Well okay, since you're a medical doctor you might well find this interesting. Long story.
Over 20 years ago I went to my GP with a sore foot. He sent me straight to a vascular surgeon who sent me straight to a hospital bed & a morphine drip. I quickly deteriorated and the pain was insane. My foot could not even tolerate the weight of a bed sheet.
An angiogram showed that I had zero blood flow to my left foot and 30% to the right.
The surgeon said 'Your hands are also compromised but we didn't bother to check because it's an unpleasant procedure and since you'll be dead soon we didn't want to distress you further.' How's that for a bedside manner?
They said "100% of Buergers patients will suffer multiple amputations and death within 2-3 years after diagnosis."
I'm not frightened of death but my boy was quite young so I did a lot of research regarding vascular health.
You might be surprised at what I found. The main cause of the modern rise in arteriosclerosis is margarine and hydrogenated vegetable oils. They're also a big contributor to the rise in diabetes.
I'll only eat butter, ghee or cold pressed veg oils [I'm a vegetarian]
At the time I was diagnosed I was going through family court with a an ex-wife who took great delight in making my life as miserable as possible. I've never been so stressed in all my life.
The more stressed I was the more I smoked. It was a combination of stress and nicotine that caused my illness.
For ten years after my diagnosis I walked a fine line with nicotine. Fortunately we have mild Winters in Oz but it's cold enough to mess with me. Every Winter I need to remind myself that it's imperative that I must do certain things. Like washing my hands in warm water. Be inside a warm house when the temp hits 10*C no matter how well I'm rugged up.
If I'm not careful, my foot and hands get so cold that they remain that way until Spring.
Over that ten years I quit cigarettes so many times. Stress or depression would knock me from the wagon. Once I learned that pipe tobacco had no added chemicals, unlike cigarettes, I was determined to switch to a pipe.
Now I only smoke blends with mild to little nicotine.
I've seen over 15 of my past lives and have helped others to witness hundreds of theirs. There's no doubt in my mind that we live life after life so my attitude is that smoking a pipe is one of my last remaining pleasures in life so buggered if I'll deprive myself.
Buergers is a cruel and painful disease. Because I refused an amputation for months after a by-pass failed, the surgeon said if we waited any longer he would be forced to take it off above the knee so I agreed to a below knee amputation. [Although I'd had zero blood flow to the foot for 5 months, it had not turned gangrenous or black, just a deathly white]
The pain specialists prognosis was that because I had endured a high level of pain for so long, the nerves would 'hold the memory'. They were right.
After the amputation a nerve grew back into a ganglion of nerve endings [neuroma] that is the cause of excruciating nerve pain. Fortunately the pain was not constant 24/7 but when it hit, the pain would literally lift me out of my chair. Like being repeatedly stabbed with an electrified needle.
The pain specialists tried to force me to take an anti-epileptic [Epillim] for the nerve pain because 'It might help'. Bullshit it does.
The side-effects make one feel like crap, it slowly destroys the liver and sudden cessation can kill. It's a very dangerous drug. These day they prescribe Lyrica which is just as bad.
Just 2-3 pipes of cannabis a day eliminates at least 95% of the nerve pain. As a happy consequence, I learnt that cannabis has an anti-inflammatory effect that has slowed or stopped the progression of the disease.
I've known 12 other Buergers patients over the last 20 years. They all suffered multiple amputations and death within 3 years after diagnosis.
They all put their faith in the specialists and took all the prescribed medications. Epillim or Lyrica, Prednisone and a synthetic opiate such as oxycodone or methadone. All of which I refused. My belief is that these medications hastened their deaths.
What's really disappointing is that were I in my doctors shoes, I'd want to know what my one surviving patient was doing differently while all my other patients were dropping around me like flies. Apart from my GPs none could care any less.
Cannabis has not only spared me from excruciating nerve pain, it's literally saved me from a rapid decline. It's an outrage that so many people are suffering unnecessarily due to a corrupt system that keeps an extremely safe and effective medication from patients.
I'm under no illusions. Buergers will shorten my life. It would not surprise me if I undergo another amputation before I die. More than likely above the knee of my amputated leg as it causes me quite a bit of pain.
Learning several forms of meditation has helped me to distance myself from pain to some degree. The open-eyed meditation technique as taught by the Brahman Kumaris in particular.
So until then I intend to enjoy what time I have remaining. I'll puff my pipe without any fear and with no regrets.
