#but not be able to treat me because I have holistic issues

[deliciousdietdrpepper]

I know I talk a lot about health anxieties on here and I feel very grateful that it’s a space I can do that. It’s hard to voice them in my personal life without other people forming their own opinions on I’m going through, which is such a can of worms.

[alastors-wife]

jesus christ

[womenaremypriority]

This is very interesting. Trigger warning for rape, specifically of children.

In the city of Makeni, a three-hour drive east of Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, a young mother sits outside her home with her three-year-old daughter. 

Anita, which is not her real name, describes the day in June 2023 when she found her toddler with blood dripping from her nappy. 

"I worked for this woman, and she gave me an errand that Saturday morning to go to the market," she says, explaining that she then left her child with her employer and her 22-year-old son. 

"He took my child, he said, to buy sweets and biscuits for her. It was a lie." 

When she got back, she realised her daughter was missing. After searching for her for some time, they were reunited but the 22-year-old mother could see that the toddler was bleeding. She took her to the hospital and after two rounds of stitches, it was confirmed she had been raped. 

"The nurses began checking the child, and they said: 'Oh my God, what has this man done to this child?' The doctor who was treating my child even cried." 

Anita went to the police but the man fled and a year on the police have not been able to find him. 

"The president created a law so that whoever rapes children, should be arrested and sent to jail," she says, angry that nothing appears to have been done.

She is referring to a tougher sexual offences law created five years ago after President Maada Bio declared the emergency over rape.

It followed protests in December 2018 when hundreds of people wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Hands off our girls" marched through Freetown.

News of another child rape had shocked the nation - a five-year-old girl who was left paralysed from the waist down. It was reported at the time that cases of sexual violence had almost doubled within a year, a third involving children. Sierra Leoneans had had enough.

The four-month long state of emergency from February 2019 allowed the president to divert state resources into tackling sexual violence.

An updated Sexual Offences Act brought in stricter penalties for sexual assault. 

Rape sentences were increased to a minimum of 15 years, or life if it involved a child. A Sexual Offences Model Court to fast-track trials was created in Freetown the following year.

There appears to have been some progress - reported cases of sexual and gender-based violence have gone down by almost 17%, from just over 12,000 in 2018 to just over 10,000 in 2023, according to police statistics.

Creating increased awareness and new structures is one thing, but making sure that people, like Anita's daughter, get justice is another. 

The Rainbo Initiative is a national charity that works with survivors of sexual violence. It says that in 2022 just 5% of the 2,705 cases it handled made it to the High Court.

One of the issues is the resources available to those who are supposed to enforce the law. 

At the police station in Makeni where Anita reported her daughter's rape, Assnt Supt Abu Bakarr Kanu who leads the Family Support Unit (FSU) says they get around four cases of child sexual assault each week.

The big challenge his team faces is a lack of transport to physically go and arrest suspects.

He co-ordinates all seven police divisions in the region and between them they do not have a single vehicle. 

"There are times the suspect is available but because of lack of vehicles you can't reach that suspect to arrest him or her," says Assnt Supt Kanu. 

"Doing the right thing at the right time is a challenge." 

Like many in Sierra Leone, he was impressed with the government action that followed the state of emergency. 

"We have enough… good laws and policy, but the structure and personnel are the challenge for us to holistically address the issues of sexual and gender-based violence in Sierra Leone."

Even if an alleged perpetrator is apprehended, to get them before a judge is an even bigger struggle.

In order for the case against a rape suspect to be heard, there is only one person in the country who can sign the documents - the attorney general. It was meant to speed up the process and get the cases straight to the courts, but it has created a different bottle-neck.

"Presently it is not possible to have any other law officer or any other counsel to sign an indictment for sexual-related offences," says State Counsel Joseph AK Sesay, a lawyer employed by the government. 

"The 2019 amendment stipulates that it is only the attorney general that can rightly sign an indictment. So that has been posing a challenge when it comes to getting the indictments to courts."

Information Minister Chernor Bah admits this is not a perfect process but says it is "a process that we'll continue to improve on". 

Challenged on the question that many believe little has changed when it comes to getting justice for rape survivors, he acknowledged that "in some communities people feel that way".

But he rejects the idea that there has been no progress.

"I think the systemic reforms that we've put in place are there. The new laws are there. And those steps, I think, have led to the overall feeling that we're not in the deep, dark days of 2019."

For Anita, back in Makeni, it has been nearly a year since her toddler was raped. 

She has had no new information from the police, so has resorted to posting the alleged suspect's photo on Facebook. 

"I want people to help me search for the boy. I'm tormented and I am not happy. What has happened to my child, I don't want it to happen to any other child."

[atenvs3000f24]

Unit 10 Blog Post

As I develop as a Nature Interpreter, my personal ethic entails having immense respect for nature and helping others foster the very same respect but through an engaging manner. Nature interpretation serves beyond providing facts but rather encouraging others to have the same emotions I feel when I view nature and help guide them to understand our duties and responsibilities to this planet.

One belief I bring is the understanding that everything in nature is interconnected. Now at this point you guys must be sick of me ALWAYS talking about the interconnectedness of nature but it is so vital to us. Understanding that everything in nature is interconnected, from the wildlife to the ecosystems to the environment helps us see the significance and beauty of how everything works together to create our planet, our nature. As humans, it may seem hard to understand the complex webs of relationships that exist within nature (human-wildlife, human-nature) but it helps us see nature more holistically as well. 

Another belief I would like to touch on as referenced earlier, is our responsibility to the planet. As the current generation, it is our responsibility to ensure our future generation is able to live sustainably on the planet. In order to do so we must protect and preserve our resources. As a nature interpreter our responsibility to protect this planet extends into our jobs as well, because we have the ability to speak on environmental issues and bring awareness and also inspire others to help take action by just helping them engage with nature. 

I believe accessibility to resources is crucial to society regardless of their socioeconomic status, age, race, gender, disability, etc. As a nature interpreter it is important to make sure our work should be accessible to others regardless of their abilities because our ability to help others invoke the feelings we want them to feel can be done even through something simple as story-telling as long as it is accessible to a diverse audience and can be engaging at the same time. 

Another belief that aligns much with me as a nature interpreter is providing an open space for conversation. Often some treat nature interpretation as a “TED talk” where we talk a lot but there is no necessary area for conversation or questions. As a nature interpreter, it is crucial to provide an engaging experience which includes allowing others to have questions and to ensure they are answered. This allows us to build connections with the audience and also provides a comfortable area for everyone to learn from each other which is something they can take away into the real world as well!

As a nature interpreter, my primary responsibility is providing factual information. Providing misinformation goes against the very ethics and responsibilities I have as a nature interpreter and can be very harmful especially when it comes to issues such as conservation and climate change because it can discredit the entire movement and its significance to the general public, bringing down the overall support. It is also important to continue updating our “database” while more information becomes available because new information can invalidate certain facts very easily. 

One belief of mine is that a nature interpreter’s key goal is to create an engaging experience but also to inspire. The interactive and engaging experiences I create with my audience should inspire them to form connections with nature and should help them feel open to fostering connections with those around them in order for the audience to share and pass on the knowledge they took away from this to take home as well. 

Another core belief of mine is ensuring my experiences as a nature interpreter should not cause harm or damage to the settings around me. For example, if I give a presentation as a nature interpreter in a wildlife park, my work can be engaging such as opening up the floor to the audience to have questions, or allow them to pet some animals that are allowed. In no way should my work cause harm to any animals or would it involve breaking rules simply to give my audience a fun experience. It is very important to help preserve the habitats our wildlife live in and in no way should the well-being of wildlife or environment be under harm. 

There are many different approaches I have already explored as a nature interpreter but I will reinforce them again. 

One approach as a nature interpreter that truly resonates with me is storytelling. As a child I loved reading because it allowed me to escape reality for a while and simply feel the perspectives of others. I especially loved to read books outside in the summer because it was warm, I always had a drink to refresh every few minutes and there was always a slightly cool breeze that followed to help me warm. As a nature interpreter, we always want to help our audience feel how we feel when we view nature. To me story telling is not only engaging, it is accessible to all audiences and it allows me to incorporate my personal experiences with nature as well as different cultural concepts in order to create an emotional connection between nature and my audience because it helps personalize the experience to them. 

