A day of baking.

Since my son is off school for the October week and Sophie's playgroups are off too I thought why not have a baking day.

I decided to make some homemade soup and homemade rolls.

SOUP

I made Lentil soup and put some carrot and turnip in there too.  It is quick, simple and cheap to make.

First I put some vegetable oil in the pot, let it heat up a bit then added the carrot and turnip to fry it off a bit.  I then added some lentils.  You wont need to add lots of lentils as they swell.

Once everything was mixed nicely I added the water bringing it to the boil.

When it was boiling I added a vegetable stock cube mixed it all together and turned it down to a gentle heat to let it simmer checking on it every 10 minutes.

ROLLS

The recipe for my rolls and bread can be found here http://angelahamilton2014.blogspot.co.uk/p/recipes-thought-i-would-share-some.html  I would post it here but it is quite long!

Again, simple and cheap to make but can take a little prep time.

dough before 

dough after proving

Ready to go into oven

Yummy rolls ready to eat

I honestly prefer homemade soups and bread because you know exactly what is going into it and it works out so much cheaper than buying it in the supermarket.

Why not give it a try?

Christmas Wish List

Thought I would share my Christmas wish list with you.....might be different to what you were thinking.

• That my children have a wonderful day
• That we all have fun at Christmas dinner (going out this year)
• That James is stress free
• That my family have a good year
• That I get better and can finally live my life again

I don't think that is too much to ask do you?

I would also like

• NHS waiting times for mental health support to be slashed
• For people to continue to raise awareness
• People to be more open and honest about their experiences with mental health conditions
• The media to give fair and non-judgemental coverage of mental health issues.

Let's hope that I get what I want for Christmas xx

Shane Filan - My Side Of Life

I love reading and I love music so you can imagine my excitement when my favourite singer, Shane Filan, announced he was releasing his autobiography this month.  Lets just say I pre-ordered it and waiting patiently, OK not so patiently, for the postman to bring me my copy.

Shane Filan, My Side Of Life arrived yesterday and I decided to wait until the children were in bed before I started it, well it does deserve my full attention after all.

Me and Shane July 2013 Radio Tour, Edinburgh

Shane's autobiography tells us about his rise to fame with Westlife, meeting the love of his life Gillian and the dark days after he was declared bankrupt.  He has been quoted as saying he wants to help others who have been in a similar situation.  

I am currently on chapter 5 and honestly I have had a good laugh already, especially the part about him dying his hair blonde and getting a fake tan so Simon Cowell wouldn't recognise him!! 

Once I am finished the book, no doubt after more laughter and some tears, I will tell you more about it BUT if you love reading a good autobiography I honestly recommend buying Shane's book. You won't be disappointed.

To buy a copy please visit

WH Smith http://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/my-side-of-life-the-autobiography/9780753556030

Waterstones http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/shane+filan/my+side+of+life3a+the+autobiography/10713040/

Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Side-Life-The-Autobiography/dp/0753556030

To find out more about Shane http://shanefilan.com/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/ShaneFilan

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ShaneFilanOfficial?fref=ts

I hate the guilt

As many of you will know I have recently been told that all the issues I am having just now, the feeling unwell, not having energy, not being able to leave the house due to it all, is down to my hormones.

I have started my medication for this and I am on day 3 of the first course. So far no change but it is very early days.

Not a day goes by that I don't feel guilty.

I look at my children and wish I could be a better mum.  A mum who can go outside and run around with them and take them places.  With all these symptoms I can't do this stuff and it breaks my heart.

Then I look at my husband.  My poor husband who has to deal with all my rants and tears.  The man who does it all and I mean everything, apart from the days that I have the energy to do anything which seems to be rare.

This has caused many argument between us.....of course he is frustrated, angry and upset I understand that 100% I know he gets fed up of hearing me moan I can't blame him for that.  There are times I bottle it up because I don't want him to know how I really feel.  I also know many people who think I am just lazy and don't want him to be happy or have a life away from me that is so not true.

He goes to London in a few weeks and I am nowhere near the way I want to be.  I wanted to be better by November because I knew he was going away.  If the doctor had diagnosed me sooner maybe I would have been and everything would be back to normal.

I am only 34 I should not be feeling like this and it hurts,  I want my life back but clearly my hormones have other ideas.

Until then I guess I just need to feel guilty every single day, even though I hate feeling that way.

World Mental Health Day 2014

Schizophrenia 

• 26 million people live with Schizophrenia

Today is mental health awareness day and the spotlight is on Schizophrenia.  Let me tell you about the signs and symptoms.

• Delusions - unusual beliefs
• Hallucinations - seeing things and/or hearing things that are not there
• behavioural changes 
• muddled thoughts - come from the hallucinations & delusional thoughts.

