Freedom

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Mountaineer
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Re: Freedom

Post by Mountaineer » Mon May 21, 2018 7:10 pm

hardlawjockey wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 5:19 pm
MangoMan wrote:
Sun May 20, 2018 8:32 pm
hardlawjockey wrote:
Sun May 20, 2018 6:25 pm


I've been to a chiropractor and also two different physical therapists. As far as the chiropractor I think he was on the lunatic fringe because I remember sitting in his office while he explained that spine "sublixation" was to blame for nearly all the ills in the human body. After quite a few sessions that reached their climax in violent neck cracking to fix my problem of neck pain I finally saw the light. One day after the cracking he asked me if my headaches were getting any better. Since I had never once complained about headaches I finally realized he was completely FOS (Full of you know what).

As for the physical therapists for the same problem, the first one I went to gave me a set of exercises and the second one told me to stop all of those exercises because they were the wrong exercises. She was more into "pressure point therapy" for my neck pain, explaining that the real reason for the pain isn't really the neck but "pressure points" in the shoulders.

Well, my goddamn neck still hurts despite both therapies. My stepson is studying to be a physical therapist so I have to keep my opinion to myself that this probably isn't any kind of exact science at all but just a way of getting people in pain to transfer their money into your pocket.
As someone with chronic work related back and neck issues, I have had excellent success with chiropractors. Stay away from the ones who think they can fix everything or that every ailment is caused by subluxations. In their defense, that's probably what they are taught in school, but I think most of them come to realize that philosophy is over the top.

I think you might want to ask your doctor whether he/she thinks an MRI of your neck might be diagnostic.
As for the MRI, been there and done that, along with other tests and procedures racking up big $ for the doctors but to no avail for me. In fact I'm still fighting with the doctor about my requirement to pay for a part of the bill the insurance company said I didn't have to. No matter how many times I explain the situation to them they keep sending me the same bill over and over. Presumably they will eventually refer me to a collection agency which doesn't mean a whole lot to me at this point since I know how to dispute charges, not to mention I don't really have any need for a good credit score at this point in my life (it's currently 820, BTW).

Fortunately my kids provided me with some help in the form of something that you can legally get with a prescription now at the cost of $250 per visit every six months. I have what looks like a year supply for only $100 though I could be wrong about that.
Re. neck issues. Been there, done that twice. First time about 5 years ago went to doctor, then for MRI and subsequent nerve tests to check for where the problem was (C7). Went to PT for a few weeks. Pain subsided somewhat with the help of heavy duty pain meds for a couple weeks. Was the OK for about 2 years. Second time about 2 1/2 years ago pain came on almost instantly (literally from zero to about a 10 on pain scale) and was so bad I could not drive or lift right arm. Did the doctor, PT, MRI, pain meds thing again. MRI showed a compressed disk pressing on spinal cord and arthritis just as it did before. Not much relief after the PT this time. Finally after about 6 weeks I decided to have a cortisone injection at C7 - I was somewhat concerned about having a needle stuck extremely close to my spinal cord. After a couple days pain diminished, after a couple weeks, no pain - all consistent with what the injection doctor said would happen. I'm not certain if it was the PT, time, or the cortisone injection. Only lingering symptom was and is a somewhat numb right index finger that the doctor said may never go away. I'm hoping the pain does not flare up again but who knows as the disk is still compressed and the arthritis is still present.
DNA has its own language (code), and language requires intelligence. There is no known mechanism by which matter can give birth to information, let alone language. It is unreasonable to believe the world could have happened by chance.
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Re: Freedom

Post by hardlawjockey » Mon May 21, 2018 8:35 pm

Mountaineer wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 7:10 pm
hardlawjockey wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 5:19 pm
MangoMan wrote:
Sun May 20, 2018 8:32 pm

As someone with chronic work related back and neck issues, I have had excellent success with chiropractors. Stay away from the ones who think they can fix everything or that every ailment is caused by subluxations. In their defense, that's probably what they are taught in school, but I think most of them come to realize that philosophy is over the top.

I think you might want to ask your doctor whether he/she thinks an MRI of your neck might be diagnostic.
As for the MRI, been there and done that, along with other tests and procedures racking up big $ for the doctors but to no avail for me. In fact I'm still fighting with the doctor about my requirement to pay for a part of the bill the insurance company said I didn't have to. No matter how many times I explain the situation to them they keep sending me the same bill over and over. Presumably they will eventually refer me to a collection agency which doesn't mean a whole lot to me at this point since I know how to dispute charges, not to mention I don't really have any need for a good credit score at this point in my life (it's currently 820, BTW).

