Hey guys, so it’s been a while since I last posted a blog. The main reason why I haven’t posted is because I wasn’t motivated to write anything. However, I had a sudden burst of motivation so I decided to take advantage of it and write something.
This week I had my CPA which is basically a review with my doctor and support worker to see how things are going and if any adjustments need to be made to my care plan. The review went quite well as my care support worker said that my progress is good and she doesn’t have any concerns.
Also, the doctor’s attitude changed from our previous meeting. In the previous meeting, he had suggested increasing my dosage of my antipsychotic medication. But, in this meeting, he only talked about staying on the dosage I am currently on.
In the meeting. I raised my concerns about the medication as I have put on a significant amount of weight since taking it and I came up as overweight on the BMI calculator. A few people told me that BMI isn’t the best determiner of what is a healthy weight. Nevertheless, the fact still remains that I have put on a significant amount of weight.
The doctor suggested that I try another antipsychotic which is apparently weight neutral but I wasn’t comfortable with the idea since I had already changed medicine before. Moreover, I didn’t want to try something that may have other side effects that are worse than what I was experiencing.
In theory, it sounds logical to try out a different medication and see if it stops the weight gain, however, it is another thing actually taking the medicine and hoping that nothing goes wrong. I don’t want my body to go through anything that may have long lasting effects on it.
This period of being mindful of my mental health and physical health has made me realise the importance of understanding that my body is “the temple of God”, as Paul tells the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 6:19). Paul goes on to say that our bodies are not our own, and we should honour God with our bodies.
To me, this means that although my body is frail and carnal, my body is valuable. It is valuable because Christ bought it with a price and He claims it as His. Christ did not just do this for selfish purposes, but because He is the way, the truth, and the life, and by Him dwelling in our bodies, we are enabled to have life abundantly.
So, He wants us to do things to our bodies that promotes longevity of life and to ultimately have a holistic healthy lifestyle.
From my experience with a psychosis, I have become more aware of nourishing my body physically, spiritually, and mentally.
Before I fell ill, I didn’t have any real desire to be physically fit. I had a gym membership but I barely went to the gym. Now I try to go to the gym three times a week and exercise for at least 45 minutes, maximum 2 hours. It has been something that I have started to enjoy as I feel like it helps me physically and mentally. It helps me take my mind off things and focus on achieving my fitness goals.
I’ve also been watching what I eat. I’ll admit I only started taking it seriously when I found out that I was overweight on the BMI calculator. However, it is something that I’ve realised is essential if you want to control your weight and reduce your risk of getting various diseases. I will attach a link below to a youtube video that I found very informative and interesting with regards to health and the links to diseases.
Spiritually, I have realised the necessity of God being my source of strength and daily seeking Him and having an authentic relationship with Him. I definitely think I can still make more time for God but when I compare my walk with God now to how my walk with God was before, I have definitely come a long way.
The verse that comes to my mind is Hosea 4:6 where God says through the prophet, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” and that was definitely the state I was in before having my first psychotic episode. I thank God for giving me time to get acquainted with Him and really dig deep into some of the truths in the bible that I had heard others talk about but never really studied for myself.
Finally, I have been able to become more aware of my mental well being as I have been able to recognise some of my triggers and some areas of my mental health that I was neglecting. One of the big ones was sleep. I am still working with that one, but my sleeping pattern definitely improved in the past 6 months and I have been getting enough hours of sleep.
Another area that I am working on is assertiveness. Before I fell ill, I was taking on too many responsibilities because I didn’t know how to say the word “no”. That is a word that I am trying to become more acquainted with and use more frequently.
Apart from the situation with the weight gain, I am happy with the way things are going as I feel like this psychosis has enabled me to reflect on areas of my life which I had neglected and now I am able to learn how to nurture and take care of my body as I am not my own, I belong to the Lord.
Comments