Please Help Me

[Lo0py]

I'm a lifetime burner, first year was '04. I've just been diagnosed with a rare form of debilitating arthritis that mainly affects my feet. Some days are good and I can walk around, other days I'm in a wheelchair in agonizing pain. My symptoms began in mid April and since then my life has been getting worse and worse. I lost my job last week, because I cannot walk on a reliable basis. My medical bills are getting...well I don't even really know, every time I get one I break down crying and throw it on the pile. I can't open them.

I'm a major contributor to an art car this year (not financially, I'm the one who knows how to weld and has the equipment, I'll be doing 40% of the total work) I can get you an application # if they issued one, my friend submitted the design to the DMV and it has been received but not approved yet. I also try to "spread the good word" about burningman to almost everyone I meet. I'm bringing a very special new person this year...if I can make it.

I vacillate between trying to be strong and find a way through this new hell and wanting to kill myself or cut my feet off. On the night of May 31, I didn't cry, I was broke but thought that I'd find my way to the surface and pay full price for a ticket when the nightmare ended. My doctor now assures me (with the diagnosis) that thats not realistic.

I need a ticket to burningman. I need to use my creative mind to figure out how and what to gift and give with when I'm there.

I'll take care of #2 can you please take care of #1?

--Evan

ps I'll finish the art car regardless of whether or not I can go. It's not just the ticket, my physical condition may preclude me from going as well. :(

[MozyBonz]

WOW....Cough cough....um...fishy you want to take this one?

[gyre]

Have you contacted the ticket overlords to see if they can help?
They are also often the first to hear when someone can't go or has tickets to donate.

[Mad Mikey]

Gotta feel for you, dewd. That's a rapid onset. I have a couple of suggestions from things I have read over the past few years. Starting in 2001 I was hit by something called trigger-finger. Basically, some fingers on both of my hands lock up when I bend them. There is a lot of pain at times when it happens. I've had cortizone shots in both hands twice & it cleared it up for about 6 months each time.

In 2003, for other reasons, I began looking for info about sulfur. When I was real young I liked eating tips off burnt matchsticks. My mom asked my doc about that one day & he told her it was harmless & that maybe I had a sulfur deficiency & that was my way of dealing with it. He was a quack, but that conversation always stuck in my mind.

I found piles of info online regarding the hugely important ways sulfur is needed in our bodies. In Oct 2003, the very day Arnie was elected Governator, I got a bunch of sulfur capsules at GNC & began taking 2,000 mgs per day. Most of the trigger-finger cleared up w/in a couple of months and has never returned. Trigger-finger is caused by tightening of the tendons from the palm of the hand up the fingers, so it's not the same as inflammation from arthritis, but I suggest you read up some on sulfur & see if you think it's worth taking. I still take that same amount each day.

More recently, I have read quite a bit about gluten. Gluten is a real a mofo that causes all kinds of problems in many people. It's found naturally in the husks of grains. Wheat, oats & barley in particular. It exasperates inflammation. People who eliminate gluten from their diets experience a lessening of arthritic symptoms.

Lastly, get sodium out of your diet as much as possible. Salt does terrible things to arthritis sufferers.

Any steps you take to reduce the inflammation factor is going to improve your situation. BTW, my current doc doesn't seem to know anything about sulfur or gluten. Doctors know what they are taught in school and they focus on pharmaceuticals. I think diet or supplements are more what you should try to alter to get relief.

This is just my take. Please do not rely on my suggestions.

All the best to you with this. Mikey

[betrdanevr]

Loopy,

Besides what everybody else has said, I think you should consult an attorney ASAP about filing a complaint against your employer with the EEOC under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Here's a link to the EEOC web site which should get you going. You may be able to settle this with EEOC mediation.

http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/laws.html

Good luck!

[OxyCottn420]

get a prescription for oxycottin and sell them for 40 bucks a pop. Have money no problem. But theres the moral delemia and the breaking of the law.......well man how bad do u wonna go to burning man? Do what u gotta do.


P.S. Just kidding about the sell the drugs thing. thats a serious offense there, infact I dont know why I mentioned it? oh well, Up ur knose with a rubber hose!

[AntiM]

Gotta feel for you, dewd. That's a rapid onset. I have a couple of suggestions from things I have read over the past few years. Starting in 2001 I was hit by something called trigger-finger. Basically, some fingers on both of my hands lock up when I bend them. There is a lot of pain at times when it happens. I've had cortizone shots in both hands twice & it cleared it up for about 6 months each time.

In 2003, for other reasons, I began looking for info about sulfur. When I was real young I liked eating tips off burnt matchsticks. My mom asked my doc about that one day & he told her it was harmless & that maybe I had a sulfur deficiency & that was my way of dealing with it. He was a quack, but that conversation always stuck in my mind.

I found piles of info online regarding the hugely important ways sulfur is needed in our bodies. In Oct 2003, the very day Arnie was elected Governator, I got a bunch of sulfur capsules at GNC & began taking 2,000 mgs per day. Most of the trigger-finger cleared up w/in a couple of months and has never returned. Trigger-finger is caused by tightening of the tendons from the palm of the hand up the fingers, so it's not the same as inflammation from arthritis, but I suggest you read up some on sulfur & see if you think it's worth taking. I still take that same amount each day.

More recently, I have read quite a bit about gluten. Gluten is a real a mofo that causes all kinds of problems in many people. It's found naturally in the husks of grains. Wheat, oats & barley in particular. It exasperates inflammation. People who eliminate gluten from their diets experience a lessening of arthritic symptoms.