Fortunately my kids provided me with some help in the form of something that you can legally get with a prescription now at the cost of $250 per visit every six months. I have what looks like a year supply for only $100 though I could be wrong about that.
Re. neck issues. Been there, done that twice. First time about 5 years ago went to doctor, then for MRI and subsequent nerve tests to check for where the problem was (C7). Went to PT for a few weeks. Pain subsided somewhat with the help of heavy duty pain meds for a couple weeks. Was the OK for about 2 years. Second time about 2 1/2 years ago pain came on almost instantly (literally from zero to about a 10 on pain scale) and was so bad I could not drive or lift right arm. Did the doctor, PT, MRI, pain meds thing again. MRI showed a compressed disk pressing on spinal cord and arthritis just as it did before. Not much relief after the PT this time. Finally after about 6 weeks I decided to have a cortisone injection at C7 - I was somewhat concerned about having a needle stuck extremely close to my spinal cord. After a couple days pain diminished, after a couple weeks, no pain - all consistent with what the injection doctor said would happen. I'm not certain if it was the PT, time, or the cortisone injection. Only lingering symptom was and is a somewhat numb right index finger that the doctor said may never go away. I'm hoping the pain does not flare up again but who knows as the disk is still compressed and the arthritis is still present.
I had the nerve tests on both sides that I think you are talking about in two separate sessions in addition to the MRI and some other things the names of which I really don't remember. What I do remember is that they charged the insurance company a huge amount for every one of those tests but the insurance company paid only a fraction of it, and in some cases none of it, but said I wasn't responsible for the rest of it because of the contract they had with the doctor. How this all works out in the accounting department I have no idea.

Having been through several courses of PT, all with different exercises that I was supposed to follow but seeing no lasting result at all, I have grown very skeptical of PT and think it is mostly a scam with very little scientific evidence behind any of it.

If you continue to have pain I do recommend marijuana. I used it when I was younger for non-pain related purposes but back then it wasn't nearly as strong as what they are cultivating today. Strangely, it isn't really a pain-reliever. Actually, it seems to heighten your sensitivity to pain as well as everything else. What it really does is make it impossible for you focus on the sensation for very long. Something else always gets your attention and you completely forget about it until it comes up in the next cycle through your brain and you become aware again for a brief moment.
Libertarian666
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Re: Freedom

Post by Libertarian666 » Mon May 21, 2018 11:49 pm

hardlawjockey wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 8:35 pm
Mountaineer wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 7:10 pm
hardlawjockey wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 5:19 pm


As for the MRI, been there and done that, along with other tests and procedures racking up big $ for the doctors but to no avail for me. In fact I'm still fighting with the doctor about my requirement to pay for a part of the bill the insurance company said I didn't have to. No matter how many times I explain the situation to them they keep sending me the same bill over and over. Presumably they will eventually refer me to a collection agency which doesn't mean a whole lot to me at this point since I know how to dispute charges, not to mention I don't really have any need for a good credit score at this point in my life (it's currently 820, BTW).

Fortunately my kids provided me with some help in the form of something that you can legally get with a prescription now at the cost of $250 per visit every six months. I have what looks like a year supply for only $100 though I could be wrong about that.
Re. neck issues. Been there, done that twice. First time about 5 years ago went to doctor, then for MRI and subsequent nerve tests to check for where the problem was (C7). Went to PT for a few weeks. Pain subsided somewhat with the help of heavy duty pain meds for a couple weeks. Was the OK for about 2 years. Second time about 2 1/2 years ago pain came on almost instantly (literally from zero to about a 10 on pain scale) and was so bad I could not drive or lift right arm. Did the doctor, PT, MRI, pain meds thing again. MRI showed a compressed disk pressing on spinal cord and arthritis just as it did before. Not much relief after the PT this time. Finally after about 6 weeks I decided to have a cortisone injection at C7 - I was somewhat concerned about having a needle stuck extremely close to my spinal cord. After a couple days pain diminished, after a couple weeks, no pain - all consistent with what the injection doctor said would happen. I'm not certain if it was the PT, time, or the cortisone injection. Only lingering symptom was and is a somewhat numb right index finger that the doctor said may never go away. I'm hoping the pain does not flare up again but who knows as the disk is still compressed and the arthritis is still present.
I had the nerve tests on both sides that I think you are talking about in two separate sessions in addition to the MRI and some other things the names of which I really don't remember. What I do remember is that they charged the insurance company a huge amount for every one of those tests but the insurance company paid only a fraction of it, and in some cases none of it, but said I wasn't responsible for the rest of it because of the contract they had with the doctor. How this all works out in the accounting department I have no idea.

