SIMPLE MEDICINE

    post hoc, ergo propter hoc

 

 

ABSTRACT

 

     There must be a lot of people out there who are having slowly developing and insidious medical problems that are actually only systemically related to a root cause of nothing more than an inflamed or a perforated appendix.  Many web medical forums of all kinds have members that are having the same slowly accumulating problems and conditions that I had. Some of these are merely tolerated, or dismissed as ‘common’ or ‘normal’ or as due to aging or weight gain.  Many are attributed to drug side effects, et cetera, ad infinitum.  Others may be inexplicable or severe and life threatening.  This paper tells the history of one individual in an attempt to reach that postulated group.

                                        

Diagnosed and historical problems in this case:

 

The following chronology is of unknown duration; but extends back a bare minimum of 10 years, or maybe it was 40 or more…..?

 

 

From whenever that unknown beginning, until:

 

I was diagnosed with

high blood pressure and had a

high heart rate

weight gain

high cholesterol levels

eyes always bloodshot [history back to 1986?]

diarrhea

unable to kneel

back pain

extreme tenderness in right testicle [site of a hydrocele surgery at age 9]

large amounts of tartar buildup on teeth

hip pain

shoulder pain/bursitis

back pain

three or four partly broken teeth

now all major joints pain

some minor hemorrhoids

some small but very, very painful blisters and swellings on the hands, knees and feet

couldn't lay on any one side very long without severe aches developing

very much trouble sleeping

couldn't get out of bed normally

by this time [about 3-4 years ago], I'm already on 3 different types of medication and a strong candidate for both diabetes and arthritis!?

about 75 days before the onset, I decided to try to lose some weight to reduce the risk of diabetes and dropped about 15-20 lbs.

Finally.

I very rapidly downed a big salad one day

then, had very generalized severe abdominal cramping six hours later

[[this had happened at least once before after a salad; but not as badly, and it went away after 3-4 hours]]

so, I stayed in bed to wait for it to again just pass through the bowels

had 3-4 normal bowel movements with no changes in pain or the location

36 hours went by and now I knew that I was in real trouble; so I took a Naproxen to try to kill just enough pain to be able to get out of bed to take some kind of action [the Naproxen was prescribed prn for the joint pains]

could then move and the major pain immediately localized to the area of the appendix

drove to the VA ER

CT scan, etc. were entirely consistent with a ruptured or a gangrenous appendix

 

Damn my luck.

 

I’m not sure who it was that first started the newest and the strongest, most expensive antibiotics - the VA, or the ER at Parkview; but, I did actually hear it myself when the surgeon at Parkview directly ordered that IV started there – otherwise, it is quite possible that I would not be writing this draft.

I then had an emergency laparotomy on a "really bad ‘perforated’ appendix" 45-46 hours after the initial onset of pain.  I was afterward, for a few days, at a high risk for a massive internal infection [15% probability].  Therefore, I spent a slightly higher 6 days in the hospital as a precautionary measure.  No doubt due to age, peritonitis, severity and no doubt -  smoking [You’re just “slow to heal.”].

 

                                     #@$$%%$^%&^&(*())(__+_++&#%$

 

Completely unexpectedly and de novo, however, in less than one week out of the hospital, I was astonished, astounded and completely awestricken to begin to notice that my mobility had drastically improved and that my joints did not ache anything like they had been doing - for years.  

At this moment, I began to really and simply, ‘hold my breath.’

It has been almost 4 months now since the surgery…[I haven’t seen a medical doctor since the day I was discharged]. 

 

I’m just now beginning to ‘breathe’ a little bit.

 

Very near to the end of a normal 4-6 week recovery period, I apparently jumped the gun by doing some heavy weed pulling and shoveling because I had just felt so good.  I must have torn something loose in my gut right then, because I had a lot of pain similar to, but less than, the onset cramps.  I got quite scared; but I waited, to see if it would pass.  On the second or third day, I literally had one hand on the telephone for a couple of hours.  That all went away completely within less than a week.  To be truly safe this time, I simply and unilaterally restarted the clock on another 6-week recovery period of my own and just let the weeds grow.  My second recovery period ended about one month ago.