Another approach I like to use as a nature interpreter is incorporating different settings to create an engaging experience. My previous blog posts referenced going to places such as museums and parks and I believe that hands-on experiences helps the audience learn through different methods. Visual learners will appreciate having the ability to view nature through hikes or natural artifacts (fossils) from museums tours and auditory learners can appreciate the guidance that we provide as we help the audience understand each portion of the experience (facts on certain birds during hikes) and tactile learners can also benefit from hands-on experiences through safe contact with different artifacts and wildlife. 

Question: I truly rambled a lot today but If you had your own approach to nature interpretation how does it differ from mine?

[dee-diary]

Occupational therapy’s role in enhancing Maternal and child health.

“Maternal health remains a staggering challenge, particularly in the developing world. Globally, a woman dies from complications in childbirth every minute” - Jessica Capshaw. This quote shows that many women, especially in poorer countries, face serious risks during childbirth. It's a reminder that maternal health is a big problem worldwide, and we need to do more to keep mothers safe. Graham (2005) states that failure to provide efficient maternal health services is due to the functioning of the whole health system. In this blog, we will dive deep into the global health concern that is maternity and child health. Furthermore, we will analyse the role of occupational therapy in addressing this social issue at prenatal, antenatal, and postnatal level.

Maternal health refers to the health of a woman during pregnancy, childbirth, and prenatal period (World Health Organization: WHO, 2019). Underdeveloped countries experience lack of access or adequate health care resources, these health disparities lead to poor health outcomes for both the mother and child (Filippi et al., 2006). It is further mentioned that good maternal health is important for the wellbeing of the child as their health is closely linked and the child is dependent for developmental outcomes (Filippi et al., 2006). With proper provision of health care services to these pregnant women it would result in reduction in deaths during and after births.

The journey of becoming of a mother involves active learning through observation and participation (Hamilton-Dodd et al., 1989). The prenatal period is the phase where the formation of the embryo through the development of the fetus (Arey et al., 1998). A survey was conducted in the University of St. Augustine for Health sciences that gathered the lived experiences of the women before pregnancy and after pregnancy. As some said they displayed decreased interest to participate in meaningful occupations. One lady expressed “My sleep at night has definitely been hindered because I am uncomfortable and having to move positions and not being able to sleep on my back.” The OT’s role with pregnant individuals would be to provide support and adaptation to facilitate occupational engagement and performance. With this particular sleep difficulty, correct positioning and ergonomic principles would assist to allow for good sleep participation for this lady.

Another crucial role occupational therapists could play during the prenatal period to would be in supporting the mothers is identifying the delayed milestones through education (McCormick et al., 1982). Furthermore, providing support in adapting her behaviour to meet the needs of her infant. In my first week at Marian ridge community, I observed a very disturbing scene where I noticed a pregnant woman sitting on the side of the road and smoking cigarettes. Research states that the consumption of tobacco during pregnancy can result in increased risk of low birthweight, sudden infant syndrome (SID) and impact the pregnancy term (Castles et al., 1999). As an occupational therapy student, I would assume she is aware of the dangers of smoking during pregnancy. However, if she was a client assigned to me my first question would be “Why does she smoke? And what are the underlying factors that pushes her to engage in such activities that can danger the wellbeing of her child and pregnancy term?”. The Occupational therapy profession teaches us to look and treat our clients holistically and that could involve further investigating her reasons and working on ways she can handle her habits to ensure the child’s health is of priority.

After childbirth, the role of being a mother continues and raising of the child begins. This stage is usually coming with more physical and psychological responsibilities and adopting a lifestyle that suits the newborn. New mothers commonly experience different emotions while trying to adapt to changes to their routines and this may impact on maternal sensitivity and responsiveness to their newborns (Branjerdporn et al., 2020). Therefore, OT support to these mothers would increase occupational engagement, positively improving maternal health and facilitate a strong mother and newborn attachment (Baker et al., 2024). Research reports that following childbirth, 26% to 84% of women experience mild depressive symptoms and 13% experience postpartum depression (Barbic et al., 2021). Occupational therapists are equipped with the necessary knowledge in identifying occupational imbalance such as role transition difficulties mothers would experience after childbirth, provide stress management skills, routine adjustments, and support to achieve role fulfilment (Barbic et al., 2021).

Overall, occupational therapy interventions can contribute to improving maternal health outcomes and promoting the well-being of both mothers and children. By addressing the unique needs of mothers throughout the different stages of pregnancy.

References:

Arey, L. B., Sapunar, D., & Rogers, K. (1998, September 8). Prenatal development | Description, Stages, & Timeline. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/prenatal-development

Baker, H. B., Cuomo, B., Femia, C., Lin, D. J., Stobbie, C., McLean, B., & Hatfield, M. (2024). Occupational therapy in maternal health: Exploring the Barkin Index of Maternal Functioning as a potential tool. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12926

Barbic, S., MacKirdy, K., Weiss, R., Barrie, A., Kitchin, V., & Lepin, S. (2021). Scoping Review of the role of occupational therapy in the treatment of women with postpartum Depression. Annals of International Occupational Therapy, 4(4). https://doi.org/10.3928/24761222-20210921-02

Branjerdporn, G., Meredith, P., Wilson, T., & Strong, J. (2020). Prenatal predictors of maternal-infant attachment. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 87(4), 265–277. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008417420941781

Castles, A. G., Adams, E. K., Melvin, C. L., Kelsch, C., & Boulton, M. L. (1999). Effects of smoking during pregnancy. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 16(3), 208–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0749-3797(98)00089-0

Filippi, V., Ronsmans, C., Campbell, O. M. R., Graham, W., Mills, A., Borghi, J., Koblinsky, M., & Osrin, D. (2006). Maternal health in poor countries: the broader context and a call for action. The Lancet, 368(9546), 1535–1541. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(06)69384-7

Graham WJ. Now or never: the case for measuring maternal mortality. The Lancet 2002; 359:701–4.

Hamilton-Dodd, C., Kawamoto, T., Clark, F., Burke, J., & Fanchiang, S. P. (1989). The effects of a maternal preparation program on Mother–Infant pairs: a pilot study. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 43(8), 513–521. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.43.8.513

McCormick, M. C., Shapiro, S., & Starfield, B. (1982). Factors Associated with Maternal Opinion of Infant Development—Clues to the Vulnerable Child? Pediatrics, 69(5), 537–543. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.69.5.537

World Health Organization: WHO. (2019, September 23). Maternal health. https://www.who.int/health-topics/maternal-health#tab=tab_2

[nasalpolypstreatmentmiracle]

Manuel Richards “Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle” Review [PDF Download]

I ll simply explain what my experience with nasal polyps has been like. See, I had been suffering from nasal polyps for more than six months. Actually I had typhoid after which my sinus infection worsened and I was introduced with the term: Nasal Polyps. To put it simply, they are outgrowths in the nasal passage not letting you breathe properly. The first and foremost prescription by doctors is to go for surgery. But the problem is that there is no direct assurance that they go for ever. In most cases, they tend to redevelop after one year or so and then you have to go for surgery again. The cycle goes on and on. ( I did not go for this option because I was too scared. The plenty of treatments and drug solutions that we notice around, cannot be able to permanently resolve the issues. While surgery is a common treatment option, Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle offers a safer and more holistic approach.This is an incorporation of over nine years of research to bring you a simple and natural system that will free you from your nasal polyps forever, without the conventional medication that you hate so much and without surgery.

