Re: The penitential disease

I apologise for having to break my lines: my alleged "smartphone" only
shows my input
To about where I made that break, then I lose sight of what I am
typing.

I don't think that people who have had their lives wrecked by disease
or misfortune, and who despite this try to find a meaning in their
lives by turning to God, shall be accused of pride.

That's not what I was trying to say:
There are a lot of people "out there" who subvert the simple truths
of the Gospel
Message by implying some special insight or extra revelation, or have
"cracked the
Code"...

The simple beauty of Christianity is God loves you, no matter how
clever or stupid
You are, however many books you have read, or how rich or poor you
are. To
suggest that He would hide messages from people, except for the few
"initiates" is
To suggest that He plays favourites, and you end up with cults like
_The Freemasons_

People with intelligence, power or wealth do, indeed, have a calling
on their lives
to serve the poor and oppressed: they frequently have a disadvantage
in faith

(Heir standing before God however is the same as the poor man.



Don't worry. Nobody doubts that you are trying to help,



That's mighty generous of you



but this is
like attempting to shoot an elk in the wood by directing several shots
up in the air, and hope that one of them hits the elk. I don't think
it 's damaging, however, so please continue making suggestions.


What is characteristic of this category of disease is that the
patients have fine blood counts, etc. This young man is probably, from
the point of view of somatic medicine, perfectly healthy. No matter
what tests are performed, doctors find nothing suspicious. It is very
frustrating to them, because the condition of the patients is often
quite bad.

But some of us have vastly more experience in hunting than others: and
if the noise in
The bushes is a pheasant, you may have to shoot in the air.
A migraine attack can be triggered by a piece of chocolate,
athmospheric pressure changes, the flicker of an old TV, noise in the
subway, or by a pungent smell. Of course, these reactions make no
sense to school medicine.
But the examples of migraine triggers do make sense and are frequently
cited in textbooks
on migraine. (Incidentally the 50 Hz flicker of UK CRT TVs is more
likely to induce migraines or seizures than the 60 Hz USA
equivalent... Don't remember where I read that..)

You would not subject such a patient to all
these tests which you are suggesting, because you can see no logical
connections to any deficiencies, e.g. vitamine deficiency, or
whatever.


It is required of the physician that he, or she, choose tests wisely
and within the scope
of their training: it would be possible to take everyone with a
migraine to a PET scanner,
Subject them to the group of migraine triggers, and after spending
100000 pounds in tests
Advise them to avoid the triggers: that would be rigorous scientific
proof.
Knowing what to look for and understanding that your practice is
imperfect are both
parts of medicine
IBS is like this. It is triggered by diverse substances, which are all
perfectly harmless, like red meat.
I dispute the contention that red meat is "perfectly harmless"... All
substances can cause harm
depending on the circumstances.

The patient is neither allergic to
them, nor is there any form of intolerance. A great portion of these
patients only react against these foodstuffs during a period of the
year. In others the reaction is chronical, although it worsens in
periods (recidivism).

So I suggest the notion of "intestinal migraine" for IBS, because it
is equally irrational as migraine, CFS, and fibromyalgia. Physically,
there is nothing wrong with patients of this category, they just
become ill by, e.g., inhaling a pungent smell, or by eating an
wholesome little blueberry. But it is very difficult to get this into
the head of somatic doctors, that these healthy bodies simply revolt
against perfectly harmless substances or phenomena in the surrounding,
without any reason whatsoever. That's why many doctors have a problem
understanding how afflicted these patients really are. They come to
the doctor's office with roses on their cheeks,

(Perhaps they have acne rosacea which is linked to H.pylori infection
and
abnormal secretion of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide)

and tests show fine
values. Later their condition worsens dramatically, whether it's in
the form of nausea, pains, migraine, acute tiredness.

If somatic medicine is going to find a solution, then the cause must
be searched in the neural system, in the brain, which for some reason
signals wrongly. For instance, it is the brain which is responsible
for the peristaltic movements in the bowel,
No, the brain is not responsible for peristaltic movement in the
bowel, although it can
Influence it: there is a completely different nervous system which
governs peristalsis.

-I have had several brain dead patients whose bowel sounds kept on
going.

and it is the brain which
"feels" the pain in the bodily organs, and which normally sorts it out
so we don't have to be distracted by these pains all the time.

Try telling that to someone with a toothache

Likewise, it's the brain which sorts out the heart beat so we don't
have to listen to that all the time.

So which medical school did you graduate from?
The heart, again, will beat in a brain dead person


If somatic doctors really want to
help these patients, then they must begin to understand that this
category of disease is quite atypical, and there is no use in an
hit-or-miss elk hunt. These diseases are not somatic in the regular
sense, but they don't seem to get it.

Mats Winther

The body is almost infinitely complex and subtle in its responses to
stimuli: the fact that
We have receptors in our brains for plant toxins that relieve pain in
small doses but
Kill us in large doses is a source of wonderment.

Mats, I suspect that somewhere along the line, some doctor mistreated
you, I'm sorry.

David


.

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