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Laughter the Best Medicine for everything

Reference #: 127
Submit Date: 12 May 2002
Browse Category: cure all
Author: none
Email Address: none
Treatment used: laughter
You can buy this remedy at: anywhere
Remedy will cost you: free
Country of Remedy: USA
Remedy Source: straigh dope
More Links about this Remedy: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a981211.html
# Comments posted to this remedy: 1
Complaints Reported: 0
# of times remedy read: 22,794


Dosage Info:
Typical Dosage: unknown
Dosage should be related to weight: unknown
 
Dosages used in clinical trials are significant: unknown
Maximum dosages in relation to side effects and serious side effects: unknown
Other foods/nutrients/medications that can affect absorption or utilization: unknown
Foods that provide the nutrient recommended as a remedy (or reference giving same): unknown



Ratings:
Total # reviewers: 0
Average Rating: 0.00
 
Effectiveness: 0.00
No Side Effects: 0.00
Ease of Use: 0.00
Effective after long term use: 0.00
Cost Effectiveness: 0.00


Browse: cure all

Remedy Description

"The idea that laughter is good medicine has been kicking around for ages, but it got a big boost

in the 1970s from Norman Cousins, the well-known author and longtime editor of the Saturday Review.

In a 1976 article in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled "Anatomy of an Illness," later

reprinted in the book Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, Cousins reported that he'd

cured himself of a serious disease in part by getting a few good laughs every day.



It all started in 1964, when Cousins was 49 years old. On returning from a trip to the Soviet Union

he started running a slight fever and felt achy. Soon he had difficulty moving his limbs and neck,

and gravellike nodules appeared under his skin. Alarmed, he checked into a hospital, apparently

immobilized by pain.



The doctors who examined him were unable to agree on what he had, except that it was a "serious

collagen illness." (Collagen is a component of the body's connective tissue.) One set of experts

concluded he had ankylosing spondylitis--arthritis of the spine. One doctor ventured the opinion

that Cousins's chances for a full recovery were one in 500.



Cousins decided he wasn't going to accept that grim prognosis lying down, as it were. He guessed

his illness had been brought on by the stresses of his week in the Soviet Union (hey, no argument

here) and speculated that he was suffering from "adrenal exhaustion." He stopped taking the various

drugs that had been prescribed and tried to buck up his adrenal glands with a combination of

vitamin C and laughter. He found that ten minutes of belly laughs from watching Candid Camera

reruns would give him two hours of pain-free sleep. He moved from the hospital to a hotel and

arranged for megadoses of vitamin C to be dripped into his veins each day. His condition improved,

and in a few weeks he was able to stand on his own. The pain receded, and though his mobility was

limited for many years he eventually returned to work and resumed an active life."







From "healing Power of Laugher", by Peter Jaret, Reader's Digest,March, 2002:





"...The moost astonishing evidence for laugher's power comes from a 1997

study of 48 heart attack patitients. Half watched comedic shows for 30

minutes every day; the rest served as controls. After a year, 10 patients

in the control group had suffered repeat heart attacks, compared with

only tow in the group that watched the shows.



Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress,says laughter expert Lee Berk at the

University of California at Irvine, co-author of the heart-attack study.

In earlier research, Berk showed that watching a humoroius video decreases

levels of two key stress hormones that can cause irregular heart rhythms

which may lead to heart attacks. Indeed, heart disease patients are often

given drugs called beta-blockers specifically to block these hormones.

"Laughter can do exactly the same thing," says Beck. "And its a lot more

fun."



Can laughter help patients get well? In a landmark experiment at the

UCLA, called Rx Laughter, scientists plan to test the effect of laughter

in children wiht serious illnesses, including cancer. Early results suggest

that humorous videos help kids handle uncomfortable or painful procedures.



Justin Ybarra, 13, already knows that. He was in considerable pain when

he woke up from surgery-- untill Bill Marx, son of the legendary Harpo Marx

and a volunteer for Rx Laugher, appeared at his hedside.

Marx told jokes, made faces and pranced around the hospital room.

"Having something to laugh at took my mind off the pain, " says Justin.

"When your laughing, you can't help but feel better".

This remedy can also be used for:



heart attacks



Comment: Works great for serious pain

1/1
Submit Date: 12 May 2002
Author: foote
Email Address: none
More Links about this Remedy: none

Works great for serious pain

foote



After some seriuos cancer 8 hour surgery, I was threatened that i couldn't

leave the hospital for 3 weeks. To me this was a death sentence. I hated that

hospital and knew that if i stayed there I would be dead. I was also

take off my heavy pain killers.. after 5 days, and reduced to store bought pain

killers. They said i was hallucinating. Heck, i told them the walls weren't

even moving.



Anways, i order up my goverment thc (pot) pills. Took a couple

and got a Garfield comic book and started reading it. I didn't know when

i would laugh, but when i did i knew it would be painful, since they

broke several of my ribs to get into my chest.. in addition to the 40 inch

scar i carry from the operation... By the time i fininshed the comic book i was

pain free. I guess what i did was build up my tolerance to pain so that

the everyday hospital pain was nothing compared to wheat i went thru

reading the comic book. Also, if you can stay off the heavy duty pain

drugs you will heal a lot faster. There was a group of us in the

hospital that stayed away from the pain drugs and we healed a lot faster.



Anways, after getting rid of my pain. I recall dancing with my nurse

and taking a flying leap into my bed. And 2 hours before i can hardly

walk. I demanded to be released the next day. The hospital told me

i can leave when my staples (stiches) came out. 4 days later.