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Greetings
Quotaholics,
I don’t know if is a phenomenon of current times, or if it has been
going on for untold ages and we are hearing more about it due to better
news reporting, but it seems as though we are hearing more and more
about children murdering their parents, grandparents and/or other close
family members. But out of Manhattan comes a tragic
tale of Shakespearean proportions. At about 9:30 in the morning
Karyn Kay called 911 to report her 19 year old son was having a seizure.
Now just because a person has a seizure it’s not always a reason to
panic and call 911. Sure, if they happen out of the blue with no previous
history of seizures any normal person would be alarmed. Even with someone
who has a history of seizures it is not always a cause for alarm unless
the one seizure lasts more than 5 minutes, or there is a cluster of
seizures one after another. It is at that point that caregivers are
taught to call emergency services because any longer than that and brain
damage can occur. Likely, many parents out in RGQ land have had the
experience of their child experiencing a febrile seizure, that is a
seizure due to a sudden, very high temperature. Any medical professional
will tell you that instances of that nature are quite rightly very frightening,
but not uncommon. That is, however, of little consolation to the frightened
parent though. The good news is that in most of these cases the seizures
are an isolated incident and it is extremely rare for them to re-occur.
This was not one of those cases. When police and paramedics responded
to the 911 call they found Henry Wachtel covered in blood and his mothers
battered body on the floor. Police arrested Henry. The tragedy is that
nearly everyone connected with this case agrees that epilepsy (and perhaps
medication) is the culprit and not Henry.
Henry began having seizures as a young teenager, as well as some of
the psychological difficulties that can accompany epilepsy. Because
of this he began taking medications, some of which had some pretty nasty
side effects including anger and aggression. For her part his Mother
apparently was about as involved and educated about her sons condition
as she could be. Previously she would hold him tight during his seizures,
repeatedly reassuring him everything was alright as he slowly came around.
But as anyone who has experienced seizures knows, or been around someone
who has seizures, one does not just come up out of a seizure clear headed
and alert. There is usually a period of disorientation and confusion
to varying degrees. For Henry and his mom however, this time was tragically
different. His disorientation caused him to not recognize but attack
his mother and beat her to death. The first tragedy is the death of
his mother, whom he loved. He will have to live with that the rest of
his life. The second tragedy is that he is in the system now and the
legal process will have its pound of flesh. It’s really not his fault
and truly, the death of his mother is a tragic accident due to medication
side effects and neurobehavioral complexities.
I’m sure many of us have heard of cases similar to this where sudden,
violent behavior is perpetrated upon a sleeping spouse and blamed on
brain dysfunction during a “sleep-walking” type episode. Perhaps they
have been taking a medication for their sleep disorder, perhaps not.
There also is much anecdotal evidence to be found when researching numerous
behavioral medications pointing to dangerous side effects. There is
no truly 100% safe medication. Unfortunately sometimes the only drug
that will help has some of the nastiest side effects. Some of the side
effects can range from Wellbutrins tendency to cause weight gain to
other medication causing a flat affect or even male impotence. Other
drugs have much more serious side effects. The drug Keppra is just one
of those. Patients who take the drug often speak of “Keppra rage” as
similar to “roid rage.” Henry Wachtel was taking Keppra.
It’s a scary thing when you think of the prevalance of these psychoactive
meds being prescribed for just about any little complaint. One does
not even have to see a doctor with a psychiatric or psychological complaint.
Even a visit to the friendly family practioner can get you a prescription
for not only atenolol for your blood pressure, but also prescriptions
for Prozac without any psychological concerns being discussed. Prescriptions
are handed out like so many candy mints, without even a thought of an
accompanying referral to some sort of mental health counseling. Prozac,
Wellbutrin, Paxil, Xanax, Risperdal, Seroquel; they all have their good
points and their bad points
Granted, most people will take many of these medications with little
or no side effects. Medicines of this nature have been a godsend for
mental health issues to a certain degree. Without them we might well
be stuck back in the dark ages of warehousing those with mental health
issues as written about in “One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest” by Ken Kesey,
or as reported in 1972 about Willowbrook in upstate New York by Geraldo
Rivera. (God bless Geraldo, he will always be my hero for that.)
Yet they do have their detractors. When Tom Cruise spoke out against
their use by so called mental health professionals, he was roundly rebutted
by Brooke Shields and many others who have seen first hand their beneficial
effects. But one cannot help thinking, when hearing of the Henry Wachtel
tragedy, that perhaps Cruise and others may have had a very valid point.
