Elvis - A Lighted Candle

[Rainbow Light]

As his bodily constitution was very sensitive I think he would have responded very well to natural treatments.
It is sometimes contradictionary that Elvis believed so much in doctors, who just gave him heavy chemical medication, and on the other hand he knew so much about spiritual healing. We know that he had also the power to heal others through the power of his thoughts.

I have been recently reading about Ayurveda, an ancient Indian healing system which has much to do with nutrition, exercise and general well-being mostly in relating to improving my lifestyle and health but can't help feeling as I read more that Elvis could have benefited much from this, I'll see if I can find an internet link and bring it back through next time I'm online and in the forum! Also interested in anyone's ideas, feedback with relation to this topic? ....

[FairyTale]

Hey RainBowLight, Are you talking about Ancient American Indian Healing System or Ancient Eastern Indian Healing System? If your talking about American Indian Healing System, then yes they did have some Natural things that you could get from the Land that did have Healing Powers. FairyTale!

[Rainbow Light]

Hey Fairytale!

Just to confirm, in this specific instance I meant ancient Eastern Indian healing system and have provided some information below.

However, you're 100% correct as Native American healing methods do hold with natural products and things from nature to be able to help and aid towards the health of the body also!

Revival of Ayurveda
Ayurveda is acknowledged to be the world's oldest health care system. It has been handed down over thousands of years as an oral tradition and has existed in written form since 400 BC. In addition to numerous family traditions there are also Ayurvedic Universities, with their own specialist departments such as internal medicine, surgery, gynaecology, children's health and toxicology, which have existed for hundreds of years. Theory and practice were connected in a brilliant way, intellectual thought and spiritual growth combined in a holistic manner.

Leading Ayurvedic physicians

At the end of the 1970s the Indian sage Maharishi Mahesh Yogi invited a number of India's most renowned and experienced Ayurvedic physicians to share their knowledge and to integrate the proven methods of the various family traditions to restore the fragmented science of Ayurveda to its original wholeness. The result was Maharishi Ayurveda – a hallmark of highest quality.

Dr. V.M. Dvivedi,
Dr. B.D. Triguna,
Dr. Balraj Maharishi

You will frequently come across these three physicians in our clinic, even if only by seeing their pictures on Ayurvedic herbal preparations. We are particularly proud that Dr. Triguna has visited our premises many times.

The All India Ayurvedic Congress has validated Maharishi Ayurveda as the authentic interpretation of Ayurveda in its original form.


Development of Maharishi Ayurveda

During recent centuries the holistic approach of Ayurveda became lost and only partial aspects remained. As a result it is this fragmented form which has mainly been practised in recent times.

A change came at the end of the 1970's. The Indian scholar Maharishi Mahesh Yogi invited a number of his country's most renowned and experienced Ayurvedic physicians to work together to restore and standardise Ayurveda in order to make it available to the Western world. Under his guidance experts from various disciplines such as Ayurvedic health, medicine, languages and physics, worked together with the goal of restoring the mosaic of Ayurveda and the rest of the Vedas in their totality.
In addition to this, the guardians of long-held secret herbal formulas and procedures in many traditional Ayurvedic families were motivated by Maharishi to share their wisdom for the first time. He inspired authoritative Ayurvedic physicians and Sanskrit scholars to participate in the translation of the original texts of Ayurveda into modern speech. Much of the Vedic knowledge had been lost due to translation in recent times. To re-establish it correctly has taken many years of detailed work. Western scientists then placed this comprehensive and restored knowledge in the context of modern scientific discoveries.



Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centres

This is how Maharishi Ayurveda came into being. The aim was not only to offer Ayurveda as it is currently practised in India, but also to make available the forgotten aspects in their original pure form.

Based on these developments Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centres were established in 1983 throughout the world. Since then they have been offering a full range of standardised Ayurvedic treatments.


High standards for training of doctors

Standardised training programmes for doctors from all over the world were then structured and Indian Ayurvedic physicians, who are university professors in their own right, personally teach their Western colleagues. Through this teaching it is possible for doctors from all over the world to learn the various aspects of Ayurveda, through the use of comprehensive basic and advanced training. This fulfils the demands of both authenticity and compliance with modern scientific understanding, thus ensuring a high standard of quality. Every western doctor can take advantage of the extensive expert knowledge of the Indian Vaidyas (traditional Ayurvedic physicians) whenever it is necessary for the well-being of his patient.

