Suicide spikes among middle-aged women

[LetTimmySmoke]

Source: MSNBC

At 23, Julie Boledovich Farhat decided to leave her boyfriend, three siblings and beloved hometown in Michigan to focus on saving her mother.

After watching her mom, Gail Boledovich, battle schizophrenia for three years and suffer from hallucinations and delusions, Julie resolved to take an engineering job in Bowling Green, Ky., and buy a house where her mom could live with her and have a beautiful garden and even an art studio to create her mosaics. Gail would be spared the stress of having to work or pay bills. Everything would work out, Julie thought.

But Gail Boledovich never made it to Kentucky. She took her own life on May 1, 2005, two days before her 49th birthday. She died from an overdose of prescription-strength Benadryl pills that doctors had prescribed to her to help her sleep at night. Boledovich took the lethal dose in the middle of the day.

Farhat’s mom could have been anyone’s mom, or aunt — or wife.

A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows a 49 percent increase in emergency department visits for drug-related suicide attempts for women aged 50 and older.

Read more: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43714272/ns/today-today_health/

---

Jobs are being shipped overseas and the social safety is net under attack - its no wonder that people feel hopeless. We are paying the price for our society's greed.

[gateley]

1. I'd venture to guess there will be more suicides across the

spectrum. Too many people feel there is no hope. :cry:

America. :grr:

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. I know

three people who completed suicide last year.

Lack of meaningful and affordable access to healthcare was a factor in two of those suicides.

Lack of meaningful and affordable access to mental healthcare was a factor in the third.

[RKP5637]

3. I frankly think the new US is a damn depressing place. True, other countries are

far worse, but this country really sucks for millions and millions of people. And in my lifetime the US has shifted from trying to be about people, to now pretty much just about greed, money, profit and cruelly.

It's a shadow of the country I grew up in. I also see it becoming a police state to maintain the status quo of wealth and power as peasantry spreads across the US.

And anyone thinking the US is serious about creating jobs really needs to read more.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. I agree

For the past ten years or so, I have really felt better both physically and mentally outside the country, whether in Japan, Scandinavia, Canada, or even England, than I have in the U.S.

America seems increasingly mean and dumb, and the gap in standard of living that existed in the 1950s and 1960s has either disappeared or even reversed itself.

[RKP5637]

19. Yep, it's both depressing and suffocating here. And I hope my worst fears about

where the US is headed do not come true, but both the meanness and dumbness are really overwhelming.

I've heard others mention the same as you. The US has a wet suffocating blanket over it ... Further, IMO many of the politicians, etc. do not have the slightest clue what they are doing. They're treading water hoping we don't fail on all cylinders.

It will take decades to get this country back to what it once was, but I don't think the greedy and those on the take give a damn about the country. It's just a geographical location to soak up what cash they can.

[CrispyQ]

58. "America seems increasingly mean and dumb..."

Wow, do I ever agree with that statement. The level of civility, manners & awareness of others around you is shocking.

[Divernan]

64. That is quite true - I felt relaxed and energized and happy

when I left the US. The plane would take off and I left all the shit behind.

Until the financial meltdown of my IRA/retirement savings a couple of years ago, I was able to travel abroad a LOT!
Didn't matter where I headed - Europe, Micronesia, Asia, Central America - it was great to get a break from the economic and political crap going on in this country.

Other countries have problems as well - but the people are kinder, and usually much more aware of global issues than Americans. Our education has been dumb downed for so long, that most Americans are pathetically ignorant of the basics of government, the economy, health care, politics, etc. Not all Europeans feel the same about the EU, and are ready to criticize one aspect or another of it, but by god, their comments are intelligent and based on fact - not blathering cheer leading or derogatory snark.

[MuseRider]

12. Agreed.

I said something similar to a facebook "friend" this morning. I don't like us much anymore and living here seems to be filled with outrage and struggle for most of us.

[femrap]

40. +1000 nt

[jwirr]

46. Most of us living today were born into a society that thrived on hope.

It is very hard to adjust to a society that seems to be collapsing around us everyday. There are other nations that are in worse trouble (i.e. the Horn of Africa) but the people there were born into the struggle for survival and I suspect they see the problems now as an extention of that.

I have thoughts of suicide sometimes. I think it comes with the territory. Change is one of the hardest situations to accept in our lives. For me what helps is that I have always risen to the challenge and that is what I do now. I mope for a bit and then I look around me to see what I can do to make the situation better. It also helps if you are like me - I have 9 great grandchildren to help raise.

