On a personal note, I have two
herniated disks and I get
sciatica. Either one can completely immobilize me for a week or two. The only thing that works to relieve the pain from a flare-up in my
herniated disk is gentle machine
traction. Doctors hesitate to prescribe traction, but if can get just one session, it removes the inflammation from the disk and eliminates the pain completely. The only real solution I can rely on for
sciatica is
acupuncture. One session eliminates 90% of my pain and immobility. If I can't get traction or acupuncture, I am left with topical DMSO, hot castor oil packs, painful bed rest, and simple floor exercises.
Since osteoporosis is a big topic these days (possibly due to fluoridated water and other toxins), I started taking
borax. The forum has a discussion
about how boron/borax (
in this thread) might help to make bones strong. I have no objective measure to prove if the borax has actually helped to strengthen my bones. But it might be something worth checking out.
Regarding your mother-in-law's diagnosis, every time I see lengthy, almost undecipherable medical terms, I am taken aback. When one is young, a doctor says take two over-the-counter meds and go to bed.
When one gets older, diagnoses are stuck on people like labels plastered on each individual piece of fruit in the supermarket. The Medicare payment structure (and a propensity for fraud within the system) may have something to do with the popular practice of pasting multiple medical labels on people over 66.
My mother (a PhD) bestowed upon me a point of view about medical labelling that resonates
with me. She says: "
Understanding one's body and one's risks is essential, but one should exercise caution. It is best that we perceive a medical diagnosis as information and guidance, but not as prediction, destiny or condemnation."
Where did she get this idea?
Mom was medically labeled with more than a dozen diagnoses, including osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, bursitis, arthritis, rheumatism, orthostatic hypotension, raynaud's disease, parkinson's disease, lewy body dementia, and severe scoliosis.
Mom had lots of opportunities to accept any of these diagnoses and fall under their spell, but she would have none of it. She would say, "
Well, you know, you get old." And she noted that she was too simple a person to live up to the mechanistic vocabulary bestowed upon her by her doctors. She figured that if she accepted a medical diagnosis as a definition of who and what she was, she might (
and her family definitely would) behave as if she were destined to deteriorate at a pre-programmed rate, and she would then lose her independence, her sense of joy, and her freedom. She would not permit herself, or her family, to become hypnotized by words. At 92, she read several books each week, did the daily crossword puzzle, went to exercise classes, took walks, attended plays and concerts, participated in charity events, and played golf every other week. The last time she played 9 holes of golf was four weeks before she died. (Scoliosis and lewy body be 'dammed.')
While she was no one's fool, Mom reluctantly, but graciously (and fatally) succumbed to her family's insistence that she get vaccinated. On her deathbed (suffering a paralysis that resembled like polio), she said, "It was the inoculation........that's what did this." Over all those years,
not a single one of her diagnoses interfered with how she lived her life nor did any diagnostic kill her. It was something else, entirely, that took her away.