Scientific research

The treatments of Maharishi Ayurveda have been verified by modern scientific research. A large number of studies into the effects of Maharishi Ayurveda have been conducted at more than 160 independent research institutes and universities in 35 countries.

More than 600 studies alone have been done on the Transcendental Meditation technique, the Vedic technology of consciousness. In the last 20 years Maharishi Panchakarma and Maharishi Ayurvedic herbal preparations have been examined in over 100 research experiments. These studies document the impressive contribution of Maharishi Ayurveda in maintaining the health of modern western individuals as well as mental and behavioural improvements.

[tonytrout]

The only thing that would have probably helped Elvis was if he'd taken a year or more off and went into a treatment program. There have been statements made by some of Elvis's inner circle that Elvis knew he had a problem with drugs and that he was going to get help...but....would he have done it? We'll never know....

The main problem that dogged Elvis's health was the drug abuse....

[Wanda June Hill]

Yes, I know I am very predjuiced though I struggle with trying to see both sides and be fair too. I fail, that I see sometimes. but...Well, it didn't help that the doctors who treated him began giving him tranqulizers (strong ones) when he was just 27 years old! He was depressed, having spells of losing his breath waking up unable to breathe and he'd run outside and gasp for air and pace in the yard at night trying to calm down. He threw up alot too, and was having stomach pain which was no doubt ulcers forming from stress and depression. I agree with what Jerry Schillig thinks, that Elvis might have been bipolar but back then they didn't know about it, just treated it with depressive drugs-he was hyper active, up or down and had spells of being so hyper he couldn't be still, he was taking stimulants too, to wake up after the strong depressive drugs he had been prescribed-he was still a youngster mentally at 27 and spoiled rotten to having his way beginning with his mother 's over protection tendencies... He wasn't perfect in many ways, but what did make him special was he loved everyone and was a giver as well as a taker...he gave more than he took most of the time and that is based on things written about him as well as observations. Drugs did drag him down physicaly and mentally- and he did have real pain and I don't blame anyone for trying to stop that kind of pain. He had headaches from child hood-doctors gave him depressive drugs for that too, just like they did everyone in those days when they had little information about migraine headaches. The drugs Elvis was on-5 of them were for migraines, and did not help him much at all. He exhibited many traits that migrane suffers present when having one- that was and still is, slurred speech, dreamy appearance, difficulty in thinking clearly, wanting to sleep alot, and sensitivity to sound and light... Elvis had all the symptoms of migraine suffers-and had had since a young teenager. And those drugs given then, intensified the same symptoms migraines caused.
All of the drugs given him since and beginning with the movie days and the army days, were depressives-bad for people with bipolar tendencies and bad for anyone who is depressed anyway. It was his fault too, he trusted too much and too many just as his daughter has said, and he didn't listen well to those trying to tell him what to do. he hated that-he had been told what to do since he was 18 years old-so he rebelled in ways that he could without destroying his "image" which he was told was the most important thing he had-it was his career and where the money came f rom. Of course he wouldn't risk that! Too many people depended on it. He wouldn't quit working-he needed the money-all those people
depended on him- he was the business, the machine-he made it happen for so many. And he wouldn't have been able to handle knowing he "hurt" them, they were his "family" what he wanted his whole life-family and friends...people to love and care for him -it was a pretty horrible mixed up and totally Elvis way of looking at things. What he was here for, like he concluded. Anyway, drugs did play a part for sure, and it was partly his fault and he realized it too late, but he had to cope with so much physically and mentally, I don't know how he handled it all-how he got any relief from the pressure and stress of being "Elvis" which he spoke about as if it was a separate idently and he wasn't able to "live up to what it seemed to be to so many" and said, "It's impossible sometimes...it just takes over every thing and I have to do it.... I can't just quit...and hurt all those people...and the fans....I can't disappoint them." He realized what they went through to get tickets and how much they saved and worked to come see his show. Then when we began to sleep on the cement all across the country - that just about was the last nail in the coffin. He was floored, totally and couldn't believe it. At least he had the satisfaction of knowing he was doing something that people wanted so much to be a part of, they would "camp out for tickets".
I know it jazzed him up and gave him a boost of self confidence when he really needed it--- even though it was more pressure on him to do a good job, to keep plugging away and maybe wasn't good in that way. Still, he had to have been a little pleased to know how much those fans, all of us, cared about seeing him. God, it's all so confusing and can we judge him when anyone of us, if we were able to have walked in his shoes...been able to do what he did? I wouldn't have made it through one day.
Thanks for your views Tonytrout, a man's point of view is appreciated.
I think that what he went through, the drug issues and all of that, has been beneficial to other people who might have gone the same route but for his so public disclosure of just how damaging such things can be-even to someone like him... He had cut way back, was trying to get off everything he could, and even his doctors said he was taking only the prescribed amounts of what he had to have to live. Back then they didn't know what some drugs would do to people, we were all guina pigs for the drugs that are now known to cause things like he had going on. The new designer drugs of today, will years from now be the ones known to cuse god knows what. Somethings he was on he had to take....if he didn't he would have died certainly sooner...some he wanted to get off of and was trying, he had been taking some stuff since he was 27 years old and younger... It wouldn't have been an easy thing. Especially since he HAD to be ELVIS so much of the time...even at home. It had to have become a load for him when it was so "bad" he didn't come downstairs in his own home, because he didn't know who'd be down there, who his friends would have brought to meet "Elvis" and he didn't feel like being "Elvis" all the time, so he just didn't come down stairs. He made the upstairs his "sanctuary" from being "Elvis". Think about what that must have been like. wjh