Some parents have children with psychological or behavioral issues that
have eschewed traditional therapies in favor of alternate treatments.
Yet often these people have been condemned and investigated as neglectful
and abusive parents.
Finally, how many times have we heard in the news of some alleged criminal
behavior being blamed on side effects of prescribed medication and yet
we scoff at the perhaps valid defense and condemn the accused as a lying
loser. Why are we ready to accept the tragic defense of Henry Wachtel
and yet ignore the same well documented defense of others? Why the double
standard?
So what do you think, dear readers? Have any of you had any experiences,
good or bad, with medications for behavior? Are doctors too free with
their prescription pads? Have we grown too dependant upon the magic
little pills handed out so freely to cure all our problems? So much
so that research into other therapies have been neglected or ignored?
What if it were your child or family member? What if you were absolutely
convinced that the pills the doctor was recommending would do more harm
than good to your loved one? What if everyone around you said you were
wrong? What lengths would you go to, what would you try? What wouldn’t
you try? What would you consider going too far?
GrammieSammie
Mental health problems do not affect three or four out of every five
persons, but one out of one. ~William Menninger~
Four times I looked for psychiatric help, and each time I arrived at
the inescapable conclusion that the psychiatrist was crazier than I
was. ~Alan Sherman~
A neurotic is the man who builds a castle in the air. A psychotic is
the man who lives in it. And a psychiatrist is the man who collects
the rent. ~Anonymous~
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| Today’s
Quotes |
This is one of the disadvantages of wine: it makes a man mistake words
for thought. - Samuel Johnson
Life in Lubbock, Texas, taught me two things: One is that God loves
you and you’re going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the
most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone
you love. - Butch Hancock
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| Today’s
Chuckle |
Tax Audit
[Thanks Nathalie]
It’s the close of
the financial year and the Taxation Department sends an inspector to
audit the books of a Synagogue. While going through the books, the inspector
turns to the Rabbi and says “I notice you use lots of candles, what
do you do the with wax drippings?” “Good question” says the Rabbi. “We
save them up and send them back to the candle makers, and every now
and then they send us a free box of candles.” “Really?” replies the
tax inspector, disappointed his tricky question had a practical answer.
“What about all these bread wafers? You’re going to have crumbs, what
do you do with them?” “Ah yes”, replies the Rabbi, realising the inspector’s
trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. “We collect them and
send them back to the manufacturer, and every now and then they send
us a free box of bread wafers”. “I see” says the inspector, now determined
to fluster the smart-ass Rabbi.
“Well Rabbi what do you do with all the leftover foreskins from the
circumcisions you perform?” In response the Rabbi said “Here too we
do not waste.” “What we do is save the foreskins and send them to the
taxation department and every now and then they send us back a complete
prick”.
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| Life
Sentences |
Censorship is the height of vanity.
First we have to believe, and then we believe.
No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that others
are behind the times. – all from Martha Graham, American dancer and
choreographer born on this day in 1894
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| Image’n
That! |
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I
shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost
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| My
Most Embarrassing Moment
My Scariest Moment |
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Speak right up!
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| Cliff’s
Notes
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Paddling
A crazy friend of mine planned an event. Last year was the first
"paddle event". We went to a nearby lake, met up on
she shore, then went out to find geocaches that were placed with
envelopes inside. The envelope contained a code representing a
specific playing card. There were seven caches containing these
codes. Once back on shore, the codes were deciphered and a poker
hand was revealed. The best
poker hand won the grand prize. 2nd place also got a prize.
And the worst hand got a prize. As it turned out, I won.
I got $20 in quarters.
This year there were colored disks in the caches. You got to draw one
card from a regular deck of cards for each of the 7 different colored
disks. I found all 7. This year I won absolutely nothing.
It wasn’t a waste of time, however. I got to go with a friend
and his son in his canoe. I have an inflatable kayak, which works
just fine, but it’s much more fun to be with someone. I learned,
because on of his sons didn’t want to attend, I would be able to ride
with them. I also learned there had been a conspiracy of sorts
planned against me. The boys had planned to use a hand-cranked
bilge pump to soak me once we were out on the lake. Thankfully,
the ring leader was the one who changed his mind about going.
The only moisture I encountered was what was flying from my buddy’s
oar as we paddled to & fro, back & forth across the lake to
the various caches.
