Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Support Group
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) describes a sense of exhaustion and post-exertion malaise, even when you have gotten enough rest and sleep. The disease is characterized by six months of incapacitating fatigue experienced as profound exhaustion and extremely poor stamina, and problems with concentration and short-term memory. The cause is unknown, but it is a...
Anyone catch the Frontline episode on PBS this week? It was about an American man living in northern England who went to Switzerland for assisted suicide. He had ALS, or Lou Gerig's disease. ALS is a monster of an illness.
I was thinking about how our dog is getting really old and losing his eyesight, etc. and how it seems to be okay for many people to consider euthanasia for dogs, but when it comes to people there is controversy.
I've read books and seen other programs/documentaries on assisted suicide and have always been okay with it. I wonder if it's because I'm a sociologist, or because I trust that people know themselves and their limitations regardless of what others might think about them or their situation.
I saw a documentary about people in Denmark or Norway (can't remember which) were going to seminars to find out how to be prepared to commit suicide if their lives reached a point where they could no longer care for themselves.
These seminars were (perhaps still are) very popular.
I wonder how much of someone's opposition to this has to do with religious indoctrination and cultural traditions about death. These people obviously were not so concerned with committing a sin or a cultural taboo that they stayed home from these workshops.
Even though CFS is debilitating it is not paralyzing. I'm sure most CFS patients would be turned down by the people in Switzerland that help people with assisted suicide. My point here is not to advocate that anyone with CFS try to do this. I'm simply wondering about the feeling that people have when they feel like they have no control over their life. Absolutely no control.
My thoughts are about allowing someone to live and die with dignity. We spend our lives with this illness wishing for other people to understand what it is we are dealing with on a daily basis. Isn't this what people in horrible pain are doing when they believe they cannot continue?
I'm simply wondering.
The man in the Frontline piece said that people argue that assisted suicide is like someone trying to play God when they make a decision to end their life before God wills it. His counterpoint was that doctors are playing God when they save a premature infant or step in to save anyone that would otherwise die without help. This man used a breathing apparatus and said that he would likely die without it so how is that not playing God.
I wondered why people only think someone is playing God when it comes to death or someone dying, but not when it comes to life or keeping someone alive. Is God only about life but not death? I would think He is about both. Of course, I also believe that physical death is only temporary. I don't believe that something can become nothing.
I'm mostly fascinated by how people think they know God. In one breath He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present in the lives of everyone; and then, in the next breath a person claims to know everything about God. Who are they to know everything about a God that is all-knowing?
So, this is not a post about who thinks they know or don't know God's will when it comes to life or death. This is a post about dignity and living with an illness that takes away feelings of control. How close are we to these people who are so desperate? Has our illness taught us anything about compassion?
Just a post to give you something to think about when you need to wonder....
I was thinking about how our dog is getting really old and losing his eyesight, etc. and how it seems to be okay for many people to consider euthanasia for dogs, but when it comes to people there is controversy.
I've read books and seen other programs/documentaries on assisted suicide and have always been okay with it. I wonder if it's because I'm a sociologist, or because I trust that people know themselves and their limitations regardless of what others might think about them or their situation.
I saw a documentary about people in Denmark or Norway (can't remember which) were going to seminars to find out how to be prepared to commit suicide if their lives reached a point where they could no longer care for themselves.
These seminars were (perhaps still are) very popular.
I wonder how much of someone's opposition to this has to do with religious indoctrination and cultural traditions about death. These people obviously were not so concerned with committing a sin or a cultural taboo that they stayed home from these workshops.
Even though CFS is debilitating it is not paralyzing. I'm sure most CFS patients would be turned down by the people in Switzerland that help people with assisted suicide. My point here is not to advocate that anyone with CFS try to do this. I'm simply wondering about the feeling that people have when they feel like they have no control over their life. Absolutely no control.
My thoughts are about allowing someone to live and die with dignity. We spend our lives with this illness wishing for other people to understand what it is we are dealing with on a daily basis. Isn't this what people in horrible pain are doing when they believe they cannot continue?
I'm simply wondering.
The man in the Frontline piece said that people argue that assisted suicide is like someone trying to play God when they make a decision to end their life before God wills it. His counterpoint was that doctors are playing God when they save a premature infant or step in to save anyone that would otherwise die without help. This man used a breathing apparatus and said that he would likely die without it so how is that not playing God.
I wondered why people only think someone is playing God when it comes to death or someone dying, but not when it comes to life or keeping someone alive. Is God only about life but not death? I would think He is about both. Of course, I also believe that physical death is only temporary. I don't believe that something can become nothing.
I'm mostly fascinated by how people think they know God. In one breath He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present in the lives of everyone; and then, in the next breath a person claims to know everything about God. Who are they to know everything about a God that is all-knowing?
So, this is not a post about who thinks they know or don't know God's will when it comes to life or death. This is a post about dignity and living with an illness that takes away feelings of control. How close are we to these people who are so desperate? Has our illness taught us anything about compassion?
Just a post to give you something to think about when you need to wonder....
I think that most people feel uncomfortable talking about death or even thinking about it. I remember watching an Oprah show once where they were talking about the importance of talking to your loved ones (parents I think) about what type of funeral they would want when they eventually pass. Most people do not do this. If you try to talk to your loved ones about it, it is seen as being depressing and like you are wishing the person prematurely dead! The reality is that we are all going to die at some point.
