I read an article from Time Magazine called "when cells stop working". The purpose of the article was to discuss the mysterious illness called the mitochondrial disease. Yet what I saw was something much deeper, more sinister from within the structure of our science and medical institutions.
Asher Gould suffered from spotting his diapers with blood, couldn't crawl or sit up at age nine, lost half his vocabulary at 17 months when he caught a cold, and kept falling. He also stopped eating after getting the flu. Doctors at first diagnosed him by saying that he was allergic to milk, then he had hypotonia and then he was diagnosed with myopathy (muscle disease). When the problem continued, a doctor said "Don't try to figure it out, just put in a feeding tube". That was when I discovered the strange indifference in today's society. The doctors did not even bother to determine the true cause. They were tring to were just trying to make the symptoms go away. "don't try to figure it out, just put in a feeding tube", is today's newest slogan. Doctors don't care anymore about diagnosing the problem, they just need to make the symptoms go away. And although the symptoms may go away, the problem does not. In fact, it only gets worse. My point is that such thinking dominates our medical and scientific institutions and it shouldn't.
Do you have heartburn? No problem, just take a pill and it will make your heart all fine and dandy. No your heart doesn't have a problem if the symptoms go away. You have a headache? Take this pill and you will be all sunshine and rainbows for the rest of the day. Never mind that the headache only worsens with each passing day. Such an attitude shows that the medical community may not be interested in curing you, but treating you with addictive pills for a lifetime. And it is a lifetime because the problem doesn't go away from a painkiller.
This boy who had mitochondrial disease couldn't lead a normal life because the cure did not matter. Few doctors are like House (from the tv show) who only cares about finding the cure and solving it. Instead 2 million Americans have mitchondrial disease and the number IS FAR GREATER because thousands have been placed under feeding tubes or given pills for muscle problems, etc. Those thousands were not even diagnosed correctly and are wondering why it is that they are suffering. IT seems that the only goal in medicine is to make money off of painkillers, allow the problem to persist, and buy more painkillers. But the problem never goes away. Actually, it is a pretty smart tactic otherwise who would you treat if everyone was healthy, right? Now, I am not saying they are doing this on purpose. That's for you to decide. I simply wanted to point out the fact that our interests are in the wrong area, and if we want to treat people, we need to have our heart in the right place.
You are the one to tell America where our 'heart is' when it comes to the medical community, which is the greatest in the the world, because a disease that 0.6% of the poplulation has can get misdiagnosed because it has many of the same symptoms of other, much more common, issues?
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
When you say "you are the one" are you referring to me? And if it is me, why should I tell because you said "when it comes to the medical community". I am not in the medical community. And I shouldn't force my opinion on you and i can't "tell" something that isn't a proven fact. It was simply my analysis of the situation. So what did you really mean?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
What I really mean is, you're calling down our medical community as not caring about us because a disease that only affects 0.6% of the popluation (your 2 million people mark) sometimes gets misdiagnosed as a disease that affects MANY more people....
How great our medical system is that we even FOCUS on things that only affect 0.6% of the population! In many other countries, they're just left to die.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
You have a good point. But I was not just speaking about this disease. I was speaking about ALL the diseases in America and ailments and how they are not cured, but treated with pain killers and relievers.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
I do partially agree there, in that there are few cures...
they are working on cures for so many things. We have vaccines for so many things.
However, the nature of most diseases and viruses and bacteria is that it adapts and changes over time.
What works this year won't work next year.
As much as we know about the human body, there is still so much we don't know about why things go wrong.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
"What works this year won't work next year." True. But you must consider why what works this year won't work next year (and this is kind of off topic). Antibiotics are acknowledged to be a growing problem because they don't kill off all of the bacteria, leaving behind the few that then mutate to be an even stronger form. That results in us using stronger and stronger ones until eventually nothing works and researchers have to start from square one again. Same happened to me, and now few antibiotics work.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
And how is this the fault of the medical community?
