What's on your mind?

[MacabreEternal]

Found out my friend has bowel cancer and started his chemo treatment today, not much older than me too.

[FatherAlabaster]

Found out my friend has bowel cancer and started his chemo treatment today' date=' not much older than me too.[/quote'] That's terrible news! I'm sorry to hear it. Kinda scary, too. Best wishes to your friend.

[Iceni]

Found out my friend has bowel cancer and started his chemo treatment today' date=' not much older than me too.[/quote'] I do wish him well then.

[BlutAusNerd]

Re: What's on your mind?

Found out my friend has bowel cancer and started his chemo treatment today' date=' not much older than me too.[/quote'] Yeah, hope your friend does well, chemo is worse for you than cancer... Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

[FatherAlabaster]

Re: What's on your mind?

Yeah, hope your friend does well, chemo is worse for you than cancer... Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

I know a couple of breast cancer survivors, including my grandmother, and yeah, chemo seems like pure misery. I don't know what I'd choose if I had to make the choice.

[deathstorm]

Found out my friend has bowel cancer and started his chemo treatment today' date=' not much older than me too.[/quote'] Hope your friend feel better

[BlutAusNerd]

Re: What's on your mind?

I know a couple of breast cancer survivors' date=' including my grandmother, and yeah, chemo seems like pure misery. I don't know what I'd choose if I had to make the choice.[/quote'] My grandma has survived 3 different kinds of cancer, but with radiation and surgery, my grandpa was on chemo and died 3 years into his projected 7 year battle. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic to Macabre, I've just had experience with that as well and know it does make life miserable. It's sad that the best our MDs can come up with is "let's poison and irradiate your body and hope the cancer dies before you do", and then they charge out the ass for the privilege of killing you. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

[Ghouly]

Re: What's on your mind?

Found out my friend has bowel cancer and started his chemo treatment today' date=' not much older than me too.[/quote'] Colon cancer is no walk in the park. I'm so sorry you have to bear witness to a friend going through it.

[Ghouly]

Re: What's on your mind?

My grandma has survived 3 different kinds of cancer, but with radiation and surgery, my grandpa was on chemo and died 3 years into his projected 7 year battle. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic to Macabre, I've just had experience with that as well and know it does make life miserable. It's sad that the best our MDs can come up with is "let's poison and irradiate your body and hope the cancer dies before you do", and then they charge out the ass for the privilege of killing you. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

Some day in the distant future, cancer will be a "poor man's disease" and if you're lucky enough to be upper middle class or wealthier you'll be able to buy your cure. Never the less I think medicine will eventually prevail.

[BlutAusNerd]

Re: What's on your mind?

Some day in the distant future' date=' cancer will be a "poor man's disease" and if you're lucky enough to be upper middle class or wealthier you'll be able to buy your cure. Never the less I think medicine will eventually prevail.[/quote'] I know that I'm extremely cynical, but in a capitalistic system, you typically just need to look at the money involved to discover people's motivations. Cancer funds doctors and hospitals worldwide by dispensing extremely costly "treatments", and renting out bed space while you recover. As long as people keep lining up to continue the process, why would they change it? A cure for cancer could also sell for a great deal of money, but only as much as people are willing/able to pay for it, but they would be cured and not have to come back for more treatment. Most medications are they same way, they're designed to treat symptoms, not fix problems, as people without health problems don't make doctors, hospitals, or insurance providers any money. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

[FatherAlabaster]

Nah, no worries on that front, you can keep getting cancer over and over in every organ and body part you have... Ok, wet blanket patrol just kicked the door in and threatened me with no more beer if I didn't post something fun, so here: I just had an awesome experience with my kid. I've seen him rocking out to all kinds of music before, which usually involves flailing his arms around - remember he's not quite two. He walked into my room after turning the living room computer (and therefore the music) off by pushing the back of a chair into the power button (urgh) and demanded music, so I pulled up whatever I had paused on my recording computer, which happened to be Suffocation's Blood Oath, and he started flailing his arms and sort of bounce-jumping in time with the music. So we did that for a few minutes. So I just had my first official moment of headbanging with my son. RULES!!!

[RelentlessOblivion]

Almost every single disease known to man already has a cure stashed away in a lab somewhere. The companies which manufacture drugs know they'd go out of business if they sold the cure so instead they sell a treatment which keeps you sick or increases the likelyhood of subsequent illnesses.

[Iceni]

Almost every single disease known to man already has a cure stashed away in a lab somewhere. The companies which manufacture drugs know they'd go out of business if they sold the cure so instead they sell a treatment which keeps you sick or increases the likelyhood of subsequent illnesses.