Spring came somewhat early this year, but there were the usual "hills
and valleys" in the temperatures. There was no real ability
to go out on a lake or river as morning temps were chilly even though
the afternoons were quite warm. That is until this weekend.
When I awoke, the outside temp was 65F. It was forecast for the
day’s high temp to be over 80F. It was a perfect day. The
sun was shining brightly all day as we spent about an hour and a half
paddling hither & yon.
It felt good to get back on the water. I don’t know what it is that
makes me feel good when I’m afloat on a lake, but it does. It
is a lot of upper body effort to paddle a canoe or kayak across a lake.
But, somewhere in that task is a pleasurable relaxation in all that
effort. It seems like an oxymoron, but it is very true.
Even though it is a lot of work, it is very relaxing. At least,
for me. It seemed to be for many others as well as there was a
record turnout for the "2nd Annual ‘Yak It Up’ Event".
Here’s your quiz:
Do you fear, or enjoy, water sports?
If you had a huge park to play in, what would you choose to do?
Do you trust others enough to get into a boat with them?
Paddling - Always A Paddle Involved, Not Always Water
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)
Comment
on this article |
| BJ’s
Ponderings |
Psychoneuroimmunology and the Art of Group Awareness and Dealing With
Cancer
The field of PNI was developed by Dr. Joan Borysenko a Harvard grad
and she summed it up thus: we all have killer cells within our body,
their job is to kill cancer cells. People who have more of these are
people who are in love, married, happy, positive people, people who
laugh, etc. When people are the opposite, the K cells do not work
and cancer cells will run amok. She stated a survey that most people
who got cancer had a traumatic event in their life within six months
of having cancer. So it is up to us to remain positive through the
storms of life. Even in the Bible, Jesus said worry will not add one
day to your life, whereas in fact it may shorten it according to studies.
I turned to my wife, who had terminal cancer and asked her if something
had happen to her. She responded, “Yes, I found out my children were
molested by my previous husband.” So her K cells shut down and she
punished herself and started the slow journey to death.
Later my wife and I visited another speaker who did this amazing trick
in front of a group of cancer patients and their spouses. He asked
for a volunteer. A lady went on stage. He had her close her eyes and
then wrote two short sentences on the blackboard.. I like you… I hate
you. Then to her with her eyes closed, he told her to put her arms
out in front of her with her right palm turned up. He said, he placed
a weight in her palm, but it did not move and he said he tied a pretend
helium balloon to her left thumb but again it did not move. Now he
told all of us in the audience to think about the statement he would
point to..He pointed to the negative one…and the ladies right hand
started to sink. He pointed to the positive one and her left hand
started to raise. He concluded that we generate energy with our thoughts
so people with cancer need desperately to avoid negative situations
and negative people and surround themselves with positive energy.
I do not have cancer but it makes sense to me. I surround myself with
positive people and friends. I wake up happy and end the day happy.
I had two friends who passed with cancer at 50 and 48 years of age
and within a year their spouses died of cancer. When my wife died,
I refused to follow that path. I was sad, yes, but I also filled my
life with friends, and church and positive things. I did not know
what was beyond the door.
I found out later…a wonderful lady awaited me. We have spent ten wonderful
Blessed years together. Today I received flowers from my love. It
is better to live than to die. BJ Cassady
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On This Article
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Kirsten’s
Krazy Kaleidoscope |
Email Kirsten
“When
we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our
sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness.
Our enemies would dance with joy if only they knew how they were worrying
us, lacerating us, and getting even with us! Our hate is not hurting
them at all, but our hate is turning our own days and nights into a
hellish turmoil.”
~ Unknown ~
Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook may have seen the storm
that erupted on my wall when as a result of something I posted. For
those not in the know, here’s a short version of what happened.
North Carolina passed an amendment to its marriage bill defining marriage
as being between “one man and one woman”, with the specific intent of
outlawing same-sex marriage. I posted a comment voicing my disagreement
with this move. Most people agreed with me, but some didn’t. And one
person who disagreed with me did so very emphatically and made some
statements that some might consider to be offensive.
A fight broke out that was the digital equivalent of a bar-room brawl.
People were slinging opinions and insults left, right and centre. I
was weighing in - hopefully in a non-offensive way - whenever I felt
that something needed to be said.
I had been prepared for debate, but this was unreal. I’ll be honest,
it was a little distressing to see people on both sides of the debate
being so mean to one another.