Nasal polyps can be caused by various factors, including chronic inflammation, allergies, asthma, and certain infections. Additionally, genetic factors and immune system disorders may increase the risk of developing nasal polyps. Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle addresses the underlying causes of these growths to prevent recurrence and promote overall sinus health. Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle is a comprehensive program designed to address the root causes of nasal polyps. It offers a holistic approach that combines dietary adjustments, natural supplements, and breathing exercises to provide long-lasting relief. This system is put together in a 45-page easy to follow guide but it is packed with information and supported by medical researches. This holistic treatment program offers a natural and safe solution for nasal polyps. It combines dietary and lifestyle changes, herbal remedies, and breathing exercises to treat the root cause of nasal polyps and prevent recurrence. The treatment regimens discussed will focus on bringing and keeping the inflammation down and will make the growth of the polyps virtually impossible. If you currently have an inflammation in your nose or sinus, you will notice it will start getting better. Most people will report complete resolution of their nasal polyps after 4 days. General health improves significantly due to changes in diet and lifestyle.

Complete cure of your nasal polyps lies in removing all the factors that are irritating and inflaming your nasal passages and making sure that you keep your body in an anti-inflammatory state. By addressing the underlying causes and promoting overall sinus health, this program offers a permanent solution, free from side effects. Discover the power of Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle and regain control of your nasal health. While surgery may provide temporary relief, Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle addresses the root cause of nasal polyps, offering a permanent solution and reducing the risk of recurrence. Compared to the expenses of surgeries and medications, Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle offers a cost-effective alternative that can be easily implemented at home. The ideology created by the guide is that someone gets to be healthy in a short period like 24 hours, which is remarkable! You cannot fail to know the best alternative will cause a shift in the right form when the nasal is collapsed and can become healed within a short frame. I have struggled with nasal polyps for years, and Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle has been a game-changer. The program provided me with the tools and knowledge to manage my condition effectively. I highly recommend it! In conclusion, Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle offers a promising avenue for individuals seeking a natural and holistic approach to managing nasal polyps. While results may vary, the comprehensive program provides a well-rounded strategy to address the root causes of the condition. Take charge of your nasal health and explore the potential benefits of Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle today.

Click here to get Nasal Polyps Treatment Miracle from the Official Website.

[otstudentwithalife]

My family has tiptoed around mental health while living with it.

Mental health is a major issue that affects people regardless of their nationality, race, or cultural background. The integration of mental health, stigma, and cultural beliefs creates a challenging environment for understanding, accessing, and treating mental well-being in South Africa, a country recognized for its cultural diversity. I want to explore the influence of these interrelated problems on South African mental health, emphasizing both the obstacles and the progress achieved in addressing them by our society, the Department of Health, and the country as a whole.

In South Africa, stigma is a significant challenge to mental health care. Individuals with mental health disorders are often stigmatized because of deeply rooted cultural beliefs, customary practices, and misconceptions. Some of society's traditional beliefs attribute these issues to curses, possession by bad spirits, or human weakness. This assumption leads to the isolation and discrimination that persons seeking treatment suffer. I have an aunt who suffers from schizophrenia and epilepsy and throughout my childhood, her diagnosis was never explained to me outside of the belief that she just woke up one day and was not sane anymore. They believed for a long time it could be undone through traditional rituals which never worked.  To this day she is on anti-psychotics and now that I’ve been exposed to mental health in depth, I see the threat society’s stigmatization and cultural practices pose on the functional decline of persons with mental health issues.

Those in need of mental health care face significant difficulties due to stigma and cultural prejudices. Fear of ostracization and misunderstanding might cause people to avoid discussing mental health difficulties and prevent them from seeking professional help. Like how my family chose to exhaust traditional belief and rituals prior to accepting the diagnosis and treating it as it is … a mental health diagnosis. Being exposed to my aunt , my nephew who has ADHD and mild intellectual impairment and his mother who has mild intellectual impairment as well was one of the driving factors for my interest in OT as I found their diagnosis not debilitating yet so impactful on their daily functioning.

Being able to see how differently my aunt’s case who is 52 was treated by my family in comparison to my nephew who is 12 who was assessed by an OT, transferred to a special school, and continues to receive medical care and therapy. Also having suffered from depression throughout my boarding high school years when my parents were getting divorced and how my family embraced me and validated my emotions was the key to my ability to cope. This shows not only the effect of de-stigmatization on treatment can have on prompt care but also how exposure and awareness of mental health issues can change people’s perspectives.

While there are obstacles, but South Africa's cultural variety may be beneficial in mental health care. Traditional healing practices can supplement contemporary healthcare when they are integrated into a holistic approach to mental well-being. Communities can come together to help persons suffering from mental illnesses, encouraging resilience and a feeling of connection. The South African society has made incredible progress in dealing with these issues. Initiatives such as mental health awareness campaigns and healthcare professional training programs attempt to minimise stigma and encourage understanding. Community-based support networks have arisen, improving access to treatment and acting as a safety net for people in need.

References

The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. (2022, November 14). 2022-11 - Mental health in SA is at shocking levels but people are not seeking help  - Wits University. https://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/research-news/2022/2022-11/mental-health-in-sa-is-at-shocking-levels-but-people-are-not-seeking-help-.html

Wilson, L., & Wilson, L. (2021). The shocking state of mental health in South Africa in 2019. SACAP. https://www.sacap.edu.za/blog/management-leadership/mental-health-south-africa/

Jack, H., Wagner, R. G., Petersen, I., Thom, R., Newton, C. R., Stein, A., Kahn, K., Tollman, S., & Hofman, K. (2014). Closing the mental health treatment gap in South Africa: a review of costs and cost-effectiveness. Global Health Action, 7(1), 23431. https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v7.23431

[yeast-infection-no-more-pdf]

Yeast Infection No More PDF Book By Linda Allen

If you suffer from yeast infections, you’re not alone. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 75 percent of women have had a yeast infection at least once, and for many women it’s a recurrent issue. If you experience more than two episodes of the same year then you are at risk of more damaging signs. The first thing to do is to get a test from your doctor. This will confirm if you have one or not. Yeast Infections are a curious breed and often difficult to cure. Throughout the years I have contracted the condition several times myself, but have always won the battle. Initially I chose to treat the infection with medications prescribed by my doctor. This method often took a long time to eradicate the fungus, and cost me a pretty penny also! Worst yet, most times the infection would come back with a raging force.  Yeast Infection No More is an online system that introduces natural, holistic remedies into your life. It’s a 5-step system that’s been clinically proven to provide amazing results. In fact, you can gain complete relief in as little as 12 hours. Long term, you can treat Candida Yeast Infections completely within 2 months.

This book is written by Linda Allen, a trained nutritionist, and renowned health care consultant. Just like other women, Linda Allen also suffer from vaginal yeast infection before. She tried various natural products and home remedies to cure yeast infection but nothing happened.The product underwent seven years of thorough research, trials, and errors with many interviews to get it right at the end. Basically, the program’s approach to the treatment is based on the fact that if you allow the body to conduct its internal cleansing process or removing toxins along with restoring the natural balances with right nutrition, it results in the body healing itself. The system boasts of using natural methods without using any type of drugs and has been found to work on cases that have a serious infection both in men and women, if you stick to this plan, you should be able to overcome the infection within a week or two depending on the severity of the condition. There are changes to be made in your diet and health practices in order to prevent infections from both happening and recurring. It does take a little discipline and work to get the job done, but it can happen for you. 

Not only do you receive the 5-steps needed to naturally and holistically take care of your yeast overgrowth and infections but you also receive all the information needed to protect yourself moving forward. The program is literally like the encyclopedia to Candida overgrowth. You learn everything from what it is, what causes it, what are the risks, how to diagnosis yourself at home, questionnaires to ask yourself, 12-hour relief treatment and much more. The program is unique in its way because it offers treatment that is drug-free, ointment free, and medicine-free. Since it is not temporary, thus it considers all the factors when treating the infection. It comes with no side effects. This treatment is incredible efficient because it targets your infection at it’s very source, rather than just treating it like most medications aim to. Your purchase comes with free continued online support in case you aren’t cured as fast as you expected, or in case you have any questions. Overall, Yeast Infection No More by Linda Allen is an excellent program that helps many people particularly women in various forms of yeast infections. This program offers a natural, real, and realistic way to combat vaginal infections and their various common symptoms.The program is also available and accessible online, thus you can download it anytime and anywhere you are. Other than many antifungal medications and home cures offered by many, this program is the only one that offers a holistic approach that eliminates candida.

