A Catalogue Of Insomnia Comments

Patti your poetry is always amazing

Death has that way about it: It never wants to come while anyone is watching. - - - this is really so true. For some reason while i was driving home late tonight, suddenly it occured to me, while weaving too fast on a curvy back country road, whoa, I forgot about death there for a second...and this is just the time it could have snuck up on me and got me! ! Great poem patti! -RQ-

A poignant vignette of a tough time. I had childhood asthma and I know the terror of breathlessness. This is real stuff.

Perhaps it is because I only slept about two hours myself the last two nights, but this poem has truly touched me. It is so fascinating, and often fearful, the way certain smells and memories coexist, and in many ways control our emotions. Superb and deeply honest thinking throughout this wonderful poem.

A poem which tells it all like it is - except no one tells any answers because they can't believe it's our diet doing this (most of the times) to people. I had a light case of asthma which got worse until I was using the chemicals on the machine which I could feel was scrubbing my lungs to death. I quit any food I suspected and then when I quit my beloved coca-colas I got over it, seemingly completely, in eight months. Not saying your grandmother didn't have a worse case, only that wrong foods and especially any soda pops are only ok for the young who are too young to feel anything but the good, the great, tastes, that can in the long run destroy them. Most of our health issues can be cured or helped by diet but doctors steer away from this because the AMA would regard this as not part of their job if they gave any personal opinions as a regular part of their therapies, also it is controversial and gets into the holy realm of economics. So, the doctors specialize in pharmaceuticals, which all too often slow the mind as well as the body. All the not really good for you sugar is turning into what is worse for you, corn syrup, because the syrup is cheaper. Price-signs in grocery stores are becoming more misleading, everything is becoming tricky. We must look out for ourselves and no longer be fully trusting because big business is NOT looking out for any of us but only to the bottom line. I had a problem with Gerd and found they can give you a pill to shut down the digestion. Ok, but sometimes I still woke up choking to death, convinced I would never catch my breath. Can't get much more scared than that. Especially happened when I ate late at night. One day I went without my beloved bread for 3 days and was surprised to find I felt better, so I went without bread until at ten days I noticed my body feeling changed. I experimented and found, sure enough, the problem is totally gone so long as I don't eat bread. It's estimated by some health practitioners that up to 30% of people for some unknown reason have become gluten intolerant which means no wheat, the worst offender, barley, rye or oats. With some people it might only be wheat. My point is: why don't the doctors tell people to try this before putting them on a lifelong regimen of pills? Perhaps because the AMA thinks this is mixing medicine with conjecture. Ergo, doctors are a 2ndary source of help. Primary, nowadays, must be yourself. I have an empathy for your grandmother and all people like her.