Battles with depression, stress are taking their toll (NATION OF VICTIMS Alert)

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/26/03 | Ulysses Torassa

[MikalM]

Normally healthy and vigorous, Deborah Dashow Ruth of Kensington has developed a case of shingles, her ulcer is acting up, and her head has been throbbing since the United States invaded Iraq a week ago.

Meanwhile, San Ramon advice-line nurse Jan Howe has been deluged with calls from people stressed out by current events. And the staff at the adolescent psychiatric unit at St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco is seeing an upsurge in calls and requests for admission.

[2nd Amendment]

This is nothing compared to what the WWII generation went through. buck up you tofu-eating liberals!

[Chad Fairbanks]

Normally healthy and vigorous, Deborah Dashow Ruth of Kensington has developed a case of shingles, her ulcer is acting up, and her head has been throbbing since the United States invaded Iraq a week ago.

ANyone wanna chip in, and mass-produce some t-shirts for these people that say... "My country went to war, and all I got was a case of Shingles"???

[thoughtomator]

Hey! If I lived in San Fran, I'd be depressed too!

[pubmom]

These people had problems long before the war began.

[Pushi]

Most of these people should get a life. One has gotten off to a good start. She has quit listening to NPR. Now, if she will tune in to Rush, she'll get well.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

So badly do they wish to see the Iraqi people remain under the thumb of a brutal, murderous dictator, that it's manifesting itself physically.

Everybody say "Awwwwwwwwwww."

[CommandoFrank]

A week into the conflict, many people around the Bay Area are feeling intense emotions as they watch scenes of bombs dropping, firefights, dead soldiers and Americans held as prisoners of war

I wonder how they'd feel if it was happening here in the US as a result of taking no action in Iraq?

[pubmom]

If she has an ulcer, she's not completely healthy.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Shingles: An acute infection caused by the virus Herpes zoster, which also causes chickenpox. Shingles usually emerges in adulthood after exposure to chickenpox or reactivation of the chickenpox virus, which can remain latent in body tissues for years until the immune system is weakened. It is an extraordinarily painful condition that involves inflammation of sensory nerves. Treatment is by antiviral medication and pain medication.


Hmmm.... gee, someone in San Francisco with a weakened immune system??? Say it isn't so!!!!!!

[Chad Fairbanks]

Yes, and see #30 (Honestly, I had to look up 'Shingles'... never gave much thought to what it was until now...)

[Pinetop]

Hey in SF, they'll give you cash so you can buy their cheap heroin and live on the streets. Amazing that the people there are so stressed out about the war and aren't stressed about the terrible conditions and numbers of homeless dying on their streets.

[Utah Girl]

I think you've hit the nail on the head, I think faith in God is what is getting me through. A lot of liberals do not have faith in much, and therefore when a crisis hits, they don't have an anchor. The biggest worry of a woman I work with is...global warming. She just worries about it constantly.

[MikalM]

Actually, I'd call Kensington an Oakland/Berkeley suburb, but your characterization is otherwise dead-on. I've lived in the Rockridge district of Oakland -- another nice hillside 'hood -- for ten years, and have never gotten used to the whiny terminal-victim mentality that so many of my wealthy liberal neighbors wallow in every time something bad happens in the world.

[c-b 1]

What would these spineless whining cry babies do if they were where the bullets were zinging past their heads?

[MikalM]

Absolute spot-on bullseye!

The key word -- and you used it -- is narcissism. I live a few miles south of Kensington, and can tell you that the region is filled with wealthy, university-educated, non-veteran, early-Baby-Boomers who have lived possibly the softest and most overindulged lives of any group of human beings in history. They have gotten their way again and again from the crib, and have absolutely no understanding of real pain, deprivation or tragedy. It's only natural that they not only turn their personal ills into self-absorbed epics of suffering, but blame them on politicians they didn't vote for. At once, this is pathetic and enraging.

[Chuckster]

"It is an extraordinarily painful condition"

Worth repeating. I had shingles about twenty years ago and I assure you, it IS "Extraordinarily painful".

[Diogenesis]

THIS JUST IN: "Those in the American public who listen to CBS/ABC/NBC and CNN
are developing shingles, depression, and other DSM IV symptoms.
The Rx is : FREE REPUBLIC."

[Chad Fairbanks]

Twenty years ago? Ah yes... That was after The Iran Hostage Crisis, and the resultant failed rescue mission... I remember it well...

[joesnuffy]

The National Association of Humanistic Health Professionals has determined that watching war on TV is more stressfull on Americans eating at McDonalds than it is on Iraqis who bombs are falling on who get nothing to eat at all