Monday, November 6, 2017

The Other Side of the Opioid Epidemic

Just about a year ago today, I had my hip replaced. I was born with hip dysplasia, and as I got older, my hip began to give me greater and greater grief. I finally, at almost fifty-one broke down and agreed to the operation. My doctor, Dr. Craig Tingy is apparently one of the best orthopedic surgeons in Las Vegas; he briefly went over the recovery and ramifications of having total hip arthroplasty. I should be fully recovered after about six weeks. Awesome! I have a beautiful 120 pound lab and live in a condo, so a lengthy down time was not an option. Dr. Tingy failed to tell me, however that eighteen out of every one hundred hip replacements need to be revised, according to a recent study. There are many factors involved, however, my surgical experience and subsequent revision and horror story is a result of good old fashioned human error. Dr. Tingy hammered the prosthetic into my femur and fractured it, requiring a second surgery. The pain ancillary to a fractured femur is something I can hardly describe. The femur is the strongest and most utilized bone in the body; putting pressure on a fractured one is literally impossible. After the second surgery, which followed the first one by seventeen days, I was sent home on a walker. This was a bad decision, as my leg gave out, causing a fall, resulting in a dislocation of the hip and a broken trochanter. A third surgery was obviously necessary. During the third surgery, I contracted a staph infection, resulting in a pic line to administer IV antibiotics for six weeks. Needless to say, the recovery was arduous!
I was prescribed a plethora of opioid pain medication, and I mean a plethora. I'm gonna guess that I took a thousand pills from November 1, 2016 to April 1, 2017, all of which is included in a DEA file on me. Let me just just interject, the amount of pills is clearly available to the eyes of pharmacists, doctors, law enforcement and the United States Government, however, what the doctors and the hospital did to me that required me to consume such a mass quantity of narcotics is not; under HIPPA, THAT information is private, and while I will gladly release it, no one really cares to see it, as it is antithetically concise to the medication record, which simply lists the narcotic pain medication a patient has received. During March and April, I worked with my doctors to decrease the amount of pain medication I was taking; this was by my choice. It was never suggested to me by my orthopedic, primary or pain management doctors, nor was it advised by my pharmacy. By May of this year, I was narcotic-free and walking my dog further and further. Over the summer, I swam for strength training, participated in physical therapy and began my new life with my new hip.
And then...
In September, I began to experience pain in my femur, so I saw my primary doctor who thought perhaps I might be overdoing it a bit, and I had been pushing myself, walking a mile or two, here and there, so she prescribed me a low dose of pain medication called Tylenol 4. My pain continued to get worse. We increased  the medication to Vicodin, however, the pain increased, radiating down the back of my leg. At this point, my doctor ordered an X-ray, which indicated a CT was necessary. While waiting for my imaging appointment, the pain exponentialized to the point that I was hardly able to walk my dog this weekend. This morning, I went to the ER, which is located right next door to my doctor's office. I was hoping to get the CT done there and be treated for the pain that was now burning all through my my hip. The ER doctor attempted to give me a drug called Toradol. I am allergic. I told the nurse and she confirmed that this was in fact in my chart. I confronted the doctor. He proceeded to give me a history lesson in the adverse effects of opioid medication; I will paraphrase.
"Mrs. Arzola, the pain medicine your doctor gave you is making your pain worse. It only takes one dose to completely change your brain chemistry. Narcotic painkillers kill more people than they help". I asked him directly, "Do you think I'm here seeking drugs?" "Yes, I do", he replied. I promptly removed my IV and thew it in his face and if I do say so myself, it was one of my finest moments. I then left the hospital and went next door to let my doctor's office know what just happened and went home. My leg is on fire as I sit here writing this article and I have absolutely no control over what has happened to me regarding my hip replacement and the subsequent nightmare that has followed. I don't really know what my next move is other than to see my primary doctor, again.
I do want to talk a little about what the ER doctor said regarding narcotic medication and brain chemistry. First, let me say that extrapolation is one of my biggest pet peeves. It begets racism, sexism, all kinds of isms. Everyone is different. However, here is a little medical information on morphine and the brain: many a study has been done on long term effects of morphine, the opiate from which all pain medications are derived, on the brain. First time use, and short term use studies are few and far between, however, a study by the National Institute of Health conducted in 2011, using subjects that were given increased doses of morphine over thirty days and subjects that were given a placebo did note marked changes in the amygdala part of the brains of the morphine subjects, however, these changes seem to resolve within days to weeks of cessation. The study found that environment and a genetic predisposition played a role in the addiction process. In the absence of significant pain, the opiate receptors in the brain feel rewarded, like sex. The thing about morphine, however, is it seems the brain does not forget just how rewarding morphine feels, making it easier to fall victim to addiction and also suggests repeated use begets tolerance, requiring more morphine to feel the same reward. This is an obvious drawback ancillary to the use of morphine. But do the cons outweigh the pros? And does everyone become addicted? And should everyone in America be punished for the misuse of a few folks who, through no fault of their own have fallen victim to the negative effects of morphine? 
For millions of people across the globe, morphine is a godsend. Can you imagine waking from surgery with no pain medication, or how about suffering a broken limb, no morphine...In the age of Oxycontin, people are dying in unbelievable numbers, and this is the great American tragedy, but that tragedy begins with the lies of greedy, capitalist pharmaceutical companies and doctors, who knowingly over-prescribed an end-of-life narcotic pain medication to people with back pain. Oxycontin is highly addictive and should never have been prescribed so freely across the board. The only people to suffer are the patients. Purdue Pharma, who was fined $600 million by the federal government in 2010 for misleading EVERYONE about the effects of Oxycontin got rich. Doctors went on golf vacations, patients, who were subsequently treated like pariahs, turned to heroin, which is now being "cut" with Chinese fentanyl and that is why they are dying. 
But what about patients who truly are in pain and need to take pain medication, either short or long term. As established by the aforementioned study, the brain in pain reacts differently to the brain that is not when it receives morphine. Doctors, like the one I had the displeasure of dealing with today need to stop extrapolating the entire population. Every case is different and the government is doing a fine job of keeping tabs of every single pill given to every single patient. Urinalyses are required, pain contracts between doctors and patients are the new normal, current state identification is required to receive medication from the pharmacy. These rules are relatively new and it will take years to repair the damage done by big pharma, like Purdue and the complicit doctors who took kickbacks from them to peddle their poison to the masses, but the rules are in place and they're working. An emergency room doctor, who practices crisis management is in the wrong department if he is to sit in judgement of the patient who is in pain. If he is a doctor who chooses to extrapolate and refuses to prescribe pain medicine in an emergent environment should find another area of medicine, one in which he never has to prescribe pain pill one, again.
I needed help, today. I did not get it. I blame him, not the junkies of the world who are dropping like flies at the end of a needle; they are victims, too. We, as patients will always need morphine, regardless of the changes to the brain said morphine causes. According to the study, my brain should have gone back to a relatively normal state after discontinuing the use of my post-surgical narcotic medication. I'm just a normal, everyday fifty something year old woman with a family and a dog and friends a fledgling writing career who was physically damaged by a doctor who apologized to me for being distracted during my care due to his father's illness. It appears my prosthetic hip may need to be replaced, again. The pain is almost unbearable. I walked into an ER seeking relief, not a high. I was treated like a junkie, a word I hate, and don't mean to use in a derogatory manner, however, in his eyes, that's exactly what I was.
Doctors need to figure out how to handle this opiate crisis in a far different manner. It is not my job to do that. I am the patient.

