My Brush With Death, Hospitalization

[danieLion]

Thanks marc108.

[danieLion]

May you be well, Daniel, altho' I see you've recovered your form, what with your energy to essay against Big Pharma.

PS: I'm also using dhamma investigation and social interaction via Dhamma Wheel to help me skillfully distract myself from the side effects of the two antibiotics (Zyvox and Flagyl) I'm on. I'm constantly nauseous, fatigued and have bouts of dizziness. Some of this is from the illness, but symptoms continue to subside so I'm pretty sure a lot of it now is from the medications. I'm making myself eat and using every non-pharmaceutical anti-nausea remedy I know of (except cannabis: while I believe in it's medicinal properties for some, smoking is out of the question, not to mention I'd worry about the precept-ethical implications): chamomile tea, ginger root, green tea, room temperature water, lemon juice, and probiotics. But being able to rest in bed and post here when I have energy for it is helping more than any of that.

[marc108]

Thanks marc108.

you know severe respiratory infections seem to be going around. i've had one for about 3 weeks now, which is extremely rare for me. the first week, i felt so bad that i thought for sure it would have killed an elderly person or someone with health problems.

[danieLion]

Thanks marc108.

you know severe respiratory infections seem to be going around. i've had one for about 3 weeks now, which is extremely rare for me. the first week, i felt so bad that i thought for sure it would have killed an elderly person or someone with health problems.

It's a first for me too, but my other health problem predisposed me, I think, much like you say, but even then, my wife usually gets the colds and I don't. Before this, I'd had two colds in the last five years. Almost everyone I know has been sick and usualy with a cough. My buddy Andy thinks it's global warming making the atmosphere more incubatable. Sometimes I suspect "germ warfare", but if you called that paranoid, I wouldn't necessarily disagree. My psychotherapist told me today that when it hit the East Coast they had open up community centers to handle the overflow. My doctors said get the flu shot every year for the rest of your life. I will. What do you think?

[bodom]

Wishing you the very best!

[Ñāṇa]

It seems more of a problem in countries like the U.S. where health care is still privatized (there's a quasi-socialized effect here in terms of government partnerships with providers and academic researchers because they usually use tax-payer dollars, but that's created other problems.

TIME Magazine's latest issue:

Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us.

Inside ‘Bitter Pill’: Steven Brill Discusses His TIME Cover Story.

In Canada and other countries with socialized medicine (according to Wikiepedia) the antibiotic in question is about 10% of the cost in the States.

As a Canadian, I find U.S. health care difficult to fathom....

[danieLion]

Thanks bodom.

[danieLion]

Well, at least in terms of MRSA, this article makes me question my "germ warfare" theory even more.

How Did MRSA Come About?

Perhaps the most maddening part of the problem is the performance of doctors. Simply put, they have acted poorly by prescribing antibiotics for just about everything regardless of whether the treatment was appropriate. For instance, many doctors prescribe antibiotics for the common cold despite the fact antibiotics do nothing to cure it!

MRSA is like the horses out of the barn. It is on the loose and there is nothing we can do to put it back in the barn. It is the super bug killer that nobody really wants to talk about, so nobody does until there is a breakout. In an age of terrorism, it is somewhat ironic that the bug that ultimately does the most damage to us is one we created not through some criminal intent, but our own stupidity.

But it does go to my criticisms, documented in other threads and some in this one, of medicine, especially as it pertains to Social Engineers like Ancel Keys and the consequences of doctors establishing themselves as professionally sovereign.

[danieLion]

It seems more of a problem in countries like the U.S. where health care is still privatized (there's a quasi-socialized effect here in terms of government partnerships with providers and academic researchers because they usually use tax-payer dollars, but that's created other problems.

TIME Magazine's latest issue:

Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us.

Inside ‘Bitter Pill’: Steven Brill Discusses His TIME Cover Story.

In Canada and other countries with socialized medicine (according to Wikiepedia) the antibiotic in question is about 10% of the cost in the States.

As a Canadian, I find U.S. health care difficult to fathom....

Thanks Nana. I was a little nervous to read/watch these because we haven't got our hospital bill yet so it was good dhamma practice to attempt to get through it and control my anxiety and anger. We think we have good insurance. Luckily, I we know from past experience, that the hospital we went to has a financial hardship program. My wife got a staph infection a few years back and we had no way of paying what the insurance didn't (it was different then). All we had to was submit some forms and copies of our pay-check stubs and they covered the whole difference. When we had the Zyvox scare (see above) a social worker there called me and said they could probably help us find funding for the $115 a pill Zyvox I have to take not to die. By then, the insurance company had accepted the prescribing physician's diagnostic code override. Still, it was so stressful, especially on my wife, that it boggled my mind. Even the mild anxiety I felt (I've done a lot of "facing death work" since I became a Budddhist) was probably not the best thing for someone in my condition, even if it was for only a few hours.

[Dmytro]

Hi Daniel,

Another practice that helps me a lot:

"Monks, for one whose awareness-release through good will is cultivated, developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, and well-undertaken, eleven benefits can be expected. Which eleven?

"One sleeps easily, wakes easily, dreams no evil dreams. One is dear to human beings, dear to non-human beings. The devas protect one. Neither fire, poison, nor weapons can touch one. One's mind gains concentration quickly. One's complexion is bright. One dies unconfused and — if penetrating no higher — is headed for the Brahma worlds.

"These are the eleven benefits that can be expected for one whose awareness-release through good will is cultivated, developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, and well-undertaken."

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

I wonder if you could practice this simultaneously with your wife - there would be a synergic effect.

Best wishes, Dmytro

[danieLion]

Hi Daniel,

Another practice that helps me a lot:

"Monks, for one whose awareness-release through good will is cultivated, developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, and well-undertaken, eleven benefits can be expected. Which eleven?

"One sleeps easily, wakes easily, dreams no evil dreams. One is dear to human beings, dear to non-human beings. The devas protect one. Neither fire, poison, nor weapons can touch one. One's mind gains concentration quickly. One's complexion is bright. One dies unconfused and — if penetrating no higher — is headed for the Brahma worlds.

"These are the eleven benefits that can be expected for one whose awareness-release through good will is cultivated, developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, and well-undertaken."

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

I wonder if you could practice this simultaneously with your wife - there would be a synergic effect.

Best wishes, Dmytro

Thanks Dmytro. Metta is a staple in my practice but my dear wife (of 13 years) is not a Buddhist and while I might be able to persuade her I'm not the prosyletizing type and it might cause some uwanted ripples in our so far successful co-habitation (she does demonstrate metta etc... to me in her own ways, though, and sometimes I think she's naturally better at it than I).