 

Both my blood pressure and my heart rate seem now to be much better.  My weight is down from 187 to 153, or maybe slightly high normal, for my 5'7" frame and my age; but, the range of motion and the degree of limberness I have in my body makes me feel more like I'm 15 again, instead of my [never disclosed] years of age. 

My dental hygienist thinks that I’ve been using a Water Pik as she had ‘ordered’ me to, because I had no tartar buildup on my teeth only last week.  She believes that I could now be an outstanding advertisement for that company [I did buy one; but I’ve not been using it - sorry, Kay].  I recently remembered that it really hurt my shoulder joint/s just to hold that thing up with my arms horizontal. 

I have been staying up all night a lot; but my eyes still don’t get bloodshot.  I have no more blisters – but they went away 90% after I stopped taking that new deal diuretic Rx for the hypertension anyway.  No more diarrhea or back pains so far. 

 

 

I can kneel.  I can dance.  I can move like a cat…...............................

 

 

The way that I learned my eyes are now a normal white is that a guy I run into once in a while always looked at them whenever he saw me - just to see if I had been up all night - again.  He simply could not believe that I always stayed up all night - every night.  He, to this day does not know that they were always ‘just that way.’  I myself had never even thought to look at my own eyes post-operative - until one day he said, very surprised - “You weren’t up all night!”  But NO, and HELL YES, I had been up all night!  What do bloodshot eyes have to do with acute appendicitis or a laparotomy anyway? 

 

More importantly, what do ANY of these medical problems have to do with this laundry list?

 

One physician has suggested to a sibling with a long history of chronic problems that powerful antibiotics can sometimes have this kind of effect in making a person “feel really good” and that there is always the “whole ‘mind/body’ dichotomy thing” and that a reversal of a lot negative energy in one’s life may have occurred in my case.  I had not heard of the former and so had certainly not thought of that.  I have certainly heard of and lived with the latter and that actually may have something to do with this story; but, to my mind, it simply cannot at all explain the many factors I’m outlining here.

 

I’m certain that I could sleep quite well if my body were not in an apparent process of regeneration and still quite sore in several places.  However, I can still bounce out of bed with no problem at all.  Hemorrhoids are no longer an annoyance.  Many of my muscles [and also several other parts of my body] are still aching; but now they seem to ache in a quite ‘good’ way.’  It is as though they are, after all this time, still restoring themselves.  I feel that this is quite true.  The joints and the tendons especially, may require literally months of healing after any type of damage.

 

It is a very simple thing to perform finger palpations to the lower right quadrant of the abdomen for areas of tenderness or pain.  Or, to do a Markle test, or a ‘heel-drop jarring’ test, as a test for abdominal inflammation.  Yet and despite, all of my various complaints at regular checkups and extensive blood tests made every six months, due to that original hypertension diagnosis, no doctor had done either of them to me and I had never done them to myself.  I strongly suspect that had they, or had I, done either or both of these simple tests that there would have been pain at that site at some point and that it then would have become very obvious that something was very wrong.  I had never, in my life, had any apparent or traditionally relevant appendicitis symptoms, nor any types of abdominal pain that would cause one to think that there was a problem of this nature. 

 

I submit, that the inlammed appendix does not have to be an acute problem before it may become a factor or even a cause in many other and completely unsuspected or traditionally ‘unrelated,’ medical problems - and yet, chronically remain undiagnosed by the medical profession.

 

The bone damage done to several of my teeth is still there, of course.  There is some kind of a lesion or cyst between the roots of two of my teeth near an old root canal site that I’m planning to have endodontically evaluated in two weeks.  [THIS OPERATION WAS DONE IN NOVEMBER OF '07 AND THE SITE WAS ALSO SEVERELY INFECTED].  My shoulders still hurt a lot in a ‘good’ way.  Other things still seem to be healing up as well.  There are a lot of very unusual things happening within this body that I can tell you are not even near done.  But, we will see….