[midnight]

71. Thank you for your strength. Nine great grandchildren show that you are indeed an awesome person...

It is people like you that our young people need to see, and be around... Your comment about the troubles in Africa have left me especially outraged with the greedy...

[jwirr]

96. Thank you. The great grandchildren give me as much as I give them. nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. One of my friends who was unemployed for years and is now

barely surviving on reduced Social Security benefits has told me that if she becomes seriously ill, she's going to refuse treatment and just die.

[Warpy]

13. It was close to dialysis time for me a year ago

and I was going to refuse it for a number of reasons.

I got better, though.

[sudopod]

32. O_O Damn nt

[Mika]

5. Our society's greed? WTF

Illogical. Since when do banksters, Wall Street defrauders, pay to play crooked politicians = our society?

Maybe you missed the gist of the article - a very few crooks and professional hoodlums are committing robbery and destroying everything in their wake.

---

| | | | |

[BobbyBoring]

41. While that's true to a degree

The housing bubble attests to societies greed. Millions bought homes they couldn't afford in order to finance a life style they couldn't afford.

Wanting more than you can have is greed. It's just on a smaller scale.

[Morizovich]

104. It's true to the nth Degree

Who do you think dangled those candy apples in the faces of people desperate to improve their lot in life?

[Starry Messenger]

112. +1

[Enrique]

6. and we haven't even entered the era of austerity yet

that's where we have to go next, according to Pelosi and apparently the whole democratic party.

[RKP5637]

20. To me it's not the democratic party anymore. The real democratic party evaporated and

this is a fake.

[sarcasmo]

37. +1

[femrap]

42. The Audacity of Austerity

.....you'd think that Boomer women would have a Group/Organization.....there is OWL that advocates for us....that would offer a social outlet, a safe place to talk about our troubles. I guess we have to have $$ to afford a shrink.

I live in a fly-over state and everyone is either beaten down, uneducated, or overwhelmed. So I remain isolated just to avoid explaining myself....not that anyone would listen.

[Maccagirl]

8. There is no hope or joy left in tthe world

At least not in mine.

[LiberalEsto]

9. I feel the same way

Sometimes I go take it out on the weeds in the garden.

[butterfly77]

30. I know what you mean...

I can't even do that now,last year I had a garden now I am in an apartment and it sucks...But it could be worse and it may be in the future.

[Warpy]

11. Join the club, kiddo

Conservatives seem determined to suck every last bit of joy out of our lives while forcing us to endure every scrap of misery they can come up with.

[RKP5637]

21. Conservatives are a depressing bunch just by nature. I've never seen/heard a

happy conservative unless they're fucking over someone somehow.

[KansDem]

33. Conservatives exemplify the adage: "They're not happy unless they're miserable"

...and bitching and moaning all the time.

[RKP5637]

34. Yep, they are always uptight about something, one can see them coming

from blocks away, the way they walk, the way they dress and the ingrained wrinkles and lines in their face from being happy to be miserable.

The Radish Heads! Always fusing and fuming about ... and uptight.

[Name removed]

69. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[reggie the dog]

82. there are conservatives who are happy to live

i think they are misinformed but they are my friends and we can have fun doing things like hiking, talking, taking our kids swimming, going camping etc..

[jwirr]

48. We have inhertited to Roundheads from England - depressing all joy. nt

[hamsterjill]

16. This is very true!

I find that I have to actually force myself to find things to feel good about. And as each day passes, there seem to be fewer and fewer things. The future scares me.

But...thankfully, I'm feisty enough that I will keep going, hoping against hope that, one day, things might change and be a little more positive.

[femrap]

43. Same here.

I'm in Zanesville...pretty countryside, but that's about it.

[reggie the dog]

81. +1

[SammyWinstonJack]

101. Mine either....pretty much just waiting around for the inevitable.

[Karenina]

102. However, if "waiting around" involves

surrender of self-determination and dignity... Just askin'.

[Warpy]

10. It's not only the lack of work

it's the fact that we disappear when we turn 50.

It's weird. We go out in public and no one smiles or nods at us unless we know them well. If we are working, suddenly no one wants to hear what we have to say any more. In fact, the only representations we have in the media are as nagging MILs or women desperately in need of prescription drugs or gigantic diapers.

Throw in some other insult, and fighting a lifetime of mental illness as in the story above is a huge one but any small one like the loss of a job we didn't like in the first place or a sudden illness, and it can be enough to push us right off the edge.

I'm not surprised that suicides spike in women over 50. I'm just surprised that so many of us are continuing to live in such a sick society.