Sometimes people get sick. Eventually, everyone dies. It is a false bar to judge by to suggest that because people get sick that the medical community doesn't care.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
I didn't say that they don't care BECAUSE people get sick. their job is to care for sick people. We are questioning their manner of treating and its effectiveness. I was questioning whether they care enough to run some tests first instead of just handing you painkillers without investigating the deeper problem.
It is the fault of the medical community because so often doctors don't bother doing MRI's or cat scans. If the problem doesn't seem too bad or something they can identify as serious they give antibiotics and pain killers. When the problem persists they give them stronger and stronger ones when the whole process could have been avoided by just getting to the heart of the problem instead of being too busy to check up cuz other patients are waiting. But, that is how it is set up all over the world.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Alenka, it really doesn't sound like you actually wrote this... did you?
I think there are many reasons for this problem, and it's not the medical community that's mostly at fault. First of all, there is a vast shortage of doctors across the country. That means that the doctors we do have have to just churn out patients in order to satisfy the need. There are some doctors that will see 30-50 patients in a day. Break that down into a 8-12 hour day and figure out how long each doctor gets to spend with the patient. Granted, not all physicians are like this... I know the pediatrician I work for spends at least 15 minutes with sick patients and a half hour with well visits, plus an hour for behavioral visits. That's a long time for each patient. That's one of the problems with shows like House... in the hour the show is on, you have FOUR doctors working to heal ONE patient... that's not realistic, at all.
Secondly, the vast majority of Americans want it fixed so that they can move on with their lives. Have high cholesterol? No, I don't want to change my diet and exercise more... I want a pill to make it go away. Thus, doctors have been catering to this mindset for years and years, and now do it with even those that don't want a pill to solve their problems.
Thirdly, many patients neglect to mention many symptoms to their doctors. They're not mind readers... they can't figure out everything unless you tell them everything. You're stressed at work and get headaches every day when you get home from work... that's a tension headache, or possibly a migraine. If you neglect to mention that they're getting worse every day, a brain tumor won't even cross the mind of the physician.
Furthermore, you hear of all these people getting these diseases that go undiagnosed on shows like Mystery Diagnosis and such, and you think how horrible it is for these people to not get the treatment they need. But most primary care physicians don't deal with these rare diseases, and so don't know what the symptoms of them are. If you spent most of your time dealing with heartburn and indigestion and tension headaches, and maybe a few diseases such as the chicken pox or flu... would you concern yourself with some disease that only 1 out of every million people? Or even hundred thousand people? Chances are, you're not going to see it in any given year, so why make sure you know all the symptoms of it?
~C
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"That's one of the problems with shows like House... in the hour the show is on, you have FOUR doctors working to heal ONE patient... that's not realistic, at all."
That makes sense. good point. Speaking of House, does anyone think or know how the season will end? I mean do you think he saw God or not? It wouldn't seem reasonable to have him see God because then the whole show would be over and his entire egotistical atheist self would disappear. His behavior is what makes the show great. Still, what do you think?
"Have high cholesterol? No, I don't want to change my diet and exercise more... I want a pill to make it go away. Thus, doctors have been catering to this mindset for years and years, and now do it with even those that don't want a pill to solve their problems."
I didn't think of that. I agree that it pertains to those critical conditions that require the patient to change. But you must admit that not all conditions are like this. In the little boys' case he justed wanted a pill that would cure the problem, not try and make the symptoms go away. It required no work on his part. It seems that doctors are too lazy to dig deeper. No, I take that back. Its like you said, they are too busy because of the overload of patients. I feel bad for them. They have to think for a short amount of time under pressure, and then are overworked and make mistakes from being tired and sleepless and then take the blame for an accident.
In general, I have to agree with you. But still, I am shocked that the little boy's doctor was so blunt and uncaring about it. "Just put a feeding tube in", he said. That's hard to ignore. But I am not saying that all doctors are like that.
