Chime School

Intervention

The Banana Man

I’ve seen Cirrhosis and it made me swear off the booze. One of my lifelong friends and my former business partner is an alcoholic. His name is John and he promised to stay on the wagon to entice me to work with him, and it proved to be the biggest mistake of my life. He lives in San Francisco and I in Chicago, so he was out of my sight doing his thing most of the time.His wife had passed away recently after a brief illness and John wasn’t handling it very well. I suspected he was drinking again. Those fears were confirmed when I received a phone call four or five months after his wife’s passing from a mutual friend who said John had been taken to the hospital after a binge.He said it didn’t look good.

I hopped on the next plane and got to California and took a cab to the hospital. It was an unbelievable sight. My friend was the color of a fresh banana–sort of like the Incredible Hulk but the color of French’s mustard. He was babbling incomprehensible phrases. He recognized me but quickly forgot I was there. A group of our Bay Area friends met at the hospital. The doctors said he was very ill. One pulled me aside and said my friend had Cirrohisis, which wasn’t a surprise from his appearance.His liver had shut down–liver failure, and as I learned over the next few days, when your liver goes, so does everything else in your body, The liver controls most of your major organs, at least in a dependant way. His kidneys were failing and he had to go on dialysis treatments three times a day.

Bedside Vigil

Most of the next week he really didn’t know where he was. The doctors said the next few days were critical but that he probaby wouldn’t make it six months even if he survived this immediate crisis. I literally spent thirty minutes talking to him one morning trying to get him to give me the details on how to retrieve his phone messages back at his apartment. He couldn’t remember the password. And this entire time his body was still 100% pure banana colored. It was a real bummer.

Kidney Dialysis 3 Times A Day

A week passes and he starts to get better. Gradually. He’s still on dialysis three times a day, but at least he can talk fairly cogently. And slowly he regains his personality–starts kidding with all the nurses and telling stories. After three weeks he was discharged but had to go to a half-way house that could take care of his dialysis and other medical needs. He would get transported three times a day in a van to a clinic where the dialysis was done. I flew home as I had been there a month and had a lot of business matters to attend to and see my wife, who was very supportive during this period.

A month goes by and my friend’s best friend in SF calls and says John is going home–he’s getting out of the half-way house after six weeks, but still requires dialysis daily, but now just once a day. I flew back to San Francisco and we all (there were about six of us) go out to celebrate John’s birthday. As dinner ended and we were having a cognac (not John!our mutual friend says he wants to make a special toast. He makes a toast and says that today is a special day. It’s John’s birthday, and he’s pleased to announce that the doctors have decided he no longer needs dialysis! There was a hurrah that filled the restaurant!

It was truly a remarkable experience. On the plane back to Chicago, Icouldn’t help remembering all the good times I had with John over the past thirty years. We threw down a lot of beers and told lies, but he ended up in a drunk ward and I was untouched by it all. We laughed a lot together over the years,always with a lot of beers or anything else with alcohol. It was really part of our culture.

But this is where it led. And there were no laughs and jokes being told. If it weren’t so personally tragic, I wish we could have fast-forwarded into the future from those early care-free days to see what drinking and alcoholism is all about and where it leads.

Luck Of The Irish (At Least Some Of Them)

John was lucky, and his liver bounced back and healed. But the doctors told him that he could never drink alcohol again–that it would poison him, like drinking a glass of cyanide.  And you know what? John hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol since. He still goes to bars and shoots the bull with his friends. He’s no longer a beer drinker but drinks only soft drinks. And he’s enjoying his life just as much as before. Lucky for him. He got a second chance.

Alcohol Is A Killer

If you or someone you know is a heavy drinker and  has looked a little jaundiced of late, it’s probably a sign that the liver is damaged. Before it gets to the point my friend faced there are some  natural homeopathic remedies to detox your liver and get you back on the right track. Of course, once you go through this process, you need to be committed to a life of alcohol abstinance if you want to live a longer life. Not lecturing here, but those are just the facts.

Good luck!

Published By Rehab Help Online

There are people who simply refuse to use any type of medication other than what they consider to be pure alternative health care. This means they want to use natural remedies or treatment such as colon cleanse as opposed to what is known otherwise as western medicine. Alternative is a tough word for some, because such practices are things/practise that were used long before any type of western medicine was already practiced. However, natural remedies are still regarded as alternative in the US.

A popluar form of alternative health is acupuncture. This form of treatment has been used for centuries as a way to cure just about anything you can think of. Small sharp needles pierce into the body near pressure points and are meant to open and faciliate the flow of energy through the body. It is believed that the smooth flow of these energies are tightly couple with illness. Those that underwent alternative health will swear by the effectiveness. Some even use the treatment for things like quitting smoking and drinking.

Alternative health may also imply using natural herb to cure. But you do have to be careful. Natural does not imply safe all the time. If you are on any medication, talk to your doctor before going through any herbal treatment. This is because natural herbs can cause reaction with your medicine. You do not want to try anything that could further harm you rather than helping you. Never stop your medication unless your doctor say so.

You can of course learn and practise natural health remedies on your own.But you do need to be aware of what you are doing. That means you have to find someone who is qualified in this field to guide you.If you are treating your loved ones, then you should really make sure you know what you are doing. Alternative health practices can be very effective, but you still have to practise carefulness.