[mopinko]

14. if you are not employed, get used to it.

i am 56, and a long time homemaker. i have taken new training and would like to get even a little freelance work. fortunately i do not need to work. but i can see the world that these women are looking at, and .....

[Warpy]

18. I'm used to it

and fifteen bucks worth of wool can keep me occupied for a few weeks at a time from processing through dyeing through spinning and then weaving or knitting.

What I will never get used to is being invisible, although I've learned to work it to my advantage. If no one sees you, you can get away with a lot.

[CrispyQ]

60. "If no one sees you, you can get away with a lot."

That reminds me of a scene in "Six Feet Under" when the mother met the Kathy Bates character. They were shopping together & Bates shoplifted some items. The mother was terrified Bates would get caught, but Bates shrugged it off, "When you're our age, you're invisible."

[progressoid]

78. Well, you're seen here... :)

and appreciated too! :hug:

[Raksha]

95. I can relate to that, Warpy--both about the wool and the invisibility factor.

I don't spin or weave, but I do knit, crochet, do beadwork and cross stitch and other kinds of embroidery. I'm trying to establish at least an online "presence" as a needlework designer, but I'm constantly fighting despair. It feels so hopeless trying to do at age 65 what I should I done years ago. So then I tell myself I CAN'T give up because then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and failure is inevitable. That works for a while--sometimes. Then again, sometimes it doesn't.

Now they are talking about cutting my already inadequate SS benefits, and the Medicare benefits I only became eligible for a few months ago. I'm not suicidal, but I can understand where the feeling of being unwanted by society would drive some women right over the edge.

[EFerrari]

15. Agreed. The culture disappears women at the height of their competence.

It's unreal and stupid.

[femrap]

45. At or around 55,

the American female becomes invisible. Literally. People cut in line in front of me. Fortunately, I have a big mouth and a very strong desire for Justice.

[EFerrari]

53. LOL

:)

[KamaAina]

114. Feeling invisible? Join the Raging Grannies!

http://raginggrannies.org/

[theHandpuppet]

79. +1

And frankly, I think it's getting worse, not better.

[RKP5637]

23. It is, the US is a pathological society. I don't know if there is terminology to

attribute a mental illness to a whole country, but IMO the US is not a mentally healthy country. The US seriously needs therapy, but I have no idea where that is coming from.

[treestar]

25. That is not so

I'm over 50 and that is just not true. I don't want women in their 40s or 30s to fear this so I will put up here that it's just not that bad.

Oh, and not having periods is great!

I know more than I ever knew before and would not go back to an earlier age.

[femrap]

47. I wouldn't want to be

young today by any means....to have to wear stilettos and get a boob job would be too much for me. Sexism is alive and well today.

As I said above, the American female becomes invisible at or around age 55. Young women who have placed all their self-esteem in their physical body are going to have a rough time when the body starts to decline.

I'm glad to not have periods....but I miss having PROGERSTERONE!!! That's what made us feel so good back in the days.

I just look at this country and I am sad. We're a mere shadow of ourselves. Now, for those women who don't follow politics and watch Infotainment, maybe they're depressed for other reasons.

But face it...this is a Patriarchy and women who are +50 are at the bottom of the heap.

I just hope I can find a +50 woman to hire me.

[treestar]

87. Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton

Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We have it better than we ever did previously in history. Those women I mentioned are not invisible, they are forces in our society. I could come up with more.

[Divernan]

88. Net worths: Pelosi-$58 mill.; Clinton-$35 mil.;Boxer-$6 mil.

Don't know Ginsberg's wealth. I admire Justice Ginsberg tremendously, but at age 78, she came to her powerful position in a different set of circumstances from those facing today's new law graduates. Did you know that they are competing to get jobs paying $24 an hour & no benefits as "contract" workers? With the student loans which most new lawyers have, their future prospects are daunting. For the law classes of 2009, 1 out of 4 are working temporary jobs.

Pelosi's father was a US Congressman, her brother was mayor of Baltimore, lifelong stable marriage.

Boxer(age 71) married to a prominent attorney - never any worries about money in that family.

Clinton (age 64) - grew up in upper middle class comfort. Degrees from Wellesley & Yale without student loans.

Treestar, you seem to be cheerfully oblivious to the point of this thread. For the vast majority of aging women in today's society, times are tough and getting tougher.

You are personally fortunate if you are financially secure - probably have no worries about affording medical care, or being out of work (if you even need to work).

Frankly, you are as sensitive to the worries & fears of the working class (in which I include any "middle class" individual who relies on a paycheck), as the typical third way Democrat. That is to say, not at all.
You actually would say to women dealing with the kinds of stresses posted on this thread, "But not having periods is great"? ? ? Let's make sure the suicide prevention hotline folks have that response ready.

