Monthly Archives: May 2016
Who is the second highest teaching hospital to accept Big Pharma payoffs?
You guessed it. Massachusetts General Hospital! This CORPORATION, which has no interest in your health, runs various other hospitals including Children’s Hospital in Boston, Brigham and Women’s, McLean Hospital, and is also branching out into western Massachusetts, taking over Cooley Dickinson in Northampton, and also hospitals in New Hampshire and that I know of, Maine as well.
The number one on the list (as of right now) is City of Hope National Medical Center in California.
Cleveland Clinic is third, not surprising!
This data comes from ProPublica, which is a group of investigative journalists. Let’s hear it for writing. Words are powerful.
Do you want to be a guinea pig for Big Pharma? Agreeably, drugs are useful, but not when we’re lied to about them. Know why these companies are so desperate to uphold the lies and push the ads, pamphlets, multimedia hype, and any propaganda to push their agenda? Big Money is at stake!
Stop supporting these places. And if you are a nonprofit, you should refuse funding from sources such as MGH. I don’t trust nonprofits funded by hospitals, and I see this as sell-out. They are not true nonprofits anymore, since they are accepting donations from corporations which are laden with their own biases and agenda. Sad to say I have seen nonprofits go straight down the toilet bowl after accepting corporate money.
What’s this with famous (or semi-famous) people?
Dear Famous Person,
I sure am grateful when I write a letter of admiration to a complete stranger (they used to call this fan mail) and that complete stranger writes back. It means so much to me. I know Complete Strangers are busy and sometimes do not want mail, so sometimes I say in my email “You do not need to respond” just to let the person know I am not asking a question, nor asking for money.
Many people that I know personally are now Famous People or semi-famous. They aren’t in the headlines every day, but they are Making it Big in their own right. They might be my friends from grad school that I knew well, or instructors I had and spoke to many times in seminars and in private, or people I have corresponded with in the past. So relatively speaking, they’re Famous People. They’re published. They have faculty jobs at universities. Several are deans, many are tenured. When they speak, people listen and care about their causes. They have established their place in the world, sold tens of thousands of copies of whatever, and now, there’s no chance of ever not being heard. They command respect from other people. It’s like this aura around them.
Why do they not write back when I write to them? Rather consistently, I might add.
I’ve noticed that slowly, their noses have started to turn up. It’s barely noticeable at first, but I sure have noticed it. What the hell happened to most Famous People out there? Peons like me (and many of my readers who have also been marginalized) don’t even matter anymore. We get the bounceback message. That vacation responder.
“Sorry, I’m too busy for the likes of you. Don’t waste my time.”
Or, more likely, no response at all.
It would be okay, except knowing that these very same people are Old Friends who do remember me, who used to be my pals, is sickening to me. How much longer are they going to keep acting like snobs? Since when does that Lucky Break make a person any better or more worthy than anyone else?
No, the Lucky Break only makes it easier. Dear Famous Person, so you aren’t alone anymore. You aren’t struggling anymore like the rest of us. You struck gold. So goodie two-shoes. I’m supposed to be thrilled. I’d be a whole lot happier for you if you would come off your high horses and say HI, HOW ARE YOU? now and then.
I really do not want to hear about hard you worked, how much you struggled, the “You can do it too” line. I no longer believe that stuff because nothing I am doing is working.
Snobbery won’t earn my respect. In fact, I do not think it’s noble, nor giving, nor charitable to be a snob. I don’t think it’s a sign of good character to brush off peons like they are flies. So no, dear Famous Person who used to be my friend, I don’t respect you as much as I really want to.
Dear Famous Person, if you are going to preach You Can Do It Too, then come talk to us. Speak to all of us, not just to those folks in the “bound to succeed” track. Speak to people on the street. Speak to those who are drunk or those you consider “stupid.” Speak to those who do not speak well without correcting our grammar nor censoring our swear words. Just listen to us and hear us out. Quit being a snob. Be an all-inclusive person, and realize that all humans are worthy. Then, maybe you will earn my respect.
