Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired

Two years ago I was diagnosed with what I thought was a joke. I brushed it off and continued as if everything was fine. Now, as I write this all I can think is that I wish I would have listened. While others may do the same, I plead to you on re-thinking it. After my brother was murdered I constantly got sick. everyone was very worried about me and when I told the doctor my symptoms he told me something that made me laugh. I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, better known as Depression.

 "Although there is no blood test to diagnose depression, there are well-developed guidelines used by health care professionals to diagnose major depressive disorder. One of these guidelines, developed by the American Psychiatric Association, is called the DSM-IV^®. Your health care professional may ask you questions based on this established diagnostic tool.


According to the DSM-IV, major depressive disorder (or "depression") is diagnosed when five or more of the following symptoms of depression are present for most of the day, nearly every day for at least 2 weeks. At least one of the symptoms must be either persistent sad or "empty" feelings or loss of interest in activities.





A Sad Sunflower

• Constant sadness
• Irritability
• Hopelessness
• Trouble sleeping
• Low energy or fatigue
• Feeling worthless or guilty for no reason
• Difficulty concentrating
• Loss of interest in favorite activities



Be sure to tell your health care professional if you're experiencing any of these symptoms as described by the DSM-IV. Also, tell your health care professional if your symptoms are affecting your ability to function at home, at work, or with family, friends, or colleagues." [1] As time went on I realized this was an actual disease. I read all the pamphlets and online information but it never seemed real. I gradually got worse and worse, to the point of attempted suicide. I honestly cannot stress this fact to the world.

 Depression is Real.



Depression is a disease that can be successfully treated. There are a variety of ways to treat depression, including prescription medication and psychotherapy. Everyone is different and some people may use natural remedies such as herbal therapy. Only a health care professional can determine the appropriate option to treat your depression. Many people are able to take medication that will balance their Serotonin's and  Norepinephrine levels in their brain. These two neurotransmitters regulate mood and behavior. In other cases, such as mine, more treatment is needed. Psychotherapy (sounds great right?) is a type of "talk therapy" [2] that evaluates your moods and negative way of thinking. A trained therapist will help you to re arrange your self and way of thought, and yes, Therapists have that power.

It is very important that our growing society is informed of this illness. More and more Americans are plagued with this diesease each day and it is such a horrible diesease.

Citation:

[2] Pifizer, . (2010). Learnin about depression. Retrieved from http://www.pristiq.com/depression_treatment.aspx

[1] Pifizer, Initials. (2010). Learnin about depression. Retrieved from http://www.pristiq.com/depression_symptoms.aspx



bUNNEY

As Halloween approaches, you’ll be hit from all sides with tales of ghosts, witches, vampires, monsters, and other assorted scary icons. But none can be more terrifying than bunny rabbits!

1. Gargoyle Rabbit

This terrifying gargoyle is known as the Vampire Rabbit of Newcastle. He perches above a solicitor’s office behind St. Nicholas’ Cathedral in Newcastle, England. No one knows why he is there, or what makes him glare with such evil. Image by Leo Reynolds.

2. Giant Mutant Rabbits

The 1972 film Night of the Lepus is the definitive monster bunny movie. Plagued by too many rabbits, a community turns to scientists who experiment on the rabbits to keep them from reproducing. An escaped rabbit reproduces anyway, and the results are huge carnivorous mutants that eat anything in their way, including humans!

3. Were-Rabbit

In the 2005 claymation film Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, a mysterious nocturnal rabbit is raiding a community’s vegetable gardens, threatening the annual vegetable contest. It turns out that the hero of the story is suffering from a curse (brought on by his own machinery) that causes him to turn into a giant rabbit when he is exposed to moonlight!

4. Vampire Rabbit

Bunnicula, the Vampire Rabbit was a 1982 animated ABC Weekend Special based on a series of children’s books by James Howe. Bunnicula was a family pet who sucked the juices out of vegetables. Not all that frightening in reality -unless you’re a vegetable. Nevertheless, Bunnicula can sprout bat wings, fly, and move things with the power of his mind.

