Meeting Recap — Speaker: Ondre, Natural Healer, 16 April 2008

» N.B. Parts of the following posting are in draft form.

Ondre Raymond
Photo by John Horlivy
Nevada County Chronicle
16 April 2008

Our visiting speaker today was Ondre Raymond, a practitioner of natural healing.

In his talk, he elaborated upon the following ideas:

• An effective healer is one who gives full attention while talking with the person suffering pain, listening with particular attention as the person describes the unique characteristics of his or her pain.

• In recent years, allopathic and homeopathic communities have come closer together, as two large trees, in Ondre's analogy, separated at a some distance, but now reaching each other at the root level. Increasingly, adepts from both traditions are working together to help a patient. One M.D., for example, trying to do everything possible to effect healing, has asked Ondre to simply be present during ministrations to a patient.

• Central to homeopathic healing, are the basic assumptions of effective healing practice of second century physiologist, philosopher, and writer Claudius Galen of Pergamum. Galen asserted that each human organ is suited to its function and that curing the sick must be based upon knowledge of anatomy and detailed investigations of the patient's body.

• Concomitant to experiencing chronic pain is a tendency toward depression. Ondre affirmed that when two members of the group are familiar with the depressive traits of each other, each should count on the other for support. Here he presented the image of a dark room receiving brightening energy from a single candle.

• The informal term for homeopathic medicine complementary medicine is more useful useful than the term it is beginning to replace, alternative medicine. The adjective alternative assumes an unfortunate split, a turning away from allopathic medicince to its alternative homeopathic. Complementary, on the other hand, assumes a coming together of the allopathic and the homeopathic. Happily, the word complementary carries a second meaning that affirms the cooperative relationship between healer and patient homeopathic medicine .

•

During the latter portion of his time with us, several members stepped forward to experience what each hoped would be some form of healing through the transmission of energy from Ondre's hands.

Following is a
Special Report

On how a chapter member felt physically on Thursday,
April 17th, one day after she had received, at our
meeting, the deliberate, healing-intended,
hands-on attention of Ondre.

This person suffers from multiple ailments, including pain in the elbos, neck, lower back, and hips, while last month dealing with the discomforts of an undiagnosed stomach disorder.

When asked how she felt 24 hours after the hands-on ministrations of Ondre, she said, "Way better!"

She reported feeling "no pain" in her lower back and reduction of pain in her hips, from the usual intensity level of 8 down to a level of 3. She said that her stomach, which was not bothering her that day, responded to Ondre's seemingly slight touch with a bit of surprise "burping."

She said she was not certain that Ondre's touch would ease the pain of everyone who visited him, but she said she "would try it again" because "a feeling of hope opened up, and [I think someday] maybe I won't have to be suffering all the time."

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A Final Note:

On Ondre's Word

The word is PSYCHOSYMMETROLYSIS, which appears as you see it here — in bold capital letters — stands firmly at the top of his business card.

If you look for the word on the Web, and you will learn that it is Ondrean in its design and and designated sense. The word appears at only two places on the Internet: (1) on this page and (2) on Ondre's website (www.ondre.com) where it was born and where it is given its definition. Hence the title of this Final Note: "On Ondre's Word."

Ondre defines psychosymmetrolysis as a process of creating health products formulated "to enhance the natural energetic properties of each ingredient to produce a balanced and syngergistic blend."

The advertising catchphrase for these products — each "developed and formulated by Ondre" — highlights the notion of "balance" within the blend of ingredients: "It is a balance you can see, taste and smell."

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Item — Breaking the Code of Doctor Speak

mmmm
In the April 4, 2008 edition of The Union, right alongside our own Laurel Gavin's superb article "Living with chronic pain" (which see: Gavin ) ran the following article about "common medical jargon" titled "Doctor Speak: What does it all mean?"by Dave Moeller, Senior Staff Writer.

In "Doctor Speak" and the accompanying box "A to Z: Medical jargon defined for the lay person," Moeller tells us what medical jargonauts mean when they say ASA or NOP or— look out! — SOB. (Translations: ASA = aspirin, NOP = "nothing by mouth," and SOB (not what you might be thinking) = "shortness of breath.")

