Posted by drummer (209.105.132.224) on January 22, 2000 at 11:43:40:
In Reply to: Chronic Theories posted by Jack on January 22, 2000 at 11:03:57:
First the two sides of the brain. You have my absolute agreement and respect. "They say" that there are two sides and "they say" that the two sides perform the functions as you have stated. I know you’re constantly seeking my love and not my respect, but as a man who has no feelings I am incapable of showing you any love; so you’ll just have to settle for the respect thingy.
I also tend towards the side of the brain that follows logic, although I have had my moments of creativity also. (I’ll try now to be intuitive to fulfill your needs though). It may be difficult. I’m a New Yorker like you.
As a "chronic guy"; I will agree with your point number one.
1) chronics have a more severe form of the disease than episodics. Not qualitatively different, just more severe.
As a "chronic guy"; I will agree and disagree and take your point number two as a personal attack. (hee hee)
2) chronics have a qualitatively different form of the disease. There is something ELSE wrong with them.
I agree with the first sentence because it’s the same as your point number one. Your second sentence I disagree with and it sounds like a personal attack. What ELSE do you think is wrong with me?
As a "chronic guy"; I will question just about everything in your point number three, ALTHOUGH, I really like all the "maybe’s". That is one of the "cool" things about theories.
3) Medications, particularly preventatives have had the perverse effect of prolonging the disease. What I mean by this is that maybe, just maybe chronics get an early medical intervention with some preventative that puts the disease into a low level status that prevents it from self-correcting. My point is kind of radical but it goes like this - the body has very strong natural processes in our immune system and elsewhere that seek equilibrium and correction. When we intervene in that process maybe we can have unintended consequences. Now here is where I am gonna get real "out there" - but I have always felt ( I hate when people use "felt" when they really mean "think", so I am filled with self-loathing at this moment - but as I said earlier that side of my brain is temporarily in control ) that in a cluster my body was correcting and I had to let nature run its course.
I went THREE years with Cluster attacks every day or every other day, (sometimes as many as 8 attacks per day and sometimes 1 attack per day) with no doctors and no medications. I didn’t seek a doctor because I was a moron at the time. I actually thought that these "headaches" that I was experiencing, that were making me bang my head and pace and act kind of "crazy" would simply go away as quickly as they came. I was wrong. They got worse over time. I then saw a doctor. The doctor gave me Verapamil. I noticed a TREMENDOUS reduction in the frequency of my Cluster attacks. Since then I have experimented with the Verapamil, because I AGREE with you. It’s a good idea to give the body a rest and ease up on the medications. Guess what? Every time I get sick and tired of these fucking medicines and I stop taking them; KA-BOOM !!! 8 Cluster attacks per day all over again. Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps I didn’t give my body enough time to "correct itself" from the medication.
I’ve offered to be your "lab rat" before and I would like to do it again. Seriously. How long should I go without Verapamil and without any other medications and endure 8 Cluster attacks a day to try and prove your theory that I simply need to "let nature run its course"?