The exact causes are not known but some believe the following can be classed as a cause.

• Genetics - it can run in families, although this is not certain
• Pregnancy and birth complications

Triggers for those at risk from the condition

• Drug abuse
• Stress

If you or your loved one are showing signs of Schizophrenia please go to your doctor who will put you in touch with your local community mental health team and will also give you the support you need.

For more information please visit the following

http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/world-mental-health-day/world-mental-health-day-2014/

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Schizophrenia/Pages/Introduction.aspx

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsdisorders/schizophrenia.aspx

Helping people with mental health conditions get back to work

I had a wonderful job working for a major credit card company and I can honestly say I loved it. Sadly once I was signed off work with anxiety, stress and depression I was never treated the same way again.  I lost my job. Well I was told that if I handed my notice in I would get paid my final wage if I didn't they would dismiss me and I would get no payment.  Needless to say I handed my notice in and went straight to a lawyer.  The company denied that is how it happened and also claimed it was nothing to do with my mental health condition. So why did it happen then?!

So many employers have no idea how to deal with employees who have mental health conditions. They seem to think that they are no longer capable to carry out their normal duties and don't know how to act around them.  I can tell you how to act around them NORMAL.  Just because people have a condition does not mean they are any different or need to be treated differently.

I was offered a staged return to work. The first few days I was in for 2 hours then built it up from there.  I was not happy though as I was stuck on filing and photocopying.  My old position was given to someone who did not have a clue what she was doing and who was left alone as my old work colleague was out on audit,  I had to help her on numerous occasions yet I was pulled away and told that I was no longer capable of working in that role.  I was heartbroken to be told all I was good for now was filing, photocopying and distributing the mail.

Looking back I wonder had they known more about mental health conditions and how to help someone back into work after time off or even straight after diagnosis then maybe I would still be working there.

I agree staged returns are a good idea to settle the person back in to their old position as I did find that helpful myself but surely there are other ways of helping.

I think ALL employers should offer the following

• Staged returns
• flexible hours of working in the first couple of months
• time off for counselling appointments
• invite the counsellor into the work place to see the employee
• Support from a colleague until they are more settled.

ALL employers should be entitled to

• Better education on mental health conditions
• Help in supporting a colleague returning to work

If seeking a new postilion elsewhere the new employee should not discriminate against the person. Too often people who decide to be honest on their applications are overlooked because they have a mental health condition.  Why? They are just as capable as anyone else.

IF you are currently working and find you are being treated differently to your colleagues do not be afraid to speak out.  Contact your union rep or contact http://www.acas.org.uk/ or http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

If you are finding it hard to get back into work contact your local citizens advice (link above) or pop into your local job centre and ask if they are running any schemes to help you back to work.

Increase in patients being prescribed antidepressants.

I have just read an STV news report that there is an increase in patients being prescribed antidepressants.  To me this is concerning as I am not sure why there is such a rise.  Is this down to more people getting the help they need (which is a good thing) OR is it simply because GP's don't have the proper training regarding mental health conditions and are handing them out like sweets as this is seen as the easy way?

In Scotland, between 2013 & 2014 more than 778,000 patients were prescribed at least one antidepressant.  This is a 4% increase from between 2012/2013 and a 22.8% increase on 2009/2010. This is quite a significant rise.

Most people will know I am not a fan of SSRI's (Selective Serotonin reuptake inhibitors) such as Citalopram, which is widely used for mild depression and even anxiety.

Recently I had been prescribed Citaolpram.  I had initially been offered it in 2006 when I was diagnosed with anxiety and I refused to take it.  This time I decided to give it a try.  I really wish I hadn't

A few days into taking the tablets, at 1am, I came into my living room sat down and told my husband that I wanted to kill myself.  He couldn't believe what I was telling him.  He looked so hurt yet I had no real control over what I was thinking and I broke down.  Deep down I knew I did not want to kill myself but I had this overwhelming urge to take my life and luckily I saw sense and told him rather than carrying the act out.

I stopped the tablets, the GP was not too impressed, but there was no way I could continue taking these horrible little pills.

Now I am not saying that this will happen to everyone, that is not the case, some people will be fine on them others not.  Like any other medication. There are side effects, again like every medication, but some are quite severe so ALWAYS ask your doctor to go over these with you.  Realistically they should go over these without you asking.

My point is are doctors handing them out too quickly? I think so.

Counselling helped me through my anxiety and I did not take medication so I don't think that every case of anxiety should be treated with medication straight away.

I also believe the GP's should be given more training in mental health conditions and better guidelines set for them to follow.

What are your views?


**Read the full STV report here http://news.stv.tv/scotland/294034-figures-show-number-of-scots-prescribed-antidepressants-on-the-rise/