Can you relate to aging women with a net worth of 4 figures?
Can you relate to aging women who are one health care crisis away from total destitution?

[treestar]

98. But the idea was that women disappear at that age

And they just don't. You are admitting the problem is poverty and not being a middle aged woman.

Which is the case for any age.

It has nothing to do with personal circumstances and I don't know why you'd bring that up just to make it personal. You're making assumptions about my financial state that are wrong, but I don't like to get into personal stuff on the internet. No one can really prove it, and so it comes off as a ploy for sympathy.

I just don't like encouraging hopelessness among women who might be reading it who are younger. I recall hearing such things as a twenty and thirty something and it being depressing (especially for one already suffering from depression, which is a disease I had untreated throughout my teens, twenties and early thirties).

And just dismissing those powerful women as having gotten there via men - that's anti-feminist.

[Divernan]

105. Denying reality for majority of women is anti-feminist.

18 Countries Where Women Have It Way Better Than In America

(A 2010 article but still applicable IMO.)

"Ninety years since the nineteenth amendment and 50 years since the civil rights era, American women still lag behind men in several key metrics.

What's worse, America's gender gap is among the largest in the developed world, according to a report from the World Economic Forum.

The report compares female-to-male professional achievements, educational attainment, health and political empowerment. America scores lowest on politics, namely the number of women in office."

http://www.businessinsider.com/best-countries-for-women...

[femrap]

97. I'm talking about

regular women like me.

And were you around during the primary between Obama and HRC? I left DU for several months. I was astonished at the hatred projected upon HRC. I had no idea that women were so hated in this country.

Every Speaker of the House has been on the Cover of Time....NOT NANCY PELOSI.

This is a patriarchy...there are other 'rules' for the female gender.

And if we do have it so much better, why are middle-aged women killing themselves?

I wish young women would get pissed off about being portrayed as sexual objects, but they seem to be complying. Some day they'll get sick of it...maybe when they're middle-aged and the Eye Candy wears off. We live in a sick culture.

[treestar]

99. Why are you negating the rise to positions of power of women?

Young women today can see the women I mentioned - they are not invisible - as they certainly were not as numerous before the 70s feminist movement.

That's going to be a good thing for them.

Other groups have increased suicide rates too. That has to do with depression. I was unhappier in my 20s with untreated depression than in my 50s with it treated. So the underlying reason could be that, not being "invisible."

[femrap]

109. "Why am I negating the rise to positions of power of women?"

Because we live in a patriarchy that demands women behave and be Eye Candy.

I fight this daily.....I seem to need more people to help me.

[Divernan]

111. No amount of people or facts could change Treestar's opinion.

I think her attitude relates directly to her role as one of Obama's outspoken supporters. She lives in a world where no problems in American society can be acknowledged if they might even in the most tangential way reflect negatively on her leader. Like Sgt. Schultz, she sees nothing! she hears nothing!

Forget about all those statistics showing the continuing huge wage differential between men and women, which of course result in huge social security payment differentials. It's Peter Pan and Never Never Land for her. If you just think hard enough, femrap, and BELIEVE that women are now men's equals, and throw a handful of fairy dust in the air, it will be a "Live, Tinkerbell, Live!" moment for you too! It's not men's fault you don't make millions like Hilary or Barbara - it's your negative attitude. (Sarcasm!)

I co-wrote a book about AT&T's efforts to comply with a court directive to promote women and minorities into the first three levels of management, in numbers to match the demographics of AT&T's customers in the various regional baby bell companies. Sure, women were promoted. Research showed they overwhelmingly were young, hot and sexy "babes", not the older, knowledgeable and experienced women in the corporation. When new male managers were hired straight out of college, it was these older women who trained them. But the older women never got promoted.

For god's sake, how could anyone look at the endless photos of corporate board meetings, corporate top management meetings, and congressional committee meetings, not to mention presidential cabinet meetings, and not see that white males continue to be the overwhelming majority - with only a token woman here or there. My state has NEVER had a female senator or governor.

[femrap]

113. Thanks for

setting me straight.

I think you see the same w/ Big Pharma's Sales reps....all young, attractive women. The old ones get booted out during a downsizing.

Corporate Boards are such a joke....they are all on each other's boards. And most of them know nothing of the particular business that they are supposedly overseeing.

Even as a small child, I just couldn't understand why a man was the boss of Women's Clothing. Seriously, I would ask my mother, "What does he know about women's fashions?" I'm still asking that today.

