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11-24-2021, 10:20 PM

Poor guy. My heart goes out to him. I was saying a few weeks ago, if I ever get a Vikings jersey, it will be #97’s. The way he has come back from adversity is admirable and not easy. I have knocked Zimmer from time to,time—especially this year— but I admire his response to reporters today. Someone asked, “how will this affect his chances of playing on Sunday” and Zim said, “that’s not our concern right now.”

11-25-2021, 01:27 AM

Quote: @bigbone62 said:

@1VikesFan said:
He obviously has stopped whatever meds, pgm he was on....so sad
I have worked in the mental health field for 21 years and going off medications is not usually the cause of decompensating. The most common reason is a result of an industry terribly understaffed and overworked. Prescribers are expected to see historically large caseloads of people which has greatly decreased the amount of time spent with clients and care coordination. 20 years ago prescribers spent on average 45-60 minutes per visit, now 5-6 clients are seen an hour. States with Privatized Medicaid often see even worse numbers.

Due to that lack of time prescribers are not doing comprehensive medication reconciliations and thus not adjusting medications as they once would. Nor are they having routine labs done. So clients are on the same meds for years with no adjustments until a hospitalization or trip to the ER. Meds are not a set it and forget thing with mental health. The norm for medication management used to be appointments every 2-3 months, now you are lucky if it's 6 months. The norm for individual therapy was every 3 weeks now you are looking at 3 months. Hard to process much when you are only being seen 4 times a year.

I have a caseload of 48 and Id say 80% take their meds as prescribed and still have major mental health issues as a result of lack of provider oversight. Beyond that the holidays are absolutely terrible for this population as a whole. I have people who are employed full time 9 months out of the year but November hits and they completely decompensate to the point of needing to be moved to daily hab homes or needing staff coming to there homes daily. And then spring hits and it's like a light switches on and they snap out of the episode.

bigbone62

Excellent summary of the changes in mental health care over the last 25 years. I started in community mental health 1995 and at that time one of our staff psychiatrists had already referred to himself and colleagues as “interchangeable pill dispensing machines.”

Your numbers are spot on. I now work in a mental health clinic at a university and there is a 4-6 week wait for a first appointment and 3-4 between once you get in.
These kind of medications are not a "one and done/one size fit's all" kind of thing. It's usually much more complicate--especially for more severe disorders. For example, another challenge for the psychiatrists managing psychotropics is that treating more severe conditions often requires two or more different types medication. Unfortunately there are times when for example both medication “A” and medication “B” are necessary but can also be at cross-purposes (not contraindicated) from one another and finding and maintaining the balance can be tricky—especially if your med check appointments are 3-6 months apart.

11-26-2021, 09:26 PM

I saw a couple commercials yesterday featuring NFL players addressing Mental Health. Good to see.

I remember when Brandon Marshall was such a head case with the Broncos and then they traded to him to the Bears. He was then diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and got the help he needed -therapy and meds - and then he was a spokesman for bi-polar and was no longer erratic on or off the field. It was such an on/off switch and great to see him face a lifelong battle.

Now you see these commercials with Michael Robinson (former FB from Penn State), Hayden Hursts (TE Falcons), Joey Bosa and then Kelce taking a few weeks off for a couple weeks for mental health.

Hoping this PR helps us improve our Mental Health system as bigbone and shrink have detailed and clearly shows we need a lot of improvement within the treatment system.

11-26-2021, 11:18 PM

Any word on his family during all this? All of heard was he was home alone, no mention of his wife and kids that I recall.

11-27-2021, 04:55 PM

@minny65 I am glad that more athletes are speaking out about mental health. More entertainers are too. There is still a stigma around mental health. There are still people that think it's just about being happy and getting over it or picking yourself up and whatever. It takes strength to say you need help and for someone in the public eye, that can be overwhelming. Those in the public eye are paving the way and making a difference. There is still a long way to go towards understanding mental health and improving access to care as well as quality of care. More research is needed. More emphasis needs to be on better access and eliminating bias in care.

11-28-2021, 02:21 AM

Quote: @bigbone62 said:

@1VikesFan said:
He obviously has stopped whatever meds, pgm he was on....so sad
I have worked in the mental health field for 21 years and going off medications is not usually the cause of decompensating. The most common reason is a result of an industry terribly understaffed and overworked. Prescribers are expected to see historically large caseloads of people which has greatly decreased the amount of time spent with clients and care coordination. 20 years ago prescribers spent on average 45-60 minutes per visit, now 5-6 clients are seen an hour. States with Privatized Medicaid often see even worse numbers.

Due to that lack of time prescribers are not doing comprehensive medication reconciliations and thus not adjusting medications as they once would. Nor are they having routine labs done. So clients are on the same meds for years with no adjustments until a hospitalization or trip to the ER. Meds are not a set it and forget thing with mental health. The norm for medication management used to be appointments every 2-3 months, now you are lucky if it's 6 months. The norm for individual therapy was every 3 weeks now you are looking at 3 months. Hard to process much when you are only being seen 4 times a year.

I have a caseload of 48 and Id say 80% take their meds as prescribed and still have major mental health issues as a result of lack of provider oversight. Beyond that the holidays are absolutely terrible for this population as a whole. I have people who are employed full time 9 months out of the year but November hits and they completely decompensate to the point of needing to be moved to daily hab homes or needing staff coming to there homes daily. And then spring hits and it's like a light switches on and they snap out of the episode.

Lived with a mentally ill woman for 40 years and going off meds was the only thing that caused her "relapse". Obviously every case is different, was just giving an opinion based on personal experience...that's all.

11-28-2021, 03:45 AM

Quote: @Vikergirl said:
@minny65 I am glad that more athletes are speaking out about mental health. More entertainers are too. There is still a stigma around mental health. There are still people that think it's just about being happy and getting over it or picking yourself up and whatever. It takes strength to say you need help and for someone in the public eye, that can be overwhelming. Those in the public eye are paving the way and making a difference. There is still a long way to go towards understanding mental health and improving access to care as well as quality of care. More research is needed. More emphasis needs to be on better access and eliminating bias in care.

Exactly VG. I have a daughter who is now 20 (I know you know this already VG as we have spoken about it) and she has dealt with a lot of mental health issues. I am extremely proud of how far she has come. And I actually said a few weeks ago, if I ever get anyone’s jersey it will be #97’s. I only want Everson Griffen’s because of what he has been through. His courage in acknowledging his issues and seeking help is truly admirable. I’m on his team forever.

11-30-2021, 02:26 PM

Here's a vent. My son has to switch migraine medication because of insurance even though his medication is working. This royally sucks. He is following up with his neurologist. It sucks because you get the medication in your system and you work through the side effects and then it feels like you are either going backwards or starting all over again.

11-30-2021, 02:35 PM

Quote: @Vikergirl said:
Here's a vent. My son has to switch migraine medication because of insurance even though his medication is working. This royally sucks. He is following up with his neurologist. It sucks because you get the medication in your system and you work through the side effects and then it feels like you are either going backwards or starting all over again.

Sorry to hear this. Has your son ever tried Axert? Its the only migraine medicine my wife has ever used that is effective in reducing a migraine's severity after its started. Significantly reduces it.