2/16/40 [
2094]'s letter to EC:
"Your report on my condition has been received. You asked me
to write you how it coincides with what I know and
experience.
"What surprises me most is the fact that you make no mention
of the most serious and disturbing conditions.
"From my waist down I am almost paralyzed. I am almost
completely numb. While I can walk and move, it is with
considerable difficulty. For nearly two years this condition
has persisted and grown steadily worse in some ways, in
others seemingly better. But the sensations that accompany
my condition are the most trying that anyone can imagine.
Constantly, except when I sleep, I experience intense
contractions of the nerves and muscles of the lower body and
legs. This is accompanied by a varying sensation of burning
from the abdomen down to the toes; especially in abdomen,
small of the back, hips, thighs, the sexual organs, the
inside of the legs, especially in the crotch, rectum very
tight, inside knees, and along lower legs, the soles of feet
and toes. I feel also a numbness over the entire lower body.
The general feeling can best be described by the experience
one has when the limbs go to sleep and then begin to awake.
The stopped circulation begins again with its tingling and
burning sensation. Or when a limb is nearly frozen and
circulation begins, there is considerable pain and burning.
"The peristaltic action is partially paralyzed, necessitating
the taking of a mild remedy such as Cas-Evac. I have done
this now for over a year. There is considerable irritation
in the genitals. There is a slight tendency for the bladder
sphincter to contract at times, but not so bad as the rectal
sphincter.
"The contraction of the latter causes, as you know, the
constriction of the whole capillary vein system. This
condition extends to my fingertips also. The arms too, have
a similar, though very mild feeling of going to sleep.
"One of the most unbearable symptoms is the constant
formation of great quantities of gas in the stomach, some in
the intestines. This gas forms whether there is food or not
and causes great distention of the stomach, so intense that
it causes pressure on all the surrounding organs, blood
vessels and nerves. The pressure is not only outward, back
and sides against kidneys, but upward against heart and lungs
and downward against lower organs, prostate, etc. I can
release the most intense pressure as it develops, especially
after eating by strong belching, which I accomplish by
lifting up the abdomen, and by upward pressure on the
stomach. When this distention is worse, all the other
symptoms already described are worse. These latter symptoms
are also partially relieved after evacuation.
"My eyes are also affected, sensitive and inflamed; likewise
the lining of my nose is highly sensitive. As a matter of
fact, my whole nervous system is so sensitive that the
slightest discomfort is multiplied almost into a pain. This
has always been more or less true all my life. This makes me
inclined to be irritable. My skin is highly sensitive. I am
'thin-skinned' so to say.
"Now as to osteopathy: Up to 1938 I had had osteopathic
treatments off and on since 1904 or 1905. My back and limbs
were always very flexible. The locations you mention have
always been 'bad' spots, especially at 9th and 10th dorsal
and almost the whole of the lumbar. The sacral plexus region
has been always sensitive, especially at the pelvis-spine
intersection. One hip, left, is higher and left shoulder
lower. There is and has been for years a bad area in the
spine between the shoulder blades, about the 3rd to 5th
dorsal. The 7th cervical has been an especially bad point,
the point of meeting of the sympathetic and sensitory [sic]
nervous system; also the whole cervical area, affecting eyes,
throat and nose.
"Medical examination has shown disturbances, functional, of
pancreas, liver, heart. The whole circulatory system is
naturally affected, likewise the nervous system. A local
examination of my prostate about a year ago showed a slight
enlargement on one side. The doctor said it was not serious.
"The summer of 1938 I spent in Bermuda because these
distressing symptoms had become worse and worse. Before I
went I had been going to a good osteopath in New York City,
Dr. H. F. Launt, ... [Harry F. Launt, D.O.]; but instead of
making me better I GREW WORSE AFTER EACH TREATMENT. The
contractions grew so bad that I stopped the treatments.
Since then I have avoided all inclinations and advice to try
this treatment again, for I have discovered that any
irritation to the lower spine immediately causes violent and
painful contractions in my legs. These contractions are
helped somewhat by warmth and somewhat by inhibiting
pressures in sympathetic and corresponding areas in upper
body. But they are only ameliorated, not stopped.
"One of my greatest trials is on awakening from sleep. When
I awake I find the whole lower body and legs, sometimes also
the arms, numb and contracted as though dead. If I move too
soon or someone touches me unexpectedly, the legs pull up,
contracting violently; also muscles extending over the hips
contract painfully. I cannot resist or stop this contraction
if it once begins. I can sometimes, by the already mentioned
pressures on arms and hands, cause sufficient release of the
tension to allow me to get the circulation going, so that I
can gradually begin to move and then with a hot water bag on
hips and sacrum, also one on abdomen at navel, I experience
some slight relief. This condition and experience each
morning makes me dread to go to sleep at night.