5. Killer Rabbit

The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog guards the entrance to the cave of Caerbannog in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Yes, he may look like a innocent little fluffball, but he can bite your head off before you even realize it, as he did Bors, Gawain, and Ector in the movie. Run away! Run away! The Killer Rabbit also appears in the musical Spamalot. You can purchase a Killer Rabbit here.

6. Imaginary Rabbit

Evil rabbits can even invade our thoughts! The 2001 movie Donnie Darko left many with nightmares of imaginary human-size rabbits, and not the benign imaginary friend we met in the movie Harvey. The apparition of a 6-foot rabbit named Frank saves Donnie Darko’s life and tells him the world will end in 28 days. Frank incites Donnie into committing criminal acts -and why not, if the world is going to end anyway?

7. Versatile Rabbits

Bunnies can portray any evil character, as they demonstrate in the 30-second Bunnies Theater. See bunnies perform in Alien, The Shining, Freddie vs. Jason, Night of the LIving Dead, Saw, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (as well as non-scary films) at Angry Alien.

8. Swamp Rabbit

Not all killer rabbits are fictional. In April of 1979, president Jimmy Carter was fishing near his home in Plains, Georgia when he was attacked by a swamp rabbit! The rabbit swam toward the president’s boat and tried to board. Carter had to fend it off with an oar. Press secretary Jody Powell is quoted from his 1986 book The Other Side of the Story:

The animal was clearly in distress, or perhaps berserk. The President confessed to having had limited experience with enraged rabbits. He was unable to reach a definite conclusion about its state of mind. What was obvious, however, was that this large, wet animal, making strange hissing noises and gnashing its teeth, was intent upon climbing into the Presidential boat.

After some objected that rabbits can’t swim, a picture of the incident was produced, clearly showing the rabbit swimming. The rabbit’s political affiliation is still unknown.
Obviously, bunny rabbits are out to get us. Beware!

Mwahahahahhahahahhaha

Vampires come in all shapes and forms, and they are certainly more numerous (at least at parties) near Halloween! Here’s a look at some pop culture vampires.

Vlad Tepes III, also known as Vlad Dracula or Vlad the Impaler, was the prince of Wallachia (a region of Romania) in the 15th century. Although he was a cruel leader, having tortured and killed thousands of his own citizens, he was never considered a vampire. He was the inspiration for the Bram Stoker character Dracula because of the name, which means “son of Dracul”. His father, Vlad Tepes II took the name Dracul as a member of the Order of the Dragon. Because of this inspiration, he is an “honorary” pop culture vampire.

The 1922 film Nosferatu was the first widely-seen movie based on the the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. However, it was not an authorized adaptation, so the names were changed. “Nosferatu” is supposedly a Romanian word for vampire, but the origin of the word is in doubt. Max Schrek played the title character, called Count Orlok, as a repulsive and terrifying creature. The film is in the public domain, and available on the internet.

But we’re just getting started! Lots more vampires, after the jump.

Count Dracula is the best known vampire of all. He was the subject of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, and set the stage for all other vampire tales that followed. The first authorized movie featuring the chracter was Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi in 1931. He was also played by Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Christopher Lee, Frank Langella, Louis Jourdan, Klaus Kinski, Gary Oldman, and Marc Warren in later movies. Lugosi’s portrayal of Dracula as a charming and erudite aristocrat is still the archtype for the character.

The character Vampira was born when actress Maila Nurmi wore a Halloween costume modeled on a Charles Addams character (later named Morticia Addams) to a party. Nurmi was hired to host horror movies on KABC-TV in 1954. A year later, she took the show to KHJ-TV. Vampira became a local hit, then a nationwide cult celebrity. She appeared in several movies, most notably in Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space. Nurmi now runs the website Vampira’s Attic.

Barnabas Collins was the most popular character on the ABC soap opera Dark Shadows, which aired from 1966 to 1971 (also remade in 1991). The gothic series began with no supernatural elements. The vampire Barnabas Collins (played by Jonathon Frid) debuted in the second season and made the show a hit. You can see an extensive history of the character at CollinWiki. A new feature film based on Dark Shadows is in development, in which Johnny Depp will play Barnabas Collins.