"Alenka, it really doesn't sound like you actually wrote this... did you?" yeah, I was just having this discussion with another user. I am trying to change my way of writing. At first I got mad when you and other moderators told me that my writing was sucky. But then just a short while ago I watched the video of progressiveu and how fanaile essence connected to millions of users around the world was truly progressive. I wish I saw that earlier. Then my writing would have been in a different direction. I hope that I am dong better. Any suggestions you have would be helpful. I am trying my best.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
On House, no he didn't see God. When the crippled guy and his dog died, House said, "Sorry, there was nothing."
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Weird. Well, that would make sense because having him see God would pretty much end the t.v. show and the producers aren't stupid. I am surprised, though, that House said what he saw so soon. I thought the producers would want to have more viewers and make more money but stretching the truth as long as possible until the end of the season.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
I guess, but either way, if he saw anything, he could argue it was the chemicals that go off when you die. You "visions" when people die, are just your last dreams in life.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
I disagree. A doctor gave an account of how he was operating on a patient and the patient DIED. HE DIED, okay? Then he came back to life. What the doctor experienced convinced him to convert from atheism to christianity. The patient had eyes wild with terror. The human said that his eyes were INHUMAN. The terror was not a dream, it had fear that was beyond human comprehension. All the patient could say was : "Don't let me die, don't you understand? I am IN HELL!" and he couldn't let go of the doctor. The doctor couldn't describe the experience but he was scared just looking into those inhuman eyes. Explain that. I don't think its just chemicals. There comes a time during a life and death situation that you have to listen intuitively and accept that which is incomprehensible. There comes a time when you can't dismiss something with an explanation.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Urban myth...the thought of dying started his brain to think of hell, he imagined the place. When they revived him, he was sure he had been to hell.
One suggestion that I cannot stress enough because a) it drives me insane and b) it's really rather rude to not do it is to ALWAYS always always ALWAYS include source information. If you got the information from a website, link it. If you got it from a magazine, give us the name, date, issue, volume and page number. if you got it from a television program, give us the name of the program and the network it aired on.
This protects you from copyright infringement and plagiarism issues (and we do routinely remove blogs for those reasons and if it is a continuing problem we will contact the original authors of the information and inform them so that they may take appropriate action). It is bad form in any type of writing to directly quote someone, paraphrase, or directly quote another source and not give the information your readers need in order to look that up themselves to confirm or to read the article, watch the program, etc.
I'm not trying to pick on you, so don't think that. Just giving you the same advice I give everyone.
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"In the Land of Memory, the time is always Now.
In the Kingdom of Ago, the clocks tick... but their hands never move.
There is an Unfound Door
(O Lost)
and memory is the key which opens it." -King
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Here is the link to what I was telling you about the docotr. And no, I am not offended. I now you are not picking on me.
http://www.helium.com/tm/485783/heard-doctor-horrifying-story
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
I didn't mean to offend you... it just honestly doesn't sound like the things you've written in the past. The first time I read through it, it also made it sound like it was being written from a person that knew the boy, not someone who just read about his story in a magazine. So, I wasn't sure if you were the person to write it or not.
~C
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Out of curiosity, how does it not sound like the things I have written about in the past? They have all been about society's problems haven't they? Or did I write too much about God?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
No, it wasn't the topic... it was the style of writing. Read my comment again.
~C
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Has nothing to do with your heart.
It's called heartburn because you feel it in your chest, but it's actually a form of indigestion.
http://www.hearthealthnews.com/257/heartburn-hints-on-dealing-with-the-d...
Just sayin'.
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this is war. every line is about who i don't wanna write about anymore. [Brand New]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Yeah, I know that that wasn't a great example. Here is a better one. My friend's dad had these headaches for several months. Doctors kept prescribing various pills, saying it was just migranes. When he finally complained, the tested his brain and found damage in some areas. Why wouldn't they test the root of the problem in the first place? Its like I said. They are only interested in making the symptoms go away because they are a much faster way of getting rid of you.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
"Why wouldn't they test the root of the problem in the first place?"