[Amanda Viola]

As always Wanda, you has made a clear and poignant explanation of Elvis circunstances.

I couldn't stand to be in his shoes for any period of time. I'm often so amazed to observe the inner strenght needed to be Elvis Presley, the public figure, and at the same time to keep the heart fixed to Love, expresing it through his care for others, his fellows human beings without distinction; to keep his attention to be at their service in so many ways; to keep his deep interest in his spiritual development and other's too; to try to keep himself in shape, again and again... And so much more. A very especial BEING was required to accomplish such a destiny.

[Golden Sky]

Thanks, everyone, for this conversation. Tony, I agree with you that Elvis needed to take time off to recover full-time; what's sad is that he couldn't see that clearly, or couldn't even do it, given his circumstances.

Wanda, thank you for all your additional insight. It's so true how the people were and are the guinea pigs for the drug companies. One thing I am curious about is this new theory that Elvis was bipolar. Was bipolar disorder known back then, or was it called schizophrenia? Is bipolar disorder even real? I'm just one who is more skeptical about psychiatric diagnoses than most people. I fear that as time goes on and more disorders are "discovered" (like ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Binge Eating Disorder, and so on), they'll ALL be heaped on poor Elvis. And maybe this blaze of glory around his memory will fade out as people think, "He was just a mental case- so many disorders and illnesses!" I guess some already think that, but I hate to think of all these labels being attached to him posthumously, which will give people more reason to dismiss him as truly crazy.

The mind-body-spirit connection is so vital, and Elvis's diet was so awful, it's no wonder he had medical problems from day one: first as a result of malnutrition from poverty, then overconsumption from wealth. And I believe diet strongly affects the mind and moods, which is an Ayurvedic principle as well.

Sue, I'm no expert but I've studied Ayurveda and use it every single day when deciding what to eat and drink to feel healthy. I used it to overcome infertility. I was lost before I had it, I would eat foods that aggravated my condition when it was supposed to be helping. I learned that even junk foods like ice cream have some medicinal value if applied as a sort of emergency remedy to a vata imbalance (which I am prone to.)

Certain food wisdom is particular to Ayurveda alone, including how the different foods affect people of different constitutions (doshas). Food is also grouped according to many other helpful criteria. There are sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic foods; sattvic is fresh food that gets you moving and enlivens you; rajasic brings on strength (rage, even); and tamasic food makes people want to stop, to sleep, to have inertia. Elvis ate too many tamasic foods like burnt bacon; drugs are also usually VERY tamasic OR rajasic, very drastically imbalancing.

It's just another way to look at it. To answer your question, Sue, I have no doubt that if Elvis studied Ayurveda, he would have benefitted from it.