Click Here To Visit Yeast Infection No More Official Site

[from-1-to-90]

New Beginnings - Day 1 of 90

It’s been a few years, but I am starting this up again in mid-2023 because I want to keep track of my fitness again and I also need some motivation. 

I injured my knee a year and a half ago, and so exercise of any kind (aside from physical therapy) has been fairly limited. However, I want to get back to properly exercising again, for mental health purposes if nothing else. I also need to get back to doing physical therapy again, because even though my knee is doing quite well, that leg is still just not as strong as my other leg due to the muscle atrophy post-surgery. 

The place I’m living in now has a gym, which helps a ton. Back when I did my first 90 day journey, I was living in a different apartment with a gym, and the convenience of being able to pop into that space to work out really helped me stay consistent. However, in the intervening years I moved out of that complex and lost my gym access. But now I have that convenience again and I hope to take full advantage of it. 

So here are some things that are different this time around vs first fitness journey back in late 2019:

Weight - I no longer own a scale. I've moved a couple of times in the past few years and my scale didn't make it. I know I tracked my weight quite a bit back in 2019 but I honestly don't know if it's a helpful metric anymore. I've seen posts from other people that showed before-and-after pics from their fitness journeys where they weighed almost the same before-and-after, but looked totally different. This was just due to muscle replacing fat, and muscle weighs a lot. I don't think I'm currently in a place where I need to focus on fat-loss - I'm mainly just wanting to build muscle, tone up, and get my surgical leg back to the same level of strength as my non-surgical leg. Also, even though I know all of the stuff I mentioned above, I am concerned that I might still have an emotional reaction to the number on the scale, if I do start weighing myself frequently. There's just so much emotional baggage attached to weight that I'd rather not deal with it this time around. So this time, I'm not going to set a weight goal. Instead, I'll be focusing on measurements as a means of tracking progress. (Will talk about that more down below.) At the same time, it would be nice to have a general idea of what a "healthy" weight for me is - as in, what weight my body sits around when I'm maintaining healthy habits. So I might still purchase a scale, but just really limit the number of times I weigh myself (like maybe keep it to once a month or something, and purely for the purposes of knowledge). I don't know, I can still see myself potentially getting upset if I weigh in at a certain month and the weight is higher than the month before - it's just a data point that's really difficult not to attach emotional significance to. So we'll see. I'll think about it.

Food - Last time around, I was pretty focused on weight loss, so I was a lot more careful about what I was eating. I kept track of each of my meals, and I think I did calorie-counting for a bit there. I am absolutely not calorie-counting this time around. First of all, I hate it, and second of all, it's not sustainable for me. It also causes me to attach a certain amount of emotional baggage to food (i.e. feeling like I was being "good" or "bad" if I ate clean or not on a given day). I don't think that's a healthy mindset to have. At the same time, I know that food is an important element of health, both mental and physical, and I have a tendency to treat it as an afterthought. So I will try to put more effort into planning healthy meals for myself as a way of addressing my health holistically. If I had a problem with consuming too few calories I might address this differently, but that's not really an issue I have.

Physical Therapy - I really want my surgical leg to get back to the same level of strength as my non-surgical leg. I can walk around just fine, but I tried doing the Blogilates "Shape of Your Thighs" squat challenge video a few weeks back, and I could tell the difference between my legs. I was only able to get about 30-ish seconds into the video before I felt like my surgical leg was about to give out. So staying consistent with my physical therapy regimen is going to be an important part of my new fitness journey.

Alright, so now that I've discussed what's different this time around, let's set some goals.

Goals

Workout for 30-60 mins 5-6x per week - I might end up having to scale back on this to more like 4-6x per week, but I might as well shoot for what I'm really wanting. And I do remember that the last time I did this in 2019, my mental health really improved from working out that frequently. So let's give this a try.

Physical Therapy - I want to do my physical therapy exercises at least 2-3x per week, with the goal of getting my surgical leg up to the same strength as my non-surgical leg. A example metric would be the ability to do the full "Shape of Your Thighs" workout, feeling like my legs are equally capable the entire time.

Healthy meal-planning - I want to be more mindful about what I'm putting into my body and at what frequency. I have a tendency to wait too long to eat meals because I get absorbed in what I'm doing and I don't want to focus on making myself food, so then I just end up eating whatever snacks are around the house hours later. I know this isn't good for my body or my brain, so I want to do a better job of planning out meals for myself and eating them every 4 hours.

Blog at least once every other day - This is a rather lofty goal, so I might need to scale this back. But blogging about my experience helps me stay motivated, so I think it will be beneficial. Also, it's really helpful to have these details recorded so that later on I can see what worked for me / what didn't. I specifically want to record how I felt and what I did for exercise that day. I can throw in some info about food if I feel like it.

Self-care r&r once per week - I hope I'm not taking on too much by adding this, but I think it's important for me to remember to approach this holistically. Clean eating and exercise are absolutely forms of self-care, but I don't want to neglect the rest and relaxation side of self-care. To this end, I will try to do something like taking a nice, relaxing bath, or going on a walk in a beautiful part of nature once per week to keep myself rested and rejuvenated.

So without further ado, here's my tracking for Day 1.

How I felt

Normal? I guess? Today was the first day I worked out in months, so any changes will be more evident in the upcoming days / weeks. I'm very happy that I felt motivated to work out and start this whole process up again. Weirdly, I think the motivation came because I wore a sports bra yesterday (not to work out, I was just wearing one). And somehow my brain made the mental link between wearing exercise clothing and wanting to work out. (Currently making a mental note of this - wearing exercise clothing motivates me to work out. I should take advantage of that. It seems silly, but hey, whatever works, right?)

Also I should mention that it's been a while since I've taken a tolerance break for my ADHD meds. In an ideal world, I'd take a full week off my meds every few months to help reset my brain's tolerance to the medication. However, in practice, it's actually been about 8-ish months since I took my last full tolerance break, and I can definitely tell. It feels like my meds aren't working as well, and that's because they aren't (because my brain has gotten used to them over the past several months). Given that I don't want to increase my dosage any more than I absolutely have to, I really need to take a tolerance break soon to reset. However, I have a lot of things coming up over the next few weeks so I don't think I'll be able to do it soon. I did take off Saturday (a couple of days ago), and it helped a little, because I was definitely a lot more able to focus on Sunday. Even taking off a day or two here or there is better than nothing - I have to remember that. In any case, maybe that one break day was also helpful in getting me motivated to start doing this again.

But this actually brings me to another key reason why I'm starting this up again - exercise helps a TON with medication tolerance. Back when I did this in 2019, I was on the verge of needing to increase my dosage because my dosage at the time just wasn't cutting it anymore, despite taking tolerance breaks. But after exercising so regularly, I ended up not needing to increase my dosage for another year! Exercise helps to reset your neural receptors so that your brain doesn't grow tolerant to the medication as quickly, and so the medication ends up working better for longer.

I also felt so much better mentally when I was exercising regularly. I remember thinking that I couldn't believe the difference it made in my mental and emotional health. So that's the other big reason why I'm doing this. I need all the help I can get with focus and motivation in my daily life, and I know that exercising will give me a significant boost in that arena.

Workout Session

50 minutes (including short breaks between sets)

Elliptical machine - 10 mins, quick pace, going back and forth between level 3 & 4

Block A PT exercises

Treadmill - 10 mins, 0.48 miles

Measurements (in inches)

Chest: 36.5" Waist: 32" inches" Left bicep (unflexed): 11" Left bicep (flexed): 11.75" Right bicep (unflexed): 11.5" Right bicep (flexed): 12.5" Left thigh (3 inches down): 23" Right thigh (3 inches down): 24"

[kholekaenablingot-student1]

#The idea of occupational therapy is too radical and powerful to be contained by a profession

A direct remark by Frank about uncovering skeletons in our closets as occupational therapists so that our potential and contribution in the community are obvious is an important tool we must employ in our profession. Being an occupational therapy student practicing in a community setting made me realize that people are less formative of who we are and what we do therefore we still have a long way to unpack our profession so we are known without explaining.