The pills are a cheaper way [for your friend's dad, not the hospital] to test the problem. They aren't going to test for something super rare when he's only seeing symptoms at first for migraines.
I went through the same thing. Only when the meds didn't work and nothing was helping did I get an MRI to see if there was anything more signifcant wrong. If it hadn't been that way, I could have been paying for tests and treatments that would be unneccesary, and I'd be pissed about that.
Like everyone has been saying, they aren't going to waste their time on you testing you for something that happens a small percentage of the time. First they're going to rule out the common, easy to fix stuff.
I'm glad they do that. Or else hospitals and such would definitely not run as smoothly as they do.
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this is war. every line is about who i don't wanna write about anymore. [Brand New]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
WEll, maybe in the first visit. But my friend's dad complained about pain FOR MONTHS. This should have raised suspicion, but unfortunately, its some one else said: Doctors just don't have time and are too busy with their patients. Not enough hours in a day. They already barely sleep as it is.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
So many went into the business just for the money and they seem to feel 'ENTITLED' to be swimming pool rich. But I have seen the opposite of what you said, as I have seen members of my family remain in pain after going to the emergency room because the doctor DID NOT manage their pain like they are supposed to. Now, I'm speaking of a particular hospital here in the city, but they have consistently violated the patient rights code by lack of pain management. Beware of who you go to...some I woudn't take my DOG to!
Why would they waste 10 years of their lives and thousands and thousands and thousands (etc) on Med School Just For The Money?
I am not doubting that there are somedoctors like that. But I really think if someone was going into the medical field just for the money, they'd drop out waaaay before they actually began to practice.
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this is war. every line is about who i don't wanna write about anymore. [Brand New]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
Don't forget the med school, but also the insuranc.e
every 3rd to 4th surgery done is solely to pay malpractice insurance...
Seriously. If you've got a doctor just in it for the money, someone was really desperate to give them a job, paid for their med school, pays for the insurance, etc, etc, etc...
So obviously, if there's anyone in it for the money, they're in idiot, and they're more motivated than someone who actually wants to help people.
Besides, even if a doctor was in it for the money, he'd still have to do a good job, or he'd risk losing his job or even his license.
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this is war. every line is about who i don't wanna write about anymore. [Brand New]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Wow. didn't know that. Have you got statistics or links to back that up? I was just wondering. (regarding the every 3 to 4th surgery is to pay malpractice insurance)
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
I agree. If someone wanted to make money they would do it in a not legal manner or would be a therapist. No one goes into law to solely make money because if they did they would be stupid...buried under paperwork. If they want to be a doctor to make money thats stupid too...no sleep, and human lives hanging over your head.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
I am sorry that that happened. Although I can't agree that most doctors go into medicine to make money, I know that their experiences have hardened them and made them almost inhuman. They have seen so much death and have gone to morgues for training to learn the human body that they are desensitized. Its like house. The human becomes the corpse of the virus/bacteria, not a living being with emotions. Think about it. Thats how they were trained and thats how they have to isolate themselves from their patients. Otherwise, every time you couldnt save someone you would be EXTREMELY depressed because you see the being as human with emotions and intellect that lost his/her life because of you. And that desensitation is leading to other problems such as what I wrote this blog on.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
I'm not sorry it happened. There was nothing wrong with me. I just get headaches. No, the meds don't help, but my MRI was clear, too.
I would have been pissed if the first thing they did was an MRI and I had to pay for it, then found out it was clear and have them put me on cheap meds.
It would be a waste if they didn't have any logical reason to test. For your friend's dad, it was logical to test, because after months (which sometimes it takes that long for meds, especially migraine meds, to work [[they are not painkillers]]) of meds not working, they knew it was time to move forward. Not before that time.
They had to test the simple things first. That's just how it works.