Love,
Trish

[Wanda June Hill]

Thank you Golden Sky! See, this is what I need to hear also-the questions about the "mental aspects" laid on Elvis' memory and etc:...I wondered about putting that in Face to Face and I did, in relation to Jerry S. mentioning it, however I have had doubts about it-though I did explain that back then it was just known as being "depressed and then had maniac attached to that-which sounds like being "nuts" but only when having one of those kinds of mental attacks...they only had depressives to prescribe back then for Magraine headaches-and pain killers and he had them and cluster headaches also-probably brought on by the stress of his career life etc:...it was hectic and so much going on even he said he "thought I was losin' my mind" because he couldn't keep up with it all, couldn't remember at times where he was and woke up "lost" etc:. He was after all only a kid in so many ways and was just 19 when it all began and then only 21 when as he put it "all hell broke lose" when he had the big hit and was on television across the US etc:. Then his life became very very restricted-with as he put it borrowing from Edgar Allan Poe, he had "long bouts of insanity only relieved by moments of sanity". I didn't know what he was saying until I happened upon a book of some of Poe's work. Back in those early days, Elvis was given too many depressives and then in the army he learned about uppers "Dexies" that would wake him up and he wasn't aware of their dangers- hardly anyone was back then. Like today, we don't know what will come of the "wonder drugs" of today. I know one thing, if I had a young daughter I would absolutely refuse to allow her to have that shot they are trying to "force" people to get for their girls...it does not really work! Many girls get the "warts" from the shot who otherwise wouldn't and possibly down the road there will be other kinds of problems due to the drug. Many doctors say no way, they should not get the shot at such a young age anyway, and then it's not a sure thing. Most people have already been exposed by the time they are in school as it is a very, very, very common virus and can be passed along from hand to mouth and mouth to mouth and etc: as well as other means. And even from eating and drinking after someone infected.
.Drugs are the biggest money makers in the world- right up there with oil.
Anyway, Golden Sky, what do you think about my writing about bipolar which I explained was "depression and stress related" back then and was a nerveous condition causing one to be very stimulated and then very depressed in turns. Elvis was either up or down, there did not seem to be much of a happy middle ground in his make up- unless he took depressives which were in the form of sleeping aids prescribed for him.
He would go for two or three days without sleep when working Vegas-I guess some of the other people went several hours too, but Elvis was up more than anyone of them it seemed. He would be climbing the walls it seemed at times...or would spend his time reading and pouring over things and writing things down...boy I wish I had those things he wrote down! I wonder what Ginger has-some of his last written pages that he jotted thoughts down about his life- beginning to think of what he'd say in his own book I think...he was mentioning it to a few friends and had a title. Oh how I wish...but it's too late now. We can only guess what he thought...really. I am torn about the bipolar "title" too, yet it seems to fit his personality traits very well.... yet he was not "dangerous" or violent nor did he ever try to kill himself etc:.... many of those they label that on today have done all those things. Elvis was apt to punch a hole in the wall or kick something to pieces and yell at someone but more often he just ignored them and they probably wished he'd beaten them up rather than not speak to them. He had temper fits, he could say some cutting things, but most likely who ever might have deserved it- I would have been killing people probably had it been me going through some of the things he lived through and took quite calmly and with dignity. I certainly am not a SAINT in any sense of the word! But I wouldn't hit anyone or anything- I'd punch the wall first too.
Anyone else with suggestions or comments- please feel free to voice your thoughts here- I have been considering changing the wording I have used so far about that- it was brief, but I don't want to add to the "load". wjh

[Blue Moon]

Well, I'm in agreement with Golden Sky about being wary of all these new "disorder" discoveries. For every new disorder, there is a new pill to go with making the drug companies even richer, and at the same time not dealing with the emotional (or possibly nutritional) causes; plus there are always side effects.

I do not believe bipolor is due to a chemical imbalance. I think it is most likely an emotional disorder brought about by post traumatic syndrome. I once new a guy who had bipolar and he had been beaten time and again as a child by his father. And his mother was no help to him, always crying on his shoulder for her own pain. He left home when he was 16 and never went back. He was on medicine, but I think buried anger caused both his highs and lows. In Elvis' case, he had many traumatic events while growing up, and as a child he may not have known how to cope with them, leading to buried unresolved issues in his life, which as an adult he may not have been aware of, and in turn affected how he handled stress as an adult.
The best person I've heard talk about the real causes of bipolar is Roy Masters. He knows what causes stress and how not to have it better than anyone I have ever heard. His web site is www.fhu.com.