 I'll take my luck right now.  I can't prove it - but I think I smiled this morning.

                                                      

                                                       Conclusions, And Probable Heresy

 

The kind of simple appendix problem that I had, is systemic in its effects, may apparently whack out your body chemistry and cause the immune system to do some strange and highly destructive things to even the most otherwise, unrelated and completely innocent parts of your body.

KEEP INFECTIONS OUT OF YOUR BODY!

 A given, ongoing, medical problem could have an underlying and unsuspected root systemic cause, such as this, that is otherwise today, medically understood to be totally unrelated.

 

INFECTIONS, ARE BY NATURE, SYSTEMIC.  THEY MAY EASILY SPREAD  THROUGHOUT THE BODY.  NEVER ALLOW KNOWN INFECTIONS TO EXIST WITHIN YOUR BODY.......ELIMINATE THEM AT ALL COSTS.

 

An appendectomy is a simple and almost an outpatient procedure today if it is done on a scheduled basis prior to rupturing.  It is pure hell after it ruptures; but even then you still just might truly live again.

 

If you have any of the above problems – and even if you don’t – test yourself with palpations and also do the Markle test.  Preferably, have someone else do the palpations for you.

The Markle test is done by standing on your toes with your knees very stiff and then dropping quickly to the floor.  Do this on a hard surface with or without shoes on.  The resulting jarring effect will cause some pain in inflammation areas of the abdomen.  If inflammation is present, you should be able to point directly to the trouble spot.

 

This test has the same effectiveness as a white cell count blood lab test in indicating if inflammation is present. 

Neither of these tests will completely eliminate that there is any inflammation present; but they will usually identify an acute problem.

[Note that the appendix can also, infrequently, be located on your left side, or even near your back.]

 

I do not know how much any of these methods, including fingers palpations, can actually ‘see.’  It is also always open to question as to whether or not any diagnostic method we have available now can see anything that is not actually already an acute problem.   Especially, ‘early stage’ problems may often be missed. 

 

 

P.S.  I'm almost positive now that my sister’s little dog smelled my inflammed appendix, because he sniffed that exact site on my body right after jumping up on my bed one day about 3-4 years ago and then, jumped back off - in somewhat doggy disgust!  He would not come back, no matter how hard I tried.  My appendix crossed my mind at that very moment; but I very, very stupidly ignored the thought.  I had no symptoms of that problem!

 

I just didn't get it then.....

 

 

MANTRA:

 

POST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC!

POST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC!

POST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC!

POST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC

 

 

 

                                                  Bibliography, And Thanks

 

‘DRJ’ and all other staff members at the VA for getting my life saved

Two different ambulance crews and a van driver all unknown and forever always unsung

Raymond A. Cava, M.D., critical care surgeon at Parkview Hospital

My anesthesiologist, whose name [Jenkins?] escapes me at the moment – hey, I was out!

‘Six Surgical’ and many other staff members at Parkview Hospital

Tina, my sister, the GC, for the lacking toothbrush

Kay, my dental hygienist, who gets to rest some now

Emory W. Bryan, Jr., D.D.S., my high school friend, who does excellent dental work

Matt, sometime bartender and an R.N., for an anatomy lesson

Jack Clark-Slyford Dog, the smartest dog I know

Torborg Lundell, Professor Emeritus, UCSB, for knowledge and friendship.

 

http://www.omifacsimiles.com/brochures/bksimp.html

 

 

                                                             Post Bibliography          

 

FOUND:  8 Sep 2007:

“Furthermore, there is mounting evidence that removing the appendix helps prevent ulcerative colitis, a nasty inflammatory disease of the colon."

This evidence suggests that the appendix is actually maladaptive, and that the lymphoid tissue contained in the appendix is subject to chronic inflammatory states.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/vestiges/appendix.html#f

 

 

 

 

 

 

J.S. Clark

www.theamericangeek.com

drjsc.jeff@gmail.com

30 AUG 2007      [DRAFT:  last basic revision, 21 Dec 2007]