I don’t want to talk about the whole gay rights thing today, but about
what, if anything, we should expect from each other in our online interactions.
While the storm was raging on my Facebook wall, someone sent me a message
saying that perhaps I should leave comments like that out of my Facebook
in future, to avoid fights and hurt feelings.
I have a simple response to that suggestion: It’s my wall and I’ll cry
if I want to. If I feel strongly enough about something to make a public
stance about it, I don’t think I should be expected to censor myself.
I do think that any statements I make publicly should be phrased
in language that is non-offensive and non-discriminatory. I also believe
that while I’m voicing my opinion, I should respect the rights of others
to voice theirs.
I have a very diverse group of friends on Facebook. They come from all
walks of life. They range in age from 16 to 80, they belong to a variety
of races, cultures and communities, and different sexual orientations
are represented. There are people in traditional and non-traditional
family arrangements, pro-lifers and pro-choicers, liberals and conservatives.
My Facebook community is a melting pot of everything.
With such diversity, it is inevitable that people will disagree with
things that are posted.And I’m OK with that. Different opinions make
the world go round. I do not feel a responsibility to limit the things
I choose to post about, as long as I do so in a respectful manner, and
I feel no obligation to moderate any discussion that breaks out as a
result. I cannot control what other people say, and I cannot tell them
not to speak their minds.
I like to think that we live in a society of tolerance, where we can
all get along no matter what we believe. It’s a childishly simplistic
view of life, but there we go.
I believe in my right to say what I want, as long as I’m not hurtful
about it.
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
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On This Article |
| Lucille’s
Lunacy |
Motion Granted It is Friday! G-d may not be in her heaven, but I certainly
am to some extent. This lousey, frustrating, aggravating and did I say
annoying excuse for a week is finally over.
Monday was more fun than a barrel of monkies. I had 2 hearings with
a cranky Church Lady, and a surprisingly uneventful visit with Judgipoo.
I asked everyone who was in the courtroom, and they all denied possessing,
let alone shooting a tranquilizing dart at our favorite jurist. Maybe
he and Church Lady agreed over lunch to exchange approaches with each
other.
I spent May day in court with a judge who should have taken some Judgipoo
lessons. Yes, that’s what I said. As slow and torturous as it is to
have your ears steamed over a volcanic judge, it is even less pleasureable
to sit in a courtroom all day listening to a bunch of (Yawn) garbage
that doesn’t have much to do with the case. In fact, the older I get,
the more I realize how much stuff that passes for evidence is just a
great way to enhance attorney’s fees. After all, we do charge by the
hour. I have a thing about wasting time and money, even if the time
is mine, and the money belongs to someone else.
One thing I will say about you know who, we would have been out of there
by noon. As it is, we’ll have to go back to the court again to let my
illustrious colleague call her other 5, count ‘em witnesses. The judge
gave us 4 hours more, and I have a crappy feeling he’ll have to give
us even more time so I can present my side. I’ll tell you about the
rest of my week sometime. But for now, I’m pooped, and need this diatribe
to be continued. Please say “motion granted”. After all, as I said,
we lawyers do charge by the hour.
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On This Article |
| Poet-Tree |
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Odds and Ends - Did you know that more people are afraid of open spaces
(kenophobia) than of tight spaces (claustrophobia); that there is a
1 in 4 chance that New York will have a white Christmas; that the Guinness
Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen
from libraries; that 35% of the people who use personal ads for dating
are already married; that $230,000,000 is spent on barbed wire each
year in the U.S.; that every U.S. president has worn glasses (just not
always in public); and that bats always turn left when exiting the cave?
What - they think they’re on a race track or something?
Thanks
for your limericks! Try this-
My shoe had a hole in the sole…
Hints:
Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm
Submit
Opening Line
Submit
Limerick
My
monkey was furry and red…
He lived in a cage by my bed
He’d scramble about
When I’d let him out
And shout my name, "Hello Fred."
- MO in Vancouver |
There
once was a monkey named Blinky
Who always smelled terribly stinky
He’d roll in his dish
and reek so of fish
You could smell him from here to Helsinki.
- MO in Vancouver |
My
monkey was furry and red…
Stuck in cage at the foot of my bed
He’d sit there and pout
I’d ask, "What’s it all about
He’d say, "When am I ever gonna get bred."
- MO in Vancouver |
I once kissed
a girl on her patooty
She was really a raving beauty
Her demeanor was rare
and her attitude quite fair
But her looks made her a bit snooty.
- MO in Vancouver |
I
once kissed a girl on her "you know"
her dad saw us, his name was Bruno
out of her house in a flash
him behind me in a mad dash
He chased me all the way to Juneau.
- MO in Vancouver |
"If
everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough."
{Grand Prix legend Mario Andretti}
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Reader Comments |
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Re: Jogging
I’m
adding them to the middle. I’m stronger now than I was 30 years ago.
My knees are good. I would like to weigh less, but I do not run. (Meaning
it ain’t gonna happen. No way no how.) I was racking my brain trying
to figure out what an activity kevek was, but I have come to the barely
credible conclusion that it has to be a spelling mistake. (Dare I
even say that?) What I do, is I eat a reasonably healthy diet, and
I continue to work hard. Meaning I regularly tote dog food bags, chicken
feed bags, change tires, change oil, move furniture, wrestle the rototiller.
I’m a massage therapist, and I specialize in deep tissue work, and
that ain’t easy. I’m active. Not speed active, but active. I keep
on going. I’m 58, and I think I’m doing reasonably well. The things
I’ve read lately, seem to indicate that the rise in joint replacement
surgery, is due to the increase in people taking up jogging. I’ve
also read that the benefits of interval training far surpass those
of jogging. (That means run like hell until your heart rate is up,
then walk, then repeat.) - herm
As Sir Ken Robinson says
about his fellow professors, I used to think that my body was a conveyance
to get my head to meetings. When I grew up, any adult moving faster
than a brisk walk was guilty of utter planning failure. So it was
quite a revelation to me when I discovered that a bicycle was really
the fastest way around a city, as well as the cheapest, and became
fit. Competing with the cars kept my mind off the exercise aspects,
and getting someplace made it worth the effort. Many benefits accrued.
These days, I use walking for most errands, but I prefer low-impact
riding to jogging to get more aerobic action. When I walk the local
scenic route for exercise, it is about a mile and a half. A ride to
some other natural features and back is about five miles, but I’m
working up. Today, I wrestled a rototiller for a couple of hours,
so that was plenty. - Bob of the North
I don’t jog, but I walk a lot. Not worried about whether I can reach
100. But I’d sure like to spend the rest of my years without the pain
in the only joint that hurts - my left shoulder! Sling purses help
some. Rubbing ointments help for awhile, but not much else. Interferes
with gardening. Any suggestions? - Nancy L in Ohio
Alternatives to jogging:
Biking — high energy, high aerobic, almost no impact.
Dancing — depending upon the dance style, can be high energy (especially
Lindy Hop, East Coast Swing, and Salsa which each can burn up to 500
[food] calories/hour), high aerobic and no more impact than walking.
And you can do these with a partner! Even the slower dances (waltzes,
foxtrots and rumbas) will still have some beneficial effects. - Kalifornia
Ken
Running nearly got me killed today (Wednesday). After writing about
the health benefits of jogging and it nearly killed me.
I have been parking in the parking garage. I like getting into a cooler
car at the end of the day and it is much better for the cloth top
on the car to not sit in the beating sun. Because it is a sport car,
they don’t make window shields to fit so I can’t block the sun from
getting in and making it into a moving oven. So the parking garage
works for me.
It is a small city block walk from the garage to work. There is a
crosswalk with a sign telling drivers that the walkers have right
of way. Even so, I don’t cross when the light up there is green because
I’m never in that big of a hurry. But today, it started to rain about
half way down the block. Not too hard, but still, it was wet and cold.
I got to the crosswalk, and the lady on this side of the street stopped
for me and the guy on the other side waved me on. So I was going to
be nice and run because that light was green. I got most of the way
when I stopped short and saved my own life. Some dimwit woman didn’t
want to wait and so she sped up the side of the road because there
were no cars parked there and she could scoot by. She just missed
me.
I’m happy to be here. - Patti
Re:
The Storm
Ranina, that was
awesome writing! It was a powerful verbal description that highlighted
all the senses and carried me along as the storm approached. I smelled
it, felt it, heard it, and saw it through your words, and though I’m
not sure I would have been drinking iced tea, I felt like I was watching
out the picture window with you.
Dynamite job. It doesn’t get better than that. - Bruce
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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be
accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly
attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time
to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect
quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.
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called, not surprisingly, The Best of RGQ, and I’d like to hear from you
which pieces impacted you the most.
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