Last week we observed World Mental Health Day. Many examples that persons used to describe mental health appeared to be mental stress from work. If someone is given a task they do not think that they can do and finish by the deadline, mental stress is the normal result. If they complain and the task is given to others, the stress goes, but so does the opportunity to demonstrate innovative methods.
Mental stress may be a useful part of solving challenging problems. Its causes are known and its duration is temporary. It ends when the problem is solved – or taken away. It is not an illness.
MENTAL ILLNESS.
We are told that the causes of some mental illnesses are unknown – like memory loss. I am convinced that some causes are unknown because we do not want to look for causes. We seem to prefer to let people get sick and then make careers out of: (i) fundraising, (ii) researching elusive cures and (ii) managing institutions that keep mentally ill persons from associating with other people. I have good reasons for reaching these conclusions. One follows.
LOSING MY MIND.
I first noticed my mental decline at the start of 2022. It started with me forgetting things I needed to recall every month, then every week, then every day. It got to the point where I stuck notes on my mirror reminding me to do simple tasks at different times of the day.
I dreaded dementia. While I could still think for myself, I researched what I may have done to get it – and what I could do to get it to leave me. Was it the effort of doing a Doctorate in Engineering that permanently exhausted my brain? Was it how I slept that put too much pressure on my brain? Researching the subject did not help – so I accepted my fate and prepared to retire after my contracts were completed. The decline was becoming so rapid that I contemplated negotiating a room in Jenkins while I still could.
HEAVY METALS.
On 15 December 2022, I read a US Consumer Report article on the high levels of cadmium and lead in dark chocolate on the same day it was published. For several years I had been habitually eating dark chocolate every night before I went to bed. The reported cadmium level in the brand I normally ate was safe, but the lead level was about 1.7 times the maximum allowed in California.
High levels of these heavy metals were associated with memory loss and a host of other ailments. I stopped eating dark chocolate immediately. I also purchased the two brands of dark chocolate I normally ate and took them to the Government Analytical Lab to have them tested for cadmium and lead. I received the results on 13 January 2023.
EATING POISON.
The Cadmium results were safe for one brand and slightly above the maximum allowed in California for the other. However, the lead levels were shocking. In one brand, the lead levels were five times the maximum safe level allowed in California – in the other brand it was a ridiculous TEN TIMES THE MAXIMUM SAFE LEVEL! Why were these poisons being sold in Barbados as food?
I decided to monitor the effects of my abstaining. After eating no dark chocolate for five months, my memory returned to about 90% of what it was before I noticed the decline. I stopped putting notes on my mirror. I was also relieved that Jenkins would not soon be my home. One year later, my mind and memories were almost completely restored.
I hope that the Ministry of Health and Wellness would test the few brands of dark chocolate sold in Barbados and issue the necessary warnings. Those who want to take the poison (like smoking and alcohol) may, but those who want to be warned should.
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