pain, dysfunction and the gift of life

December 8, 2006

Dear Pete,

In order to educate, I would be humbly honored to have you quote me. If I may,

I would like to elaborate on the snippet below, and also share with you a

very powerful experience I went through the last two days: We human beings are

an extremely resilient species. Yet in spite of, or better, should I say

because of our great facility, we tend to overestimate what we are able to

healthily handle, and so we overload ourselves, creating dysfunction. I think

that there are 3 things that people do which most reinforce this dysfunction in

the guise of making life bearable: multi-tasking, compartmentalization and

anesthetizing.

Just like when a computer runs too many programs at once (of course

depending on its capacity, speed and strength) it slows down and eventually

crashes; so too with us-- the analogy, I think, is clear.

Compartmentalizing implies a certain chameleon-like quality that we

have, play acting and adapting to whomever we need to interact with. I think

that this contributes to poor

self-esteem and identity crises. A great teacher, under whose tutelage I

learned for two years gave me the following parting advise: " Always be the

same person no matter who you are with, where you are, and what you are doing. "

By doing that, we learn to know who we are, with that knowledge we can set

achievable goals, and the fulfillment of our goals, builds self-esteem, allowing

us to climb yet higher!

What does anesthesia have to do with anything? Well, isn't that why

people drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, need that coffee to get started, have a

sweet tooth, do hard drugs, crave sex, gamble, and generally thrive on

adrenaline? Why? because they have so much pain inside, they need to numb

themselves with their " drug " of choice in order to more than feel good, to

actually survive! The wonderful camaraderie that goes with all of these

anesthetics taken in the company of friends, is amazingly reinforcing, not

healing, but reinforcing. When I was in school, I did an externship at a drug

rehab center. It was amazing to me that all of the residents were chain

smokers and over eaters. They were just using a different drug! The point is

that being alone and being sober can be unbearably painful in our selfish

society, in which only the strong survive. Few can find inner peace alone, and

yet so many feel desperately alone.

Let me conclude by sharing with you a most humbling experience. I was called

Wednesday to treat a woman in our community who had been battling cancer

through nutritional and natural means for the past at least 4 years, by in

large, refusing chemo, radiation and surgery. I had never treated her before.

She had been hospitalized a week ago Monday, and her condition had deteriorated

rapidly. She became semi-conscious last Thursday. Monday they sent her home

with a methadone drip. The cancer had spread to her brain and liver and they

essentially gave up. When I saw her Wednesday, her abdomen was severely

swollen with ascites, her face and eyes were a dull yellow, her pulses,

primarily the kidney yang pulse were that extremely rapid and flitting

description I remember learning, about those who are about to expire, and she

was writhing in pain, showing little benefit from the methadone, she hadn't

slept in 4 days, her breathing was labored, her body was hot to

the touch, she had vomited up any food given to her since returning home and

she hadn't made a bowel movement in a week. I worked on her for 3 hours. When

I left, her breathing was calm, the writhing virtually had stopped, though she

didn't make a bowel movement, she did pass gas, her abdomen was flat, the

complexion in her face (not just her cheeks) was a mostly pink, with just a

trace of yellow, her extremities were now cool, and the pulses were much less

rapid and considerably stronger. I was told by her husband that shortly after I

left, she fell asleep, and slept straight for 10 hours. I got them 100 g of

Huang Qi and instructed them to make an extremely concentrated chicken soup,

decocting the Huang Qi with it. I also asked the hospice nurse attending the

patient to discuss with her physician the urgency of trying to lower the dose of

methadone, which certainly must be further overloading her liver. I planned on

returning Thursday evening at 7:00pm, but

received an Email that she passed away a half hour earlier. Was all the effort

for naught? G-d forbid! Neither for her, nor for me. To allow her to spend her

last day alive calm and probably in much less pain, was my going away present to

her. I was in a daze after hearing the news that she had passed, but also

realized how powerful and humbling the experience had been for me, to feel the

sensations and participate in the struggle between life and death was life

changing. Sure I initially felt disempowered and the sensation one feels when

one loses a competition. But then I realized that all we can do is appreciate

the gifts that are given to us, life being the greatest gift, give our very best

effort, and each of us, in our own way, pray for success. Yet when the moment

to leave arrives, it is beyond our ability to stop the inevitable.