Deannalynn Arzola












  














Tuesday, October 24, 2017

(This is the article I wrote for Heaven Can Wait Animal Sanctuary. It goes to press Thursday and will be available online Friday, October 26th. Hope y'all dig it::: <3 Dee) written October 24, 2012

12th Annual Lose a Pound With Your Hound
by Deannalynn Arzola

It’s hard to believe, but another Lose-a-Pound Memory Walk has come and gone. This year’s festivities were a howling success.
The day began for our volunteers at 7am, with the setting up of booths and stages. And what a lovely fall Sunday it was.
Wayne Bunker Family Park was a flush with vendors, dogs, Memory Collars, and even Elvis. Some of our terrific vendors included Pet Psychics offering paw readings, Bone Appetite, A Pet’s Bakery and A Purrfurred Pet Care Service. We wish to thank the many vendors who donated to HCWS during the event.
Other businesses that help raise money on Sunday were Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, who donated gift baskets which were raffled off to guests who purchased winning tickets.
Other than the Memory Walk, which took place on the park’s surrounding walking track from 10 to Noon, our event held our wildly popular Halloween Pet Costume Contest. This year’s first place prize goes to “Fat Elvis”, an absolutely adorable Basset Hound. “Schitzo” holds the honor of this year’s Silliest Pet Trick. Our friends at Smarty Paws set up an obstacle course for all of our guests to try their paws at.
Team Misfits holds this year’s distinction as the team that raised the most money for our beloved charity, pulling in a stunning $3500. The volunteers at Misfits used social media and networking as their means of raising such a remarkable sum. Congratulations Misfits. Your perpetual efforts are greatly appreciated.
The 12th Annual Memory Walk was a resounding success and woofs and woofs of fun for all. There are many more folks we wish to thank for their support in making our annual fundraising event such an important part of our mission to prevent pet-overpopulation in our community. Thank you to all of our faithful volunteers who share their time tirelessly, all year around. Thank you to all of our Memory Walk participants and our vendors. Thank you to the City of Las Vegas and Wayne Bunker Park, to all of our guests, our dj and emcee, “Elvis” and to In Corp.com for mingling with the crowd and providing home baked treats to our most important guests, for without whom, none of this would have been possible; our loveable, furry, four legged family members.
Our next Lose a Pound Memory Walk is less than twelve months away and we can’t wait to see you all again, then.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

What happens in Vegas...
⚅⚁⚄⚃⚀⚀⚂
And then there's the good ol' family and friends, you know...

He said, "Perhaps the relationship means more to you than him"...
The red dot is the exact location of the most prolific mass shooting in American history. 
The blue dot is my home.
The distance between the two is about 6 miles.
My city is in shock. A tragedy like this reverberates through the community like aftershocks from a major quake.
There is a plethora of topics to discuss once the shock wears off and the anger begins to take over.
My cousin, John called me to make sure I was ok. I got several wrong number calls from folks I didn't know checking on folks I didn't know. 
I'm always concerned for my people when tragedy strikes their hometown. When Harvey hit Houston, I was checking.
.................................
His truth, when he gives it is jagged. It scrapes against my flesh like a bread knife.
Perhaps all of my so-called relationships mean more to me than all of them. In fact, that truth is presently glaring. One person out of the 200 people I know checked on me in the wake of the worst mass murder in American history. 
My dog and i are fine. My daughter, who works on the Las Vegas strip is fine. My grandchildren are fine. My son-in-law is fine. Not that ANY OF YOU, my so-called friends and family, even bothered to ask. 
Reciprocity: The responses of individuals to the actions of others

~Deannalynn Arzola 




Monday, August 28, 2017

Having lunch with a friend one day, I noticed a peculiar behavior; he was very, very kind to everyone we encountered in the restaurant. As we were eating, I asked him why was so nice to them but often times nasty to those of us closest to him. He said to me, "Dee, that's the human enigma. We as a human race just tend to be kinder to strangers than we are to our loved ones." I thought that to be a very strange comment and as I got to know that person better, I realized it was just a lot of bullshit coming out of the mouth of a bullshit artist. Sure, it makes us feel better to be kind to people, but for the most part, the human race is kinder to her loved ones, I'm sure. The human enigma is not that most people are kinder to strangers than their own loved ones, that's just a characteristic trait of narcissism.
Here is what I find the human enigma to be: We spend our whole lives looking for the kind of love that will encapsulate us, hold us close, never leave us, however, when we don't experience that love, we tend to believe we didn't deserve it in the first place, so the next time we enter into a relationship, while we may be looking for love- we're probably setting ourselves up to fail simply for the fact that that's what's happened in the past and, hey, you might as well be prepared for what's about to come. 
You never really find that bliss until you fall in love completely with the person who is completely in love with you. The funny thing -well, the not so funny thing is that we cannot attain that bliss while we're in relationships we set ourselves up to fail in. Only the bliss can make us feel worthy enough to be with the person we're supposed to be with rather than setting ourselves up to fail with people were not supposed to be with. The courage to be with your true love comes only from having been with your true love. Let me repeat that- the courage to be with your true love comes only from having been with your true love. 
That, my little pretties, is the human enigma.