It's a f*cked up world out there.

Thx again.

[LiberalEsto]

36. Add some extra pounds

and one becomes the fat old bitch.

However, people should keep in mind that a bitch is still capable of being one hell of a bitch.


:evilgrin:

[RobinA]

92. I'm With You

I'm 53. As a female, I've always been invisible at work, so no change there. However, when I go out and volunteer, take a client to a food pantry, or take classes it's other women I see. I have to laugh at all those "How to meet men" articles that say to get out and get involved. I am out and involved (not for that reason) and all I see is other women. I don't even know where men my age ARE after working hours!

[FLPanhandle]

61. I didn't know about the invisible thing. I'm going to smile and nod at every 50+ I see tonight.

As a 50 year old man, I hope they don't take it the wrong way. :)

[potone]

65. Don't worry. They won't.

They will appreciate the courtesy.:-)

[Pooka Fey]

91. + 1

[russspeakeasy]

17. If Tom Coburn gets his way, the suicide rates will go up among

veterans. His bright idea is to deny VA care unless you were wounded in action, or are retired after 20+ years in the service. Tom is a total asshole, but this makes him 110 % asshole.:hurts: :grr: :banghead:

[bbgrunt]

22. The current atmosphere is one

which encourages people to take "responsibility" to off themselves so they won't be a "burden" on any others. Instead of death panels, you need to disappear yourself.....saves taxpayer dollars don't cha know.

[pitohui]

24. well what would you do in that woman's place?

she appears to have had medication-resistant schizophrenia -- hallucinations and delusions! -- so bad that she could never work again, so bad that it appeared that her young daughter just starting out in life was going to give up so much of a future to care for her

the daughter being 23 and the mother being 49, i think the mother made a kind choice to set the daughter free and also to be free of her own delusions -- otherwise, the daughter would almost certainly have a greatly reduced opportunity in her career and probably no man would want her with that baggage in the picture, so no meaningful romantic life -- the daughter at 23 doesn't even realize the awful regrets she would have had waking up in late middle age (or old age) if she'd had to care for her mother until she died a natural death decades later

suicide is not always a wrong or stupid choice, sometimes if you have a disease that can't be fixed, it is the kind choice

the mother was suffering, and to keep the mother alive and suffering would have cost the daughter so much of her chance at life...i think the mother did a kind, heroic thing

[corpseratemedia]

28. sorry but living with someone committing suicide when you've gone out ofyour

way to provide a nice place for a disabled person is HORRIFIC. Sometimes there are no good choices but I can bet that she'd much rather have her mother around to take care of than the devastation of losing someone to suicide. Someone doesn't commit suicide and everybody around them goes" oh whew, that burden is off my back." The suicide and lack of a person becomes the very bitter huge block in the person's life. She'll have less of a chance in life carrying this now and being utterly devastated.

This was NOT and these women my age are NOT the same as being at the end of a terminal illness and making a choice.

This is HORRIFIC for the children and people around them. They disappear and being suicidal because our culture is monstrous.

[femrap]

50. Good grief.....

'kind and heroic thing?'

Doesn't sound like the daughter agrees with you....you aren't one of those who always expects Mommy to be the masochist and lay down her life for her children, husband, the plumber, etc.....are you???

What if it had been her father? And where the hell is he anyway??? Maybe he's the one who drove her nuts!

[southernyankeebelle]

26. I wonder if an increase in people going to go to jail because they have no

where else to go but jail. They figured staying in jail they can get 3 meals a day.

[Myrina]

27. The "pill popping housewife" image started in the 50's ...

.... with "Mommy's Little Helper" (Nembutal).... fast forward 50 years and we have Big Pharma advertising on TV, buying off doctors to write scrips for shit people don't need and a society that's so completely dysfunctional that you almost have to be slightly dis-assocative just to cope ... an increase in middle-aged female 'drug-related suicide' is only logical. Sadly.

[RKP5637]

31. It seems like most of the pharma ads I hear on TV pushed all the time are

for depression. They air it so much here it's enough to make people get depressed, to get hooked on the pharma crap that often makes people worse. The whole US is a racket anymore IMO.

[femrap]

52. And Viagra and Cialsis....

always during the dinner hour. Maybe women are committing suicide so they don't have to put up w/ Viagra-filled males.

I've long thought that only women should be given the ED drugs...then she can give it to the one she wants to get it on with. Makes sense to me.

[Divernan]

57. Amen, Sister!

A woman's worst nightmare - some grouchy old fart who was a selfish, unromantic and insenstive sex partner (never merited the term, "lover")as a young man, now has a Viagra prescription and demands to be serviced.