Humbly,

Yehuda Frischman

Pete Theisen <petetheisen wrote:

vOn Wednesday 06 December 2006 05:26, yehuda frischman wrote:

<snip>

> Yet, it is my firm conviction that this comes from sensory overload, from

too many unbearable experiences in life,

Hi Yehuda!

Very insightful. Do you mind if I quote you? With proper credit, of course.

--

Regards,

Pete

http://www.pete-theisen.com/

http://traditionaljewishmedicine.com/

Want to start your own business? Learn how on Small Business.

December 8, 2006

Dear Yehuda

Thank you so much for sharing your powerful experience of courageous healing

and teaching! I hope others can share similar stories to remind us of our

humanity in all its mystery and its essence.

Thank You

Twyla

Tampa, FL, USA

wrote:

Dear Pete,

In order to educate, I would be humbly honored to have you quote me. If I may, I

would like to elaborate on the snippet below, and also share with you a very

powerful experience I went through the last two days: We human beings are an

extremely resilient species. Yet in spite of, or better, should I say because of

our great facility, we tend to overestimate what we are able to healthily

handle, and so we overload ourselves, creating dysfunction. I think that there

are 3 things that people do which most reinforce this dysfunction in the guise

of making life bearable: multi-tasking, compartmentalization and anesthetizing.

Just like when a computer runs too many programs at once (of course depending on

its capacity, speed and strength) it slows down and eventually crashes; so too

with us-- the analogy, I think, is clear.

Compartmentalizing implies a certain chameleon-like quality that we have, play

acting and adapting to whomever we need to interact with. I think that this

contributes to poor

self-esteem and identity crises. A great teacher, under whose tutelage I learned

for two years gave me the following parting advise: " Always be the same person

no matter who you are with, where you are, and what you are doing. " By doing

that, we learn to know who we are, with that knowledge we can set achievable

goals, and the fulfillment of our goals, builds self-esteem, allowing us to

climb yet higher!

What does anesthesia have to do with anything? Well, isn't that why people drink

alcohol, smoke cigarettes, need that coffee to get started, have a sweet tooth,

do hard drugs, crave sex, gamble, and generally thrive on adrenaline? Why?

because they have so much pain inside, they need to numb themselves with their

" drug " of choice in order to more than feel good, to actually survive! The

wonderful camaraderie that goes with all of these anesthetics taken in the

company of friends, is amazingly reinforcing, not healing, but reinforcing. When

I was in school, I did an externship at a drug rehab center. It was amazing to

me that all of the residents were chain smokers and over eaters. They were just

using a different drug! The point is that being alone and being sober can be

unbearably painful in our selfish society, in which only the strong survive. Few

can find inner peace alone, and yet so many feel desperately alone.

Let me conclude by sharing with you a most humbling experience. I was called

Wednesday to treat a woman in our community who had been battling cancer through

nutritional and natural means for the past at least 4 years, by in large,

refusing chemo, radiation and surgery. I had never treated her before. She had

been hospitalized a week ago Monday, and her condition had deteriorated rapidly.

She became semi-conscious last Thursday. Monday they sent her home with a

methadone drip. The cancer had spread to her brain and liver and they

essentially gave up. When I saw her Wednesday, her abdomen was severely swollen

with ascites, her face and eyes were a dull yellow, her pulses, primarily the

kidney yang pulse were that extremely rapid and flitting description I remember

learning, about those who are about to expire, and she was writhing in pain,

showing little benefit from the methadone, she hadn't slept in 4 days, her

breathing was labored, her body was hot to

the touch, she had vomited up any food given to her since returning home and she

hadn't made a bowel movement in a week. I worked on her for 3 hours. When I

left, her breathing was calm, the writhing virtually had stopped, though she