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DWB's avatar

Regarding the connection between mind and body, and your previous statin post, I'm watching that combine and play out with a 70-year-old neighbor. He's always been healthy and free from drugs, but all of his four sisters take statins because they have "high LDL" and convinced him last month to get blood work done.

The results came in and the doctor told him he was at risk of a heart attack and stroke because his LDL was 220, and gave him a prescription for statins. I'm not sure why, but he refused to take them, probably because he's very stubborn.

The thing is, he also believes what they told him and now thinks he has lost his health and has a congenital problem that will end his life. I saw him when he walked out of the doctor's office and he looked fragile and crushed, and it's been a downward spiral since then. His acid reflux flared up considerably and he's always clearing his throat, and since last weekend he's been in bed, exhausted and weak and discouraged.

I hope he just needs time and deals with his own aging and mortality, but it's really cruel to tell someone their blood is bad and likely to give them a heart attack, all based on that stupid test.

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DougBTaylor's avatar

When I look at my life I can only say: God gave/gives me shot at living a perfect life.

There will always be tragedy and malevolence, disappointments and losses, pain and misery. God showed me/us a perfect way forward (the 'operating system' always knew THE path) through life's minefields and chasms, the deep cold rapids, white water slamming you against boulders, and the stirrings, silent despair, sleeping with an enemy.

I would that people would simply turn off their TV's, walk outside, and go help a neighbor with something. Talk to each other like you matter, people have so many different areas of focus. All of us are necessary to complete the picture. We all need to be here, we are all important.

Finally, glad am I that I was born at a time when we were taught about nobility of spirit, that each and every human being is noble until proven otherwise (but then allowed to restore his/her nobility by penance) and proud of each other and certainly glad and thankful of our birthright.

I'm thankful that we were taught that tyranny was bad, independence, in liberty, absolute. Critical thought was a minimal requirement of citizenship. We trusted that successive generations of teachers were carrying the torch, working to guarantee the continuation of this amazing nation, the only nation in the history of history conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all created are equal.

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