I think people prefer not to talk about death because it reminds them of their mortality. For those people who have no spiritual or faith framework, it's like: where do I put these thoughts? How do I process them? It's like opening Pandora's box. If you have no firm conviction about what happens to you after you die and are not at peace with the idea of the process of dying or the fact you will one day be dead, then you will not feel comfortable talking about it.
I was raised a born-again Christian and would now consider my beliefs to be 'spiritual'. For me this means that I believe that there is life after death and I also believe in reincarnation. I guess that helps me to think about dying... it's not an end.
When it comes to taking your own life, I do think that it is something people should be willing to talk about openly, espcially with people who are chronically sick. I don't think it's even just related to pain levels. I think that for some of us who have lived with this and other chronic health conditions for a long time, there comes a point where you think: if this is how the rest of my life is going to be... do I wish to continue living? I know that I have considered suicide before, although I doubt I would ever act on those urges. They spring mainly from frustration with my body, the medical 'profession' and also with my living situation where I am so dependent on other people for a place to live, food to eat, a bed to sleep in.... I think if you can rationalise them then it's unlikely that suicide will ever be more than fleeting thoughts. However, for people who are unable to rationalise what is happening to them or who can see nothing to live for or no improvement in their health state... then I don't see why they should not have the 'option' of assisted suicide.
Like you say, I cannot understand how we can be fine with euthanising animals (even healthy ones) and yet as humans we have no choice about our own lives. In the UK it is considered cruel to allow an animal to live in suffering, yet we are suffering...
I guess that there never will be a correct answer or solution. I should be interested to know what people from other cultures (non-Western) think about suicide.
In reality everything that lives will die but everything that lives will not have the same path of suffering. So on that note In my opinion keeping someone alive with medications and apparatuses while thier having very poor quality of life is more playing God then even death because death is inevitable eventually anyway.
I often think of the futility of continuing to live with this disease and the lack of support in my community. But you know, that's not good to think that way. I usually find something to feel some satisfaction from as the days go by...even if it is just something small like growing some lettuce in the garden.
As far as doctors playing God, I know for a fact that they do that all the time. They tried repeatedly to withhold treatment from my Dad when he was only 80 because they said he would not live more than a few years anyway. I took care of him anyway, and he lived twenty more years. I think they do this with a lot of patients, size you up and decide whether you are worth treating.
If you have lots of cash, you are going to get much better medical care than if you don't. In many cases they are deciding who lives and who dies when they do that. It's a simple fact that people in the lower classes live much shorter lives than the upper crust in the US.
i'm not religious myself, so i can relate to all you write and have the same views.
i would like to state something to the part where you write about people thinking it is wrong to do this because of people playing god and it is not his will etc etc....
--did you know, apparently the bible says that when God created man, he gave us freewill & the power of choice. :) :)
nothing is 'playing god' in my view. WE ARE in control and we DO make our own choices. to the bit where i write about what the bible says; it is exactly this that is contradicting to when i hear people say 'god did this to me' 'why oh why god' or on a positive note 'thank god' ---- god did nothing, he did not curse anyone nor did he give us our blessings..( you can not blame him nor give him all the credit), we gained them ourselves. of course i am not saying any one ill did this to themselves.
and that is a very good point with euthanizing animals, but when it comes to humans?? whos choice is it other than the one suffering? are we living for others?? no- we are living for ourselves.
i'm all for it!
how ever- not for a CFS patient. and this is not me not understanding, this is me basing it on that cfs is not a progressive disease (yes it may get worse, but you know what i mean)- and with cfs there is still hope. but with others diseases there is not, it gets worse and worse and are not able to do anything for themselves... zero quality of life- yes there are those who can still sit in a chair.. not do much but still see the beautiful birds.. go to a park etc, but ones that are so incapacitated they can not even enjoy what is around them.
I think the links Jen posted above may demonstrate that this was the case for a young woman who took her life not long ago.
i totally agree about - there life was not a life any more.
its not that i am totally against it in this case (for cfs) nor am i totally for it. not a strong opinion for this one. but i feel if there is still some hope.. then..
x
I believe in assisted suicide.. for people like that and others that just can not can take anymore.. or see what they are headed for.. if they keep on keep on.. Because of the machines..
machines can work for good... But they can also prolong life far to long for people who would choose NOT.. the kind of life that machines can and do at times.. Hand them...
I believe God understands this.. as He is also a compassionate GOD.. Not just a God of thunder..
I believe in assisted suicide for people (not even me) who are so sick, what is the point. They can't function at all, are in horrible pain. I am sorry, that is not living. I had endometriosis for 10 years and spent 8 of my years on morphine and on a heating pad. My intestine became glued together. It was awful.
A loving God would allow for this and would accept someone into heaven that was truly suffering. Afterall, God made us as a reflection of his/her own creation. The way we think comes from how we were made. So...even those who are truly disturbed may not have to go to hell because they are mentally ill and it is not their fault. Mental illness is a disease and evil can come of it. But is that that person fault?? That is the question.
assisted suicide, i am all for it.. like i said.