TheBanyanTree: My #OnwardIGo Musings

[JENA NORTON]

I’m still on the road and catching up. How wonderful for Feyna! Sounds like a joyful celebration. Who could ask for more—a rabbi, a taco truck, and her brother’s blessing with music. 

Sent from my iPad

> On Dec 27, 2018, at 12:39 PM, Barb Edlen <mountainwhisper at att.net> wrote:
> 
> Feyna married! Congratulations to one and all! 
> 
>> ✿*ﾟ‘ﾟ･.｡.:*
> 
> 
>> On Dec 26, 2018, at 8:08 PM, tobie at shpilchas.net wrote:
>> 
>> Yop
>> About opiates and addiction:
>> 
>>   Well.  When I got surprised by a nasty bout of sciatica in 2010, I thought I needed an amputation.  No relief no matter what I did.  It was too much for Tylenol, but I can’t take the NSAIDs.  I tried, yes I did.  Wound up in the ER with cardiac symptoms.  So: I’m kind of sentenced to having to take opioids if there’s a serious pain problem, which there was.  It kept me mostly in bed for two years.  Acupuncture finally vanquished it.  But a lot of acupuncture.  But before that, they sent me everywhere for relief : the physical therapists, then the physiatrists for those handy cortisone shots.  
>> 
>>   The physiatrist I saw was this strange hybrid: He was Chinese with a mixing bowl haircut, but always wore pinstripe suits (expensive) and wing tips.  The ties he selected were from GQ. When he opened his mouth, out came a thick Texas drawl. It was entertaining.  And it was this entertaining bozo who insisted I be put on morphine.  I refused of course.  But then he refused to treat me if I didn’t, and I’d gone to others who were monsters (other stories altogether, one of whom told me this elevated comment, "Who cares?").  I was exhausted and heard Dr. C’s threats and explanations about how safe it was.  And since I was about to faint from pain, I agreed.  Later of course I find out that I could have sued him.  But that’s another another another story story.
>> 
>>   The cortisone shots didn’t help much.  He had a whole factory.  They ask you, "Back or Neck?"  and whisk you away to the I.V. and injection room.  The fourth shot, many months down the road, went wrong and put me in the ER.  Legs didn’t work.  Now that was a fun trip to the horsepistol, I tell you.  Ten days of, "We don’t know what went wrong so it must be in your head."
>> 
>>   Essentially I escaped. That’s when I sought out the "alternative medicine" methods.  I was familiar with acupuncture and what it can do. I’d had it before to good effect for metabolic issues (when you’ve been on the planet for a while, everything has a back story). And, like I said, acupuncture finally got rid of the sciatica, at least that horrendous initial retribution via attack of the nerve — like being electrocuted from your ass to your toes on a rather chronic basis
>> 
>>   The first thing I wanted to do was get off the fracking morphine.  But it only came in certain denominations and nothing that could taper as would be needed.  Certainly I wasn’t psychologically addicted, but physically, yup,you betcha.  I took the dose down myself as far as I could but then had to take Buprenorphine — little under the tongue strips of medicine soaked plastic (probably) that dissolves in the mouth.  It came with side effects:  hair fell out, eye trouble, nausea, stupidity — you know, the stuff that happens anyway eventually but isn’t expected all at the same time suddenly. It took months.
>> 
>>   So yes, I can get addicted to opiates.  But oddly enough, I seem not to be susceptible to alcohol.  I hear it’s genetic.  Jews and Italians have the lowest incidence of alcoholism of any ethnic group or race.  I have an automatic shut off valve.  But then there’s a difference between the opiates I mentioned and the alcohol. The opiates were DEFINITELY not for fun or amusement or taste or sociability or anything with even marginal redeeming values.  But alcohol seems to be consumed sometimes for the effect.  That also doesn’t appeal to me. I have an automatic shut off valve. The alcoholics love hanging around me.  "Are you going to finish that?"  Answer: I am not driving you home.
>> 
>>   Odd thing, genetics.  
>>   How many of you think cilantro (Chinese parsley) tastes like soap?  I don’t. My mother and sister do. My nephew does to the extent that he belongs to an, "I hate cilantro," group on the net.  It’s hereditary.
>> 
>>   And by the way, Feyna got married last Friday.  In this house. Small crowd.  A rabbi and a taco truck — both their religions well represented. Meyshe played a viola piece he’d written for them as one of the seven blessings.
>>   I was in charge of the champagne-ish type bubblings. The bride and groom did the rest. 
>> 
>> Lots going on in this life here.
>> 
>> Tobie from Berkeley California, hot bed of radicalism
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Dec 26, 2018, at 4:07 PM, peter macinnis <petermacinnis at ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I had the same need, though for a much shorter term, about six years back. I used oxycontin as needed, never got a high, and cut it off as soon as I could. No addiction here, either, and I tend to put that down to a quirk of my personal biochemistry.
>>> 
>>> They really ought to herd together a bunch of people like us, and see if they can find what chemical thingy it is that does the job.
>>> 
>>> Anyhow, I'm glad you're off it in a calm manner.
>>> 
>>> peter
>>> 
>>>> On 27/12/2018 01:55, Barb Edlen wrote:
>>>> I am truly fortunate that addiction was not an issue for me. I give full credit to my medical team and my awesome daughter for helping me to stay on track when my cognitive abilities were compromised during my recovery.
>>> 
>> 
>> Please lick me on Facebook              THS 2016
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Tobie Shapiro
>> mailto:tobie at shpilchas.net
>>