Since then it made me Ponder more on the notion of the profession, am i paying more attention to the profession or the potential and contribution to the community??. The answer was we tend to focus more on the profession which then prevent us from discovering our full potential as an OT therefore this is why the injustices prevalence every year.

Frank went on to say that since 1917, our models, our AFRs, have never been about racism, and it effectively called out racism before it even happened in health care, but now we have begun to succumb to injustice when treating because we either treat a person as an individual rather than looking at a person holistically considering the community they live in to their lifestyle.

As i try to pour my heart and mind with pen and paper it made reflect on the ways i can effectively use the profession which frank considers as an instrument in order to destroy injustices and maintain justices in a community then as a future occupational therapist the first thought was to first identify and understand the social, political injustices in the community further more (Malfitano, 2016) stated to preserve occupational justice we need to understand that its linked to social inequities and overcomes any issues between individuals' prosperity and prohibitive social circumstances (Hocking,2017).

which bring up a question of how can we then implement promotion of justice in social injustices os future OT in my own perspective based on the community i am placed in both social and occupational engagement are impacted as i have seen young females and males sitting outside a container from 8am until we leave at 4, smoking and engaging in conversations. Yes they are participating in leisure activity and social participation but looking at the age they are in they are supposed to be either at school or working but based on the social injustices that I am going to highlight they are deprived of that opportunity maybe due to lack of resources, choices and a helping hand to better their lives.

To highlight the first social injustices Unemployment in the community tends to be the highest social issue therefore occupational therapists collaborate and engage with communities to create and execute programs that serve, benefit community members who have shared interests, aspirations, and recovery needs(Galvaan,2013). This can be through starting a youth group that aims to see if they possess qualifications therefore we can be able to see the group that needs up-skilling and the group that needs to start looking for job’s based on their qualifications.

Political injustices in the communities have somehow prevelanced and Political injustice occurs when organizations are susceptible to control structures, resulting in exclusion, failure, and inadequacy in delivering services and destroying inequality (Bevir 2010) . we have seen how political injustices have greatly impacted the community precisely for the past few weeks there has been a delay on provision of food at schools and as a result, millions of students in KwaZulu-Natal went hungry, forcing schools to close early because students couldn't focus when they were starving.

Delayed service delivery !! I cringe every time when I think of this injustice in the community that encompass hundreds of people as I have seen how waste bags been lying on the streets while the municipal truck passes by and the question was why are the needs of the community neglected and what could be the way forward is it us starting a drive to instill the culture of clearing the space they live in? Calling the municipality to report the problem because it might happen that they are so used to this and it does not bother them anymore??

Some people are regarded as more human than others, and as a result, they have greater access to resources and opportunities to continue living and sustaining their lives, whereas others are deprived of those, Similarly that what’s I have been exposed too in the community I am placed in. Social injustices maybe?? Yes!, the delayed service delivery.

Fleet of ideas took me back to Frank’s lecture which clearly stated that historicizing is the most important tool to dismantle injustices as we can use it to indentify the behavior that happening in a community, the problems reoccurring and then we can deal with the problems impacting the community.

We have identified unemployment, Delayed service delivery & poverty as part of both social and political injustices in the community and the question is what are we going to do about it as occupational therapists and the way forwards as a future occupational therapists?

As a result, occupational therapists should use the following approaches within the framework:

1. Occupational therapists can initiate an intervention that critically reflects and analysis of the influences of social, health, economic, cultural, and occupational inequalities that restrict engagement in productive and economic occupations within the community.

2. Occupational therapists must work with communities to map assets necessary for the intervention and apply occupational decision-making and choice when designing programs for centeredness and sustainability within the community context.

3. Implementation community members would participate in constructive and skilled dialogues while engaging in desirable and meaningful activities that promote their occupational potentials and opportunities to pass knowledge and skills to future generations (Richards,2018).

4. monitoring, reflection and evaluation of these programmes focus on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the communities' (Richards,2018).

Being an occupational therapist in a community setting everyone is mostly concerned about who we are, pre-School teachers wondering if we are there to replace them as they think we are here to teach. To reflect back back & carefully on this day where a teacher said the previous group took my students but i haven’t seen any change, what syllabus are you following then and there the uh-ha moment of having to describe whats is the occupational therapy as a profession, our potential towards the community.

Frank spoke about dignity and humanity therefore the term Ubuntu has been ringing in my heard on how it can be incorporated in dismantling injustices in the community (Khoza, 2006) stated Ubuntu is defined in African cultures as the ability to exhibit empathy, kindness, respect, humanity, and reciprocity in pursuing the goals of developing and preserving communities based on fairness and mutual caring (Luhabe, 2002:103; Mandela, 2006:xxv; Tutu, 1999:34-35).

The Ubuntu concept prioritizes the community over the individual as we treat people to integrate back to the community and as a future OT that works towards i removing inequities in the community I need to live by this to ensure that justice is being served, understanding occupational justice on relation to healthcare.

Our goal as OTs in the community we target to bring people together considering their beliefs, lifestyle and culture because our models and AFRs are clients and community centered.

References

1. Bevir M (2010) Democratic governance. Princeton University Press, Princeton. CrossRef Google Scholar

2. Hocking C. Occupational justice as social justice: The moral claim for inclusion. Journal of Occupational Science. 2017; 24(1): 29-42. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2017.1294016

3.Khoza, 2006:6; Luhabe, 2002:103; Mandela, 2006:xxv; Tutu, 1999:34-35).

4.Malfitano A, de Souza R, Lopes RE. Occupational justice and its related concepts: An Historical and Thematic Scoping Review. OTJR Occupation Participation and Health. 2016; 36(4): 167-178. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/1539449216669133

5. Galvaan R, Peters L. Occupation-based community development framework. 2013. Available from: https://vula.uct.ac.za/access/content/group/9c29ba04-blee-49b9-8c85-9a468b556ce2/OBCDF/index.html. 2018/02/23.

6. Richards L, Galvaan R. Developing a socially transformative focus in occupational therapy: insights from South African practice. South African Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2018; 48(1): 3-8. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2310-3833/2017/vol48n1a2

[thejennhall]

Living with Fibromyalgia

Welcome back to the blog! Today I will be sharing my fibromyalgia journey with you. In case you have never heard of Fibromyalgia I will give you a few details.

What is Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a disorder that affects muscle and soft tissue characterized by chronic muscle pain, tenderness, fatigue, and sleep disorders. It is a lifelong disorder that is more common in females than males. Although there is treatment there is no known cure.

My Daily Symptoms:

Extreme Fatigue, chronic intense pain all over, Sleeplessness, and brain fog( I have trouble focusing and staying focused on pretty much anything). 

How I Treat My Fibromyalgia

The first thing I learned was that I would not be able to use the traditional forms of treatment with my epilepsy and other medical issues, so I adopted a holistic approach. I spent countless days researching how to treat fibromyalgia naturally and came up with a few ways that help me.

The first thing I had to do was change my eating habits. I ended up cutting about 85% of processed food from my diet, I replaced that 85% with fruits and vegetables. 

The one thing I was not able to do with my diet was to add more fish because I’m allergic to fish. I knew I needed more protein in my diet so I bought Orgain Organic Protein Powder and started adding it to my fruit smoothies.

 The next thing I learned while researching was that I needed to exercise on a daily basis. I will be honest with you, this was really hard with the amount of pain that I was in. When you have fibromyalgia you actually wake up in intense pain. I honestly didn’t think  I would be able to do it. Yoga and Resistance/ Strength Training are highly recommended. A quick tip for finding yoga workouts is to head over to YouTube and search for “Gentle Morning Flow Yoga” or “Yoga for Seniors” watch a few that pop up and see if it is a good fit for you.  For strength training, I have two pink five-pound hand weights that I use for 15 minutes a day. Hopefully, I will work up to a little longer over time but for now, I am happy with what I am able to do. 