He has a meditation CD, (which is free to those who can't afford it, though if you can, a donation is welcome), and it can also be downloaded for free. The meditation is not new age or affiliated with any religion; however, one's self-awareness & the awareness of the presence of God and of what's around one increases, though how much depends on how much one practices it. I've tried different meditations and in my opinion his is the best & simplist one out there. Once a person gets the hang of it too, it can be done anywhere anytime w/o the aid of the CD.

When I think about how many kids, mostly boys, are on Ridalin (sp?), something seems very wrong. Up to 50% of boys in many of our schools, so I heard the other day on the radio, are on the stuff. It seems if the boy gets slightly out of line, the school recommends to the parent that he be put on the stuff. It is being way over used. There may be extreme cases in which it is warranted, but I wonder if diet or emotional issues could be the source when a child is severely & continuinely out of line. But for the minor stuff, what happend to boys being boys? Are boys now required to act like girls? Also, I wonder if the creativity & energy levels of these boys are going down. I'd also bet that a reduction in sugar intake would cause the boys be calmer. What if it were that simple! But then the drug companies would not make as much money.

[Golden Sky]

Thank you, Laurie and Wanda, for considering this issue with me. I very much appreciate your thoughts.

Wanda, I actually signed on today just to apologize for what I wrote yesterday- I didn't mean to suggest that you and Jerry Schilling were going to steal all of Elvis's thunder and bring him down with your contemplation of whether or not he had bipolar disorder. I feel I expressed myself poorly there. I'm sorry!

Laurie, thank you for putting this so clearly:

Well, I'm in agreement with Golden Sky about being wary of all these new "disorder" discoveries. For every new disorder, there is a new pill to go with making the drug companies even richer, and at the same time not dealing with the emotional (or possibly nutritional) causes; plus there are always side effects.

That's how I see things, too. I'm reading an excellent book called Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation, by Charles Barber. It is definitely an eye-opener, and it includes many revealing statistics about how America is the technically the most "mentally ill" nation, because we consume BY FAR the most psychiatric drugs. One reason for this, probably the most significant, is that drug companies are allowed to market prescription drugs, including psychiatric drugs, directly to consumers here, unlike almost everywhere else in the world (except New Zealand), where such marketing is (rightly) illegal. Of course, people self-diagnose and respond to these ads, pressuring their doctors for prescriptions... and doctors cave in to requests 50% of the time, studies show. So we have a situation where people are labeled with various problems and disorders (which they usually, technically, don't even have) just to obtain the wonderful, cheerful, mental resilience that these drugs (falsely) promise on TV. That's America for you.

The author of this book talks about how, in his work with the homeless, mental illness was seen as something to be ashamed of in the 80's, but with the advent of Prozac and that direct-to-consumer marketing (legalized in 1997), metal illness is now regarded as almost "hip." He cites the trend in movies toward showcasing and glorifying sufferers of mental illness and points out that many Oscar-winning films now portray, and in a bittersweet or twisted way even glorify, mental illness. These are the "Beautiful Mind" sorts of movies. It's something to think about.

I guess for the most part, in modern America, it's "okay" to be bipolar? That seems to be the general sentiment: it's just a disease, nothing to be ashamed of. But I think as we grow more enlightened as a nation and put drugs in the proper perspective, the disorder may possibly lose its relevance or current acceptability. I think that's worth considering as we think about labeling anyone posthumously with any of our current psychiatric jargon- will the benevolence of the label wear off and leave these people essentially "slandered"? The posthumous labeling seems to be a new trend that may get out of control, and often strikes me as purely condescending (to say Mozart was "hyperactive" or that Jefferson was "Obsessive Compulsive.") Many people already believe bipolarity is over-diagnosed (just like ADD), and have little patience for hearing that this, that, and the other person are now "bipolar." Still others think the disorder doesn't even exist, so of course, Wanda, if you propose that Elvis may have had bipolar disorder, you'll encounter some skeptics and criticism. (And if you neglect to suggest bipolarity, you might encounter other critics! Can't win.)