Pretty cool article
Here you go:
I assume the writer of the article is reporting the facts accurately here regarding the actions of this journalist, but we don’t really know, do we? Was he there at the time and did he witness these events? Or are we reading about them second or third hand, or are things being left out?
If all this is true, then it sure is consistent with the typical silencing done by our government and its branches. We do not have Freedom of Speech. If you think you do, you do not have Freedom of Speech. You have wool over your eyes. How can that be in any way Freedom? How can anyone communicate without seeing the recipient audience? For all you know, they’re asleep. Counting sheep.
Mental Health Act of 2016, please read carefully, including the Anna Westin Act…
I have been following these all along and following what Rep Murphy (“Murphy’s Law”) has been saying about Mental Health. We must be very careful if we choose to call our congresspeople. Which laws do we really support?
More funding for what? If we want more funding, what sorts of care do we want funding for? We must specify, because these laws support increased use of force, and fewer choices, although if you hear the various speeches and propaganda in the media, they’re telling us we’ll all have more choices. This is not true.
For one thing, many will be forced into unwanted “care.” Many will be forced onto drugs and forced to stay on the drugs by way of injections. These injected, long-acting drugs are extremely dangerous. They are so unsafe to use that death rates from their use are extremely high. Death rates from IM short-acting drugs are very high, but the longer-acting “deconate” drugs (these generally stay in one’s system two weeks and are often court-ordered) are much, much higher.
We already know that the antipsychotic drugs are not safe. This is the class of drug that caused our beloved Robin Williams to commit suicide. This is the class of drug they are talking about using forcefully. Not for all of us, but for some. The increase in funding will be used in part to force more people onto the deconate antipsychotics.
While some feel that this is great, many of us are concerned. First of all, the forceful use of these drugs is not only medically unsafe, but the use of force deprives everyone of freedom, not only those who are subject to forced drugging. It puts those who administer the drugs, the hands-on medical people, in an impossible bind: To follow orders while disregarding ethics and morals, or to disobey one’s superiors, risking job loss and loss of nursing license and possibly loss of career. I cannot imagine how these health care workers feel. I know many quit, or suffer subsequent long term psychological trauma from staying in these positions where conflicts cannot possibly be resolved without putting one’s job on the line.
Forced treatment does not only mean drugging. It also means many more will live with diagnoses than ever before, even those that did not ask nor want mental health treatment. Do we really want everyone in therapy, when therapy cannot possibly be effective unless it is a voluntary choice?
When it comes to the Anna Westin Act, this, too, supports the for-profit residential centers which are now making a killing in the ED industry. Yes, it’s now an industry. They are exaggerating their recovery rates and they are overpriced and their “treatments” are not working. Instead, they are producing entire populations of Revolving Door Syndromes.
Have you been turned into a Revolving Door Syndrome? Say Aye NOW and speak up! Whether you went in and out of a hospital, whether stuck on disability, whether dependent on parents of a spouse, whether on drugs forever, your ED never went away despite their bogus “recovery” promises, you are addicted to painkillers or benzos, you are in a “program” you cannot seem to get out of, tell me… Do we really need more of the MH System?
I think we need to be picky and choosy when we ask for more. How about more food, more housing, more compassion, more space, more caring, more listening, more education, more freedom, more equality, more opportunity, more inclusion, more enlightenment?
Go look at these Mental Health acts and see which parts YOU support.
Being a plastic bag snob is discriminatory
In my opinion we are far too quick to judge those who end up choosing plastic over paper or who do not have their own reusable bag. We do not know the reasons why they are using plastic. Why are we judging and condemning? I highly doubt that banning plastic bags as if they are Carnal Sin will end the use of them once and for all. What about plastic wrap used in packaging food? Plastic wrap in the produce aisle? Are you kidding? There’s plastic everywhere. Grow up and get over it. The bags you see the grocery clerks giving you for free are only a small portion of the plastic that’s pollution that environment. Many of us count on that nice Free Stuff so we can RE-USE it. Why be snobs? I like being practical-minded and sensible, which is good for the planet, the mind, and the soul.
