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This week's column does not specifically cover all possible medication side effects of the drugs prescribed for psychiatric problems; there are too many to list here, and many are quite common. Instead, I am focusing on some of the things that shorten the lifespans of persons with mental illness.

The average lifespan of people with chronic mental illness is approximately 25 years less than that of the general population. This is partly due to being medicated, since the medications have side effects that are bad for physical health. It is partly due to smoking, much more common among persons with mental illness than non-afflicted people. It is due to poor self-care. In addition, physicians do less to address the health problems of persons with psych disabilities.  

Moreover, this shorter lifespan is partly due to the stresses on the body of psychiatric illness. Persons with mental illnesses generate stronger emotions, a greater amount of fear, and other negative emotions--bad for health. An acute episode of psychiatric illness can entail extreme physical stresses, since the afflicted person may have behavior that pushes physical limits, or they may end up jailed, which can be incredibly stressful.  

When persons with mental illness live in group homes, the food is generally nutritionally poor, e.g.: hot dogs with baked beans. The food provided in outpatient institutional venues is often high in fat and sugar. People with mental illness are often pacified with fatty, high calorie meals, and frequent sugary desserts. Mental health treatment venues lack programs for smoking cessation. 

People with mental illness who live independently often lack the income to pay for nutritional foods, and may be unused to meal preparation, opting instead for microwaved food.  

Some mental health practitioners and others don't believe our lives to be of much value; and therefore, it doesn't matter to those who supervise us when we drop dead in our forties and fifties.  

Second-generation antipsychotics cause extreme weight gain and diabetes. If you consume these medications, you should compensate for it with a more restricted diet. I know of people who have gained a hundred pounds or more due to the effects of Olanzapine or other medications.  

Since psychiatric illnesses affect thought processes and judgment, it is more likely that someone with a psychiatric illness will be in denial about his or her health problems. I knew someone who is or was about a year older than I, who had diabetes but was in denial that it needed to be dealt with. Last time I saw her, she was walking with a walker (at about age 50) and literally appeared on death's door. I do not know if this woman is still alive. She had severe diabetes but continued to eat massive amounts of refined sugar, and she would go to restaurants and order massive meals with huge desserts, thinking she was too good to experience health repercussions. 

Doctors and pharmaceutical companies make a fortune on diabetes treatments, and on treatments for lung ailments caused by smoking. From what I have seen, taking medicine for diabetes is a losing game, and you are far better off revising the eating habits. The medicines cause additional weight gain and get you farther and farther into "metabolic syndrome."  

Not that I would advise you to go off your diabetes meds. If you need them, take them.  

However, if you can catch it before it gets to the stage of taking blood sugar medication, you are much better off. This is because diabetes medications work to lower blood sugar by means of moving glucose from the bloodstream into the body's tissues. Thus, diabetes medications make one's metabolism even more efficient, and this causes the diabetic person to gain more weight. This, in turn, only worsens the problem.  

When I received a blood test indicating I had developed diabetes, I exhibited stubbornness toward my doctor. I said I was going to fix the diabetes problem with diet. I changed my eating habits.  

I don't try to starve myself. However, I have eliminated about ninety percent of the refined sugar in my diet, e.g.: ice cream, candy, cookies and so on. I increased my intake of fruits and vegetables. I also stopped binging on fast food. I was at a weight that bordered on being morbidly obese, and now, I weigh twenty-five pounds less, and my blood sugar numbers have returned to the upper part of the "normal" range.  

I am now trying to get my cholesterol numbers down, because I fear that taking a statin could have a bad effect on my brain, in combination with the psych meds I take. I wonder if any studies have been done on mixing statins with psych medications. I took Lipitor, and I experienced memory loss and a loud ringing in my ears--neither has entirely gone away.  

Since I have always tried to have a purpose in life, such as writing or another activity, I have a reason to get up in the morning and do what needs to get done. This brings balance, and it allows me to have a more positive attitude than I would have otherwise. I think, even if we have disabilities that prevent us from working a nine to five job, we should do something, rather than being passive recipients of medication, food, and restrictions.  

Activity can be an end in itself. Some things are worth doing, whether or not you achieve the results you seek.  

It is not written in stone that mentally ill people must live tragic lives and not live very long. If we take care of our bodies and minds, and if we do something that means something to us, and maybe even something fun, we have a better chance of living a long, full life.