Shortly after his defeat in the 1996 presidential election, Bob Dole, to the delight of comedians around the globe, became a spokesperson for Viagra. "Dole," The Daily Californian declared, "is no longer endorsing Limp Bizkit and is now down with heavy metal acts Tool and Helmet."

Seven years later, the jokes continued unabated. "A new erectile dysfunction drug claims that it will allow men to last seven times longer than Viagra," Conan O'Brien announced in November 2003. "In a related story, Elizabeth Dole has gone into hiding."

[alp227]

77. the article about Dole/metal music

http://archive.dailycal.org/article/2175/part_two_the_white_rap_movement

[InkAddict]

29. Even Privately Insured May Lack Access To Psychiatric Care

http://www.acep.org/Content.aspx?id=80740

Washington, DC— Access to outpatient psychiatric care in the Boston area, even for privately insured patients who have been referred by the emergency department, is severely limited, according to a preliminary study published as a letter to the editor in the August print edition of Annals of Emergency Medicine. The online version of the August issue is available today.

“People with mental illness often can’t advocate for themselves – especially in a crisis,” said lead author Dr. J. Wesley Boyd, an attending psychiatrist at the Harvard-affiliated Cambridge Health Alliance. “Health insurers, through their restrictive provider networks and their low reimbursement rates for psychiatric services, have created a situation where a patient with a potentially life-threatening disorder is essentially abandoned at a time of great need.”

Study personnel posed as patients insured by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts PPO, the largest insurer in Massachusetts. They called every Blue Cross-contracted mental health facility within a 10-mile radius of downtown Boston, stating they had been evaluated in an emergency department for depression and discharged with instructions to obtain a psychiatric appointment within two weeks.

“Despite having private coverage, our simulated patients faced daunting barriers when trying to access psychiatric care,” Dr. Boyd said. “How likely is it that a real patient in the grip of severe depression would persevere through so many unsuccessful attempts?”

[femrap]

54. I think the Insurer

could be charged w/ 'Negligence' if something bad happened to the insured.

[999998th word]

35. Starvation is now 'food insecurity' what euphemism

have they come up with for this.Another poster said 'you feel like one of the discarded toys in the movie Toy Story'.

Loss of job @ 54,worked there for years,on the job injury first WC claim ever.My employer fought it,paid off mega $$$ to ins IME md and offered co-worker 'witness' perks to change her story etc...I lost.
.What I didn't know there were several other 'middle aged women' that were also terminated by this employer using the same pretext @ about the same time.We were higher on the pay scale,,and would get more benefits,
and cost them money.They replaced us w/younger part timers w/no bennies.

The 2 administrators that 'implemented' this got a huge bonus.

If the price of a pack of cigarettes wasn't so expensive (8.00+a pack) I'd take it up again.I enjoyed smoking,but quit due to the expense.It's a benign form of suicide as I already have esophageal disorders.

Not on the 'pity pot' here. I am a fighter and helping with the recall efforts among other things.Try to stem the tide of what's happening in this country,mostly for the kids sake.If these efforts fail,it will seem pretty hopeless.

[libodem]

38. My demographic

It is depressing to be uninsurable, unemployed, and nutty.

[ZombieHorde]

39. Recommended. nt

[KurtNYC]

44. Benadryl was not created as a sleep aid

First time I have heard of it being prescribed that way.

Anyone know if this is common? or legal?

[Autumn Colors]

51. I have used Benadryl to get to sleep

Sometimes when I get a migraine, the ONLY thing that helps is sleeping for several hours. Falling asleep with a migraine is a problem, but Benadryl has helped me in the past with that.

[smirkymonkey]

55. It has the same active ingredient that is in most OTC sleeping

pills - diphenhydramine. I don't take it all the time, but sometimes when I am desperate for sleep it comes in handy and the generic store brand is usually cheaper than OTC sleeping pills.

[neoralme]

63. I take a Vicodin 750 every night plus two Alluna and sometimes

some cough syrup to get to sleep. Have for years. I refuse to see today's doctors unless I have to. I have seen a Nurse Practicioner for two years now. The doctor is so bad he has lost most of the patients he got when he took over the office from the last person, a woman from Dubai who quit her practice without notice. Things are bad--and getting worse. This country is headed for the end.

[neoralme]

59. My wife has used it as a sleep aid. And she is a Georgetown RN. There

are no doctors anymore. Only 6% of medical school graduates are going into general practice. So you get what I got: an Egyptian doctor whom I cannot understand who has almost killed my wife twice and me three times with faulty diagnosis and meds. If I wasn't so involved in this stuff, I wouldn't be sitting here typing.

