Tag Archives: parents

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Volume 15 Issue 19

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For parents of special needs children, I honor you today.

I witness your strength every day in clinic.

You rise to meet challenges that many cannot begin to imagine, truly. You navigate medical appointments, therapy sessions, school meetings, and the unpredictable rhythms that come with raising a child with special needs.

Often without pause, without adequate rest, and without the recognition you deserve. For those single parents carrying this day to day reality, a double level of gratitude for you.

I want to pause for a moment and say what is too rarely said: you are extraordinary. Truly extraordinary.

Your love is not passive, it is an active force. It shows up at 2 AM when a child can’t sleep, in the quiet patience during a meltdown, in the persistence to advocate for services in a dysfunctional system requiring resilience summoned when the system says “no” but you know your child needs a “yes.”…. and a discussion of nutritional dark matter.

Enjoy,

Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 14 Issue 43

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Finding a relational balance with any person or persons can be a struggle if one side of the relationship dyad has a strong need for a gain to feel safe or whole. For example, a parent in a poor quality marriage or with significant childhood wounding may turn to the child for happiness and love when it is missing otherwise. A child in turn being young will often, out of filial love, try to meet the needs of the parent. These types of relationships can take on many forms and can become dysfunctional over time.

I remember a parent child dyad from many years ago that was a budding enmeshed/codependent relationship between a mother and her son. Mom was absolutely unable to draw boundaries with her son as she felt all of his pain and reflected all of her childhood trauma onto the child’s life with boundary-less smothering love and control. She simultaneously would restrict any behavior that she perceived as unsafe controlling his environment while drawing zero boundaries with regard to his behavior toward her and others within this controlled small world. He was a holy terror by 4 years of age. His mother was crying for help while being indignant that he was sweet and well meaning while she enabled every choice that he made. Her fear of drawing boundaries because of her own childhood restrictive parenting wounding left this child completely attached to her yet abusive because he felt completely out of control. The psychological pathology was exhausting for all in the room. Recommendations for therapy and interventions were met with scorn….plus a literature review.

Enjoy,

Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 14 Issue 34

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Literature Review

1) Does oral health affect your life if you are sick and in intensive care? According to a new study in JAMA, the answer is yes. From the study: 10,742 patients – “toothbrushing was associated with significantly lower risk for Hospital Acquired Pneumonia and ICU mortality. Reduction in pneumonia incidence was significant for patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation but not for patients who were not receiving invasive mechanical ventilation. Toothbrushing for patients in the ICU was associated with fewer days of mechanical ventilation and a shorter ICU length of stay. Brushing twice a day vs more frequent intervals was associated with similar effect estimates….Non-ICU hospital length of stay and use of antibiotics were not associated with toothbrushing.” (Ehrenzeller et. al. 2024)

Why does this matter? In effect, what this study shows is that patients with oral hygiene needs that are not met will have increased bacterial burdens leading to infectious disease risk via systemic inflammation and possibly bacterial translocation. At the end of the day, oral hygiene is very important to lower the total burden of inflammation in everyone, but especially in the most ill patient. It is super important for everyone to brush 2-3 x daily and floss daily at night…..

Plus a discussion on Back to School.

Enjoy, Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #55 – Ryan Conklin – The Grief Journey

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This weeks guest is Ryan Conklin a self described – light chasing, storytelling, thread puller, adventure bound tracker and student of myth and maps. He is transformational coach by day, and bartender and hospitalitarian by night. He is a thinker that has a beautiful way of seeing grief and leaning into it in a grounding and therapeutic way. We dive into the deep end of the pool as it relates to grief processing and life after a death. 

Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Volume 11 Issue 28

High Flying Majestic Frigate Birds

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Teenagers are in need of our guidance despite what they may tell you. Stay involved in order to love and guide them.

Do you know what your teenagers are texting?
As our teenagers learn and attempt to navigate the modern world replete with ever time consuming social media applications and devices, we must stay tied to them for safety. Dr. Laura Berman has a cautionary tale that discusses the hidden dangers of children using social media to communicate their desire to use and obtain drugs. She stated in a post, “Instead of writing out words and structuring sentences, teenagers and young adults are using emojis to express thoughts or emotions in conversations with their friends and online strangers. So, it’s important that parents become educated on the language our kids are speaking. ” (Berman, L)
The world of teenagers is a scary place for a parent to navigate as children have applications that disappear written text and pictures in seconds to minutes hiding an obvious trail of trouble if it exists……..
Read more at https://www.salisburypediatrics.com/patient-education/dr-magryta-s-newsletter
Have a great day,
Dr. M