 A moist heating pad is a must for anyone who suffers from chronic pain. I also use aromatherapy, meditation, relaxation music, gardening, and just moving around as much as possible. Being outside helps me as well simply because I love the outdoors.

 Like many people dealing with fibromyalgia, some days are better than others. Some days I can accomplish everything on my to-do list and other days I can’t get out of bed. I refuse to give up though and I will keep doing everything in my power to control the pain level. Do you suffer from Fibromyalgia? Let me know some of your tips for living with Fibromyalgia. 

[shinra-makonoid]

That has nothing to do with me being uncomfortable or pained by that. I used to defend euthanasia as a teenager, and I have personally wished death of a family member who was suffering, wish that has been granted to me, though not through euthanasia, and I won't lie it was a relief. In general, when you are a helper or around someone who is in a great deal of suffering due to a long lasting illness that cannot be cured, you desperately wished it stopped, by any mean necessary, because it is extremely difficult to handle, especially when you're in the same family, or when you're a child.

This is why people who are suffering from cancer see their loved ones go away from them, or why some people in general who aren't the patient, push for euthanasia, and this is even sometimes why patients themselves push for euthanasia (on top of feeling useless, they know that their loved ones suffer because of them and it's unbearable).

I wouldn't be able to debate about whether the person you're talking about should or shouldn't be euthanasied, only about what's happening in countries that accept it.

I disagree that treatments not working and/or pain being extremely difficult means that the person should be given up upon and/or that they should give up and/or that their surrounding should give up. Death is not and will never be a cure for suffering. In the end, people will be euthanasied because society didn't manage to help them, this is an utter failure on all parts of society.

I cannot talk about mental health issues, but what I can say is that patients with terminal illnesses want less to die when they're appropriately taken care of, generally through palliative care, that has an holistic approach in regards to a patient, rather than only treating symptoms/illnesses (and it makes them live longer too!). Suffering can be there for many reasons, and it can be physical, spiritual, social, psychological. If you cannot help someone on all those levels, then you will never be able to allow them to be able to live with their disabilities and issues. What does that mean? It means that it goes much further than just doctors doing their job or treatments, it means also having money to live and have a shelter in a safe place, it means being integrated in society, it means being spiritually fulfilled (whatever form that it takes). As long as we think that patients, and especially patients suffering from mental health issues, are only in such a way because of their illness/disabilities, rather than question their quality of life in its entirety, we'll stay unable to help them in any significant way, and we'll keep using euthanasia against them instead of looking into the real issues they're facing, that doctors can't fix because it's most probably systemic.

So yes, it is very much about hating disabled and mentally ill people. And I'll bet anything that the person you know has more issues than suffering of mental health issues, it's all connected. If you're mentally ill, you will have difficulties to integrate yourself in society, you will probably have money/comfort issues, and you will probably think you're a useless piece of meat.

That is why the work of volunteering amongst people in palliative care or with homeless people or for people in difficulties is crucial for society, because at least you integrate a little bit the person you volunteer for into society and that can be a game changer in regards to their desires to be euthanasied.

The more I dig into the question of euthanasia, the more I'm against.

Did you know that in Belgium, during 2020-2021, 92 people got euthanasied because they suffered from psychiatric illnesses or cognitive issues?

18 for depression/bipolarity, 49 for dementia, 10 for personality disorder, 6 for what is called "nevrotic", 3 for schizophrenia, 4 for neurological disorders like autism (I doubt it's only autism but it could be ADHD and all that stuff, it's not said), 2 for illnesses like anorexia. None of those had a short lifespan left btw.

This looks very much like hating disabled and mentally ill people. :)

[cripplecharacters]

hi! I have a question in regards to "abled savior" trope and compassion fatigue. I am currently writing a story that features someone who cares for a severely ill and disabled family member. From personal experience I know that the stress that comes with caretaking can in some cases cause burnout and depression. While this is of course not to be weighed against the struggles of the disabled character in any way, I would like to explore this dilemma in a way so that does mirror my personal experiences while not shifting the narrative in a way that rehashes old and harmful tropes. Do you have thoughts on that and maybe some things to look out for when portraying fatigue and mental health issues in caretakers?

Hello, and thanks for your question! As you've mentioned, this is a topic which should be treated with a lot of care and nuance, as it can be very easy to reinforce ableist stereotypes in storytelling about caretakers. For context about my response, I'm a chronically ill person who does not have a paid or formal caretaker but my partner and roommate often act as caretakers for me in my everyday life.

You're absolutely correct in caretaking being a stressful and difficult job (especially when unpaid or unrecognized by society as a legitimate form of labour). I have a few general questions that I would encourage anyone writing about caretaking to ask themselves and keep in mind as they write:

Whose perspective is the story being told from?

Does the reader ever hear from the disabled character in their own words?

How much agency does the disabled character have in their life and in making decisions about their care?

What relationship does the caretaker have to the disabled person? How do they feel about one another?

Is the disabled character being portrayed as a burden to the non-disabled character(s)?

My advice would be that the negative feelings experienced by your caretaker character should not be directed towards the disabled person in their care. The disabled character should not be framed by your story as a burden to your caretaker character by virtue of requiring care. Caretaking can be incredibly difficult and thankless, but some of us have no choice but to rely on caretakers and shouldn't be blamed for that.

That isn't to say that your caretaker character can never experience fatigue or burnout--but consider where the character directs those emotions.

In text, you can have your character:

Feel frustration and anger towards living in an ableist society that sequesters disabled people and often leaves us solely reliant on caretakers, when care responsibilities should ideally be more holistic and collective.

Wish that caretakers had more financial, physical and material support to make their responsibilities easier. You can have them lament that other characters in their life don't see their caretaking as genuine labour, or won't accommodate their caretaking responsibilities (e.g. medication, hygiene or feeding schedules).

Grieve whatever the relationship dynamic had been before they became a caretaker, depending on their relationship to the disabled character and whether the disability is acquired or congenital, and working through those emotions.

Access mental health supports and talk to other caretakers about their struggles, or ask caretakers and other disabled characters for advice on making their responsibilities easier for both them and the disabled person in their care.

Talk out any sticking points with the disabled person in their care and have them both confide in one another, and have your caretaker character reaffirm their commitment to the disabled character not just because they have to, but because they choose to.

Negotiate arrangements for others to temporarily manage the disabled character's care if they need to take a break due to burnout (following prior discussion with and consent from your disabled character).

I would strongly, strongly recommend that, if nothing else, you don't make the caretaker character consider leaving the disabled person because they are too much work and they don't want to be a caretaker anymore. Instead, your character might condemn abled people who have abandoned their disabled loved ones in need of care. Again, your character can resent the situation they've been put into by the way caretaking is structured and treated in ableist society, but they should never resent the disabled character for requiring care.

Remember that if your caretaker character is getting depressed, chances are that so is the disabled person in their care. We notice what our caretakers are feeling when they're with us. It doesn't feel good to know that our caretakers are exhausted when we have no choice but to rely on them and there's little we can do to ease their responsibilities. We often worry about whether our caretakers resent us for our care needs, and if they're visibly frustrated or exhausted, that fear skyrockets. This isn't to say you should never depict your character visibly upset, but it shouldn't go unacknowledged by your disabled character.

Disabled people in need of care are told that we are burdens and more work than we're worth, but I encourage anyone depicting caretaking to recognize that we make sacrifices too. We often weigh what we do or don't absolutely need in order to ease our caretakers' jobs a bit, but that can also harm us if all we're getting are the absolute bare necessities for survival (for example, if my caretakers are busy and I need to eat but am bedbound, I might choose to go hungry for longer than I should). Caretaking is always a two-way relationship, and both of these characters should be fully fleshed out and three-dimensional. Your disabled character in care should be making their own decisions and asserting themselves when needed.