By 
Deannalynn Arzola 

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Trump's Racist Megaphone

I LOVE this.
Trump used his racist megaphone when he announced to the world that "Mexicans are rapists", he used it for Charlottesville, when he said there were "good people" defending "our beautiful statues" of leaders of the the confederacy.
He's a big mouth blowhard, with no governmental experience, who objectifies women, is hiding what appears to be money laundering activities for enemies of the state, applauds Vladimir Putin and white-supremiscists. He has kept not one major campaign promise; no infrastructure, no lowering of healthcare premiums, no border wall. The only thing he's "shaking up in Washington" is our confidence in our safety and our leaders. He has bullied North Korea's ticking time bomb into advancing an agenda of complete, nuclear annihilation of the West. He is an unqualified, mentally unstable, insecure narcissist. He's done nothing to advance clean air, global participation or America's leadership in the world. He's a nepotist with a very unhealthy view of his daughters; one he wishes he could date, the other he told his wife to abort.
My own politics aside, I've found not one redeeming quality within him, from the time he and his card member carrying kkk father were sued by the federal government for refusing to rent to Black folks, to his ridiculous reality t.v. show, to his abusive campaign to his failed attempt at everything presidential. Not one.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Hi everyone. I'm raising money to buy a car and I believe if everyone chips in a little, it would help me a lot. Please click the link to donate.
Thank you so much,
Dee
https://www.gofundme.com/a-car-to-move-forward



Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Numerology by Adrian Duncan


The Numerology Secret
Hello Deanna,
I'm glad you took advantage of this opportunity to get a free Mini-Numerology reading that could change your life! Today you'll learn the basics of how numerology works, and how you can harness the power of the numbers to your advantage. This information is completely free!
But, I'm also going to give you the chance to get access to a full numerology report as well as a series of guides that will show you new ways to expand your world and get the most out of life.
I've dedicated my life to understanding how numerology really works, and I've used my knowledge to help thousands of people learn more about themselves and turn their lives around!
All you have to do is open yourself up to the power of numerology, and you may learn truths you'd never have access to otherwise.
But, enough of that. Before I tell you about this incredible opportunity, let's get to your Mini-Numerology reading!
We'll start off with your “life path,” one of the most basic parts of any numerology reading. You were born on Jan 8, 1966. That means your life path number is 4.

How We Know Your Life Path Number Is 4

Calculating your life path number is a four-step process:
  • We start out with the year of your birth and add up the numbers in it. If you were born in 1988, 1 plus 9 plus 8 plus 8 becomes 26. You then add the those numbers together and we get 8.
  • You then add the numbers of your birth date. If you were born on the 14th, that would give us 1 plus 4, which equals 5.
  • Next, add up the numbers of the month you were born in. If this is a single digit, just use that. So, if you were born in May, this number would be 5.
  • Finally, add up the three numbers from the first three steps. In this example we'd add 8 plus 5 plus 5 and get 18. Adding 1 plus 8 then gives us 9 as the final life path number.

You Can Use A Life Path Number Generation Chart To Calculate Anyone's Life Path Number!

1966Jan08Sat
1966
 
22
 
4
Jan
 
1
08
 
8
4
 
1
 
8
 
13
13
 
4

What You Can Learn From Your Life Path Number

“You are known for having charisma and attracting friends like wildfire. Being social is very
important to you and is the core of your personality...”
Life Path NumberDeanna, your life path number 4 tells us...
Your soul is directly connected to spirituality, the occult and religions. People with life path number 4 can be drawn to the priesthood, or become psychics or faith healers. You have a deep connection to your community and want to help people.
You have a need to communicate the nature of spirituality with your fellow man. You also have a strong creative side, which may
draw you to writing, painting or sculpture in order to help people understand your vision.
Compassion rules your life, and you may feel uncomfortable with how divisive the world is today. You want to make the world a better place, but may feel that you are not important enough yet to help move the universe in a more positive direction.
You object to the cult of materialism, prejudice and lust that often seems to rule today's world. You know that other things are more important in the long run.
You are known for having charisma and attracting friends like wildfire. Being social is very important to you, and is the core of your personality. Connecting with friends is often more important to you than your other responsibilities.
You are not a selfish person, though you do feel a connection with a higher power. At some point your faith will be tested, but you should be able to survive this crisis of confidence.
Once you move past your “dark night of the soul,” you will emerge as a stronger person who will be able to help others even more than before.
Sometimes, life may seem too difficult for you and you may at times feel insecure and lonely. People may not realize the compassion and spiritual gifts you have to offer, and they will try to take advantage of your kind soul.
But this will not stop your strong sense of empathy for others, even if they think you may be weird. You may face relationship challenges, but when you do make an emotional connection it will be particularly strong. You need to remember that the cosmos has a higher purpose for you, and that the world is a better place because you are in it.
Now that you know the basics of what your life path number says about you, it's time to learn about your “expression” number.

