Is it an anxiety attack or an asthma attack? This is a question that those of us with both frequently ask when we feel short of breath, have chest pain, and are light-headed (Panic Attack Symptoms: Warning Signs of Panic Attacks). If you are in doubt you should call 911 or whatever your emergency number is, but there are some ways to tell if it is an asthma attack or an anxiety attack.

Should psychiatric patients take medication for side effects? Recently, my psychiatrist increased the medicine for my restless leg syndrome, which is a side effect of one of my antipsychotics. Now I'm constantly sleepy. I was talking with a friend at church when I said, "Sometimes I have to take medication because my psychiatric medications cause unpleasant side effects." The side effects range from the annoying (restless leg syndrome) to the serious (heart condition). So should psychiatric patients take medication to treat the side effects of a psychiatric medication?

What do you do when grief becomes a mental health issue? Recently I lost a friend to suicide, and it made me think of all the other losses I've suffered. Two memories stand out in my mind--the death of my maternal grandfather to cancer and the death of my paternal grandmother to a stroke. One was a mental health issue, the other was not. There are several things people can do when grief becomes a mental health issue.

There are three things suicidal people don't know about suicide. I recently buried yet another friend lost to suicide--this is the fourth person I've personally known who died by suicide. Having been driven to that point, I realize there are three things suicidal people don't know about suicide. They may seem cliche, but they are true--and forgotten by suicidal people who are in unbearable pain. I share these in hopes that anyone reading this who feels suicidal may realize there is always more to the situation than there appears.

Should people with mental illness have the right to vote? Okay, yes, this is clickbait, largely because I can't use my swear words of choice here to ask the question I want to ask, which is "*Blasphemous expletive*, Indiana, should we be *expletive* having this *expletive* conversation in *expletive* 2016?" But apparently, in my state of Indiana, this is up for discussion. More specifically, a mental health consumer is asking if people who reside in state psychiatric hospitals should have the right to vote using the hospital as their address; and the state is saying "no," even though the consumer has done so in the past. So the question is, should people with mental illness have the right to vote?

Do you know how to confront an animal hoarder? Animal hoarders keep their secret for as long as they possibly can, but, eventually, it becomes obvious that compassion has obscured reality and intervention becomes necessary (What Is Obsessive Compulsive And Related Disorders in DSM-5?). My mother fosters cats for a couple of Humane Societies in the Greater Indianapolis area. Sometimes, this involves confronting animal hoarders. There are certain techniques that help make the confrontation less stressful for all involved.

How does one go about staying sober in a bar if you're an addict? Recently, my travel writing job assigned me an article I probably should have declined--review the five best sports bars in Indianapolis. This is a problem for me because I am an alcoholic, and I'm putting myself in temptation's path (What Is Your Reason To Stay Sober?). So recently I've been thinking about staying sober in a bar when you're an alcoholic.

How does one go about staying sober while on pain medication? Recently I fell while on the bus and suffered a bruised coccyx and strained sacroiliac ligament (not to mention wounded ego). The doctor told me it would be extremely painful for three-to-four weeks and wrote me a prescription for a narcotic painkiller. While I have no history of prescription drug abuse, I am an alcoholic, so I was concerned with staying sober while on pain medication. Here is the advice I got from my Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting about staying sober while on pain medication.

We need universal healthcare standards. Normally I don't write a post when I'm angry, but today I'm making an exception. A friend of mine is disabled due to a spinal cord injury. She was recently put in a nursing home, with screaming dementia patients, an apathetic social worker, hostile and abusive staff, and she was left to lie in her own feces and urine. When asked why my friend was getting this treatment, a staff member said "Medicaid is not the Cadillac of insurance." This is why we need universal healthcare standards--because if the rich had to be in this situation, things would improve in minutes. We need everyone in the same boat to ensure mental healthcare treatment is not motivated by the bottom line (How To Pay For Mental Health Services). Everyone should receive basic healthcare standards, regardless of insurance or lack thereof.

There are three things besides treatment mental health consumers need. I have an interesting life. I am a low-income mental health consumer, and most of the people I know are either treatment professionals or low-income mental health consumers (Reach Out To The Right People For Mental Health Help). We have many needs--obviously treatment is one of them--that people may not consider. So here are three things mental health consumers need (besides treatment).