Having been through several courses of PT, all with different exercises that I was supposed to follow but seeing no lasting result at all, I have grown very skeptical of PT and think it is mostly a scam with very little scientific evidence behind any of it.

If you continue to have pain I do recommend marijuana. I used it when I was younger for non-pain related purposes but back then it wasn't nearly as strong as what they are cultivating today. Strangely, it isn't really a pain-reliever. Actually, it seems to heighten your sensitivity to pain as well as everything else. What it really does is make it impossible for you focus on the sensation for very long. Something else always gets your attention and you completely forget about it until it comes up in the next cycle through your brain and you become aware again for a brief moment.
Actually it really IS a pain reliever. See https://www.leafly.com/news/health/cann ... vs-opioids for a report on some of the research demonstrating this.
hardlawjockey
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Re: Freedom

Post by hardlawjockey » Wed May 23, 2018 3:33 pm

Libertarian666 wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 11:49 pm
hardlawjockey wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 8:35 pm
Mountaineer wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 7:10 pm


Re. neck issues. Been there, done that twice. First time about 5 years ago went to doctor, then for MRI and subsequent nerve tests to check for where the problem was (C7). Went to PT for a few weeks. Pain subsided somewhat with the help of heavy duty pain meds for a couple weeks. Was the OK for about 2 years. Second time about 2 1/2 years ago pain came on almost instantly (literally from zero to about a 10 on pain scale) and was so bad I could not drive or lift right arm. Did the doctor, PT, MRI, pain meds thing again. MRI showed a compressed disk pressing on spinal cord and arthritis just as it did before. Not much relief after the PT this time. Finally after about 6 weeks I decided to have a cortisone injection at C7 - I was somewhat concerned about having a needle stuck extremely close to my spinal cord. After a couple days pain diminished, after a couple weeks, no pain - all consistent with what the injection doctor said would happen. I'm not certain if it was the PT, time, or the cortisone injection. Only lingering symptom was and is a somewhat numb right index finger that the doctor said may never go away. I'm hoping the pain does not flare up again but who knows as the disk is still compressed and the arthritis is still present.
I had the nerve tests on both sides that I think you are talking about in two separate sessions in addition to the MRI and some other things the names of which I really don't remember. What I do remember is that they charged the insurance company a huge amount for every one of those tests but the insurance company paid only a fraction of it, and in some cases none of it, but said I wasn't responsible for the rest of it because of the contract they had with the doctor. How this all works out in the accounting department I have no idea.

Having been through several courses of PT, all with different exercises that I was supposed to follow but seeing no lasting result at all, I have grown very skeptical of PT and think it is mostly a scam with very little scientific evidence behind any of it.

If you continue to have pain I do recommend marijuana. I used it when I was younger for non-pain related purposes but back then it wasn't nearly as strong as what they are cultivating today. Strangely, it isn't really a pain-reliever. Actually, it seems to heighten your sensitivity to pain as well as everything else. What it really does is make it impossible for you focus on the sensation for very long. Something else always gets your attention and you completely forget about it until it comes up in the next cycle through your brain and you become aware again for a brief moment.
Actually it really IS a pain reliever. See https://www.leafly.com/news/health/cann ... vs-opioids for a report on some of the research demonstrating this.
I can see what they mean but I'll stand by my point, based on anecdotal, experiential evidence so far. Based on my experience it is actually a pain-enhancer because it makes everything you are feeling MORE intense. Unlike opioids which I did have some experience with and NSAIDS it doesn't block the signals of pain from getting to your brain. It's just that when they get there they get lost in a sea of other sensations demanding even greater attention.
Libertarian666
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Re: Freedom

Post by Libertarian666 » Wed May 23, 2018 9:22 pm

hardlawjockey wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 3:33 pm
Libertarian666 wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 11:49 pm
hardlawjockey wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 8:35 pm


I had the nerve tests on both sides that I think you are talking about in two separate sessions in addition to the MRI and some other things the names of which I really don't remember. What I do remember is that they charged the insurance company a huge amount for every one of those tests but the insurance company paid only a fraction of it, and in some cases none of it, but said I wasn't responsible for the rest of it because of the contract they had with the doctor. How this all works out in the accounting department I have no idea.