"One thing is certain: I am never free, except while
sleeping, from sensations that just border on pain and which,
if continued, may result in most excruciating pain, glimpses
of which I have already had.
"My medical examiners declare that the sciatic nerve is
involved; they also say that some of the nerve cells in the
lower spine may be dead beyond repair. For eight weeks, from
the last of September to last of November, 1938, I spent in
the Neurological Hospital in New York City, where I was dosed
with all sorts of liver and vitamin products, by injection
and by the mouth, because of what was said to be ANEMIA, of
which they said I had the symptoms but not the appearance!!
After this ordeal I went to Coral Gables, near Miami,
Florida, and for five months received an average of two
injections of liver preparation a week. I seemed to improve
at first, but later not so much so. It was about this time
that I first wrote you. I noted one thing during this
treatment: There was an enormous amount of mucus in the
feces and a thick whiteish deposit in the bottom of a glass
urinal. This all ceased when I ceased this treatment last
May. I then began homeopathic treatments. There has been
certainly some improvement in vitality and appetite, but the
main symptoms have continued, varying of course. Just now,
they are at their worst.
"I have overdone, walked too much, sat too much, been too
active physically. Flat on the back is the best position for
me. But I have important work to do. I cannot lie and do
nothing. That would let my mind rest too much on my ills,
even though I spend much time in meditation. I, of course,
try to use my eyes as little as possible.
"I should like to ask, therefore, with this before you: Do
you still believe that there is no danger in my being treated
osteopathically? In any case, the osteopath would have to be
an 'A Number One' practitioner; one who has had some
experience in ills of this sort. Are there any such in
Florida?
"Because of the cold I shall probably try to leave here soon
and go to the Miami district. Cold and damp affect me most
adversely, and it has been both cold and damp here since my
arrival, with little prospect of better weather.
"May I ask more about the Jerusalem artichokes? What do they
do and what are their properties, please? As for the
Radio-Active Appliance machine you recommend, do you
believe it would relieve any of the nerve tensions?
"As for your reply to my questions about financial recovery.
This question is of course with me almost entirely an
investment problem. But I am no wiser now than before, I am
sorry to say. Naturally, what occurs will depend on how my
investments succeed. I can only use my best judgment, helped
by more experienced persons which, alas, is prone to error.
"I had hoped you might see more definitely, without too many
'ifs.' Please, this is not meant as a criticism. Such
things are difficult to answer.
"Thank you very much for your friendly advice from which I
hope to benefit...
"P.S. Remedies for anemia I am taking now are 'Abdol,'
containing all vitamins, especially C, and 'Ventriculin'
which is recommended as one of the most powerful antianemic
remedies. It is rich in enzymes and is taken from the lining
of the stomach of pigs. Both of these remedies are internal
remedies."
2/18/40 EC's letter to [
2094]:
"Thanks for yours of the 16th, and for your report on your
condition. From the years of experience we have had, Mr.
[
2094], I would say that it would certainly be worth trying
the suggestions. I wish I knew an osteopath that I could
recommend in Florida, but I do not; though I am sure there
are good ones there. But they would have to follow the
suggestions in the information for the treatments. Dr.
Dobbins, Dr. Frank Dobbins of N.Y., has had some two,
possibly three hundred cases of the readings. There is a
doctor in Atlanta, also one in Birmingham, Alabama, but I
can't say any special one in Florida.
"It was very interesting your mentioning 'Ventriculin.' It
was presented in a reading for someone, giving its contents
before it was put on the market. This was several years ago.
[See
264-39 and 264-40.]
"The Appliance is something that has been developed through
the readings and are only as yet handmade by the Corporation
whose name was, no doubt, given you. It is designed to quiet
the nerves. There is no sensation whatever with its use, as
it uses the vibrations of the body and is only active when
attached to the body.
"I do hope we can be of a service to you, Mr. [
2094]. For I
am sure there are hundreds, yes thousands, who have gotten
help from the suggestions when seemingly everything else had
failed.
"I do hope you will let us hear from you from time to time.
And should you try the suggestions, I would like to check up
on the manner in which the osteopath administers his
treatments..."
5/03/40 Mr. [
2094] and his nurse were present for his second
reading, saying that his condition has been pronounced
Lateral Sclerosis by physicians; that he has been treated by
Guy Beckley Stearns, M.D., Charles Goodman Taylor, M.D. in
New York City and D. D. Richardson, D.O., in Florida.
See
2094-2.
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation