What’s everyone done for hurricane vics? | ADHD Information

I came here to check in and see what people were saying regarding the hurricane, somewhere in the midst of it, and was disappointed that I didn't see any posts about it. It was more a "business as usual" focus which I found disheartening.

However, somewhere along the line, it dawned on me that if I wanted to see something happen, why in the world was I waiting for other people to do it? There were so many stories of people--even children--being moved to action that they didn't stop to second-guess themselves, they just jumped in and did what their hearts told them to do. And let's face it, it's been the initiatives of individual and private groups that have made the difference. The government, as we've all sadly learned, (with some exceptions) has been the last to provide needed support and relief. (And we pay taxes for exactly what? But that's a different discussion!)

During the worse of Katrina, I was in the hospital in my own battle to survive--one I almost lost. I'm currently on disability (breast cancer with bad complications from incompetently rendered chemotherapy) so don't have much money. But I did find some to donate. Nor do I have the physical strength right now to volunteer for something like Habitat for Humanity, which looks like a lot of fun. But I do still have my mind which I'm planning to engage by starting a Community of Practice for overwhelmed educators at a loss at how to deal with relocated children who are hurricane victims. I plan to get to work on that when I'm a little stronger.

So, how has this disaster affected you and what have you done about it. If you're still thinking about it but haven't taken any action yet, what are you waiting for? Just jump in and do what your heart tells you is the right thing for you. While I'm hardly an expert, my guess is that taking some action--even if it's something like daily prayers--will do as much for your sense of empowerment and well-being as meds. The more I get into health, the more I realize that nourishing our spirits is a key part of getting a handle on this condition we share.

So, do share away!

Brig, there have been lots of very fascinating studies (funded by NIH, even) that have shown that prayer has been statistically significant in effecting positive change. Of course, scientists have no idea why or how it works, only that it does. I share that with you so you know that praying IS doing something.

[QUOTE=sachetm]Brig, there have been lots of very fascinating studies (funded by NIH, even) that have shown that prayer has been statistically significant in effecting positive change. Of course, scientists have no idea why or how it works, only that it does. I share that with you so you know that praying IS doing something.[/QUOTE]

what is nih? and my belief is that prayers work as i believe in the almighty God. i am not an active church goer every week due to hubbys scheldule but do go. God and prayers have helped me through so much...

thanks sachetm for the positive feedback...i just wish i could do more for those people who are suffering so much.

sachetm, i'm sorry to hear of your battle with cancer.. my sister in law had a massive tumour in her brain.. they gave her a night to live.. that was 8 years ago..
now she is fine but has lost part of her memory.. thats ok too

in regards to the hurricane, in the basement forum - non -adhd discussions, they were many postings about it..

i'm not american, but i was watching what was going on.. i was appalled to see the behaviour of many of the ppl, especially in the superdome, but was inspired to see so many ppl helping out..
I am feeling a bit codependent. I feel the need to reply to Sachetm's
post, because I can imagine feeling very passionate about this and being
bummed out if it seemed nobody else cared about the hurricane. So
Sachetm -- the truth is, I care, but I haven't done anything to help. I
should, no doubt. My excuses would be lame so I won't offer any. But I
will offer some commentary...

I find it overwhelming that a city was destroyed and the media have
already forgotten about it. We were told that we would all be shocked
and saddened when the waters receded and the bodies were found. But
it's barely even making the news. This blows my mind, especially after
the huge and understandable reaction to 9/11. What is going on? Is it
that attention to this story doesn't serve corporate interests or the war
machine?

Whoops, wrong site for a tirade. Sachetm, just wanted to let you know
that someone is paying attention (even if I am not doing enough). Also, I
wish you strength and healing as you deal with your health issues.
Wordwoman38625.7334027778

My prayers are with you for a speedy recovery.

I have said many prayers for the vic of the huracains...I was not able to make $$$ donation. My boyfriend made a $$$ donation at his place of employment, and the company matched the donation dollar for dollar.

Interesting. I found a lot of coverage in my area re: Kat's and Rit's aftershocks. I live in CenCal. We had boots on the corners, where firemen would hold out their boots, and drivers would fill them with cash. I put money in, tho not much. I did have a yard sale, after suggesting one on a post, and gave about half my earnings to the cause. I should give the rest, I suppose.

I followed the events closely, and recorded a lot of images, for some unknown reason. I also tried to find work and housing in farm labor camps in my area. I'm an itinerant farm worker myself, so have some connections. I hate to say this, but one grower said he prefers Latino work ethics, and wouldn't open his labor camp to 'cane refugees...

I also did NOT respond in diss to some very funny quotable statements by others. Does that count? I don't do math very well...

Oh, and I think I may have prayed for them, or at least thought of praying for them.
I am a hurricane victum.. I live 17 miles north of beaumont.We are currently staying with my elderly aunt in Tyler..It has been a week and a half and the the shock has finally hit me and the depression has kicked in..I have been a spoiled wife for 7 years not having to work..Now I am working in a resteraunt 5 days a week to bring some kind of money in.. I did too clean out my closet and gave money for katrina

Hey, Chatters,

Sorry a/b your home and life.

I trust you will survive this, too.

Don't ever surrender...

tears for thy fallen ones

and

tears for the homeless ones...

David

Sachetm -- it is not so that scientists agree that prayers "work." The studies at NIH have been widely criticized, and many are not convinced.

Don't take this as antireligious sentiment -- I believe that we need to find our own paths, which for many of us means belief in a higher power. But if we're going to invoke science, then the studies have to hold up and be subject to the same scrutiny as any other research. So far, there is by no means a consensus.

See this article from Scientific American:
Flying Carpets and Scientific Prayers
Scientific experiments claiming that distant intercessory prayer produces salubrious effects are deeply flawed

Wordwoman38627.8966898148

thanks sachetm for the positive feedback...i just wish i could do more for those people who are suffering so much.

[/QUOTE]

NIH = National Institutes for Health. They're on the same campus as the Naval Hospital where the President goes for his check ups--Bethesda, MD outside DC. These types of scientific studies are conducted out of a division devoted to alternative medicine, the exact name of which I forget. Living in the DC area, it's hard to remember how badly we suffer from "acronymitis!"

The point I was trying to make was that non-religious scietific studies even have shown that prayer works, although scientisits haven't discovered exactly how. This one is on my research list. Like you, I believe in God but also believe that God created the universe as a physical manifestation and that there is a physical correlation for those things we don't currently understand and can't measure in a physical way. My guess is something to do with energy fields, but this research has to come after other that are on my "research I want to conduct" list.

I'm so glad I got into a doctoral program. I am so immensely curious and seem to have taken to it like a duck to water. I think I've found my special God-given gift. Now I just have to learn exactly how to apply it!

In terms of "doing more" I really think there are lots of options. I just finished a course in strategic planning which couldn't have come at a "better" (if sadder) time. So little of it was done at all, done well, or maybe done but not followed. Maybe no one will listen, but I can at least try to share some of what I learned. One thing I "got" from all this was to stop making excuses like "no one will listen to me," "they'll laugh at me" and get off my duff and make the effort. Maybe no one will but they certainly won't if I don't try. Like prayer, I think there's MUCH to be said for intention and making an effort. You just never know when the seemingly littlest gesture can turn into a big or even a little difference. But add all those little differences together and you've really got something--both for the receiver as well as the giver!

My best advice to you is to listen to what your heart tells you to do and then don't hold back. Do it. It will be a real and true expression of who you really are. I firmly believe that that's one of the very best roads to both health and also to God. But that's just me.

sachetm38627.4188888889

Wordwoman, I'm not coming from any religious sentiment in making that statement but a scientific one. I took a course on alternative medicine and found an interesting quote from a study that made a somewhat different claim from that made in the Scietific American article. I think the book in which I found it is buried someplace but when I find it, I'll give you the quote and the reference.

I agree that not all studies are scientifically valid but enough of them are that show statistical significance to indicate that there's likely something going on. Just because we can't currently explain or measure it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Dr. Andrew Weil's book, "Health and Healing" also has some interesting things to say about various alternative practices. His main contention is that although the traditions from which "miracle cures" have arisen share little in common, there is one thing they do: the belief of the individual "patient" in them.

It's that belief "channel" (for lack of a better term) that I'm interested in, not the source of it. Personally, I tend to use the concept of God more as a matter of tradition and convenience but can't imagine that the orderliness of the universe came out of nothing and if it did, than I'd just call that nothingness, God. Just want you to be clear where I am and am not coming from on this one.

hey - i was faith-healed as a child. i was quite small (won't go into the
details of what was wrong) but i had been in hospital three times and still
wasn't cured and my mother's aunt was dying of cancer and there was
this lovely woman who came to help her with her pain.

i don't remember her name exactly i think it was Joy and she never
charged anybody and she worked in a toy shop in town. i remember
going to see her in the shop and she gave me a biscuit (oh i must have
been about 5/6 and held my hands in hers and i wasn't really sure what it
all was about) and she talked to my mother about my great aunt for five
minutes or so while holding my hands.

then we left. and in a week i was totally healed. just like that!

but she was really old even when i met her (perhaps that is just a 6 year
olds idea of old though) but i think she died maybe 6 or 7 years after that
herself.

what i liked about her was that even though she had this 'gift' (possibly if
you believe in that sort of thing) --- she NEVER charged and took the
time to visit people ONLY if they asked and only when she could. there
was no scamming, no promises, no nothing like that.

she didn't even try to say she would heal my great aunt (it was way too far
gone for that) she just administered pain relief for which my great aunt
was incredibly greatful.

i think i was very lucky, and it is very rare to find people like that. This may not be the popular idea, but I'd rather donate money to you for your breast cancer treatment than send money that way. When the government is done getting things in order, these people will be well compensated. I don't think we need to subsidize the government any more than we already do with our tax dollars. Also, I get a large portion of my bitterness from the fact that my hometown in Louisiana (I live in Maine now) opened their arms to refugees, and my parents home got looted while they were in the process of moving. They had already lost all their money, had no insurance on the house, and these ingrates broke in and stole everything they could get their hands on, kicked in all the doors, someone how managed to pull the roof beams down (how the roof still stands i dont know), and while looting the attic, fell through the roof into my parents bedroom, which pissed them off so much that they spat chewing tobacco juices ALLOVER my mothers bedspread packed neatly in a box. I mean it was utterly disgusting and disheartening. The house is ruined and they have no insurance. That's the thanks my community got for letting them in -- besides the completely ransacked and abused and torn up shelters, churches, schools, etc, and the raise in crime rate where none even existed before.

First to Wordwoman... I'm not meaning to imply that any consensus exists--just that there is some evidence and some of it convincing--that this is an area worth continued research. The quote I'm thinking of (in a study, itself which I can't lay my hands on) contained numbers of studies performed and the number of them that showed statistical significance. It was sufficient to pique my interest as to an explanation of how, assuming sufficient validity of sufficient stuies--this may work. Keep in mind that my own research is in the area of neurophysiology--from the functional side.

To HeidiMarie, I'm sorry to hear about your parents' problems. I've had quite a few of my own lately, including near death, and have concluded that what happens, happens. You can either think of yourself as a victim of fate (whatever) or figure that problems--even horrific ones--are an opportunity to learn and grow--even when it feels like the exact opposite. If you don't do it that way, you end up feeling like crap and what's the point of that?

No matter what happens to us, we always have the ability--as long as we're still alive, anyway--to choose how to look at life and what happens to us. Sort of the glass half empty or half full thing. Which feels better? At least that's the way I've chosen to look at it. But like you, I'm just disgusted that the world seems filled with as many "creeps" (would use a much different word if no word censoring) as there are. Hopefully, they are actually a very small minority who are just all too visible--largely (I hope) due to the media and public's prurient interests. I'm trying to let you know the disgust I share with you over "low lifes."

Do you, perhaps, know anything about quantum physics? There's a very cool film out called "What the Bleep Do We Know?" that is highly watchable and touches on some of the possible explanations. I'm not convinced either way, I just think it's something worth looking at.

Also, I'm hardly talking dogma related to the prayer thing. What I'm thinking is more along the lines of the generation and receipt of energy fields. Just because we don't yet have the technology to measure all that may exist in the physical world doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It may just mean that we haven't yet discovered a technology (and I'm including ideas as a "technology") to understand and measure it. The more I learn about the brain and how it functions, the more sense this direction makes to me.

To Chatters... You seem to be leaning toward making your recent hardships work for you--to become a stronger, wiser, empathetic person, as a result. My hope for you is that, hard as it feels, it will open up new worlds to you that end up enriching you as a human being. I hope that someday you'll be able to look back and say, "as awful as that was at the time, I now see I could never have ended up where I am today if I hadn't gone through it."

sachetm38630.2900462963I was fortunate enough to work at a shelter. My part was making beds way into the night. Next day, got to talk to a lot of the survivors. All kinds of stories - disgusting stories of the worst of human kind and stories of heroism, bravery and goodness.

One lady told me of walking in the dark through the nasty water trying to get to the Astrodome, holding her little dog (which she WAS aloud to bring in to this shelter) while an alligator swam in circles close by hissing!
My response ? "Wow, it's a good thing your pants were already wet!" She looked surprised, but laughed.

sachetm- I AM praying for you, your battle with cancer and your family.
Since I have no $$ to speak of (not even enough to live on myself)...when I learned of two families who lost their homes and belongings in New Orleans and were moving into apartments where someone I know cleans (in State of Washington), I gathered clothing and linens I could spare, as well as got some from others I knew, and we gave them to the two families. I do wish there was more I could do, although I realize every little bit helps, and know what I was able to contribute has made a difference and life a bit easier for someone else.