Having been through several courses of PT, all with different exercises that I was supposed to follow but seeing no lasting result at all, I have grown very skeptical of PT and think it is mostly a scam with very little scientific evidence behind any of it.

If you continue to have pain I do recommend marijuana. I used it when I was younger for non-pain related purposes but back then it wasn't nearly as strong as what they are cultivating today. Strangely, it isn't really a pain-reliever. Actually, it seems to heighten your sensitivity to pain as well as everything else. What it really does is make it impossible for you focus on the sensation for very long. Something else always gets your attention and you completely forget about it until it comes up in the next cycle through your brain and you become aware again for a brief moment.
Actually it really IS a pain reliever. See https://www.leafly.com/news/health/cann ... vs-opioids for a report on some of the research demonstrating this.
I can see what they mean but I'll stand by my point, based on anecdotal, experiential evidence so far. Based on my experience it is actually a pain-enhancer because it makes everything you are feeling MORE intense. Unlike opioids which I did have some experience with and NSAIDS it doesn't block the signals of pain from getting to your brain. It's just that when they get there they get lost in a sea of other sensations demanding even greater attention.
Of course every individual can have different responses to any particular stimulus, but the statistical evidence is clear that the ready availability of medical pot reduces opioid overdoses quite a bit. I've never seen a report like yours about how it affects pain.

It is also a potent anti-inflammatory, in fact the only one that doesn't have very significant negative side effects on the organ that processes it (kidneys or liver).
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Re: Freedom

Post by hardlawjockey » Wed May 23, 2018 10:41 pm

Libertarian666 wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 9:22 pm
hardlawjockey wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 3:33 pm
Libertarian666 wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 11:49 pm


Actually it really IS a pain reliever. See https://www.leafly.com/news/health/cann ... vs-opioids for a report on some of the research demonstrating this.
I can see what they mean but I'll stand by my point, based on anecdotal, experiential evidence so far. Based on my experience it is actually a pain-enhancer because it makes everything you are feeling MORE intense. Unlike opioids which I did have some experience with and NSAIDS it doesn't block the signals of pain from getting to your brain. It's just that when they get there they get lost in a sea of other sensations demanding even greater attention.
Of course every individual can have different responses to any particular stimulus, but the statistical evidence is clear that the ready availability of medical pot reduces opioid overdoses quite a bit. I've never seen a report like yours about how it affects pain.

It is also a potent anti-inflammatory, in fact the only one that doesn't have very significant negative side effects on the organ that processes it (kidneys or liver).
I have also heard that opioid overdoses decreased in Colorado after pot was legalized which didn't surprise me at all. Most of what you hear about on the news is about the negative effects, of which there have been some, if you are to believe what is presented on the surface. I have two grandsons aged 19 and 21 and they smoke all the time and I am concerned about some of the negative effects on young people that you hear about. Having said that, I was the same age as them when I started so I guess it didn't actually destroy my ambition to work hard and have a successful career after all, like they say it can. But I gave it up and never smoked again after their age. Until now, of course.

As far as my own experience with pain and not hearing any similar reports I find that surprising but it may just be how people tend to report the experience. To me, all of my senses are on high alert when I smoke and that includes pain. If I move the wrong way in bed and aggravate my back or neck, I am actually more aware of it than if I hadn't smoked, just like I am with a cracking noise in the attic which I would have never even noticed if I wasn't stoned. This is good in a way however, because you learn not to make those moves and how to relax so you don't feel it.
Libertarian666
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Re: Freedom

Post by Libertarian666 » Wed May 23, 2018 10:47 pm

hardlawjockey wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 10:41 pm
Libertarian666 wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 9:22 pm
hardlawjockey wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 3:33 pm


I can see what they mean but I'll stand by my point, based on anecdotal, experiential evidence so far. Based on my experience it is actually a pain-enhancer because it makes everything you are feeling MORE intense. Unlike opioids which I did have some experience with and NSAIDS it doesn't block the signals of pain from getting to your brain. It's just that when they get there they get lost in a sea of other sensations demanding even greater attention.
Of course every individual can have different responses to any particular stimulus, but the statistical evidence is clear that the ready availability of medical pot reduces opioid overdoses quite a bit. I've never seen a report like yours about how it affects pain.