[CBHagman]

80. First thing the doctors suggested to treat insomnia.

Seriously. I mentioned insomnia and the suggestion was to begin with Benadryl and see if that worked. From there it would be on to prescription remedies.

[Lance_Boyle]

100. diphenhydramine (the active ingrdient in Benadryl) is also the active ingredient

in many OTC sleep aids (Nytol, Unisom gelcaps, etc.).

It is not a prescription medication in the US.

[SharonAnn]

110. I use it to get to sleep. It's in a lot of OTC sleep medications. My husband

didn't believe it until I had him read the ingredients.

[Divernan]

49. Biggest fear of women over 50 - running out of money/not being able to support themselves

Life After 50: Women's Worst Fear After 50? It's Not What You Think
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-hannah-grufferman/life-after-50-womens-wors_b_861659.html

When I asked them to share their worst fear, none of these issues came up. A few mentioned health as a priority, or maintaining the ability and strength to keep doing everything they are doing. But, based on the many responses, it's clear that these women who are out there working, taking care of their families and contributing to their communities in meaningful ways have something much bigger than crows feet on their minds.

The one common thread that linked their thoughtful comments was this: the fear of not having enough money as they get older.

The disturbing thing is that financial destitution could end up being more than just a fear for far too many women in this country; it could become a fact. In a recent interview, Ken Robbins, a geriatric psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin said, "Men tend to be more financially secure, make more money, and have bigger pensions and Social Security checks. Widows are often left with dramatically less money."

Last week I was interviewed on CBS' "The Early Show," offering tips for women to get back into the workforce after having taken sabbaticals to raise children or care for an ill parent or spouse. Beyond the advice, the one point I wanted to get across -- and did -- was this: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic, of the new jobs that were created during the last 12 months, 90 percent went to men, in large part because employers are still more sympathetic to an unemployed man than an unemployed woman. Given that more and more women are the main breadwinners for their families, and an increasing number head up single-parent homes, this outdated idea must be revisited and revised. Nothing less than a paradigm shift about how we view women and work is called for, if we are to help women have secure financial futures.

[femrap]

56. Ain't that the Truth!!!! nt

[Sarah Ibarruri]

62. It amazes me when I watch shows like Dr. Phil on TV...

And they try to help people who have tremendous anxiety, alcoholism, etc., along with financial troubles. I have nothing against Dr. Phil, or any other mental health counselor, but how does a pill fix financial problems, when there are no jobs, when prices are through the roof, when things are going to hell while the rich are living like never before.

Americans are being medicated to be able to withstand the redistribution of wealth to the top which Repukes have engaged in since 1980.

[indurancevile]

83. [phone]

[Divernan]

66. Standard medical history question: Do you have feelings of depression?

My answer: You'd have to be totally oblivious to the economic and political realities of our society and/or a selfish narcissist to NOT be depressed.

I know women in their 50's who are independently wealthy, whose husbands have not left them for trophy wives, and who spend their days drinking, golfing, taking tennis lessons, etc. at private clubs. You know, The Ladies Who Lunch. They would not describe themselves as depressed.

They are not worried about finding or hanging on to a job. They are not worried about having no health insurance, or having a $5,000 annual deductible & a lifetime ceiling of $100,000 on their health insurance. Their kids live on trust funds so no worries about unemployed adult children. They have no concept of what a student loan is. They are not terrified by a Democratic president threatening that they won't get their social security checks. These women replace their entire wardrobes every spring and every fall. They have their houses redecorated every couple of years.

I say I "know" them, but that is not to say that I socialize with them, of course. I can't afford it, and I find their lack of empathy toward or knowledge of the real world repulsive.

[potone]

67. This is not surprising.

I feel despair at the direction this country is going in, and the increasing lack of empathy I see for people who are struggling. I think we all know that the official unemployment rates are not the real ones, and for people who have mental health issues being out of a job means no health care in most places.

My only issue with the post is the assumption that we collectively are dominated by greed. I don't think that is true. We used to have an idealistic society. Ever since Reagan our public values have become twisted so that heartless selfishness is promoted.

[Vinca]

68. I've noticed a real uptick in "died suddenly" obits in the local paper.

Today there was a young guy in his 20's. I don't think a week goes by without one and this is a small community.

[midnight]

70. Our society's illness is ignoring our horrific domestic policies...

Agree with you 1000 percent.

