The Family's Resident Nut Case

Last night, I was talking to one of my cousins. I'm the eldest of three girls. As far as I'm concerned, he's as close as any man I've ever known to being my brother. We're just a year or so apart – I'm older – and we grew up together every summer at The Family Cottage. He is one of only three people who gets away with calling me by my real name – Sandra Lee. The other two are my sister, Glorianne, and his sister, Linda Sue. Don't get me started.

Anyway, in the context of a conversation about our family, I told him that "I know I'm the family's resident nut case." He laughed and said, "The whole family's filled with nut cases." 

Very sweet and kind of him. But, in truth, it's quite true. This role belongs solely to me, and always will. I can't seem to stop that particular old record from playing. Currently, I lead the pack. Others may have preceded me. Others may come along. Right now, however, this is my starring role in my family. Nothing else I do ever seems to dull my glow in the family constellation. 

Later that evening, I sent him an email and signed it, "The Family's Resident Nut Case," and boy, did that feel good.

That's the power of "Coming Out Crazy" – as far as I'm concerned. I shared a little laugh with my closest cousin. I didn't take myself too seriously. (Rare, trust me.) In fact, I joked about myself. And guess what? It felt fantastic.

Try it sometime. You might like it.

*   *   *

Now, on to bigger and better things.

The print edition of The Toronto Star is to be congratulated for brilliantly deciding to enlist the genius, wisdom, knowledge, humour, medical expertise and humanity of Dr. Rob Buckman as a regular Friday Living section columnist.

Bravo, Toronto Star! With this kind of decision, your print edition will last forever!

Rob and I are long time friends. We've known each other since 1986, when I profiled him for The Toronto Sun. He is a leading oncologist at Princess Margaret Hospital/University Hospital Network, with professorships at the department of medicine at the University of Toronto and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas. He has an ecclectic list if outstanding accomplishments and he authored a long list of books.

He is also my "spirit doctor" – but that's another story. 

Read him. I promise you that he will not disappoint you.

Today, his column is called Of bats and balls and baptisms and the first line is amazing, especially for me, as I teach a Community Service course at Seneca.

"Nothing provides a sense of community better than a community." 

That's Rob. Concise. A man for all seasons and reasons. A Humanist. A master of language. An original thinker. A true Renaissance man. We just spoke on the phone for about a half an hour and I am promoting him because I know how much integrity he has. I cannot recommend him highly enough. Aside from the fact that I absolutely adore him!

He's soul tonic.

• • •

I found an interesting blog, The Healthy Skeptic. 

I found it from my sweet, literary, New Jersey friend Susan Schechter, on her fine, often funny bipolar blog – If You're Going Through Hell Keep Going.

This blog is "published" – his word, not mine – by a fresh-faced and fascinating fellow named Chris Kresser. Right now, he's studying at the Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley, California. 

I respect Kresser's goals for writing his blog and the way he expresses them. Particularly in terms of psychiatry, which needs to be held in check, I believe, for its unbalanced emphasis right now on the neurosciences. I find this is very problematic. 

"I launched The Healthy Skeptic last year to help others see through the common myths and misdirections peddled by the media and medical establishment. It is my sincere hope that the information on this blog will lead to greater health and well-being for you and those you love."

I love his last three words – "and those you love."

You should know where Kresser is coming from.

He is well-travelled, well-informed, well-read and passionate. Personal experience with a serious illness will do this every time. In his case, a mysterious tropical illness he contracted turned chronic. Twenty doctors around the world and thousands of dollars later, still sick, he decided to heal himself. Not by becoming a doctor, though he considered it, but by studying Chinese medicine, "which has been successfully used for over 2,000 years to promote health and longevity in addition to treating disease," he explains.

Our conventional, mainstream Western biomedical model cannot always make that claim.