Sachet, you know you are in my thoughts and prayers for all you have endured. You definitely are a survivor. So good to 'see' you again.

I donated some to my church which helps quite a bit.

I also pray for them.

My school where I teach also had a donation in which all the kids could donate school supplies for the kids of the hurricane disaster. I think it was organized through Nicalodean (spelling?) and I'm a teacher!!!

Wordwoman, CNN is still very much covering the disaster. One thing you can do is write to them (http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/), choosing the program you want to write to and encourage them to not let us forget. It only takes a few minutes and I guarantee that you'll feel better know you DID something rather than just think about it.

Chatters, I offer my sympathies for all you've been through. On the other hand, I've also come to believe from personal experience, that even the worse challenges provide opportunities for growth. Have you found that to be true? Other than going back to work, how is your family doing?

To everyone else, thanks for the positive sentiments regarding my health. I'm doing a little better every day. This hurricane tragedy sure did help put it in perspective. What if I'd been in Charity hospital going through what I was?

small donations as we dont have a lot to give, moral support and lots and lots of prayersWhat kind of scientific study can be conducted on prayer . . . ? Last I checked we couldn't apply the scientific method to dogmas . . . [QUOTE=sachetm]

I agree that not all studies are scientifically valid but enough of them are that show statistical significance to indicate that there's likely something going on..

[/QUOTE]

I am sure I'm being difficult here, and I apologize. But I disagree with your statement that the evidence indicates there's "likely" something going on. There continues to be significant scientific disagreement about whether prayer is "effective." If you do a search in pubmed on "intercessory prayer", you will find studies with both negative and positive outcomes. I hear that you are convinced, and I respect that. But you are implying that a scientific consensus has already been reached, based on statistical evidence. This is not so.

That said -- if I got sick, absolutely, I'd want as many people as possible to pray for me. And I've been known to pray for others. It sure can't hurt.

I'm sorry for your loss. I did not mean to speak of all or most. I was very angry at the time. They may have 'only' been looted but its only the latest in bad luck thrown there way. Today is my little brother's 22nd birthday. He was killed in a car accident shortly before his 20th birthday. He didn't have uninsured motorist - the ,000 they got for his accident barely paid for his funeral and to this day he still has no headstone. My dad had started at a new job and the final payment he made to the old jobs insurance, which was supposed to cover him through the first 90 days of his new job, was 'refunded' to him 2 weeks later. Coincedance? They just got out of paying life insurance. A drunk woman killed my brother, and the ,000 my family should of gotten for his final expenses had to be SPLIT with her (she died also) because SHE had no insurance. Since burying my brother, they've gone bankrupt, had to cash in my dads retirement, and now my dad will work the rest of his life, and at 53 has 6 kids still at home, OH and he's showing early signs of Alzheimers which runs in our family. I'm glad you can replace your material stuff from the hurricane, but like you said, I can't replace my family. Not my brother I lost while serving in the Navy, nor my parents that are barely here in body, much less spirit. I only wish the world would stop f*cking kicking them. HeidiMarie38629.8318055556this needs to be done in the off topic board! Chatters has been thru it the last few weeks. you have to heidi. Chatters, do you have a pay pal account?

Heidi

As a hurricane victum I am sorry for what they did to your family..But not of us are like that..I am a Rita victum that is also a evacuee..I came here to my aunts with my husband and mom and 3 kids..I can see why you are bitter but I put my kids in school and I am working for the first time in 7 years.Before I was a papmered wife that did not have to work..I have never had to beg for food or ask for help before.. I want you to think of something .....Even tho there are bad people in the world do you have the right to judge everyone???? I too helped and donated and cleaned clothest out for the Katrina victums like most people did...And now since I can't go home I have to ask for clothes...And yes I'm sorry your parents were looted..BUT THANK GOD THEY WERE UNHARMED......oNE THING i HAVE LEARNED YOU CAN REPLACE MATERIAL STUFF....BUT YOU CAN'T REPLACE YOUR FAMILY

Ah, Gypsy, I owe you an e-mail. Couldn't respond right away when I got yours and it got buried in later ones. So sorry about that. I'll try to find it and get back to you soon!

I don't think the point is what you do or how much you give, but making an effort to "do" something. I think it's very empowering--especially for those who feel a lack of power over their own psyches so often. It's really a matter of "taking back our brains" so every bit of action in that direction helps.