I have a lot of questions about this. If there's such a big conspiracy to keep the cure out of the hands of the public than why is there apparently so much medical research demonstrating that the current stuff is bad? Or does such research conveniently not exist because the scholars are held in thrall to the medical establishment? If so, where does this other anti-corporate research come from? Who funds that research and why is it in itself credible? If it's so obvious that the stuff is bad, why has no alternate company patented the cure? Are there patented cures sitting about in the Patent Office that never get used? Why? What is the alternative to the current medicine? How is it to be developed? Has it been developed? Do the nations with socialized medicine have cures the rest of the world doesn't know about? If so, why not? Which diseases, exactly, can be cured? Are there companies that have been prosecuted for withholding cures? Couldn't the corporate whistleblowers sell the cure themselves and destroy the company they worked for? Wouldn't the government withhold cures as well to ensure fiscal solvency if they were developing the medicine? Who will develop medicine for free, given that almost every other form of labor has to be monetarily compensated? Is that a sustainable method?

[RelentlessOblivion]

The research highlighting how bad current treatments are is very convenient because there is no alternative on the market. Research into "curing" diseases is most likely a front for researchers trying to find better ways to keep the public sick for longer so more money can be taken from them. I don't go for many conspiracies but this one I do believe to be the case. Think about it we've been researching cancer and HIV/AIDS not to mention countless other diseases for how long? having billions and billions of dollars poured into this research and that's only yielded a treatment which ensures the patient will eventually die because their immune system is obliterated by this process. Doesn't that stike you as odd? We've had the best medical scientists around the world working on cures for decades with no results that the public see. What has improved is early detection of cancer and such diseases so that you can be milked for more money before you die. Then on the news we hear about a drug which can actually cure the disease. It's worked brilliantly in early testing stages, it appears certain to offer the solution to this problem. It never becomes available for human trials, or if it does, never reaches deployment as a cure.

[BlutAusNerd]

Re: What's on your mind?

I have a lot of questions about this. If there's such a big conspiracy to keep the cure out of the hands of the public than why is there apparently so much medical research demonstrating that the current stuff is bad? Or does such research conveniently not exist because the scholars are held in thrall to the medical establishment? If so, where does this other anti-corporate research come from? Who funds that research and why is it in itself credible? If it's so obvious that the stuff is bad, why has no alternate company patented the cure? Are there patented cures sitting about in the Patent Office that never get used? Why? What is the alternative to the current medicine? How is it to be developed? Has it been developed? Do the nations with socialized medicine have cures the rest of the world doesn't know about? If so, why not? Which diseases, exactly, can be cured? Are there companies that have been prosecuted for withholding cures? Couldn't the corporate whistleblowers sell the cure themselves and destroy the company they worked for? Wouldn't the government withhold cures as well to ensure fiscal solvency if they were developing the medicine? Who will develop medicine for free, given that almost every other form of labor has to be monetarily compensated? Is that a sustainable method?

The MD establishment has dominated the realm of medicine for the last 100 years, and in its early stages did make wonderful breakthroughs in vaccines and pain management. However, now the system has succumbed to what any system does when greed (driven by capitalism) is the focus. Prescription drugs are now marketed via commercial advertising, as opposed to being offered by a doctor who has actually reviewed your specific case. Medical expenses are the leading cause of bankruptcy in this country because the price of everything is inflated (and illegally regulated by "charge masters" who fix prices for procedures in their marketplaces), doctors know less about health and more about drugs, antibiotics can no longer kill off strains of super-bacteria from overuse (and the strongest of which shorten the user's lifespan from damaging the system so much), surgical procedures are performed and botched before all of the questions can be answered, removing parts of the anatomy that they don't think we have use for anymore (gallbladder, spleen, etc...), none of which fixes any causes of medical problems. They have the market cornered, and are making the best use out of it they can, no doubt having a hand in crafting the obscenely bloated Obamacare legislation. This is a system that does nothing but fail us, yet they are in the majority and discredit their opponents to maintain their seat of power, so people believe that listening to MDs is the best course of action. I don't place a great deal of validity in new age healing or many other alternative medical practices, but they all tend to be far less expensive, and can't do anywhere near the damage to your system than overuse of drugs and treatments that destroy your body's natural functions. Maybe there is a cure for cancer, maybe there isn't, but chemotherapy isn't it, and people shouldn't be tricked into believing that poison is their best shot at survival. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

[Iceni]