Count Chocula showed up in cereal aisles in 1971. He took the vampire back to what Halloween is really all about -sugar overload! The character craved chocolate instead of blood. Count Chocula, along with Frankenberry, were the first of General Mills’ series of monster-themed cold cereals. Count Chocula has had some fame outside of the breakfast table, including a press conference related at The Onion.

Blacula was the lead character in two “blaxploitation” films, Blacula in 1972 and Scream, Blacula, Scream in 1973. Mamuwalde, played by William Marshall, was an African prince bitten by Dracula and doomed to be a vampire (it was Count Dracula who named him Blacula). The movies are now cult classics and available on DVD.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark was a character played by Cassandra Peterson. She gained fame as the host of the weekly Movie Macabre on KHJ-TV in Los Angeles in the 1980s, a job turned down by Maila Nurmi. Elvira went on to guest star on TV shows, appeared in several movies, hosted a video series, and was the celebrity Halloween spokesperson for Coors beer.

Sesame Street’s Count von Count taught Gen X how to count, with a weird vampire laugh thrown in with every success. He doesn’t suck blood or stay inside all day, but like other vampires he isn’t reflected in a mirror. He lives in a castle and counts bats, as well as anything else he encounters. Ah-ha-ha-ha!

Lestat de Lioncourt is the main character in Anne Rice’s series of novels called The Vampire Chronicles. Tom Cruise played the part in the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire. Stuart Townsend played Lestat in the 2002 film The Queen of the Damned.

Vampire Bats are the only real vampires here. There are a thousand species of bats, but only the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) drinks the blood of other mammals to live. They are native to Latin America, only about four inches long, and feed mostly from livestock. If a vampire bat doesn’t find food one night, it may ask a close relative or friend for some regurgutated blood to survive!

Vampire fans and movie buffs will also want to check out the list of The Top 70 Vampire Movies of all Time. Which vampire is your favorite?

Science: meet Vampire!

One dark and stormy evening (hahahahahaha) Spanish neurologist Juan Gomez-Alonso was watching a vampire movie when he realized something strange; he noticed that vampires behave an awful lot like people with rabies. The virus attacks the central nervous system, altering the moods and behaviors of those infected. Sufferers become agitated and demented, and, much like vampires, their moods can turn violent.

Rabies has several more vampire-like symptoms. It can cause insomnia, which explains the nocturnal portion of the legend. People with rabies also suffer from muscular spasms, which can lead them to spit up blood. What’s stunning is the fact that these spasms are triggered by bright lights, water, mirrors, and strong smells, such as the scent of garlic. (Sound familiar?) After watching the Dracula movies a few more times, Dr. Gomez-Alonso felt compelled to continue studying vampire folklore and the medical history of rabies. Eventually, he discovered an even more profound connection between the two phenomena: Vampire stories became prominent in Europe at exactly the same time certain areas were experiencing rabies outbreaks. This was particularly true in Hungary between 1721 and 1728, when an epidemic plagued dogs, wolves, and humans and left the country in ruins. Gomez-Alonso theorized that rabies actually inspired the vampire legend, and his research was published by the distinguished medical journal Neurology in 1998.

The Madness of King George
Dr. Gomez-Alonso wasn’t the first scientist who tried to pin vampirism to a real illness. In 1985, Canadian biochemist David Dolphin proposed a link between vampires and porphyria—a rare, chronic blood disorder characterized by the irregular production of heme, an iron-rich pigment found in blood. The disorder can cause seizures, trances, and hallucinations that last for days or weeks.

As a result, people with porphyria often go insane. (Britain’s King George III, the one who inspired our founding fathers to start their own country, is thought to have suffered from it.) Porphyria sufferers also experience extreme sensitivity to light, suffering blisters and burns when their skin is exposed to the sun. Another symptom of porphyria is an intolerance to sulfur in foods. Which food contains
a lot of sulfur? That’s right, garlic!

