Feeling Their Pain
A week before reading your cover article, “Taking a New Look at Pain” (May 19), I underwent major surgery. To my great fortune, my anesthesiologist is also a licensed acupuncturist. Just before my surgery he showed me the four needles he would apply during the operation to pain points near my thumbs and wrists. This was my first experience with acupuncture, and I was amazed by its results. It is almost unbelievable, but my recovery has been pain-free. This was the third surgery I had this year, and my post-op condition, compared with the other two, is truly remarkable. By coincidence, the day before I read your article, in which the first sentence reads, “There are moments in medical history when science morphs into magic,” I had penned a note to my anesthesiologist calling him a “magician” for the extraordinary success of his excellent care. Blanche L. Gelber Morrill, Maine
It’s clear that health-care professionals are making advances in recognizing and treating chronic pain, and that more needs to be done. But physicians and patients also must recognize–and initiate treatment for–mental illnesses that masquerade under and alongside physical complaints. What’s more, pain and depression are often two sides of the same coin. It is common for people to seek help from their doctors for various problems when clinical depression or anxiety disorders are an underlying problem. But typically, mental illness is not diagnosed and goes unresolved. For older patients especially, undiagnosed mental illness can diminish horizons and limit activity. Laurie Young, Executive Director Older Women’s League Washington, D.C.
As a family-practice physician in a small community, I enjoyed your articles about new advances in pain management. But I take issue with your article on fibromyalgia (“Fibromyalgia: Not All in Your Head”). Most reputable physicians do not recognize fibromyalgia as a distinct disease because no pathology is associated with it–a criterion essential to designating an ailment as a disease. What bothers most physicians is that by labeling fibromyalgia a disease it encourages people to claim disability. Most of us don’t want our taxes supporting someone who is not truly disabled. Tracy M. Baker, M.D. Augusta, Kansas
I have suffered from muscle pain since I was a small child (I’m 74 now). It has been a relief to be diagnosed with fibromyalgia and know that my pain is not due to mental illness. It is so easy for people to say “It’s all in your head.” Many medicines do little to relieve pain, and some even have damaging side effects. I have found a good measure of relief from chiropractic and alternative exercise therapies such as Pilates (to strengthen and stretch the body and heal injuries) and muscle-activation technique, which, by using a hands-on method, activates muscles that have been dormant. The therapies have enabled me to walk with a better gait and much less pain. Helen S. Katzman Van Nuys, California
Three thousand years ago Greek physicians discovered that electricity emitted from an eel buried in wet sand could calm leg pain. Today tens of thousands of people suffering from chronic pain have benefited from transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, which stops chronic pain without drugs or serious side effects. Although approved by the FDA and covered by most insurance, TENS therapy was not mentioned in your article as a solution for those suffering from chronic pain. A. Degon Kenlan, Director Project Health Oceanside, California
Mapping the Road to Peace
Dan Ephron explains that it will take more than a Palestinian in a suit to keep the Palestinians and the Israelis on the Roadmap to peace (“Now, the ‘Un-Arafat’,” May 5). It will require the bravery and resolve of newly elected Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to hold back Palestinian terrorists as well as that of Israeli and American politicians who must pressure Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from all occupied territories. Supported by the bravery and resolve of American soldiers, President George W. Bush removed Taliban terrorists from Afghanistan and a murderous tyrant from Iraq. Let’s see whether the politicians can measure up to the soldiers. Frank Pastirchak Yonkers, New York
You ask whether it will be easy for Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian prime minister, to “contain Hamas, end violence and get Israel to withdraw.” Israel has already traveled down this road, using a similar map called the Oslo peace process. It yielded countless Israeli concessions, including the turnover of 98 percent of the Palestinian population centers to Palestinian control. Yet this led to the surreptitious Palestinian buildup of illegal arms and ongoing acts of terror, and to the development of a school curriculum that teaches hate-filled, anti-Western venom and the virtues of martyrdom. The Roadmap is just more of the same. The reality is that 60 percent of the Palestinians today, by their own recent polls, still approve of suicide bombings, and a majority reject a two-state solution in favor of “all of Palestine.” As former U.S. peace negotiator Dennis Ross now concedes, Oslo failed to take account of that reality. A true peace plan must deal with these harsh facts rather than pressure Israel to ignore them at its peril. Harry J. Reidler Englewood, New Jersey
Suicide bombings of Israeli civilians should be called what they are–murder. And as such they are inexcusable. But the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories should also be called what they are–theft. And, of course, they are a massive provocation. The Israelis need to stop establishing new settlements and start withdrawing from old ones, immediately, not only when the suicide bombings stop. They should do this in part because it will mean fewer Palestinians will support the suicide bombers and help break the cycle of violence. But mostly the Israelis should do it simply because it is the right thing to do. Mark MacCallum Wellington, New Zealand