How To Calculate Your Expression Number

Your expression number will tell you what your core talents and abilities are. Your expression number is 3.
You create your expression number by turning the letters of your name into numbers using this chart:
1
A
J
S
2
B
K
T
3
C
L
U
4
D
M
V
5
E
N
W
6
F
O
X
7
G
P
Y
8
H
Q
Z
9
I
R
As you write out your name, put the numbers for the vowels above the numbers for the consonants. Do this because when it's time to calculate your soul urge number, you'll only be using the vowels and this will make it easier.
This gets tricky with the letter “y.” If it is pronounced like a consonant, it needs to be treated like a consonant. If it is pronounced as a vowel, it should be treated as a vowel. For example, in the name “Yolanda” it would be a consonant. In the name “Stacey” it would be a vowel. 

Now Let's Discover Your Expression Number

 
5
1
 
 
1
D
E
A
N
N
A
4
 
 
5
5
 
Once you've gotten this far, you just add up the numbers in each row.
So the top line becomes ( 5 +1 +1 ), which gives us ( 7 ).
The bottom line becomes ( 4 +5 +5 ), which gives us ( 14 ).
Now add up these two numbers ( 7 + 14 ), and that gives us ( 21 ). Adding ( 2 +1 = 3 ).
So, Deanna, we now know that your expression number is ( 3 ).

What You Can Learn From Your Expression Number

“You are very smart and creative with an attention to detail that may be confused with obsession...”
Expression NumberDeanna, your expression number of 3 tells us about your natural talent and abilities...
Getting caught up in your work is your natural form of self-expression. You like to make sure your desk is in order, your house is clean, and your bills are paid. When you can't have your affairs in order, it makes you nervous. You work to be the “nuts and bolts” that keeps the great machine of life working properly.
You are a person of action, and not one of empty words or promises. You take a down-to-earth approach to showing others how you emphasize with and care about them. You are a person of convictions dedicated to making sure your family members and friends are happy and well cared for.
If you think that your efforts can help other people achieve their goals, you will be a very hard worker. If people try to go against the team or are arrogant, you push back and try to bring them back into the fold. You aren't one to suffer people with huge egos.
This may cause you to come into conflict with authority, because you'd rather fall on your sword doing the right thing than cave into authority and do the wrong thing.
Nature is very important to you. You may maintain a garden. Or, you may own many pets. Ecological causes are important to you. You believe that man and nature need to work with each other to make the world a better place.
One of your challenges may be to avoid getting into many arguments. Because you have strong opinions, other people may consider you to be bossy. You need to find a way to express your deeply held opinions in ways that are not offensive to others.
When you are in relationships, you are the most loyal partner you can be. But you may find yourself drawn to people with insecurity issues, and you may be tempted to take advantage of them. You need to use your natural empathy to break past these impulses.
Because you are highly organized, you will do well in careers that require planning and focus. You would make a wonderful administrator, surgeon, carpenter or urban planner.
You are very smart and creative with an attention to detail that may be confused with obsession. Your self-discipline may lead you to become excellent at sports, music or acting.
When you choose your clothes, you do so to ensure they are practical and not flashy. When you see other people, you are more concerned with their inner beauty than their outward appearance.
Because you are so well organized, you may become a highly respected member of your community and achieve success at a young age.
This is what your expression number says about you. Now, before I tell you about the opportunity I have to offer you, I want to talk about your soul urge. 

What Your Soul Urge Says About You

What Your Soul Urge Says About YouDeanna, you have a soul urge number of 7. This number unlocks the secrets of what your heart really desires out of life.
Your soul urge number says that you always strive to be the best at anything you put your mind to. You always strive for success and when success eludes you, it can be soul crushing. Your connection with a higher power makes you feel like you not only let yourself down, but also let others down when you can't accomplish your goals. This can lead to a crisis in faith.
You need to work on putting your life into perspective. You can feel that you are always entitled to success. You need to understand that everyone must fail sometimes so that they can learn from their experiences. This will be a hard, but important lesson for you to learn.
You have a strong sense of pride and ambition, which may make others dislike you. Other people may be jealous of your success and work against you. It may be important for you to hide your high sense of self-esteem so as to not push others away from you.
Yet, you desire other people to see you as special. This may lead to you taking outlandish actions in order to be noticed, causing you to make mistakes that sabotage your career, because no matter how much you want to work with others as part of a team, you constantly stand out from the crowd.
This is also part of why you have trouble with authority figures and may rebel against them.
You need to be careful that other people don't see you as a braggart. You also have to fight against your internal desire to create unnecessary drama. You may prefer negative attention to no attention at all.
You may also find yourself drawn to damaged people because you feel a need to rescue them. Addiction and obsession are also risks that you may be drawn to.
You should try to find ways to make your natural stubbornness a thing of the past. Use your natural empathy for others to find ways to deal with them with sensitivity and tact.
Don't be in such a hurry to succeed or be recognized that you damage your future and your reputation. Instead, use your talents to help make the world a better place and resist the urge to draw attention to yourself.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

How Narcissists and Their Flying Monkeys Really, Really Suck

The following article from "Narcissists, Sociopaths and Flying Monkeys, Oh My" is the best article I have ever read.