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this is war. every line is about who i don't wanna write about anymore. [Brand New]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
no really. i greatly appreciate you saying this. i have problems with my health that doctors fail to even attempt to try to figure out. i have a circulation problem and they just listen but never tell me what to do. for the person that said about only .6% having this diagnoses, yeahbut what about the other diseases that go undiagnosed. my uncle had that problem as well. i plan on becoming a biomedical engineer and so i think the factthat you are saying solutions should be found is amazing!
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
If you are talking to me, then "no problem!" glad that I could bring some light to this issue. Oh, and don't forget to vote.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
I hate these stupid arguments. (I'm not saying you're stupid, so don't get all defensive on me)
House is my favorite show, but I get SO PISSED OFF sometimes because every single effing one of the patients thinks they know more than the doctors. They're always saying "you don't know what you're doing!" or "why are you doing that?!"
All you guys who are like "The doctors never listen to me, whaaa whaaa whaa" annoy the hell out of me. You act like the doctors don't know anything and they just listen to your five minutes of blah blah blah and send you on your way.
It's really annoying.
YOU DON'T KNOW MORE ABOUT MEDICINE THAN YOUR DOCTORS. Hate to break it to you. I know you all thought you were god.
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this is war. every line is about who i don't wanna write about anymore. [Brand New]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Actually, the doctors don't know everything but they could at least take the time to find out what's wrong!
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
"Do you have heartburn? No problem, just take a pill and it will make your heart all fine and dandy."
True, the blog is a poor forum for sarcasm, and maybe I missed it here, but judging by some of your other blogs you might not have been joking, and that freaks me out.
Eh, the real problem is that I BELIEVE that you might have written that seriously, and that just kills this whole blog for me.
Res ipsa loquitur.
memento mori, mahalo.
"Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real-estate above principles."
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
I was being SARCASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCC. Do you want me to spell that for you? Why would you think that I don't have the capacity to be humorous?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Just some advice...
you should edit it to something that makes sense.
The sarcasm is fine, but like I said, heartburn isn't really a heart problem. Maybe he was discrediting you based on that.
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If You Swear That There's No Truth And Who Cares, How Come You Say It Like You're Right? [Bright Eyes]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Its' a HE?!!!!!!!! And the whole time I thought it was a girl cuz of the pic.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Oh, I don't know.
I just used "he" as a default. I didn't pay attention to the pic. It's too dark for me to pick up [my laptop is on powersave mode so everything is darker].
It's kind of irrelevant whether dr. gonzo is a he or a she.
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If You Swear That There's No Truth And Who Cares, How Come You Say It Like You're Right? [Bright Eyes]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Oh, I hiate it when computers are on power mode. Can you unpower mode it? Isn't it really bad for the eyes or something? It hurts mine. Dr Gonzo's picture is of a girl laying on a couch or something.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Reason 1:
Sarcasm is very difficult to pick up in a blog, on third reading, I can see the context for sarcasm. Actually, I have sort of a problem picking up sarcasm in written form. It has defeated me before. That's my own damn fault.
Reason 2:
I just got done reading your two blogs about God. They contain some of the most awful logic that I have seen on here in quite awhile. Also a reference to 300 pound whales. This poisoned my mind as to your knowledge of basic medical facts.
As I said in my last paragraph there, the real problem is that I believe, within the context of your other blogs, that you just might be that out of it. It isn't that I don't think you can be humorous, it is that I am willing to believe that you really do think that heartburn has something to do with the heart.
Nevermind. It's really my own fault for not picking up on sarcasm and not giving you the benefit of the doubt. My humblest apologies.
I am a guy by the way, but I don't have the long hair in that picture any more.
Res ipsa loquitur.
memento mori, mahalo.
"Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real-estate above principles."
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
WHAT!!?? You are a guy?! Sorry about that. See, thats the thing about online communication. You don't have any idea who you are talking to and have to imagine who it is.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^