Here is a set of cryptojargonocomedicalisms * — to coin a clanger — that Moeller has so usefully gathered, defined, and set before us.
(*Pronounced CRYP•to•jar•GON•o•MED•i•cal•isms.)

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Doctor speak
What does it all mean?

By Dave Moller
Senior Staff Writer,
davem@theunion.com
12:01 a.m. PT Apr 4, 2008

A guide to common medical jargon

So you're lying down at the doctor's office or the hospital, possibly scared, and the physician turns to the nurse and says something like, "Take an EKG, get a Chem 7, and then we'll get an MRI."

If you're like most patients, you figure the doctor knows what he's talking about. But it's all in medical jargon, and you wonder, "What in tarnation did he mean?"

Translation: He just asked the nurse to measure your heart activity, to order a battery of seven tests checking your blood chemistry, and to see what ails you with a big, donut-shaped machine that uses magnetic fields and radio frequencies to take a picture of your insides.

Believe it or not, most doctors are aware their acronyms and jargon can be confusing, so they try not to use them too much around patients. But people in every occupation often speak their own abbreviated language among themselves.

"It happens all the time," said Dr. Joseph Britton, the director of emergency services at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital. "The last patient I saw, I said she had diverticulitis, (which is an inflammation or infection in the colon) and her husband laughed and said, 'What the heck is that?'

"It is a completely different language, and when we get going fast, we could do a better job of explaining it to our patients," Britton said. "We forget it's not second nature to everybody else."

A sense of humor helps Dr. Jeff Van Tassells through his day at the same emergency room in Grass Valley, and he sometimes finds a chuckle in the jargon that surrounds him.

"To a medical person, an EMT calls from the scene and says they have a patient with SOB, that means shortness of breath," Van Tassell said. "But if a patient hears that, they might not understand."

Kidding aside, he said, "You have to be careful to not use medical jargon so you don't scare people. We also have written instructions for patients because of that.

"We try to communicate the best we can, but it's hard during a stressful work day," Van Tassell said.

•

To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion or call 477-4237.

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A to Z: Medical Jargon defined for the lay person

All of the following information was taken from the Web site "Medspeak: The language of the ER," and the online medical dictionary MediLexicon.

• ASA is an aspirin.

• BP is blood pressure.

• CBC is an all-purpose blood test.

• Defibrillation restores heart muscle rhythm.

• EEG is a brain activity measurement.

• Foley is a catheter placed to drain the bladder.

• Gram's stain is a test that identifies various forms of bacterial microorganisms.

• Hypoxia is a severe lack of oxygen in the tissues and blood.

• IV push is injecting medicine rapidly into a vein to simultaneously saturate the blood system; IV means intra-venous, or in the vein.

• KUB is short for kidney, ureter and bladder tests.

• Lac is short for laceration.

• Myocardial infarction is a heart attack.

• NPO means nothing by mouth.

• O neg is type O blood that any patient can receive without problems.

• Palp is blood pressure taken by pulse during an emergency.

• Quinlan Test is a test for bile.

• Renogram is a kidney x-ray.

• Sepsis is an extreme infection.

• Thrombosis is a blood clot.

• UTI means urinary tract infection.

• Venipuncture is taking blood from a vein.

• W-plasty is a surgery to improve a scar using w-shaped cuts.

• Xerosis is abnormal eyeball, skin or mucous membrane dryness.

• YPLL is the abbreviation for years of potential life lost.

• Z-protein is a protein that binds and helps move fatty acids in cells.

— Dave Moller
Senior Staff Writer
The Union

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Item — More Info on spinal cord stumulation

On this past April 6th, Dr. James Willis explained to the group in substantial detail the functionality of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) designed to relive chronic pain. The following article "Pain Relief for Some, With and Odd Tradeoff by Tara Parker-Pope discusses an "odd tradeoff" of SCS, "a low-grade buzzing sensaton"; SCS's success rate, and much more.

Pain Relief for Some, With an Odd Tradeoff

By Tara Parker-Pope

For people with chronic pain, relief comes with a tradeoff. Bed rest means missing out on life. Drugs take the edge off, but they also dull the senses and the mind.