My last piece of advice--and this ultimately depends on the genre and type of story you want to tell--would be to encourage you to depict joy wherever you can. Disabled people are worthy of not just care but genuine love and affection, and I would love to see more depictions of strong emotional bonds between disabled people and our caretakers. For those of us whose caretakers are loved ones, they should care for us out of love because they want to see us happy and as healthy as possible. There's a lot of grief and depression depicted already in media that revolves around disability, but we could always use more disabled joy.

Thanks again for your question and best of luck writing!

Additional input from disabled people with caretakers is more than welcome :)

-Mod Faelan

[avesblues2]

I'm so frustrated with how our medical system treats infertility. I have endometriosis, didn't know until two months ago. For years my pain was diagnosed as normal, despite my concerns about how debilitating my periods are and the amount of drugs I have to take to walk around the house on day one of my period. My only solutions proposed by doctors was surgery to remove the cyst, birth control or get pregnant. I will be having surgery to remove the cyst but that doesn't rid of my endometriosis, which many holistic doctors believe is an autoimmune disorder, it only gets rid of the symptom which can sadly grow back. Birth control is the opposite thing I want to take, I'm trying to have children and laughable getting pregnant was a "solution" I've been struggling for 16 months to do that. This is it? This is my healthcare? This is the quality of care I get despite having the best insurance possible? On top of it, I had to go to a private fertility clinic because my insurance doesn't cover fertility treatments. My fertility doctor is sweet but even he doesn't address root issues or holistic solutions. He prescribed me clomid which after doing extensive research, makes my endometriosis WORSE! I didn't get pregnant with it and in fact it made my symptoms worse. It thins out my uterine lining which is the opposite of what I need, it doesn't prohibit my estrogen but instead heightens it which endo feeds off of estrogen levels... now I know not to take it but I'm just so disappointed. I'm paying to be my own advocate. This shouldn't be how healthcare operates. I should be able to trust my doctors and the treatments they prescribe. Now on Friday I have another appt with questions ready to ask and hopefully to schedule my surgery, which is the first step that needs to be done. I feel such a weight on my shoulders. With the emotions of not getting pregnant every month and the weight of ensuring I'm getting quality treatment and not taking/doing things that will my condition worse! I admit I don't have a PHD but I am able to read research papers, studies, clinical trials and advocate for my health the best I can but I wish this burden wasn't on me, THE PATIENT.

[tanenigiri]

Review #16: Sasaki and Miyano (Volumes 4 and 5)

Japanese title: 佐々木と宮野 (Sasaki to Miyano)

Story and art: Shou Harusono

English publisher: Yen Press

Number of volumes: 6 in English, 9 in Japanese (ongoing)

A little something about buildups.

(This review contains story spoilers.)

It was around the eighth or ninth episode of the Sasaki and Miyano anime when I realized that Miyano’s answer was gonna be in the finale. With how much time they were putting into his decision-making, I figured that there was no way it would come any earlier, as anything that would happen after would’ve been overshadowed by that scene. But that doesn’t mean I was impatient about it - in fact, the episodes leading up to the finale were among my favorites of the series. So reading the manga volumes covering those episodes was a treat, as it led me to be more attentive with how Miyano was processing everything that would eventually lead him to bearing his heart to Sasaki that one January day. I was originally gonna include Volume 6 in this review, but there’s a lot I wanted to talk about in these two volumes, so that’s gonna get its own review later this month.

In the same way that the first three volumes spotlighted how Sasaki was processing his feelings leading up to his confession, these two volumes spend quite some time on how Miyano is handling all his thoughts and emotions leading up to his answer. And I appreciate how the story tackles pretty much all of Miyano’s doubts thoroughly, as it not only gives him a lot of character development, but it also adds another layer to his dynamics with the people around him, which in turn makes their characters more holistic.

There are two major running threads here in terms of Miyano’s decision-making, with the first and probably more prominent being his insecurities about his looks. Volume 3 gives a pretty definitive note for this point to end on, with Sasaki declaring that he’ll still feel the same way about Miyano regardless of how he looks like in the future. I would’ve expected the story to leave it at that, but Volume 4 interestingly revisits this point in two major ways - the introduction of Makimura and the drag contest.

Makimura is Miyano’s classmate from junior high who he previously had a crush on. Miyano runs into her in the train station, and it’s suddenly revealed that her teasing of Miyano back then to dress up as a girl turned out to be a misunderstanding, as she only wanted him to do so because of her art projects. It’s important to note that this doesn’t invalidate Miyano’s feelings - Makimura’s teasing was shown to be the breaking point because he had a crush on her, but she was just one of several people who pointed out Miyano’s girly looks - but it does let him see the issue from a new perspective. And when he finds himself being able to talk to Makimura normally despite his issues, he wonders what’s changed - and it naturally leads him to think about what Sasaki told him in the previous volume.

In the same vein, when Miyano gets assigned by his class to represent them for the school’s drag contest, he’s obviously apprehensive of it because of his insecurities. The story does a really good job in showing that his classmates didn’t make the decision in Miyano’s expense, and they constantly reassure his classmate that not only does he have Kuresawa as a backup, but the main reason they want Miyano to be the representative is because he has the best chances of winning it for the class. While this doesn’t fully dissuade his fears - especially when his classmates bring up some questionable suggestions for what he should wear - what does help him see it through is, once again, Sasaki’s words of encouragement from before.

It’s a good time to note that while Sasaki’s past actions have been incredibly helpful for Miyano, his present self isn’t taking any of the above developments that well. Sasaki grabs Miyano’s hand to prevent him from touching Makimura’s - which was only done to compare their sizes - and after finding out about it by accident, he asks Miyano if he could drop out of the drag contest for him. We already get hints of Sasaki’s possessiveness in earlier volumes - that scene with Ogasawara in Volume 2 comes to mind - so to see it shift into high gear in Volume 4 is a really interesting decision.

I get why the story decided to do this in the narrative sense - both of these instances eventually lead to very healthy conversations between Sasaki and Miyano where they come out of it stronger - but I don’t think I fully get the reasons for doing this in terms of character development just yet. I don’t know if the reason is as simple as giving Sasaki a flaw to match Miyano’s insecurities, but I do think that the character’s better off going through these challenges than not doing so at all. Not only does it give Miyano a more holistic picture of the person who confessed to him, but it also gives Sasaki the opportunity to better himself, as his flaws are now affecting the person he loves.

The second running thread, which is a lot more introspective, is Miyano’s confusion on what exactly he’s feeling about Sasaki. Now, this is a bit less satisfying to watch as a reader than the previous thread since we already have a four-letter answer in our minds whenever this question runs through Miyano’s head, but I quite like how the question gradually evolves from “Can I return Sasaki’s feelings?” to “What are these feelings I’m experiencing?” and, finally, to “Are these feelings the same as Sasaki’s?” It’s that last one that really sold me on this series when I first watched the anime, as it’s what finally made it click in my head that Miyano’s taking a long time to answer because he’s covering all the bases. He has a line in the fireworks scene about not wanting to just try it out and finding out he regrets it afterwards, which is not only incredibly mature, but the fact that he says he doesn’t want to do so because he doesn’t want to hurt Sasaki already speaks volumes to how much he actually cares for his senpai.

Miyano gets some help with this part of his journey from a new character - Hanzawa, the president of the disciplinary committee and one of Sasaki’s classmates. While he’s mainly there to help Miyano with the drag contest, Miyano ends up asking Hanzawa a lot of questions about his feelings - which, to Miyano’s defense, are almost always led on by Hanzawa, whose shown to enjoy observing and talking about the love lives of the people around him. A slip-up from Miyano also tells Hanzawa the object of the second year’s affection, which he’s seen to be surprised by but ultimately happy about.

We learn in a future volume why that’s so - though the very end of Volume 5 gives a sneak peek - but I quite like how Hanzawa is used as a sort-of mentor figure for Miyano throughout these volumes. Despite being largely motivated by his fascination of the whole ordeal, he clearly wants the best for Miyano, and it’s nice to see someone take a more active role in helping Miyano figure things out. It’s a whole other dynamic from what Miyano has with Kuresawa or Hirano, and it’s another example of a friendship around the main couple that strengthens the whole cast.

