Thinking of pain patients in Alabama

I’ve seen a lot of comments recently about the extreme difficulties that pain patients in Alabama are experiencing…

http://www.wkrg.com/2016/10/28/breaking-fbi-agents-raiding-eastern-shore-neurology-and-pain-center-in-daphne/

DAPHNE, AL (WKRG) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a raid operation at a pain clinic in Daphne on Friday morning…

As WKRG reported last year, the FBI raided Physician’s Pain Specialists of Alabama (PPSA) in Mobile, one of the largest pain clinics in the state.

The raid was part of “Operation Pillution,” an expansive, multi-state effort to investigate large pain centers accused of excessive prescription practices. Dr. John Patrick Couch and Dr. Xiulu Ruan of PPSA were arrested and charged for “dangerous” painkiller prescribing practices. Couch and Ruan were charged with the deaths of four people in connection to their practice…

It appears that the DEA has enlisted the FBI to help fight its war against opioids.

My comment:

How many patients was this doctor treating? How many are now going through tortuous withdrawal without any medical assistance? When will the DEA learn that you can’t close down a pain clinic without providing resources for the abandoned patients? How many heroin addicts did the DEA just create? How many suicides? Who can answer these questions? Apparently, not the media.

Baby’s Got Blue Eyes

It’s estimated that approximately 8% of the world’s population has blue eyes.

http://www.peimag.com/15-characteristics-of-people-with-blue-eyes/

Researchers in Denmark concluded that every blue-eyed person in the world right now is related in one way or another. They say that blue eyes are a result of a mutation that took place at some point during the last 10,000 years. Before that, a majority of all people had brown eyes whereas only a few displayed light colored eyes.

According to a study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh, light-eyed women handle pain better than women with dark eyes. Unfortunately, nobody really knows why this is or how this applies to men with similar eye color. As a matter of fact, there is quite an urban legend associated with the fact that women with blue eyes go through childbirth much better than women with dark eyes.

People with blue eyes are known to be more attractive on average, but they are also more hesitant than people with differently colored eyes. People with hazel eyes, for example, are known for taking initiative more, while also being more impulsive by nature. Blue-eyed people, on the other hand, have time after time displayed a hesitant nature, which interestingly enough, is believed to be a result of how rare they are in society.

According to a recent study that involved more than 12 thousand Americans, it was revealed that people with blue eyes are more likely to be alcoholics. Many of them have also shown signs of suffering from at least one psychiatric illness like schizophrenia or bipolar disorders.

I have blue eyes. I don’t drink and I don’t suffer from bipolar or schizophrenia. As to whether I handle pain better than people with different colored eyes, I just find that hard to believe — especially after the 36 hours it took to bring my son into the world, which I assure you, was pretty damn painful. But I do believe that if you have blue eyes, our ancestors are probably related. Hello, cousin. 🙂

Thinking of you, Mitch Hedberg

From Wikipedia:

Hedberg suffered from stage fright throughout his career; he often performed in sunglasses, with his head down and his hair in his face or his eyes closed, and sometimes stood upstage or with his back to the audience…

On March 30, 2005, Hedberg was found dead in a hotel room in Livingston, New Jersey. He was 37 years old. Hedberg was born with a heart defect for which he received extensive treatment as a child. It was initially speculated that this condition may have played a part in his death, but the New Jersey medical examiner’s office reported “multiple drug toxicity” in the form of cocaine and heroin as the cause.

http://www.vice.com/read/the-comedy-community-talks-about-the-legacy-of-mitch-hedberg

“I like to take a toothpick and throw it in the forest and say, you’re home!” Mitch Hedberg