If you are a sufferer of chronic pain, what would you give up to live pain-free? Join the discussion [at the website titled "Well" by Tara Parker-Pope.] E-mail: Well@nytimes.com.

But there’s another potential option: implantable stimulators that blunt pain with electrical impulses. In this case, the tradeoff is living with a low-grade buzzing sensation in place of the pain.

The devices, which are implanted near the spine, are not widely used. They are expensive, don’t work for everyone and rarely offer complete relief. Industry officials estimate that fewer than 10 percent of eligible patients opt for the treatment.

But when they do work, they can be life-changing. Carolyn Stewart, 45, of Clifton, N.J., has lived with chronic back pain since she was 18, when she had surgery after a car accident. Then four years ago, a procedure for a collapsed lung accidentally resulted in nerve damage that caused excruciating pain. “I just want to sleep normally and not have pain that wakes me up every 20 minutes,” she said.

Ms. Stewart has been using pain drugs to cope, but side effects, including fatigue and constipation, only add to her discomfort. A few years ago she did a “test drive” of a spinal cord stimulator and experienced a significant drop in her pain. Insurance troubles delayed a permanent implant, but this month she is finally undergoing surgery to attach the device to her spinal cord. “It’s not going to be 100 percent,” she said. “But I will be happy with a 50 percent change.”

Not every patient feels that way. Ms. Stewart’s physician, Dr. Andrew G. Kaufman, director of interventional pain management at Overlook Hospital in Summit, N.J., described a patient who tested a stimulator and experienced “unbelievable” pain relief, yet simply couldn’t adjust to the sensation created by the device and decided not to keep it. “She couldn’t get over the background buzzing,” Dr. Kaufman said.

Still, most patients accept this vibrating version of white noise, says Dr. Richard North, a retired pneurosurgery professor at Johns Hopkins who developed several patents related to the technology, although he no longer receives royalties.

“When they first feel the sensation they say, ‘That’s weird,’” said Dr. North, who treats patients at the LifeBridge Health Brain and Spine Institute in Baltimore. “It quickly becomes clear that ‘weird’ is going to be just fine if it replaces the pain.”

Chronic pain is a particularly difficult problem to understand and solve. Pain is normal after an injury or because of a health problem. But sometimes the nerves misfire and continue sending intense pain signals to the brain even after the injury heals. Dr. Vijay B. Vad, a sports medicine specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, compares the problem to a thermostat in a cool room. “If it’s 65 degrees in the house, but the thermostat thinks it’s 50 degrees, the heat keeps running,” Dr. Vad said.

The condition, complex regional pain syndrome, or C.R.P.S., typically develops after a medical procedure or an accident. But even minor injuries, like a sprain from a fall, can cause it. The syndrome may follow 5 percent of all injuries, according to the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Association, an advocacy group for people with chronic pain.

Spinal cord stimulation works by implanting an electrode near the spinal cord, inserted through the same place where epidural pain relief is injected for women in labor. Electrical pulses scramble or block the pain signals traveling through the nervous system, preventing them from reaching the brain.

But spinal cord stimulators offer significant relief to only about half the patients who try them. In September, the journal Pain published the largest-ever clinical trial of spinal cord stimulators, comparing their use with conventional pain therapies, including drugs, nerve blocks and physical therapy. The study, which was financed by the implant maker Medtronic, followed 100 patients who had undergone spinal surgery and had developed chronic pain in one or both legs.

Every patient received conventional pain treatment, but half were also given a spinal cord implant. Pain fell by half for 48 percent of the implant patients but only 9 percent of the others.

The implants cost about $20,000, and the procedure, hospital care and follow-up can bring the total bill to about $40,000. In August, the medical journal Neurosurgery showed that spinal cord implants were far cheaper than additional operations to treat pain.

Another concern is that patients who require high doses of stimulation drain the battery quickly, requiring surgery to replace the device. New rechargeable versions of the stimulators have helped resolve that concern.

For some patients, relief is only temporary, and the pain returns. Doctors say simple adjustments to the device may solve that problem.

“Sometimes efficacy wanes over time, but I still believe in them,” said Dr. Kaufman, also an assistant professor of anesthesiology at the New Jersey Medical School. “When drugs don’t work, what else is there?”

Image from the New York Times.

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