Sunday, November 7, 2021

Umm, Where Do I Get This Prescription Filled?

The act of moving daily is essential for your physical well-being and mental health

By Quentin Steen, Representative

I’d be willing to bet that by reading the title, you think you know where I’m headed with this article. And I’d also bet you’re wrong.

It was 30 years ago at a stoplight on a street in Winnipeg where I experienced the first of many panic attacks. It felt like I was having a heart attack. I was 21.

If you have ever had a panic attack, you know what I’m referring to. With my wife’s assistance, I made it to the hospital and was rushed into the emergency ward.

In a flurry of activity, I was hooked up to a heart monitor, had my blood taken, and was given oxygen. I was dying—or a least I thought I was.

I had married my wife, Tracy, a few months earlier, and I thought we had a lifetime of memories ahead of us. But this wasn’t one of them. In my brain, I considered this might be one of the last.

Over the next few hours, I was examined and reexamined, which only elevated my anxiety, playing into the worst of my fears. When the doctor came into the room, he sat down, looked at my chart, and stared at the monitor for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally, he shifted in his chair, and cleared his throat. Judging by his facial features, I braced for the worst.

In a quiet, collected voice, as if not to alarm the other patients in the room, he leaned over and said, “You’re not dying, Mr. Steen. You had a panic attack.”

“What’s that,” I replied?

“A mental health issue that a young man like yourself needs to get ahead of—or it is going to kill you.”

He asked a few more questions about my work, life, health, and daily routines. Then he said, “Cut back on the coffee, and don’t work as many hours. I’m going to write you a prescription that you will need to get filled.”

Taking out a pad of paper, he wrote something down and passed it to me. I was expecting to see a prescription for some drug I couldn’t pronounce in handwriting that was barely legible.

I flipped over the note, and to my surprise, it read, “Weekly exercise in a gym.”

I’ve had prescriptions before, but this one stumped me, and so I asked, “Umm, where do I get this prescription filled?”

That’s how it works, right? The doctor writes you a prescription. You then take the prescription to get it filled, and my health plan covers the cost. Like I said, I was 21, and at the moment, wasn’t really thinking clearly.

He laughed. Tracy shook her head. I finally figured it out and turned red from embarrassment.

That’s the exact moment in time where I forged a commitment to exercising regularly. Since then, I’ve learned from personal experience how essential the act of moving daily is necessary for my physical well-being and mental health.

With regular exercise, I manage life better on both fronts. I haven’t stopped filling that prescription weekly, aside for the odd recovery from surgery or physical injury.

Tracy has made a career out of it. Her tagline is, “If nothing else, move daily.”

As a former therapist turned personal trainer, she now spends her days combining both, helping thousands of people with stories just like mine and yours.

Over the next three Monthly Mental Health Moments, I’ve asked Tracy to share her thoughts on the critical connections between our fitness and our mental health, why we can’t stick with fitness, the benefits of moving daily, and getting stuck in moments that work against us.

Quentin Steen is a certified mental health first aid instructor for the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Get your BRAIN right and your MIND will follow!

4 Mental Health Resources to Help You During the Pandemic

If you or someone you know is struggling with a mental health issue, CLAC has a number of resources and interactive tools available to help you at My Health and Wellness.
Stronger Minds features videos and quick reads from mental health experts, activities to help you gain resilience, and ask-an-expert videos in response to questions.
WellCan offers free well-being resources to help Canadians develop coping strategies and build resilience to help deal with uncertainty, mental health, and substance abuse concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wellness Together Canada: Mental Health and Substance Use Support provides free online resources, tools, apps, and connections to trained volunteers and qualified mental health professionals.

Umm, Where Do I Get This Prescription Filled?

4 Mental Health Resources to Help You During the Pandemic

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