This is a definition of Integrative Medicine. It's more than allopathic, alternative and complementary. Its synergistic. The whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts. I attended a conference on Complementary and Integrative Medicine in Mental Health in Toronto last June. Every presenter had an M.D. from a leading university medical school – like Harvard – but sadly, few medical doctors touch these methods and I didn't meet any at that conference. Most tend stick with what they know. What they've learned and how they've been taught. More invasive treatments. Surgery. Radiation. Side-effect causing drugs and chemicals. Often good. But not always. Why not use every tool in the world's biggest international tool box?

(Again, Dr. Rob Buckman – a researcher and clinician – thinks outside the box. In 2005, he launched a low-dose chemotherapy with no side-effects that, in some cases extends the lives of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and vulva Squamous cell cancer patients. He is about to introduce it in melanoma patients. It's called DalCM-P.)

Here's one of my favourite Kresser posts, which starts with this quote: "A theory that is wrong is considered preferable to admitting our ignorance." – Elliot Vallenstein, Ph.D.

The "chemical imbalance" myth. 

By the way, Vallenstein is a professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan and the author of Blaming the Brain and about four or five other books on this subject. This is a man who knows of what he speaks. 

Kresser adds: "Even the most prestigious medical journals (dealing with mental health issues and psychiatric issues) have become nothing more than sales brochures for the pharmaceutical industry."  

Philip Dawdy on his award-winning, often-quoted-and-rarely-credited blog Furious Seasons, is consumed with posts supporting what Kresser goes on to observe: "I saw massive conflicts of interest between drug companies, doctors and researchers every I looked. I learned that errors in medical care are the third leading cause of death in the U.S. each year."

One more thing...

As you know, I'm a print journalist at heart. Can't help it. Old habits die hard. I love research. So, it seems, does Kresser. Sources are very important to me and to him. At the bottom of each post, he lists his recommended resources – not websites – books.

For The "chemical imbalance" myth, one book is by Vallenstein. Another – The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment by J. Mondrieff, a medical doctor herself, recently received rave reviews in the British press. I really wanted to add it to my library, but it costs $75.96  at Amazon – a little too rich for my blood. 

The point is, Kresser does his homework and I like that about him.

So, have a look. Let me know what you think. I may muse more on The Healthy Skeptic sometime myself, but now here, not now.

Though I am going to review a book. Another book. 

Believe it or not, for about two years, I reviewed books full-time for The Sunday Sun. It was the toughest beat of my entire journalistic career. No one knows how hard it is to review a book, until you are told you're expected to deliver a book review a week, at least, one ... in no more than 800 words and preferably less. It almost killed me, but I loved it because it was so challenging. And for the first time in 35 years, I put the English Literature half of my Queen's University B.A. to good use. (The other half is drama.)

Except I just did a word count, so I'm not going to review this book right now. But I'm going to tease you and recommend it now. Review it next time. By then, perhaps you'll have read about it and we can discuss it. Have a little "Coming Out Crazy" book club chat.

The book I was going to review is called The Center Does Not Hold – My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks. 

She has "battled" – her word, not mine – schizophrenia all her life. And is in remarkable recovery. Primarily through psychoanalysis and medication, which she fought taking for years. Also, she is in recovery because of the love of her husband, which I completely understand. Her sheer will. And her beautiful mind.

My psychiatrist, Dr. Bob, recommended this book to me. Something he rarely does. I cannot recommend it enough. And you'll find out why. Here's a sneak preview and a riveting YouTube speech of University of Southern California Gould Law Professor Elyn R. Saks, talking and reading from her book.

Now, it's Spring and I'm going to take my dogs for a well-deserved walk.

This is the perfect day for Resident Nut Cases like me to be legitimately a little nutty! And that's how I feel. And I'm allowed. That's my role. One of them, anyway!

Enjoy your weekend.

Comments

[Chris Kresser]

Sandy,

I'm glad to hear that you've found my blog to be valuable. As you surmised, my own experience with chronic illness inspired me to help others cut through the myths and lies to find the truth.

I only wish people didn't have to work so hard to find objective, well-researched information about the health issues they're most concerned with.

Thanks for your support, Sandy!

Chris