You say that Ariel Sharon vowed not to dismantle West Bank settlements (“Finally, a Dealmaker?” April 7). But for some time now Sharon has dismayed his most loyal followers by public declarations that he intends to dismantle many settlements in the framework of a peace deal with the Palestinians. He even named a number of large, well-established communities as candidates for evacuation. Josef Gilboa Jaffa, Israel
Evan Thomas got to the roots of America’s biggest foreign-policy problem when he talked about the impression that the “neocons” around Bush are “fronting for Israel, putting Zionist interests over those of the United States” (“The 12-Year Itch,” March 31). The “war on terror” should have started with peace in the Middle East. Two wars would have been avoided, many lives saved. Europe’s anti-American Bush-bashing peace activists have a point in criticizing the U.S. administration. Alas, they do it for the wrong reasons. America’s strong pro-Israel bias is most to blame. All military victories are useless in fighting terrorism. Until the Palestinian issue is solved in a just way, Americans won’t feel safe anywhere. Werner Breitenstein Stutensee, Germany
A Bipolar Prescription
In Iraq, the republican U.S. Administration triumphed with high-tech warfare 100 years ahead of other nations. But in its policy toward its foes and allies, it acted backwardly–in classic 1903 imperialist mode. In his article “The World Is Bipolar, After All” (May 5), Andrew Moravcsik accepts facts and suggests the best, simplest, most normal ways for policymakers to solve serious problems in the Middle East. But will the Americans follow them? Miklos Merenyi Budapest, Hungary
Opposing a Superpower
Condoleezza Rice’s quote “Punish France, ignore Germany and forgive Russia” (“Chirac’s Great Game,” April 28) and the continuous babble from the higher-ups in the U.S. government that they want to make France pay for its opposition to U.S. policies is frightening. What are Americans trying to prove? That anyone who opposes “our” policies and speaks his mind will be punished? If these are American democratic values, please abstain from exporting them elsewhere. Such types already exist everywhere in the developing world. By this definition, even Saddam Hussein was a democrat. He also punished, albeit severely, all who opposed him. What’s the difference? Mustayeen Ahmed Khan Angers, France
Oh, to Be European!
I read the article “When Worlds Collide” (May 5) with a great interest. I see some hope for a better and easier life after Poland joins the European Union. I hope that the majority of Poles will understand that the EU is holding the door open for everyone. I want to feel that I am finally an equal European citizen, not just a Pole. Joanna Dubiec Warsaw, Poland
A Totalitarian Taboo?
Shashi Tharoor’s Letter From America (“No Smoking! It’s the Law!” April 28) gave me an uneasy feeling of deja vu. Having spent the first 30 years of my life in a totalitarian country in Eastern Europe, I know a great deal about bans and restrictions. And yes, smoking was banned in the cafes in communist Bulgaria. We live in a health-conscious world and, if some New Yorkers think that by banning cigarette smoking in restaurants they will immediately reap the health benefits, so be it. But to wish for a total ban extending to parks and open spaces goes beyond health-consciousness. These kinds of extreme acts of fanaticism are dangerous. What next? Alcohol drinking? Dancing? Such a ban is unthinkable in France, Italy, Spain or any country in Europe. Yet residents of these countries have good quality of life, good food and wine, frequent holidays, longevity and cigarette smoking. I’d rather follow the Mediterranean example than live in a smoke-free New York, on an American fast-food diet, work 12 hours a day with only two weeks’ vacation. To believe that simply by banning smoking the quality of life will improve is naive in the least. Like everything else it is a combination of factors. Christina Christova London, England
Bears and Buckingham Guards Thank you for your informative article (“Bad News, Bears,” March 24). It is a tragedy that the British queen’s guards cannot find a suitable synthetic alternative to their traditional bearskin hats. I hope your information will reach those who can make a decision about changing that. I applaud your well-written, timely article, and thank you for speaking for those who can’t speak for themselves. Lori Harris Rome, New York
I wholeheartedly support the idea that Queen Elizabeth II substitute faux fur for real bearskin on the hats worn by the Buckingham Palace guards. I find it outrageous that, in this day and age, bears are still being killed to produce those hats. Faux fur is every bit as presentable as real fur, with the obvious added advantage that it harms no animals. If the queen is bent on keeping her guards’ heads dry, maybe she should just give them rain hats, and leave the bears out of it. Laura Frisk Encinitas, California
I have no doubt that a suitable man-made alternative can be found if the initiative is there. Even if artificial fur is not quite as good, it should still be used in the interest of a more compassionate world. After all, these are only hats we are talking about, not something that the guards’ lives depend on. Sarah Baker Hastings, England
How preposterous! A technologically advanced nation like England can certainly find a non-animal alternative to skinning innocent bears for headgear. After all, the guards at Buckingham Palace are not working in subzero temperatures. The bears have as much right to live as the queen has. She should get off her high horse! Sherry Fudim Upper Montclair, New Jersey