If I read that Elvis was bipolar, I might be upset, not only about the label but just remembering all the troubles he had. My own guess is that Elvis was the type of person who wouldn't want a diagnosis like that- that he would be upset if he knew future generations would say he was mentally ill. That's just my guess. I asked a good friend of mine for her opinion this morning and she disagreed with me, saying it will invoke sympathy and acceptance for Elvis if people can see he was suffering with a disease, and he'd want that acceptance. (?) I just don't know... I defer to you here, Wanda.

But to explain my own position more clearly, I should say I AM biased here. A close member of my family was diagnosed as bipolar, and I truly feel that the diagnosis was ultimately more damaging to our family than that person's behavior in itself. The diagnosis seemed to erase accountability from the picture, jammed up the works of conflict resolution, and caused more problems than it solved. I don't know how to summarize almost 20 years of experience here, but I did want to mention I'm not the most objective critic in the world when it comes to this issue.

In spite of all those thoughts, Wanda, if you believe that it's the honest truth that Elvis had this disorder, I wouldn't want to try and dissuade you from saying what you feel should be said. I trust you'll weigh it and word it carefully, to make the issue clearer than it was before you tackled it, and minimize any negative backlash or confusion about your friend. I trust you completely to do your best with it.

I do not believe bipolor is due to a chemical imbalance. I think it is most likely an emotional disorder brought about by post traumatic syndrome.

That's so very interesting, Laurie. The family member I mentioned above was diagnosed after someone close to her was diagnosed as terminally ill, and shortly before this person died. Maybe she just internalized everything and never recovered.

I went to the website you shared with us and found many interesting things there. Lately I'm in a happy, optimistic, balanced frame of mind, and was relieved because I feel I don't need Roy Masters advice (today, at least Thank God.) But I see the wisdom in him. So I thank you.

Wishing you all a beautiful day,
Trish

p.s. Wanda, I forgot to ask- are you talking about the new HPV vaccines for girls? Thank you for the heads up, I had no idea the vaccines could cause warts.

[Wanda June Hill]

Yes, that is the one. Only in "some" cases has it caused them due to the person's own immune system-however they do not have a way to test to see first. What got me riled over the whole thing is their trying to force people to have their girls vacinated with a drug that has NOT been tested
enough yet-just like the do so many other drugs and find out they were not so hot after all. Like the flu vacine this year-more people got it than didn't get it if they'd had the shots-because they didn't work - put them out too quickly and made so many think they HAD to have them. My doctor who is older, and survived lung cancer a few years back has NEVER had the flu vacine- he asked me if I wanted one and I said, Did you get one? He looked me in the eyes and said, No, I've never had one. So I said, me neither and I don't plan to either. I've never had a really severe case of the flu- but I have a super immune system as I don't do the shot stuff and haven't in years.
I just feel it is too soon for them to be pushing that vaccine especially when it is untested and it is expensive also and requires not just one but boosters etc:... And the fact they have not fully tested the stuff...yet it's okay for little girls? What about little boys? They pass it on to the girls...girls wouldn't just "be getting it" would they? Unless the little boys would be too? Really, what is their game here? Like most drugs...men are the only ones who "count" - women and girls are secondary citizens even in America... sorry, that's what I think. But no girl of mine would get that vaccine! Like..."from my cold, dead fingers etc:".

I think I will change my text a bit and modify how it is worded more to being questioning than factual statement. Which I said anyway that I felt he did exhibit some of the symptoms however I did say it was related to the stress and pressure and the poverty he had experienced as a child.
Elvis was very nervous, he couldn't be still and was constantly moving something, I think the only time he was able to be quiet to do his parts in movies was that it was part of the "Act" he was performing...he became the character and so that let him shut off his own personality some what...I could just be barking up the wrong tree altogether though.
I sure don't want them to think he was a mental case- I do not think people who have problems controling anger or what ever it might be are mental cases-they simply have something not working quite right at the moment-probably due to the stress of something in their lives, their inability to control whatever... maybe because they never learned to do it as a child...everything we are is formed by our childhood...and too, I think by our "former soul patterns from other times" and yes, I think we have been here before and maybe have to come again...I hope not the last one though...I don't want to be here for what is coming to this earth in the form of tribulations etc:...to make it simple.
Anyway, I will rewrite and reword and see what you all think-I'll post it, that way everyone can have a look and opinion....that would be a good test perhaps- wjh

[tonytrout]

A person who is bi-polar has extreme mood swings and often has thoughts of suicide....so, in that respect, I think you can count Elvis out as being bi-polar. He wouldn't have taken his own life....he was smarter than that.

