Posted by Questionmark on June 16, 2003, at 6:22:12
In reply to neurasthenia, posted by bookgurl99 on June 10, 2003, at 1:07:14
> >Ooh, what are 'neurasthenics'? i like their treatment. Six weeks of bed rest-- that's what i need-- well, no. Now an etERnity of bed rest... that would be nice. ok i'm done
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> Uh -- i'm not into you seeking out an _eternity_ of bed rest. Are testing out the feeling of suicide?Nooooooooooo. Suicide is bad.
...(That's what all the live people tell me anyway.) Oohwahh!> But when it comes to neurasthenia, a month or 6 weeks of bed rest was advised.
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> Here's a short description of neurasthenia done by an academic analyzing a Willa Cather story at http://www.media-culture.org.au/0106/cather.html.
> . . . "Discovered" by the neurologist George M. Beard in 1880, neurasthenia was a nervous disorder characterized by a "lack of nerve force" and comprised of a host of neuroses clustered around an overall paralysis of the will.
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> Cultural historian T.J. Jackson Lears, long a student of neurasthenia, defines it as an "immobilizing, self-punishing depression" stemming from "endless self-analysis" and "morbid introspection" (47, 49).Fascinating. Those are some beautifully descriptive freaking terms there. "Paralysis of the will;" "immobilizing, self-punishing depression;" "endless self-analysis;" "morbid introspection". Man, if that doesn't describe depressions with intense self-hatred wonderfully.. i love it.
> * There is another neat description at http://www.edgarcayce.org/th/tharchiv/research/neurasth.html
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> I particularly like this part: "In addition to the psychic symptoms here described, the patient also suffers from insomnia. Mostly he has but little difficulty in falling asleep, but the sleep is broken, especially toward the morning hours, and the patient finds difficulty in falling asleep again. If be does, the second sleep is likely to be heavy and the awakening to be accompanied by a feeling of more or less marked prostration. Occasionally the sleep is interrupted a number of times, and often is accompanied by a desire to empty the bladder. Less frequently the patient has difficulty in falling asleep, the oncoming of the first sleep being delayed for an hour or more. The sleep of neurasthenics is rarely refreshing. The patient usually awakens with a feeling of lethargy and depression, and feels but little inclined to activity, especially in the early part of the day. "
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> hmm. . it all sounds a bit familiar. It sounds like the Questiomark problem!Hahhah, yes, one of many. But i mostly just have the falling-asleep insomnia (fortunately i can remain asleep once asleep, usu.)
> I like this dx because it addresses simple problems with simple solutions;if a person is tired out, let him rest. it seems much healthier than our pill-popping ways.
Yeah. i think we might all be sickened by how ultimately inadequate our "pill-popping ways" are if it weren't for the pharm companies pumping boatloads of money to keep the fantasy going-- and i'm still falling for the dang fantasies (MAOI this go-around). Oh, but, i don't know if that bed rest for people like this would actually help. i think after the six weeks were up they'd feel even more lethargic and what not from not doing anything for 6 weeks but lying around getting their muscles atrophied. Would be nice for 6 weeks though.
> unfortunately, it fell out of disuse due to being a little too inclusive. before MRI's and other measuring devices, one couldn't know whether this malaise was due to M.S. or CFS or industrial pollutants, or if the sufferers truly had tired out their consitutions.
That's understandable. Hey that'd be nice to get a prescription for 6 wks bed rest, huh? Hah.
Thanks alot for the info. Interesting stuff.
poster:Questionmark
thread:232047
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030614/msgs/234260.html