The MD establishment has dominated the realm of medicine for the last 100 years' date=' and in its early stages did make wonderful breakthroughs in vaccines and pain management. However, now the system has succumbed to what any system does when greed (driven by capitalism) is the focus. Prescription drugs are now marketed via commercial advertising, as opposed to being offered by a doctor who has actually reviewed your specific case. Medical expenses are the leading cause of bankruptcy in this country because the price of everything is inflated (and illegally regulated by "charge masters" who fix prices for procedures in their marketplaces), doctors know less about health and more about drugs, antibiotics can no longer kill off strains of super-bacteria from overuse (and the strongest of which shorten the user's lifespan from damaging the system so much), surgical procedures are performed and botched before all of the questions can be answered, removing parts of the anatomy that they don't think we have use for anymore (gallbladder, spleen, etc...), none of which fixes any causes of medical problems. They have the market cornered, and are making the best use out of it they can, no doubt having a hand in crafting the obscenely bloated Obamacare legislation. This is a system that does nothing but fail us, yet they are in the majority and discredit their opponents to maintain their seat of power, so people believe that listening to MDs is the best course of action. I don't place a great deal of validity in new age healing or many other alternative medical practices, but they all tend to be far less expensive, and can't do anywhere near the damage to your system than overuse of drugs and treatments that destroy your body's natural functions. Maybe there is a cure for cancer, maybe there isn't, but chemotherapy isn't it, and people shouldn't be tricked into believing that poison is their best shot at survival.[/quote'] This rebuttal answers some of my questions but I'd like to see how this all came about and where stuff like this has been reported. Is it different in other countries, and how? Why have these cures not reached the United States?

[MacabreEternal]

Wow I appear to have sparked quite a debate. Thank you for all of your kind words - I am hopeful my friend can pull through and will be supporting him as best I can through this. As with Blut my grandmother has beaten cancer 3 times and on each occasion she didnt have chemo. Any doctor will tell you how invasive chemo is and how difficult it is for your body to recover from it.

[BlutAusNerd]

Re: What's on your mind?

This rebuttal answers some of my questions but I'd like to see how this all came about and where stuff like this has been reported. Is it different in other countries' date=' and how? Why have these cures not reached the United States?[/quote'] Look at the death tolls of cancer and cancer patients on chemo, it's clearly an ineffective treatment, and even when people beat cancer while using it, it destroys your body in the process. A friend of mine had testicular cancer in his early 20's, and after surgery and a couple of rounds of chemo, he went into remission. However, his doctor told him that the chemo had physiologically aged him 10 years. The healthier your general condition, the better chance you have of beating it, but even then it's one of the largest killers there is. As far as the insane amount of money spent and where it goes, there was a writer for either Time or The New York Times that I caught on Jon Stewart's show after he had written an article detailing the expenditure. I can't recall his name, but he had a breakdown of chargemaster practices, actual costs, and where the costs go. The problem is that there is not a free market value for their services because the prices are fixed between hospitals and insurance companies, so as this writer explained it, there isn't much of a way to get around it in the current system. When you're admitted, you're charged $200 just for your hospital gown and socks in the ER, but your insurance company usually pays 80% and receives a discount of 50%, meaning that you only pay $20, but the gown and socks are only worth $5, and now your monthly insurance premium goes up to cover insanely inflated costs. Doctors do have a hand in the greed from receiving kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies and equipment suppliers, but it is by and large the owners of hospitals and insurance companies that are filling their coffers at ludicrous rates (the 1% strikes again). This is a self perpetuating corrupt system, with most things done by doctors and hospitals making us less healthy, and yet for some reason most people won't seek other options outside of their limited and damaging scope. As far as other countries go, I posted a graph a few months back showing the cost of healthcare for developed nations versus their average life expectancy. Not only were we among the lowest life expectancy of the other developed nations shown, but we were paying an average of $20,000 more per capita annualy for the privilege of dying more quickly. Other systems not only don't abuse prescriptions and procedures (which actually does have a lot to do with American mentality, wanting to take a pill or have a procedure done with no change to lifestyle), but they are not as sedentary and rely less on factory food. Big agro hurts the health of many in this country, much less so than in other countries because Monsanto has been kicked out of most other developed nations (often with a nice "fuck you" attached when citizens burn their crops), and profits haven't driven as many mad with hormones and brutal conditions for livestock, as they have here. There are definitely many contributing factors to our poor health in this country, but it's clear that our healthcare system is not doing what it takes to solve the problem. Whether or not you feel they're doing a good job, there's no way to argue that the cost to benefit is outlandish, and if Obamacare takes off it's very likely that healthcare will go from our 6th largest national GDP to our 1st, only exacerbating the problems it claimed to desire to resolve. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

[satan 59]

Christmyth morning. This will be the first time ever in my life that I will wake up alone.

[SBird94]

Christmas morning in aus, the tree is packed with presents

[BlutAusNerd]

Re: What's on your mind?

Christmas morning in aus' date=' the tree is packed with presents [/quote'] Heresy, it's still Christmas Eve! Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

[FatherAlabaster]

Heresy, it's still Christmas Eve! Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah, these Aussies and their "I live in the future" hogwash... as if they could even call it Christmas. I hear they celebrate theirs in the middle of summer. Ha!

[deathstorm]

Merry christmas. Sbird

[SBird94]

Re: What's on your mind?

Merry christmas. Sbird

Thanks man merry christmas deathstorm

[SBird94]

Justin Bieber retires, BEST FUCKING CHRISTMAS EVER!!!