Sacrilege

I'm never gonna understand this.
I'm never gonna let it be.
I just can't understand this aged plan,
It's obsolete.

How can you recognize and cherish
hysteric fairy tales?
They've come to life. Now sit by and listen...
The whole world wails.

I feel as though I've been abducted
Or maybe I am just misplaced
As I watch these rash hysterics
lay to waste the human race.

Just ask them if the sky will open
and save us from the truth.
They say that they'd leave today
Just without, without you.

Is this one big joke?
I can only hope
Say your prayers, they're the final punchline.
I don't see the love, below or above
Say you're scared, well, I feel fine

Oh, please believe (oh, please believe)
I'm doing just fine
For what's deceased I shall never grieve
Just let your faith die. Die!

I feel I have been abandoned
I alone seem to see disgrace
As I watch these mad dogmatics
govern our entire race.
Don't tell them you can walk on water
Or they may drink your blood
Why live for pain in the name
the name of, the name of love?

I can only hope
This is one big joke
With your prayers as the final punchline
How is it divine
When it's flawed design?
Fill the cracks with faith I can't find.

Screaming for pure love
You venerate
Delusion based in hate

Bleeding from pure love
For this I pray:
We've got to shake the faith.


DO NOT GRADE THIS

Lights, Camera, Blood, Action!

Blood tube and IV ~shiver~

Having your blood sucked out under ultraviolet light, then pumped back into your body sounds like a scene right out of a horror flick, but some say it could work miracles.
Blood cleansing, the latest health-boosting treatment, claims to not only energise you, but aid a host of medical and skin concerns, too.
UVB Photo-biological Stimulation -therapy (UVB therapy) involves a small amount (50ml) of blood being extracted from the body and passed via a tube connection to a machine, where it’s briefly exposed to UV light then returned into the bloodstream.
This 15-minute treatment widely used in Germany and Russia has now been introduced in the UK too.


UV Light



The therapy claims to strengthen the immune system and increase metabolism, reduce the symptoms of diabetes, allergies and improve skin conditions such as acne and dermatitis.

The theory is that when there is not enough oxygen in the blood, there is also a lack of energy in the blood’s cells, which can lead to poor circulation, which in turn leades to illness.

“When exposed to the ultraviolet light, the blood is deeply cleansed, purified and better able to ward off viruses and bacteria. The UV light also activates blood -proteins, immune enzymes and increases oxygen content,” The Daily Mail quoted Dr Robert Stelzer, a specialist, who has been administering the treatment for more than a decade, as saying.

Not everyone shares his views though.
“There is a lack of safety studies into this. To use this type of therapy before ruling out any underlying medical -conditions with your GP might be foolish,” warned Dr Rajendra Sharma, of The Diagnostic Clinic in London.
Despite a few testimonials from patients who have undergone the therapy and seen desirable results, the therapy is still a topic of debate in medical circles, and only time will tell if it is accepted by everyone.

 http://sify.com/news/blood-sucking-vampire-therapy-could-improve-our-wellbeing-news-international-kksk4edceib.html

Pick Your Poison

My Favorite One! [1]

This week's post is a bit late and I apolagize. I've been fighting my allergies non-stop this week. Your all in for a treat today, this post is about a certain peice of jewelry I have recently fell in love with: Poison Rings. This is a ring that has a compartment which was used to carry small amounts of toxic substances, but that is not the case today.

An Example Of A Funeral Ring [2]

More modern rings like this have been used to carry perfume, locks of hair, devotional relics, messages and even blood. Artists would paint tiny portraits of loved ones, to be carried in what was called a “locket ring,” which was popular during the Renaissance. By the 17th century, jewelers were creating locket rings in the shape of caskets which served as mementos for mourners. These were called “funeral rings.”, as seen in picture 2 .Rings with compartments are also called “box” rings or “socket” rings

Suite101, Initials. (207). "what is a poison ring?". Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/content/what-is-a-poison-ring-a116752#ixzz118UvDGMs