Learning to live with the heartbreak of family betrayal is a difficult and time-consuming process, especially after enduring what might seem like or has truly been a lifetime of suffering at the hands of Domestic Abusers. Doing so requires mindfulness, a hell of a backbone, and ultimately a positive attitude of gratitude. But it’s hard to feel happy about being abused — and it’s even harder to feel good about watching people you’ve known forever literally turn their backs on you when and if you out an Abuser. Suggest something as outlandish as having all the family members come together to stop enabling a Cluster B family member, or to watch while you sit back feeling powerless to defend yourself from smear campaigns started by an angry, socially toxic con artist who is actively preying on you or your family member(s) and LOOK OUT. Chances are you will immediately become persona non-grata at ever family function, smear campaigned against in the most brutal of ways, and the stories you hear told about yourself won’t even sound familiar to you. Such people are commonly known in self-help social circles as Flying Monkeys. When and if they band together to support or socially back a stronger predator, the Narcissistic Abuse tactic they are using is referred to as mobbing — a pitchfork in hand, led by a fork-tongued abuser style mob ready to do or say anything they can to ensure that whoever is targeted for exile. Their primary goal and pleasure in life is to control other people’s psychology, emotions, and personal lives. Preferred scapegoat targets and anyone who purposefully or inadvertently become whistleblowers are socially shamed to the point of no return with regard to being functionally allowed to be allowed to live life with dignity. The number one goal of Abusers and their Flying Monkeys (a.k.a. ENABLERS) is to ensure all Narcissistic Supply sources remain under their constant psychological control. If a target is financially, spiritually, and emotionally crushed, the hope in every abusive social predator’s basket of deplorable dreams is to have their targeted Narcissistic Abuse victims return to the fold, begging for love, affection from the predators, and the entire clan’s social re-acceptance and mercy. It’s a heartbreaking and life changing experience for most, either being abused by narcissistic people or watching those to whom they have always supported and done nothing but love and trust align with people who situationally abuse. Connect the Dots Magical Thinking reflects Narcissism in Co-Dependent personalities But honestly, it’s the name of the game. ALL — and we do mean ALL Cluster B people manufacture triangulations, pathologically lie to alleviate boredom, and will do or say whatever it takes to self-promote while destroying another person’s life, mental health, and spiritual state. Narcissistic Abuse is always about one person having power and control over another person’s psychology and emotions. Nothing good ever comes of it, either for the abused or in the cosmic sense for the Abuser. People who betray friends and family members in order to elevate their own social status in and among toxic peers or toxic family members are guilty of a double moral crime — overlooking and subsequently enabling abuse. Mobbing — meaning ganging up to talk trash, menace, and humiliate a target while banding together and taking pride from feelings of social inclusion — is truly one of the least attractive sides of human psychological compulsion to witness. Especially when you are the Frankenstein monster of sorts being hunted by toxic family members or targeted. Flying Monkeys take several forms when and if they elect to jump on the bandwagon in order to make themselves feel like part of the “in crowd”. In their manner of vertical (rather than horizontal) thinking, in order for them to feel successful, there has to be a winner — but more importantly, they must create then totally socially, personally, and most oftentimes professionally annihilate anyone they deem a LOSER. Some conformist adult children willingly align themselves with social predators in order to themselves escape abuse. Others do so because they feel with another sibling or person out of the way, the charming Abuser will bestow on them something akin to “Golden Child” status. Hoping to be treated like they are worthy, such people tend to emulate the abuser… ruthlessly striving to prove how BAD their sibling or a rival is for doing nothing more wrong than being born or breathing. Most conformist children secretly hate or deeply mistrust Abusers but will suck up compulsively in order to do things like jockeying for more favorable positioning with elderly people. Seriously — CONFORMIST ADULT CHILDREN who have been raised by or around toxic peers are quite simply NEVER good people. Many are readily willing to admit behind the back of the Matriarch or Patriarch of the family unit they seek to impress that they are hoping that when that person or couple dies, they (the Abuse Enabler) will have ingratiated themselves enough to sidewinder bypass an abuse victim in order to financially steal the inheritance. Connect the Dots Grieving the loss of relationship with an abusive Adult Child It’s all about feeling like THEY are more powerful, somehow smarter for being Machiavellian, and to prove to those they hurt that they — as the former lackey, are somehow entitled to wear their abusive parent’s imaginary crown. Whatever the case, family members who elect to overlook and enable abuse do something far eviler than the two karma inducing things enabling and overlooking abusers do. When Enablers choose to socially and publicly align with situational abusers who lie about the moral crimes they commit in secret, they themselves actually BECOME ABUSERS. How do you know when they have been socially lured to embrace the dark side of the personality force? When and if they: engage in the act of mobbing or play both sides of the fence, spying and lying to both sides while rubbernecking and fostering more social mayhem. By compounding pre-existing things like sibling rivalries, parent-child estrangement, or fully artificially devised, sabotaging triangulations, you know both who they are by nature as well as the type of people they choose to be based on their own desire of personality qualities to nurture. That’s right — Flying Monkeys who support abusive, dishonest, lying, sadistic, or covertly manipulative personality types, simply by their choice to stand on the side of a predator over rationally and empathically validating a victim and seeking to stop enabling social predators, become something called ABUSERS BY PROXY. And yes, that’s a moral crime — something that is akin to being the “get-away driver” for a bank robber. Make no mistake about it. There truly is no other interpretation. It’s dangerous to minimize, overlook, or to try to sweep bad behavior under the rug when and if you are confronted with having to deal with social predators. Moral crimes are those social injustices that no one can quite seem to hold another person socially or legally accountable for, in general. Deplorable behavior is deplorable whether a person can be or is ever arrested for it or not. Moral crimes are things like promoting or enabling hate speech, telling lies to avoid personal responsibility, misleading friends and family members about private action as well as falsifying public image, and doing things like simply behaving in public one way while acting totally different in private whenever. In close-knit families with many siblings, toxic parents strategically triangulate children and grandchildren. Connect the Dots How physically dangerous is your Abuser? Triangulation is meant to foster sibling rivalry, and most toxic senior citizens who have raised children to socially and emotionally compete for their approval, attention, and