[Golden Sky]

Tony, it seems Elvis did have the mood swings to at least invite speculation, though. Don't you think so?

Thank you, Wanda, for your thoughts on the HPV. I agree with you that women are still treated as second-class citizens: that's simply what I see going on.

My husband and I are extremely conservative about getting our children vaccinated and think the vaccine problem is totally out of control. (So I won't be going for this one for my daughter, I don't think, unless we're rounded up and forced .)

Recently my state mandated the chicken pox (varicella) vaccine, which infuriated me. When a child gets chicken pox, they acquire a lifelong immunity, almost all the time. It is a superior immunity to the vaccine-acquired immunity, which only lasts a number of years (I'm thinking 15, but I could be wrong.) When the vaccine wears off, the person is now susceptible to contracting adult chicken pox: shingles. Shingles is much more difficult to treat and much more of a problem than mere chicken pox, but more cases of shingles may well be on the way, if people fail to get their booster shots.

We don't get the flu vaccine either... A lot of times animal particulate contaminates the vaccines, so people get a lot more than they bargain for with them. (Not to mention the thimerasol/mercury which is still in some vaccines.) There's speculation that mad cow disease was present in most of the vaccines given to children in the UK. We can drive ourselves crazy thinking of the consequences of that. When junk just goes right into the bloodstream, via injection, our digestive system hasn't got a chance to battle it out- so it's worse than just eating bad food.

I would be interested to see what you decide to say about Elvis and bipolarity if you decide to post if here in advance. All your insights are interesting, and this will be no exception! Thanks for thinking we all can contribute some worthwhile feedback.

Love,
Trish

[Ingrid]

Hello everyone and thank you for this most interesting conversation!

Trish, I really don´t think you expressed yourself poorly at all , in fact, I´m blown away by your insight. And I would have to agree with Trish and Blue Moon who said to be careful about "diagnosing" Elvis as a bipolar.

Please excuse if I come across as overly critical here, Wanda especially, don´t get me wrong, but there are so many strings attached to that label.
If I read somewhere that Elvis was bipolar I would expect some really convincing evidence, of medical nature preferably, or I would question the credibility of the source entirely since bipolar disorder is a complex mental illness. I´ve always been one who prefers the truth to fabrication and speculation, and if there´s sufficient and detailed evidence that Elvis was bipolar, it´s sad but we had to deal with it.

Please forgive me for bothering you with personal anecdotes, but I am biased also. I had two people at my work place who were openly bipolar, properly diagnosed and on medication, and their disorder was something you noticed immediately upon meeting them. One suffered more obviously from the disorder than the other, often scaring people who didn´t know him with his nervousness and irrationality, and the work of both was impacted also. If the depression became dominant in that vicious cycle, they were not really able to work, they couldn´t handle stress at all and had difficulty to focus. One of them suspisciously often went "on vacation".

Both of them were treated with a lot of respect and compassion by most people, but in a very sublime way not as "full" members of our work force. Even though they did their jobs very well with one restriction: WHEN they were ABLE to.

In spite of all those thoughts, Wanda, if you believe that it's the honest truth that Elvis had this disorder, I wouldn't want to try and dissuade you from saying what you feel should be said. I trust you'll weigh it and word it carefully, to make the issue clearer than it was before you tackled it, and minimize any negative backlash or confusion about your friend. I trust you completely to do your best with it.

Once again I agree with Trish . Wanda, I really look forward to that book!

Love
Ingrid

[tonytrout]

Tony, it seems Elvis did have the mood swings to at least invite speculation, though. Don't you think so?

No, I don't think so. I've also learned that a person who is bi-polar also thinks of suicide fairly frequently....and I honestly don't believe Elvis was that type of person.