UMinnesota shrink: Crime Against Humanity
Here’s the article:
http://www.psychsearch.net/stephen-olson-charles-schulz/
The Markingson case is one I have been following for a long time. It’s about time these criminals got what they are due. This University’s psychiatry department has clearly done enough harms to people. Apparently someone was coerced into a study while on an involuntary hold!
Have you ever been held involuntarily? Even in an ER? Hauled in “as a precaution”? “Just in case”? Or frisked because they thought you might be hiding something? Thrown into a bare room and left there with a security guard because they thought you might be a dangerous murderer….and held you there when all you had was your chemistry textbook…which they leafed through, suspecting you were making a homemade bomb….
but really, you were on your way to a final exam?
Then you know what I am talking about. Ten years later, twenty years later, or now, when you finally are getting the poisonous psych drugs out of your system and you realize you are not “bipolar” after all, maybe you can get a job in a lab somewhere. If they’ll hire you.
Medical professionals are getting sloppy these days when they ask about allergies
Many medical professionals seem to have forgotten how to educate patients about drug allergies. They pass on incorrect information about the drugs they are handing to patients.
An allergy refers specifically to a histamine reaction. This includes certain rashes and swollen tongue or swollen face and trouble breathing. This is almost always a medical emergency requiring an epi-pen or antihistimine and people acting quickly. It’s best not to expose the person in the first place and take precautions. However, there are other nasty reactions a person can have, that are also life-threatening, but are certainly not “allergies” but will kill a person and should be taken seriously. So when a doctor, pharmacist, or any person treating a patient asks, “Are you allergic to any drugs?” is this really the correct question to ask?
NO! Not in my humble opinion. Because shouldn’t patients then answer the question correctly? If you have ever been allergic to certain drugs, which does occasionally happen, then you might answer, “Yes.” But if you were, you’d only be including true allergies, such as drugs that gave you hives or rashes. The question shouldn’t even be asked that way. How about, “Have you ever had a bad reaction to a drug?” This widens the playing field to include
stomach upset
diarrhea
the various reactions to steroids I have heard about
mania
insomnia
hallucinations (except recreational drugs, which are supposed to do that)
vomiting
your hair falling out
hypersomnia
driving in your sleep
violent behavior (and you are a schoolteacher)
suicidal tendencies (unless you’re a psych patient, because you don’t matter anyway)
homicidal tendencies
inability to concentrate and short term memory deficit causing you to miss an entire semester of school (and you weren’t able to get a refund on your tuition. again, if you’re psych, no one will care)
shaky hands (and you are an eye surgeon)
…..and any other reason why you might never take the darned pill again.
I think also that if a patient tells a doc, “Please do not give me drugs such as Klonopin or Ativan because these is an addicting pills, and I am easily prone to benzo addiction,” you’d hope a prescriber would respect the patient’s wishes. Unfortunately, many are not, or they ignore a patient’s written and well-documented request that he or she not be given such pills.
No matter what the physician’s opinion is of addiction, I think personally he or she should respect the patient’s wishes. I do not have any respect for a physician who says, “It’s okay to take this because it’s only a little addicting.” You would not believe how many times I have heard that, and I don’t have a benzo addiction myself. I saw what they did to other people and I am shocked at the way they were given out like candy. I heard that said to me and to others. Rarely did docs warn of addiction to drugs.
“This pill will not get you hooked.” These statements almost always turn out to be completely false. Or, “It’s okay to take this even though you have a history of benzo and alcohol addiction. Just take it as prescribed.”
Taking a pill as prescribed does not change the chemical nature of the substance nor change your body in any way. It only means you are now dependent on the doc for your supply. He’s got a steady customer, and you are under his control, financially and otherwise. Not only that, it’s legally sanctioned, unless he dies, commits suicide, or takes too many of his own pills, (or he suddenly leaves town, gee, I wonder why). Then what? Uh oh.