affection (as well as protection) themselves typically report having been parented in a Narcopath style by their own elders. What’s more, toxic senior citizens who have raised families that divide tend to report that they grew up estranged from their own siblings emotionally, physically, or psychologically. That’s not by accident, either. The more toxic a parent — especially a mother figure or female role model — the more likely siblings are to have been socially nurtured to think like conformists, competing with targeted or scapegoat family members for the proverbial one-upmanship status Cain and Abel already tried. Narcissistic mother figures tend to thrive socially and emotionally by pitting their children and grandchildren against one another. The more a child strives to win favor with the parent, the more likely the other siblings are to feel less loved, less appreciated, less valuable, and ultimately LESS LIKED. Having parents who like you — rather than simply barking out hollow terms that they love you — is a huge deal. People who grow up to have close personal relationships with their parents as friends tend to have the most stable families and personally fulfilling home lives. But people who grow up with role models that declare stupid colloquialisms like “Because I’m your mother and I said so, that’s why!” in anything other than a truly joking, loving tone are likely to feel the sting of their parents toxic thought patterns and accepted belief systems. This phenomenon tends to produce in an adult child a socially and psychologically perceptible sting. Nasty parents will smear campaign against an offspring the very same way a toxic adult child will do all they can to socially and emotionally target and invalidate a sibling with whom they have always felt less kinship and more rivalry. If the Golden Child of the family does something to displease a parent, watch how fast narcissistic and anti-social family members will slide right into position themselves as the new preferred favorite while hoping to keep the parent functionally estranged from a sibling! Why would they do such a thing? Beyond the obvious SELF STROKING OF THEIR OWN EGOS, the biggest suck-ups in the family are typically those status oriented, socially and emotionally competitive family members who are above all else greedy and obsessed with WINNING. Connect the Dots Narcissists and Sociopaths groom victims to enable abuse That’s where betrayal comes into play, as people with Covert Narcissistic tendencies who harbor secret ill will against a family member or close personal friend tend to start sucking up copiously. The pattern includes former spouses of adult children sucking up to former in-laws in an attempt to socially promote themselves while they rubberneck and meddle in their former love interest’s life, people who see senior citizens as weak-minded and easily able to be manipulated psychologically and emotionally into leaving themselves or their own children money in wills, and those who just plain don’t like an abuse target personally (but have always kept that fact a secret in order to avoid that person finding out they were two-faced, self-centered, and ethically duplicitous). Parents who abuse their children often raise at least one in four of their children to be abusive. They persistently tend to enable that person, while showering them with compliments and absolutely unwavering social protection. Parents who have several children raise runners, lost children, rebels, and golden children. The Abuser in the family (as the adult offspring most likely to conform to the abusive parents Cluster B thinking) does not necessarily take on the role of Golden Child, however, in the family structure. That title tends to be afforded to the most self-interested and self-centered of all the siblings. Golden Children tend to strive to please and impress their toxic parents by sucking up, speaking one way to their face and another completely behind their back. Understand that this is the personality type most likely to manufacture chaos, to betray their sibling’s confidences, and to ruthlessly do whatever it takes to make sure their material and social status is secured. Sometimes that person is the adult child of a toxic parent, notably a conformist or Golden Child by both nature and nurture. But it could be the sibling of a toxic parent, an ex-husband or an ex-wife, a grandchild who takes after the Cluster B grandparent by genetic nature, or a person who has hung around and weaseled their way into the family network with the sole intent of spying, sabotaging interpersonal relationships, and compulsively seeking “validation” as a person who matters to the targeted family for years. Noting that Abusers lie, blame shift, victim shame, and do or say anything they can to make people like them while they strive to socially destroy the reputation of a targeted Narcissistic Abuse victim, weak predators who suck up to Cluster B personality types tend to have a rude awakening in later years. Connect the Dots Malignant Narcissists use their own social insecurity as justification to bully As senior citizens, people with full-blown personality disorders or extreme entitlement issues tend to get old without ever socially or emotionally maturing. What that means is, once the nicest people in the family have been “run off”, that the care of the elderly falls into the laps of those the least inclined to give up their own lives, lifestyles, money, or time to do it. This places the toxic senior in a more vulnerable position than many of them who realize the reality of what they have done typically care to admit. If they were Somatic Narcissists when they were younger, age and failing health issues tend to dysregulate them psychologically and emotionally speaking quite a bit. Most children who are targeted for abuse by a toxic family self-identify with preferred scapegoat status. Parents encouraging siblings with more aggressive personality types to pick on and abuse emotionally sensitive, thoughtful, and reflective children tend to end up stuck living with their nastiest offspring or shuttled off to places like assisted living facilities or nursing homes rather than being cared for lovingly and compassionately by their “overly sensitive” adult child types. Children of toxic parents have tough life choices to make when it comes to deciding how to handle parenting strife. If adult children are toxic themselves, many relish at the opportunity to abuse their senior citizen age parent in private at every opportunity. Why? Because Cluster B people are simply all alike. Being able to abuse a parent who abused or neglected THEM as children is their ultimate joy, “victory dance”, and pride in life. But if that parent gets savvy and wise to their toxic adult children’s (or toxic adult grandchildren’s) mind game, chances are incredibly high that their own narcissistic streak will let them go out on an emotional high note. All of them — whether 30 or 80 — will tend to revert to playing childish psychological games to drive their caregivers crazy. Most, when and if they can gain access to a lawyer or accountant, will do things like move money around in secret and do things like write people in and out of wills in secret — so when they finally DO kick-off, they have the last laugh burning people who traded valuable years of their life and countless dollars trying to ensure their comfort. Connect the Dots Smear Campaign survival strategies recommended by and for Abuse Survivors That’s the most common horror story reported by children of all ages whose parents had Cluster B personality disorder issues. So many of them write the people who care for them the most out of their wills in secret or wipe people’s names off life insurance beneficiary lists with a vendetta agenda or out of pure ill-intentioned spite