Wunderlich is still fighting

June 11--Wunderlich, 49, suffers from severe depression and short-term memory loss. Last week, she attended the Mental Health America 2015 Annual Conference in Alexandria, Va., with her husband, Brent. The focus of the event was the philosophy that mental health conditions should be treated before they reach a critical point. The theme was "Intervention and Innovation Before Stage 4."

Wunderlich, who has focused her attention on being an advocate for mental health services since quitting her job at Winegard Co. earlier this year, attended breakout sessions led by United States senators, mental health experts, retired Army veterans and other mental health advocates.

She even met Ms. Teen Mississippi in a gift shop -- she advocated for alcoholism treatment.

Wunderlich carried a large bag with literature from the conference about mental illness.

She estimated about 500 people attended.

"The reason I was there was to try and help myself, to educate myself about all the different options that may be out there," Wunderlich said. "Trying to find out if studies were being done, so maybe I could be a part of a study, or to learn about nutrition."

Through her association with the Pi Theta Kappa honor society, Wunderlich met with members from different chapters.

She spoke with a man from Illinois who was at the conference to get research dollars about the impact of diet on mental illness.

From the conference, Wunderlich came up with three things she believes people must learn about mental illness.

"Prevention, we've got to invest dollars in to prevention. It's a no-brainer," Wunderlich said. "Research, you need research to find out how to help mental illnesses. And the third one is incentives. One of the biggest things is having the right qualified people to help the people with mental illnesses. The wait is to long to get in and see a doctor."

Wunderlich said young medical students need incentives to go into this field.

"There's money that exists, and you've got to advocate because there's always money. It just depends what money the bucket goes into," Wunderlich said. "That's where I want to advocate, because I'm talking about saving peoples lives here. These are the buckets where they need to be dropped."

She said she was disappointed she only raised $230 from her, "Pay it Forward, Just Because" GoFundMe account.

"People still don't get it," Wunderlich said. "It breaks my heart, but it's OK, because they just don't get it. And I'm thinking, 'Gosh, what's it going to take before they get it? Do I have to try and commit suicide? Do I have to get to the bankruptcy state which I'm not to, yet.' "

She's been waiting for her disability checks for nearly six weeks, according to Wunderlich.

"They even told me if I would have been institutionalized or tried to commit suicide, I already would have had my check," Wunderlich said. "It's been at least six weeks. They are still waiting for the experts to approve it."

Wunderlich hopes to have a garage sale July 10 and 11 and write Gov. Terry Branstad a letter at some point.

"It's just more stress, more time I can't take care of me. Because I have to raise money, because I don't want to get to the bankruptcy state. You just don't know. People don't get it. They see me going off on trips, see me doing this and that, and they wonder how can she do that."

Wunderlich still suffers from restless leg syndrome and said she had an episode on the plane ride back from the conference.

The episode ended with a happy ending.

"I came back on the plane, and I knew I was in trouble when my legs started jumping," she said. "You can feel like, the sensations. I got on the flight and was so tired from the conference. Then the pilot said there was going to be a flight delay."

Peggy was in the middle of three seats and wasn't able to stand up or leave the airplane. Usually, when she has those sensations, she stands up and walks it off.

"I felt trapped, like a person who was claustrophobic," she said. "Then there was another gentleman on the plane who as soon as they said that, he was kind of fidgeting. Then they said there would be another delay because they couldn't get the door shut or something."

The other man ended up grabbing his bag and asking to get off the plane.

"Each minute of that felt like a lifetime with my restless leg syndrome," she said. "After we could get up, everyone else remained seated except me and this one gentleman. I got up, and we started talking, and he told me he had bipolar. I told him I suffered from mental depression. We consoled each other that day. Two total strangers."

Wunderlich said the stranger helped a little more then her husband could, because he knew what she was going through.

"We understand. We've walked in the same similar shoes," she said.

The two shared stories about being guinea pigs for medications and previous doctors visits.

This year, Wunderlich underwent 10 rounds of electrical convulsive therapy (ECT), which triggered brief seizures. It usually works when other treatments are unsuccessful.

It lifted a fog for Peggy that still hasn't returned.

"Just so you know, the fog is still away," Wunderlich said. "I'm making progress, but it's one day at a time."

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