[defendandprotect]

72. It is the greed of elites which is doing great harm -- and their violence ---

We are paying the price for our society's greed.

I'm not going to say that there aren't citizens who don't want to be millionaires

-- but I think most Americans would be content with a simple life and security of

jobs and safety nets -- and just want to be left alone.


It is elites who wake up every morning thinking about how they can gain control over

others for their own profit -- not the average citizen.


And it is elite violence which has gotten them what they want from the beginning of time --

[Auntie Bush]

73. And woman are the care givers for our parents. It's just too much responsibility sometimes.

Society doesn't help or appreciate woman who fill the nursing home rooms.
Women don't earn as much money due to childbirth and childcare so they don't get as much SS as men. That bugs me! Does the new health care bill pay for nursing home care? :shrug:

[Darth_Kitten]

74. I never understand the rationale that women deserve less because they do more.

Let's see, they do most of the child-rearing, nurturing, etc, and they get rewarded how? But getting LESS?

:(

[lumberjack_jeff]

75. Also

http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/1106162934.aspx

New report shows a 55 percent increase from 2005 to 2009 in emergency department visits for drug-related suicide attempts by males aged 21 to 34

A new national study shows that from 2005 to 2009 there was a 55 percent increase in emergency department visits for drug related suicide attempts by men aged 21 to 34 -- from 19,024 visits in 2005 to 29,407 visits in 2009. In 2009, there were a total of 77,971 emergency department visits for drug-related suicide attempts among males of all ages.

Every demographic is hurting.

[FormerMillie]

76. tough thing to read 3 days b4 my birthday.

I'm not suicidal... I'm not


I'm lucky in ways many women are not. In many more ways than other women my age are not.


But something in me sees the desperation some women see.

[catzies]

84. Same here: 3 days b4 my birthday too. And this is my age/demographic/generation

I'm lucky today, but tomorrow never knows.

[area51]

85. Welcome to DU, FormerMillie. n/t

[Mulhane]

86. Been in South America

It truly seems like a sane society. The very thought of returning to the Armed Madhouse makes me ill.

[JVS]

89. Durkheim linked suicide to those who enjoy autonomy within society.

This is an indicator that Women's status is higher than it used to be.

[Pooka Fey]

90. Sometimes suicide can seem like the best answer...

All people, men and women, get overwhelmed. However, women are usually the care-takers in the family - it's in our social hard-wiring - and end up giving until they have nothing left for themselves. Also many middle-aged women justifiably feel that they have no more options - they are unemployable, if divorced, they know that they probably won't find a new husband because men their own age dip into a younger pool of women, or we have lived our lives as generally invisible and unappreciated servants.

If there is no one else, no husband or family members, who step up to help (and with our epically selfish culture that doesn't happen much) - well, suicide can seem like a valid option to stop one's own seemingly senseless anguish.

That is why is so important to connect (in real life) with others - co-workers, friends, community members -- because you can reflect upon how much pain your suicide would cause these people. It can stay your hand until you can regain enough mental stability to realize that suicide is probably NOT the best answer.

[cap]

93. Duplicate

Eom

[cap]

94. Where is our next Betty Freidan

And Gloria Steinam? Where are those coffee klatches where our generation raised consciousness and took on the world. I remember being a young woman in the 70s and felt so empowered...like I could take on the world. All I had to do was to get out there and do it.!

How did we go from there to here? I can't believe people are saying that a trend of suicide at a relatively young age of 50 is a good thing. Maybe if midddle aged women felt empowered we wouldn't have this trend of despair. How bout a second round of women's lib! Like as in demonstrations against corporations for lack of promotions and discriminatory firings. Or making newscasters hire women who looked their age. And a little consciousness raising among all so that middle aged women feel empowered to raise their voices and the rest of society listens to these women.

Women started those coffee klatches in the 1960s because they decided they weren't going to live this way anymore and they would unite to do something about it. Just remember you are not alone. We know how to make these change. We are the foot soldiers of any democratic campaign and the fund raisers for the nonprofits

[Taverner]

103. Hmmm, - the media spends all day telling women how worthless they are

And when unemployed women get stuck at home, stuck watching TV, they start believing it

No brainer there!

[Cool Logic]

106. Even so, the suicide rate among men is four times higher than that of women.

What surprises me most is that Japan has had the world's highest suicide rate for 12 straight years.

[zippy890]

107. men less likely to seek help maybe?

thanks for the info.
we need more research into the causes/treatments of mental illness
and more education & outreach, support for families dealing with it

we've done a fair job in this country in de-stigmatizing mental disorders but
we could do much better.

[zippy890]

108. dupe