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I thought that I had already seen it all, but researchers continue to come up with increasingly ridiculous ways to waste time and money on asinine research projects. Check out this recent one where a group of elite super-scientists determined that applying red pepper to the already-inflamed, delicate tissues of the rectums of subjects gullible enough to sign up for this sort of research resulted in (hang on to your hat, this is going to be shocking. ) increased inflammation, pain, and anxiety. Is that incredible, or what? Imagine how proud their parents must be to discover that all the TLC and money they wasted in nurturing these kids and sacrificing for their expensive educations has paid off so well.
To be honest, I didn't even bother to read the article, since the first sentence seemed to sum it up so well.
Patients with irritable bowel syndrome and visceral hypersensitivity to rectal distension showed increased pain perception and anxiety response when capsaicin was applied to rectal mucosa in a recent study.
What can I say? A lot of medical research has always tended to be suspect, but it's becoming increasingly clear that it's going to hell in a handbasket at an unprecedented rate.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Polly, I wonder if kids who put beans in their ears/nose grow up to be adults who research the impact of putting red pepper on their anus? Should we seek funding for a longitudinal study of this phenomenon?
Oh, I stand corrected - it's "ears". (It has been many years since I have thought of that song, and now I am singing it in my head). Great idea about the longitudinal study. I have learned that when it comes to humans, you can't put anything past them. You would not believe what docs have found in orifices (vagina, rectum, ear). Not to mention where people will put their body parts. Real life is absolutely stranger than fiction. My personal favorite experience was an adult patient I saw in the E.R. who had a huge, heavy winter coat pulled around him on a humid summer evening of 90 degrees. When he opened his coat, it was obvious that his penis had become stuck in the metal part of a portable vacuum cleaner hose. Unfortunately, the other end of the hose had become hopelessly stuck in the vacuum cleaner's body, necessitating that he bring the entire vacuum cleaner with him under the coat. He was afraid of seeing someone he knew if he went to a hospital in his own town, so he came to Baltimore on a Greyhound bus like that and walked to the nearest hospital.
Polly
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
My father was a doctor and he had similar stories of the odd problems that showed up in emergency room, many of them involving things stuck in orifices. One thing I learned from listening to my father was that I never wanted to become the subject of some doctor's dinner time stories. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I much prefer to treat myself rather than seek out medical advice.
But I also believe there can be value in sharing these stories, assuming, of course, that no one is ever personally identified. Mainly because it helps people to realize that they are not alone - that those "secret" or embarrassing thoughts/actions that we all experience are part and parcel of the human condition. And that we are more alike than different.
I definitely am with you about preferring to treat myself! LOL.
DJ, I'm happy to provide a laugh for the day!
Namaste,
Polly
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
I agree Polly. There is value in sharing these stories and my father didn't identify people by name, but he was devastatingly good at telling these tales. The thought of being the subject of one of them just felt too humiliating to bear. I certainly was the subject of some of his stories (not ones about objects in orifices) and I really never enjoyed it. Too embarrassing. I taught developmental psych for a while and used my children all the time to illustrate my points. I told the stories with love in my heart but I bet if either of my children were in the classroom listening they would not have been happy. I admit to being both a delicate flower and an opportunist mother.
I agree Polly. There is value in sharing these stories
I agree that comic relief is a critical part of working in an environment filled with trauma and loss. Many people have no idea what ER staff experience day after day. All of that tragedy needs to be balanced with happy thoughts and laughter. I'm glad that you are still laughing, Polly.
I believe I quoted Wavy Gravy on this Board once before. I never heard of him until a month or so ago but I love this: "Keep your sense of humor, my friend. If you don't have a sense of humor, it just isn't funny anymore."[/quote]
resulted in (hang on to your hat, this is going to be shocking. 
) increased inflammation, pain, and anxiety. Is that incredible, or what? Imagine how proud their parents must be to discover that all the TLC and money they wasted in nurturing these kids and sacrificing for their expensive educations has paid off so well. 
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