Dear Post-traumatic Disorders Program, Psychiatric Institute of Washington,
A close and dear friend is dead.
She was a patient at your hospital, and a few days ago she sent me this text:
“I left the trauma program after 48 hours. I was appalled at the environment, the terrible therapy and being treated like a prisoner. I went there looking for healing and support and found the experience even more traumatic. Western mental health systems are dehumanizing and insane.”
That was the last message I ever received from her. I got a call that my friend’s body was found in the river: she drowned herself.
After many weeks of searching she came to your program in what was to be her last act of hope. My friend made a great effort in a time of utter despair. She trusted you.
I am...
Lifestyle
Dear people who don’t listen after they ask,
I know that we were taught as children to ask, “how are you?” I know that the inquiry has become an innocuous phrase— a polite, automatic way to follow greetings. I too, have been guilty of using “how are you’s” haphazardly. Maybe once in a while I even zoned out a little while someone answered me— you know, planned my grocery list instead of listening while they answered. But here’s the thing: it never really mattered because, as I’ve learned, you’re supposed to just say that you’re good. Why? Because most of us weren’t taught how to respond to other answers. When I was first diagnosed with lupus, I used to take the time to answer honestly when friends, family, or acquaintances asked how I was. I would explain how sick I was with...
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Dear Members of the Board,
Opportunity. Duty. Trust.
By allowing its Medical Licensing Board latitude to create regulations absent the boundaries of restrictive legislation, the Indiana General Assembly has afforded you a tremendous opportunity – to create regulations that balance access to effective pain care with the imperative to prevent substance abuse.
A physician’s duty is to care for the sick and the suffering, holding fast to the maxim primum non nocere, or “first do no harm.” A physician’s method begins with data collection that leads to an assessment and then to the formation of a plan. Re-evaluation follows, spawning reassessment and modification of plans when indicated. Clinical judgment is enhanced by utilizing a measured approach to prescribing, which includes...
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Dear Physicians and Other Health Care Partners,
My name is Laura Allen. I am the owner of THERA-SSAGE and I would like to make you aware of the services that we perform here. Our office is staffed by North Carolina Licensed Massage Therapists and Bodyworkers who are trained in many different modalities of bodywork, including orthopedic massage, pregnancy massage, TMJD massage, working with oncology patients, and other disciplines. We also have a registered nurse available who is certified in Manual Lymphatic Drainage, a modality that is very helpful in assisting the treatment of lymphedema.
As a physician, you know personally how many of the body’s ills are caused or contributed to by stress. Massage relieves stress, relieves muscle pain, can help restore flexibility and muscle...
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Dear Congressman Holt,
Thank you for taking the time to speak with people concerned about, or injured from, reactions associated with fluoroquinolone antibiotics (e.g. Levaquin, Cipro, Floxin, Tequin). I am the author of a study about severe, long-term fluoroquinolone reactions published in the December 2001 issue of the Annals of Pharmacotherapy.1 Actually, the publisher and I pre-released this article in October 2001, during the anthrax scare when Cipro was being prescribed indiscriminately and without warnings to patients. Within days of publication of my paper, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control changed their guidelines, placing the antibiotics doxycycline and penicillin above Cipro as the preferred treatments for anthrax exposure. Doxycycline and penicillin are associated with...
2,478
Dear Pain, Fatigue and Weakness,
I’m just writing to tell you that you’ll never, ever win. I will never stop fighting. You’ve hit me over and over with your best shot, but I keep getting up and living my life. I’m much stronger than you think.
Even if you’re invisible, it doesn’t matter. I have fought cancer, heart disease, stroke and a variety of other calamities that you and your relations have likely made worse. But I’m still here.
So, even if I must rest on some days, get ready for an even bigger fight. I will continue to take care of myself just so that
YOU . . . WILL . . . NEVER . . . WIN!
Maybe you ought to rest up as well. I’m ready to start our fight all over again tomorrow and all the other tomorrows yet to come.
Sincerely,
mcreyscope’s musings on chronic...
2,395
Dear UK NSC,
Yesterday I was horrified to discover that you had voted NO to a UK Cardiac Screening Programme for young persons aged 12 - 39.
The anger... the disgust... the disbelief... this decision left me with is almost impossible to put into words.
Because what sane person - sorry, what sane committee - could ever vote in such a direction? What living, breathing human being would ever believe that, actually, there's no real need for young people to have this kind of easy access to cardiac screenings. I mean, sure, young people duh... it's only those 50+ that have heart issues right?
I want to tell you a story. It isn't my story to tell... not really, anyway. But it's a story that has shaped mine and my loved one's lives beyond recognition. A story that could have spun so...
2,480
Dear Secretary Clinton:
As a young Palestinian girl growing up in a patriarchal society, your speeches about women's rights inspired me to imagine a world where gender equality could exist. As first lady, you famously declared, "Women's rights are human rights." That's something I strongly believe, too.
That's why I was surprised to read your article in The Forward. I was surprised because when you chose to speak about my homeland, not once did you mention Israel's human rights violations against Palestinian women and children. Even worse, you described us as lurking terrorists motivated only by "incitement," as if the Israeli military occupation does not exist.
I am not a terrorist. I do not believe in the use of violence. I am a young Palestinian woman who grew up under...
2,581
Dear Senator XXX,
As the Affordable Care Act has taken effect, millions of Coloradans have been harmed through the collapse of the state’s failed Obamacare co-op, skyrocketing premiums and more than 300,000 cancelled health care plans. A government-mandated healthcare system remains a highly contentious debate that has now landed on the November 2016 Colorado ballot in the form of Amendment 69, so-called “single-payer” healthcare.
Despite Obamacare’s glaring failures, a single-payer healthcare system remains a primary goal of many on the left, such as your colleague Senator Bernie Sanders. Supporters of single-payer often argue that Obamacare simply did not go far enough, and they seek to remedy that in Colorado by imposing a government-run system with this initiative.
The price...
2,408
Dear Mr. Sanders,
I'm writing this letter to you confident that you listen to the voters/citizens of this nation, and use reason and logic when you come to a decision to support something or not to lend support. I'm confident that you will come to a conclusion that is of interest to the common good.
As you say, unemployment among our youth of all races in this country is abysmal. While big corporations buy politicians with the end goal of sending our jobs overseas, our youth languish in poverty, and have no hope for the future! This situation causes them to lose hope, and become susceptible to drug abuse, gang initiation or even worse, to join terrorists groups and commit acts of violence.
I believe the idea of putting millions of Americans to work rebuilding our infrastructure...
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