that is like meeting a unicorn when and if a loving adult child says they were well taken care of or provided for by a nasty parent when they die. Take for example the Celebrity Narcissist news story about Aaron and Tori Spelling. When Aaron died, he was worth a fortune. But do you think he left his fortune to his daughter Tori? No. Aaron Spelling left his mansion, the bulk of his wealth, and complete control of his estate and holdings to his Somatic Narcissist wife Candy. Not to the mother of his children, mind you. To an evil Narcissist he trusted to do the right thing as the executor of his last will and testament, a woman expected to fairly distribute his personal property and holdings. But guess what. Mama Candy decided that her beloved husband’s daughter deserved virtually nothing. Candy kept the mansion. Candy kept the art. Candy kept the house. Candy kept the furnishings. Candy kept the stocks and bonds and financial assets. Candy, Candy, Candy, Candy, Candy… And Tori? The daughter Aaron treated and raised like a Golden Child, doted on, and paid more attention to in life that he did the wicked wife? Guess what she inherited after spending a lifetime following her father’s orders, striving her best to please and impress him? Bupkis. Yes, you did read that right. Unbeknownst to Tory, when her father married Candy, Candy — a Somatic Narcissist as his lawful wife — stood to inherit EVERYTHING. Trusting her to behave ethically was Mr. Spelling’s biggest mistake. Either that, or he was one of the meanest and most toxic rich parent snakes alive. Tory ended up net gaining roughly 800K plus a carload of items from her father after spending her entire life thinking that both she and her own children would be financially protected, safe, and provided for in life. To some, that might sound like a windfall of cash — until you realize that Tori’s father left over 600 MILLION DOLLARS in estate holdings, micromanaged and kept for her own personal use by his greedy, rapacious, and narcissistic spouse. Connect the Dots Dark Triads use Abuse By Proxy tactic to enact revenge on Victims Now, some toxic thinkers raised to read greed into our above statements are likely to say a parent owes a child nothing when and if they die. But we’re not talking about parents who never lead children or adult children down the primrose path of believing if they allow parents to dominate their time, ruin their marriages, destroy their own relationships with their own kids while striving to please their unpleasable parent, and spend literally decades being verbally and personally abused by a parent who dangles things like “family honor” and sentimental possession inheritances in front of children in order to manipulate and savagely control their adult children’s lives. We’re talking about nasty people who hold things like personal property from ancestors and family photos hostage. We’re talking about parents who themselves pulled Candy Spelling maneuvers with trust funds left for grandchildren with the sole aim of easing their OWN financial and physical burdens in life. We’re talking about parents who are so toxic that never one during the course of their natural born life did they do a single nice thing for a child without that child being pledged into indentured servitude for life. And we’re also talking about parents who — for WHATEVER they say is or was their reason — never one put their own child or adult child’s current or future-based needs above their own sense of material comfort or social pleasure in life. To be told daily that if you just follow a parent’s orders, take their personal life advice, and fall into line makes you a part of the family is hard enough… but toxic parents who use money and sentimental property possessions as a weapon or tool to manipulate their adult children into kissing their ass for 80 plus years based on the promise that the time they trade doing so (as lost fiscally productive years) will be “made up for” when and if inheritance time comes near can truly leave an elderly parent’s primary social and emotional caregiver and companion unprepared. That means no matter how much a disenfranchised offspring who is and has been nothing historically but a sensitive, emotional, loving, kind person striving to help their own parent of nuclear family of birth improve and elevate their conscious connection is accused of being “greedy” or “selfish” for feeling hurt when and if they are financially or socially shunned, the accusation is based on an illogical presumption that the same things motivate an Empath or HSP [Highly Sensitive Personality type] as does a person whose brain bio-mechanically operates in such a way that they socially, emotionally, and psychologically typify that of a person who is by nature or nurture a Cluster B. Connect the Dots Why Church Doctrine should come with a Warning (and Instruction) Label You see, the primary motivator is LOVE seeking validation and ultimate harmony for most HSP individuals. Living life from a high EQ as well as IQ perspective tends to produce mature thinkers, noting that someone who is chronologically age 12 is likely to be twice as mature as a 50-year-old person who has a personality disorder like NPD, HSP, BPD, or a truly anti-social ASPD personality. Be mindful that toxic parents raise messed up children at best. That includes scapegoats, children who rebel as black sheep of the family, those who enable while basking in Golden Child status with glory, and abusive conformists who take after their rotten mother or toxic father figures, too. As such, the recommendation is to depersonalize abuse, disengage from a social relationship with any person who sucks up to a known Abuser, and take a life skills tip from those who are primarily self-centered, shallow, and egocentric. Protect your OWN interests physically and financially. Stop sending all your retirement money and savings to help buy gifts for a mother who gives back little (if anything) and appreciates NOTHING. Stop taking crap from your angry and verbally abusive dad who was never there for you as a child but now demands you enable your toxic mom to abuse your fiscally, socially, emotionally, and financially. Walk away from that nasty grandparent who did nothing but try to get you to disrespect your own loving parent while they compete with their own child for YOUR affection as their target possession acquisition. The money you stand to inherit will never replace the trust and (honestly) unconditional love of a kind-hearted parent. It also won’t undue karma you create for yourself when and if you choose to accept the 30 pieces of silver a toxic abuser offers you to become their pet Flying Monkey — using and abusing YOU by pretending to genuinely care for YOUR long term best interests when all they really want to do is make sure your betrayal of a parent makes YOU an Abuser By Proxy, breaking the heart of your loving mom or devoted father. And by all means if your sister or brother treated you terribly as a child, don’t waste one moment of your time worrying about making nice with them in order to please an enabling parent. Connect the Dots Pretending to be straight a Cluster B trait Let mom or pop take over the role of trying to deal with them — something they failed to do when you were kids, leaving them free to situationally abuse while parents did their own thing like sit at cocktail parties, avoid family responsibilities by claiming they “had to work”, spent countless hours avoiding true parenting responsibilities by engaging in busy work, or they played golf at the country club with absolutely zero care, concern, or remorse! If a sibling showed signs from a young age of developing a Cluster B personality disorder in their childhood years, chances are that without serious behavior management and family-supported proper socialization of a child that they