It is also a potent anti-inflammatory, in fact the only one that doesn't have very significant negative side effects on the organ that processes it (kidneys or liver).
I have also heard that opioid overdoses decreased in Colorado after pot was legalized which didn't surprise me at all. Most of what you hear about on the news is about the negative effects, of which there have been some, if you are to believe what is presented on the surface. I have two grandsons aged 19 and 21 and they smoke all the time and I am concerned about some of the negative effects on young people that you hear about. Having said that, I was the same age as them when I started so I guess it didn't actually destroy my ambition to work hard and have a successful career after all, like they say it can. But I gave it up and never smoked again after their age. Until now, of course.

As far as my own experience with pain and not hearing any similar reports I find that surprising but it may just be how people tend to report the experience. To me, all of my senses are on high alert when I smoke and that includes pain. If I move the wrong way in bed and aggravate my back or neck, I am actually more aware of it than if I hadn't smoked, just like I am with a cracking noise in the attic which I would have never even noticed if I wasn't stoned. This is good in a way however, because you learn not to make those moves and how to relax so you don't feel it.
I'm not at all certain about the effects on youths, other than to say that it never seemed to stunt my interest in other things when I was young. However, I suspect the reporting is not particularly objective (as it is not on most controversial topics) and that there is also a confusion of cause and effect, or at least of correlation and causality.
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Re: Freedom

Post by WiseOne » Sat Apr 13, 2019 6:56 am

Sorry MangoMan, but that's a propaganda piece. They are seizing on one negative study, and ignoring the case-control studies that are already out there and that DO show a link. I especially loved this little gem:
The assumption that the cervical manual-therapy intervention triggers CAD in rare cases has been dominated by single-case reports and retrospective case series or surveys from neurologists who naturally lack substantial methodological quality to establish definitive causality.
The article also gets the name of the condition wrong. It's vertebral artery dissection, which is more likely found in younger patients (i.e. below age 50), and is mainly due to neck trauma or connective tissue conditions like Marfan syndrome. Not "cervical artery." Dissection differs from the more usual cause of strokes, which is a blood clot. In a dissection, the wall of the artery separates into two layers, and blood gets in between them and then clots. It is often painful, which helps with clinical diagnosis. To see the dissection you need either a high quality MR angiogram, or vertebral angiography (arterial injection of contrast dye). These are typically only available at major stroke centers, so I suspect that dissections are underreported. Also note, in studies that don't focus on dissections and include all causes of stroke, the neck manipulation -> dissection link will get lost in statistical noise.

I agree with them about the generally limited value of case reports, but I have to say that when a healthy 28 year comes into the hospital with clinical signs of a posterior circulation stroke, and you do an MRI and find a dissection, and then they tell you they went to the chiropractor for a neck manipulation the day before and had no other source of recent neck trauma, it's kind of hard not to draw the obvious conclusion. Every neurologist has seen that, more than once. I can even tell you how many such cases were seen by a resident at my neurology training program over the course of 3 years: 12.

I'll also grant that the risk of vertebral artery dissection for a given neck manipulation session, or course of treatment, is very low. But it's not zero, and patients should be warned about the risk. Telling patients about risks of any procedure is part of informed consent, and the fact that chiropractors are fighting so hard to NOT tell patients about it is bordering on unethical, in my book.
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Re: Freedom

Post by WiseOne » Sat Apr 13, 2019 9:05 am

Yes saw the link.

Doesn't mean no one should get cervical manipulation. It definitely serves a purpose. It's just that people need to be fully informed about risks. I have the same beef, btw, about much of preventive medicine. It's always presented to patients as an absolute good with no downsides, but there are indeed risks that are never discussed. For example, bowel ruptures are a known risk of colonoscopy. And mammograms can result in overdiagnosis of tumors, which can result in unnecessary surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation. (To the tune of somewhere between 70-90% of all lesions detected.)
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