhappy, more and more?

You may be tired of trying so hard to raise kids who are unappreciative of you. They don’t see all the sacrifices you are making so that they can have the life they have. They even act like they hate you sometimes! But they don’t!

Know what? Keep reaching for your dreams. Giving up is for losers and you are not a loser. You have inner strength. You are strong. You are can get to that place where you want to be. Keep your natural goodness.

Keep your hope up. Even when circumstances try to make you think you have no hope. You do.

You have a purpose on earth.You have been created for a reason. There is no vacuum in life. And no one is just here on earth for no reason. Your life has a purpose. Even if you think otherwise. Every step, every effort counts.

Set your mind on your goal. Make up your mind – keep working towards your goal. Keep working hard at that job. Do all you can to make that marriage work.

Keep loving your children loving your children – even when you think they don’t deserve it. Even when they act like they don’t care. They do!

Keep hard at that business idea. Give it all you can.

At the end of the day, life is a race. It’s a race that will work out differently for each and every one of us.

But one thing is for sure – this race will end one day. Nobody knows when their race will end. When you get to the end will you think you gave this race all you had to offer?

How are you running this life race with you have been given?

At the end of the day, it’s going to be the only thing that matters. Not how rich you became. Not how successful you were in your career, business or raising your children.

It will be – how well did you run your race? Did you get to your destiny? Did you become the person you were meant to be? Did you fulfill your destiny? Will you feel you tried your best?

So, keep doing your best – give life your all. Whatever you have to do, do your best. Do what you feel is right. Do what you think is right.

It’s all you can do! At the end of the day, it’s your race! And no one else’s.

Depression. Why Can’t Some People Be Happy Like Normal Humans?!

Since depression is a condition that does not display obvious signs we can see easily, some of us have developed myths about it. Myths and negative feelings that ensure that much stigma is still attached to this condition.

Do you belong to the group of persons who have this thought – other weak people get depression – not people like us. Or even told someone who is really depressed, “get hold of yourself. There is nothing like depression. Live in the real world like the rest of us, lazy git!”?

No wonder people with depression get so little understanding and often struggle with accepting the fact that they have the condition themselves!

Here are some other myths people are spreading about depression

Real men don’t get depression
I am a busy woman and I have no time to be depressed
Depression is a condition hypochondriacs develop when they run out of medical conditions to complain about
I am too strong to be depressed
I will not have depression if everyone would just leave me alone

Depression has no respect for a person’s status. Anyone can develop it – rich, poor, old, young, executive, teenager, man or woman. It can happen to anyone, at any time. It can slowly creep up on you over time. Or hit you hard when you least expect it.

Real, strong men cannot get depression.

Yes, they can, and they do!

In fact if you think like this, you are more liable to suffer more from depression – you remain in denial longer. You cause more emotional harm to yourself and your loved ones. And, you are more liable to lose your job. http://5ac8fhvxtia23t86nbr3y6m-2u.hop.clickbank.net/?s=qr&tid=

I am the woman and I must remain strong!

Now as women, we often feel that we have no time to be ill. We are too busy – we have to run the family, maintain social contacts with friends and take care of all the people we love.

We run our businesses and make many sacrifices to ensure our careers are upwardly mobile. Who is taking care of us??

Who else is going to juggle all these areas of life, like women alone can?!

As women, we should make time to take care of ourselves. Otherwise, there may no one and nothing left for us to care for.Yes, lots of women often feel this way. They are so busy taking care of everybody else in their lives. Just not themselves!

Here’s my experience on this – My children talking to me when I drag myself around with flu when I really ought to be in bed. “Mom, stop moaning that you are ill. You are not! If you really are ill, lie down or sit down!”

The fact that we cannot see the physical signs and symptoms of depression does not make it any less real.

Depression is for weak people

As for depression being solely as a result of strength – if you fall down and break a leg, do you regard this as a lack of strength on your part? Or does someone get cancer because they are weak?

You do not get depression because you are a weak person.

I am not depressed, I just need absolute peace

Another myth is believing that the depression we are experiencing would cease to be if everyone would just leave us in total peace.

Do you feel you need to be in an island all by yourself? Lots of us would love this too. At least, sometimes! But it’s the regularity of needing this, not wanting it, that makes a huge difference!

Absolute peace and quiet. From – children, partners, colleagues, neighbors and bosses. It’s difficult, if not downright impossible to have that amount of peace and quiet! For more than a few days!

So, how about you confront depression as what it is. From another angle – treat it as the medical condition it is and not just as the fault of everyone else in your life! Although, on the light side, living with very negative people would be enough to make anyone depressed!

It’s possible to have outer quiet and still suffer from inner turmoil.

If you know of other myths and misconceptions around depression,please get in touch, dear people!

Do get in touch with your experiences, comments and questions here. I would really appreciate it!

To your Optimum Health & Well-being,

Cecilia Scheyerle, MPharm