So when they ask, “Do you have any allergies to drugs?” I usually skirt around the question. I reword it. I won’t even answer. I say the following,
“I have been told not to take certain drugs.” Then, I list those drugs or classes of drugs. Or I might say, “I had a very bad reaction to ____ and was told to never take it again.”
Only let’s put it this way: If you really do not want to be given a drug, whatever reaction you had, or tell them you had, it had better be nearly fatal and spontaneous or they might give it to you!
The unanswered email syndrome
Does this happen to you, too? If you were to add up all the emails you send, and subtract that from all the personal emails you receive, you’d end up with some huge deficit? That is, are you like me? You send about ten times more emails than are answered, right? Where do they go? I was thinking the other day of collecting all the emails I have written over the years that were not responded to and put them in a collection. That and the ones that I put a whole lot of effort into and received a dismissive response.
True, people are not obligated in any way to respond to email. Of course not! We cannot expect them to respond. But sometimes, I know people do write back. They respond selectively, though. In other words, they do respond. If they think you’re worth it. Sometimes, a non-response says, “I only respond to the elite, I do not respond to peons like you.” Or, “I only respond for those worthy of my time. You aren’t.” Or, “I put your email on the back burner because everyone else’s was far more important. Yours was the least important.”
I guess I am the type to write back no matter what. I really do! Only if a person is being particularly obnoxious do I not write back. And the other reason is if I think I wrote back but lost track, and actually, I didn’t. Or if your email ended up in Spam, or mine did. These things happen. I think responding is the responsible thing to do. Even if it’s to say, “I’m on my way out and will be gone three days with no internet. I’ll get back to you ASAP.” That way, the person at least gets acknowledgement. I guess other folks have no clue that it does indeed send a negative message when they do not reply. And the bounce-back is kinda worse, don’t you think? Depending.
I suppose we cannot expect a response from a complete stranger or celebrity, and by all means, shouldn’t. But if the person is a fairly good acquaintance, then I personally would write back. I would not suggest writing back to a stalker. That’s common sense. Nor would I suggest ever bombarding a person with emails, unless invited to do so. Answering once as replying when emailed is not bombarding. Sending repeated emails just because you do not get a response might be considered obnoxious or a turnoff.
If I write to someone, and the result is a non-response, I make a decision. Either I don’t write again, or I wait a very long time before ever trying another time. The result is usually the same, but not always. We cannot jump to conclusions. After all, there’s such thing as a long trip on a desert island with no electricity and no gadgets. Ah, doesn’t that sound nice? Oh, the person could be dead, too. I’m not supposed to say that, though.
I vote home-address-free bathrooms for all, where making a purchase is not required
I vote for increased public outhouses. Since when do outhouses have gender assignments? Rarely. Increase the funding NOW for more outhouses everywhere. Free ones. Public ones. All different pretty colors of outhouses. For everyone. Ones you can bring your dog into, too, in case you are out with your dog, and no one puts up a fuss. No purchase required. No accusations of “loitering.” in fact, loitering is encouraged, since LOVE is a good thing! Let’s spread more socializing and decrease loneliness! Why not hang out? Some of them will come with Free Phones, so you all can call home, and tell your mom you love her, too.
Need to pee? C’mon down! No more exclusion! Come change diapers here. We love everyone. First ten customers get lollipops or sno-cones. And they get to pet Puzzle, too.
Sharing…..I love these stories…..
I don’t know why I love spreading this stuff around. I keep telling myself someone will benefit. I tell myself that someone else was hurt by this person and was told, “No, you’re crazy, that’s not even possible,” just like I was by my so-called “friends.” I hope that my sharing this stuff is at least affirmative. No, you’re not crazy. No one should call you that. You went to a shrink to get help, not to get abused.
There is a fine line. Why do I say this? Because you are alone with the psychiatrist and you have no witnesses. Anything can happen, good or bad. Whatever happens the shrink can twist around and call a “healing experience.” That can mess up your head for a long time.
I know. It happened to me. You are not alone.
Carry on.
This Hunger Is Secret 