grew up to have “bona fide” personality disorders. Early predictors include children likely to develop Narcissistic Personality Disorder showing signs of having had Oppositional Defiant Disorder during their middle school and teenage years and kids likely to develop Anti-Social Personality Disorder having exhibited all the traits of little people who had Childhood Conduct Disorder. Parents who have Cluster B are easy to spot. They glorify themselves, act with raging entitlement issues, tend to be the first people to point out why everyone they come into contact with owes them respect and should treat them like royalty, and they will be quick to point out everything in the world wrong with everyone but themselves — especially taking great delight in socially or emotionally shaming and publicly humiliating you. Identifying a Cluster B sibling requires honest forensic psychology work. If you do an inventory of memory, chances are that your sibling’s personality by the time they were age 6 was fully formed, whatever it was at that stage of the game is exactly where they are most likely to revert to by core nature when and if stress in them forms. Both parents and their toxic adult children tend to revert to raw, more primal “id” states of explosive rage-a-holics and become more (rather than less) sinister and self-centered as they age. Time is never the friend of a Narcissist, and it damn sure never favors a Sociopath, Histrionic personality type, or person who shows symptoms of having Borderline Personality Disorder, either. If you are expecting a Cluster B parent or a sibling to mature as they age, to realize the error of their ways, and to make your own brutal life history up to you in the end, you might want to consider buying that bridge in Brooklyn rumored to be for sale by toxic parents for YEARS. Connect the Dots Social Identity Theft and Bullying the goal of many Copycat Stalkers Bridge the gap intellectually between what the reality of personality profile traits for Cluster B people and the Cognitive Dissonance inspired dream that you have that your parents and family members love and want what is best for you in order to save yourself from having the proverbial rug pulled out from under you. Learning how to detach from the dream of having a family that loves and supports you is the hardest part. But once you realize that the nicer you are to Cluster B predators you are, the more likely they are to loathe, abuse, and ridicule you they will be, the faster you will be able to celebrate your first birthday — 12 months after going NO CONTACT with any person who enables, enacts, excuses, or willfully chooses to self-promote while deliberately and consciously overlooking Narcissistic Abuse issues. The faster you come to realize that when and if a toxic family unit comes bonding together to show solidarity in targeting one or more family members for Narcissistic Abuse, they accomplish one very real thing only in their attempts to socially undermine, psychologically destroy, and completely emotionally invalidate you. They pledge allegiance to the continuation of toxic family dysfunction. What that means is, whatever time and money you lose is well spent to have such low-rent, vile-natured, morally insane people out of your life. Learning to live with family betrayal is something that takes time, patience, daily reflection, and above all else a strong self-help themed forensic psychology education. With any luck the blood money and personal self-aggrandizement they engage in, treading on the backs of fallen, more emotionally sensitive and morally righteous family members who end up spending countless hours in agony, ruminating over the pain caused to them by people who by blood allegiance should have felt morally compelled to both love and protect them… with any luck, the Karma bus won’t be gentle when and if it’s driver comes back around for them. And no — to hope that a person who harms you is held personally accountable for their actions is not wrathful. It’s trusting the universe to handle its business, noting that nice guys finish last for a PURPOSE. For some, that purpose is to have enough time on the proverbial life pond to heal. For others, it is likely to land them in the loving arms of their creator after death, knowing they lived a good life striving to be a good person rather than acting like a grab-me-gotcha personality who relentlessly strove to one-up others by cheating, lying, and backstabbing with zeal. Connect the Dots Dark Triads use Abuse By Proxy tactic to enact revenge on Victims But be hesitant to spend too much time wishing, thinking, or hoping a person or peer group that abused or actively strives to invalidate your fundamental human rights as a person “gets theirs”. After all, the more time you spend judging their motivations, intents, and misdeeds, the less time you have to spend purposefully designing the next stage of your own emotionally freed and well-balanced life. When and if extreme feelings of emotional toxicity, moral outrage, and sourceless anxiety arise, go back to the basics. Read a self-help article written by an expert on dealing with Cluster B personality types. Check out a new research article about how to successfully cope with or self-manage C-PTSD issues. Do some yoga, go for a walk, scream into a pillow, or cry it out in a bathtub filled with sparkling, clean, healing waters and 2 big cup fulls of magnesium replenishing Epsom salts. “Feel the feels…” as Spartan Life Coach Richard Grannon might say… or laugh their ridiculously hurtful, patently obvious attention-seeking and grandiose behaviors off as the wise young YouTube guru from someplace like Self Care Haven advises. Then, think things through. If you are living in the present, the past helped create you. If you live in the now, look around wherever you are right now, at this very moment. Unless someone is making a Jack Nicholson face, wielding an ax, and busting through a door to try to physically murder you, chances are you can list 10 things you are happy about, feel positive about, or are absolutely grateful for having today. And that’s how you do it. That’s how you survive. Let the emotional angst caused by Narcissistic Abuse wash through rather than sticking to you. Live life 200 feet ahead of you at a time, just as the author of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” creator Jack Canfield advises people to do. And no matter what, remember this one thing… NEVER RUN BACK TO THE PEOPLE THAT HURT YOU WHEN AND IF YOU SEEK EMOTIONAL VALIDATION. The only validation you need is recognizing what is and what is NOT Narcissistic Abuse. After recognizing that, do a forensic analysis of yourself as it related to having been affected by your life experiences. You are who you decide to be — and whichever wolf you choose to feed in your own inner psychology is the core personality most likely to become the dominant one, fast. Connect the Dots Malignant Narcissists use their own social insecurity as justification to bully Be grateful for the very real fact you yourself are unlikely to be sucked into making things like other people’s personal life dramas worse by engaging in acts of mobbing. Count your lucky stars if you understand why inheritance is about validating love and care for the person inheriting, eschewing things like greed and blood money. Then, be perfectly happy to strike the first match when and if it’s truly the right time in life to burn bridges with people you in no, way, shape or form would ever be physically or emotionally safe being around. Those kinds of people — no matter WHO they are or THINK they are — have absolutely no reason or right to rent space in your head, let alone to someday stage a hovering coup-style attempt to return.
http://flyingmonkeysdenied.com/2016/05/16/learning-to-live-with-the-heartbreak-of-family-betrayal/