Lastly, get sodium out of your diet as much as possible. Salt does terrible things to arthritis sufferers.

Any steps you take to reduce the inflammation factor is going to improve your situation. BTW, my current doc doesn't seem to know anything about sulfur or gluten. Doctors know what they are taught in school and they focus on pharmaceuticals. I think diet or supplements are more what you should try to alter to get relief.

This is just my take. Please do not rely on my suggestions.

All the best to you with this. Mikey

Mine is nightshades, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, lots of peppers ... make my joints hurt like hell.

[Ugly Dougly]

Acupuncture did wonders for my shoulder!

[Simon of the Playa]

i'm gonna catch shit for this, but, Buck up and Deal with it.

Radical Self Sufficiency...


No, i'm not an unfeeling asshole, sometimes, but i too have issues with my Marfan's Syndrome....it fucking hurts.....it does all day, every day.....so what?

"i was pissed off about having no shoes until i met the man with no feet"

take that for whatever it means to you, but dont cry hunger until you've eaten at the Darfur Cafe.

i'm sorry that sounds so harsh....it's not meant to be, i understand your plight, and i hope that you can find a way to make it, i'll drag my ass on hands and knees if i have to, but i'm a prick that way.

so, good luck, i hope you feel better, and if i can assist you on the playa i will, the community supports those that support themselves.

try it.

[Simon of the Playa]

i'm gonna catch shit for this, but, Buck up and Deal with it.

Radical Self Sufficiency...


No, i'm not an unfeeling asshole, sometimes, but i too have issues with my Marfan's Syndrome....it fucking hurts.....it does all day, every day.....so what?

"i was pissed off about having no shoes until i met the man with no feet"

take that for whatever it means to you, but dont cry hunger until you've eaten at the Darfur Cafe.

i'm sorry that sounds so harsh....it's not meant to be, i understand your plight, and i hope that you can find a way to make it, i'll drag my ass on hands and knees if i have to, but i'm a prick that way.

so, good luck, i hope you feel better, and if i can assist you on the playa i will, the community supports those that support themselves.

try it.

[thirt33n]

he means it
he means it

[gyre]

If he's building an art car, I think he is making an effort.


I have a friend that I am convinced has Marfan's, and I can't convince him to see a cardiologist.
If you have any advice, other than "suck it up", please email me.

[Simon of the Playa]

a long time ago i went to the NIH in Maryland. Johns Hopkins to be studied as part of a group of Marfan's afflicted people.

i'm a medium on a range from rare to well-done...

i've had knee work and need two replacements....

need new elbow joints

need one shoulder done asap...rotater cuff gone.

i dont have medical insurance so i am S.O.L.

i'd rather eat, thank you very much...as it is it costs me 400$ a month for my scrip...

that's like, a lexus payment, no?


i dont do shit for my marfan's anymore...the drugs they prescribe slow me down and cost too fucking much.

i've been offered all kinds of yummy pain pills but i dont like opiates, and am hoping to hold off as long as i can.

other than that, fuck it...i'm of a mindset where if i a'int dying, then i dont need to see a doctor, if i am dying, then He/She a'int gonna help me...

so i dont want to see anymore doctors...they piss me right the fuck off...

nobody tells me what i can and cannot do to my body, not even the Long Arm of Johnny Law....ask me to take a pee test, and i'll whip it out, piss on your desk, then ask if i passed...

so....i'm sure this doesnt help at all, and i dont prescribe my course of therapy to anyone, but i'm having fun, and i'm alive, dammit.

[thirt33n]

you can post that again.

...you are expecting to share a drink or three with me aren't you Mr. of the playa?

[Lo0py]

@ oxy:

I know you're just jokin' but man...that's just wrong.

@ simon:

I'm harder on myself than anyone else could ever be. The shit that I say to myself in the mirror would make even you think that I'm being unnecessarily cruel, so I've got that area covered thanks.

On the flipside my doctor told me last week that he thinks that all doctors should have to experience a condition like mine for a brief period just so they could understand the full gravity of what they're dealing with and how truly exquisite the pain can be. <--His words. Mine: The pain is so consuming that it becomes the focus of your being. You cannot think because your conscious mind cannot contain anything more than the pain. You cannot make words, screaming helps.

I cannot expect you to be empathic because you just don't know what you're talking about. That being said I appreciate your advice and thank you for it.

@ everybody

Thank you so much for everything I'm looking into a lot of different things :)

[gyre]

I am more concerned about possible heart failure.
My cardiologist thinks they can help.
It has occurred in his family before.

[Simon of the Playa]

i do not understand your situation. You are correct. I would never assume to do so.

i mean you no ill will, really....

i sounded nasty, even to myself, and i tried to edit it down to the bare bones.

it was not intended to attack or depersonalize or hurt in any way, and if i did, i am truly sorry.

i was just trying to let you know that there is hope, and it's within you, and from without as well...

i sincerely wish you well.

[hunter S]

Wow! I'm not so sure if anyony can or will help with a ticket but...this thred has been very powerful! Living with pain is horrible and reading how diffrent people look at it & deal with support is very in your face GOOD!
Thank you for sharing.

[Lo0py]

Word.

[Lo0py]

Who are the ticket overlords?

[mdmf007]

Makes my double root canal today pale by comparison - RA or anytype of arthritis sucks, so does any chronic condition for that matter.

I commend your dedication

[gyre]

Who are the ticket overlords?

partiserv@burningman.com
I think Frog is the person to talk to.