All these events do lead Miyano to his answer, though it’s only stuck in his mind by the end of Volume 5. And it says a lot that Miyano ends up figuring out his response to Sasaki’s confession not when he’s taking care of him while he’s sick, not when they’re in a very intimate setting watching the fireworks and holding hands, but right after they watch a BL movie together. I thought that was a great call, as it reminds Miyano of the starting point of their relationship - his love for BL that Sasaki was not only able to tolerate, but reciprocate. Miyano himself says during this realization that he feels “at peace” when he’s around Sasaki, and I quite like how it zeroes in on this aspect as the main reason - it’s not the grand gestures or the bold declarations that get to him, but the fact that Sasaki has gone out of his way to make things easier for Miyano in all aspects of his life, even for something as embarrassing as BL.

It’s a fantastic way to build up to the answer, and these two volumes are definitely an example of the journey being just as worth it as the destination. Sasaki and Miyano takes its time with developing its characters, and for me, it’s a testament to how good the writing is that none of it feels too slow or too dragged on. It would’ve felt out of character if Miyano made his decision faster, and to see him realize his feelings in his own pace made for a much more satisfying read.

Random thoughts that I couldn’t fit elsewhere:

I already raved about their dynamic in my previous review, but Miyano and Ogasawara share some funny scenes in these two volumes. The scene where Ogasawara asks Miyano to talk to his girlfriend is one of my favorites in the series, but it’s their cafe scene that I wanted to focus on here. I didn’t think much of it when I first saw it in the anime, but after reading it here, I have to wonder if it also contributed to Miyano’s realization at the end of that chapter? Having someone validate that Miyano treats Sasaki differently from his other senpais must’ve only added to the second year’s introspection, and that someone being one of Sasaki’s closest friends says a lot too.

Sasaki gets a parallel dynamic to the Miyano-Ogasawara one in these volumes, as he spends a number of scenes talking with Kuresawa. It’s their conversation while they’re watching the drag contest that stands out to me here, as it almost feels like Kuresawa is giving Sasaki the opportunity to concretize how he really feels about Miyano’s participation, though he also assures him that his class isn’t egging Miyano about this or putting him through unnecessary pressure. (I also like how Sasaki suddenly has a full-on realization in the middle of this conversation about something that’s completely unrelated to it.)

We get my favorite Hirano-Kagiura extra in Volume 5, which sees Kagiura hanging out in the delinquent cafe right after Sasaki and Miyano leave. It’s a funny but also quite revealing scene of how Kagiura is worried that other people will see Hirano’s charms. It really drives home the parallel between their relationship and the main one, though Kagiura’s jealousy is a slightly different flavor from Sasaki’s possessiveness.

Thanks for reading! You can read my review of the first three volumes of Sasaki and Miyano here. I think Volume 5’s up there among my favorites in the series, though there’s a volume coming out next year that’ll definitely surpass it. I have one more review lined up for Volume 6, and I don’t think I’ll be able to resist talking about the chapters after it.

[pro-birth]

It’s so manipulative and toxic how women have to scramble over themselves to assure their “appreciation” for birth control’s part in “sexual liberation” whenever they mention issues with BC. If a disclaimer is not made on a post discussing BC problems, then people hound it for being “unrealistic” or “ungrateful” or even just plain sexist, all because BC is a sacred cow that can never be criticized for the sake of women’s equity.

Like, no, women were not liberated by birth control: they still got discriminated against for being pregnant, still got sexually harassed, still got raped by their husbands, still endured bad sex because “clitoris” is a bad word (and BC can interfere with sexual pleasure), etc. Discrimination still happened, and we’re still reckoning with the failure of our previous generations.

So many problems got swept under the rug because pregnancy and fertility were made the scapegoat for women’s problems. “You’re not getting hired/accepted into school/respected as a political force because you get pregnant -- take this pill with serious consequences for your health and social well-being, and you’ll finally be free of your own biology!!!”

Really????

Being able to safely avoid a pregnancy is absolutely a part of women’s health, and having access to safe, holistic methods even more important. Being able to make an informed decision on all options available is important. I am not against those things. So don’t even come at me thinking I hate pregnancy prevention and safe access to it.

But that is NOT what women have, even in first world nations in many ways, because not ALL of their options are available. Way too few doctors know about ALL options for family planning (such as fertility awareness based methods), and they also discount women’s voices concerning issues with birth control.

The birth control industry not only has a strong monopoly over women’s health (which influences what medical professionals learn in school), but also has a long racist, sexist history that still harms people today. Side effects of birth control are only just now being taken seriously and research is still pending! After 70 fucking years of treating women like guinea pigs whose health and sexuality is considered second to sexual availability to men! This is the liberation we fought for???

This doesn’t even get into how options for menstrual/reproductive issues like endo or PCOS don’t go beyond “use potent artificial hormones” unless you want a baby, and even then the mainstream fertility treatments are also subpar. Safe and effective non-hormonal birth control and fertility health options exist, but they are NOT common, and it is BECAUSE of the birth control industry’s grip on medicine that they are not more accessible. It is BECAUSE of the devaluation of female biology that BC has caused that women’s medicine suffers. I’m supposed to shut up and lie about how awesome it is that we have birth control for this????

And not only that, but family rights in the workplace and in academia are still a battle being fought today because women are expected to not only use birth control or get an abortion to remain unpregnant in that sexist environment, but to also overwork and overburden themselves to act like they don’t have kids at home to take care of if they want to barely keep up with their childless compatriots. Smoke breaks? Cool! Wanting a stool to sit on while heavily pregnant when working check out lines? Wow you obviously don’t take your job seriously, no raises or job security for you! This is something I am being pressured to celebrate???

There was even a recent article on how breastfeeding Olympians are being told that they can’t take their nursing babies with them to compete (which thankfully was overturned). We’re still acting like women’s biology and their motherhood are subpar and unnecessary, we still have to pressure and waste energy on convincing sexists that we deserve accommodation. In 2021. Because birth control made fertility the problem and potent hormonal casrtration the solution. You really want me to sit there and force a smile for this shit????

Could you imagine how different things would have turned out if fertility awareness were normalized in medicine rather than hormonal methods? If simply not marrying, or abstaining from sexual activity, were also normalized as options? If doctors were given the same funding and support for researching female biology rather than how to suppress it? Would our societal treatment be different? Would our medical care have been decades ahead from how it is now? Would there be less generational trauma for BIPOC women who were subjects of deadly BC trials? Would it have helped with gender relations in the bedroom, schoolroom, workroom?

We don’t know, we can’t know, because even today, our biology is regarded with minimal regard, if not contempt: BECAUSE OF BIRTH CONTROL’S MONOPLY ON OUR BODIES AND HEALTH. You want me to claim I should be grateful for that shit???

I won’t be “””thankful””” for birth control unless birth control becomes a discussion and invitation to ALL methods of family planning and reproductive medical options, and does NOT treat ovulation, pregnancy, and birth like a disease and malformation of female biology. I’m not going to apologize for saying so, because the only thing that bootlicking does is gloss over the very real harms BC has caused.

I will not be thankful for birth control until it’s part in the medical, sexual, and social subjugation of women is finally admitted to and addressed effectively for real changes. Even then, it still won’t be my cup of tea and I am NOT obligated to pretend that I am “grateful” for it.

If you feel the same, then reblog and share your stories. Don’t be silent for the comfort of others. Women need to get their voices back without the demand for “apologies.”

And before someone bitches about how privileged I am to say this when women in third world countries are dying from lack of contraception access: look up neo-imperialism’s effects on forced birth control and eugenics in those countries. Read the stories of women who were told IUD was their only option, who were refused access to fertility awareness, who were unable to get healthcare when they got horrible side effects from their BC, and/or were unable to have their implant removed because the clinic demanded money for it. Like I said: we don’t owe birth control SHIT if this is how it’s used against women.