Dr. Deepak: He had been diagnosed with lupus and he had vitiligo

[Geek_Girl]

Sorry if this is a dupe.

He had been diagnosed with lupus and he had vitiligo,” Chopra says. “There’s some recent research that suggests that if children have experienced either physical or verbal, mental, emotional or sexual abuse, then 20, 30 years later they can develop these autoimmune diseases including lupus.”

“Michael, he was never sexually abused but according to him, he was traumatized verbally and physically in his childhood, and it was a big issue with him.”

http://spotlight.vitals.com/2009/07/dr-deepak-chopra-michael-jackson-suffered-from-lupus-and-vitiligo/">link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5pUOWaX0HA&feature=player_embedded

I was never really sure why MJ had all the plastic surgery but I think Deepak really shed the light on on this.

[Sydnie]

1. The more I see pictures of him with his mother

the more I think he was trying to make himself look as much like her as he could. She had the cleft in her chin and a much smaller nose than he was born with. Not that he wanted to BE her, just that he wanted to look more like her.

[jobycom]

5. His nose was shattered as a teen, and he had to have it reconstructed.

It was bad enough that for a while he couldn't sing.

There's a lot of tabloid psychoanalysis of this man that those who actually knew him seem to find ridiculous.

[Liquorice]

23. Was his chin shattered and reconstructed too? nt

[jobycom]

40. Don't know about his chin, but look at the medical history.

He had a shattered nose, he had severe burns on the back of his scalp, he had lupus and vitiligo, and he had chemical dependencies on drugs related to those problems and not related to them, as well as pain medication for just the sheer pain of the condition his body had to be to do many of the dance moves he did. His back pain may have been related to that, or may have been a separate issue.

He was malnourished and maybe anorexic, some have suggested. If he wasn't, he was still a fifty year old man who was disturbingly underweight, maybe as a result of the lupus, maybe the pain medication.

It's hard to tell how much of his facial change was due to surgery, weight loss, drugs, or plastic surgery. Obviously he had something else done to his nose over the last ten years to make it so pointy, and probably something done to his chin, but whether those were major reconstructive efforts or minor plastic surgery that looked more freakish because of other factors is hard to say. Also, with the damage to the back of his head and the other issues, minor surgeries may have caused complications.

This may surprise you, but many celebrities use plastic surgery to hide the effects of aging, with mixed results. We've all seen pictures of freakish Botox reactions or too many skin-tightenings. Jackson was no different, but his skin and his body were different. If they tried to tighten his skin and ran into complications because of the scar tissue on the back of his head, for instance, there's no telling what might have happened.

Rumors and gossip are a lousy basis for knowledge. We have very little of this person, yet people draw conclusions as though they knew him personally and have secret information that juries and judges didn't have. Every medical issue I mentioned was either reported at the time, or later, and was confirmed by doctors, and in the case of his Vitiligo, Lupus, and back pains, was sworn to in court by more than one doctor verifying his medical records during his last trial. You don't need the under-oath information to prove the Vitiligo or Lupus. Just Google and look at the pictures.

[REP]

2. More junk "medicine"

To quote Arte Johnson, "Very interesting, but stupid."

Why doesn't Oprah have lupus?

[jobycom]

3. You make a common fallacy.

Because something increases your chances of acquiring a disease does not mean that everyone with that something will acquire it. Nothing in the research says "Everyone who is abused will get Lupus." It says that you have a greater chance of getting Lupus if you are abused. Not everyone who crosses a street will get hit by a car, but it increases your chances.

[SeattleGirl]

4. Could you provide proof that this is "junk" medicine?

Being abused, whether it is physical or verbal, puts a lot of stress on a human body. Stress can affect the immune system, as well as other aspects of the human body.

And, the doctor did not say that everybody who has been a victim of abuse gets lupis. If he had, I would agree that the statement was "junk", but that's not what he said.

[Madrone]

18. I saw a (locally) well regarded rheumatologist that said the same thing.

He asked about my childhood, as I have fibromyalgia. Wanted to know if I suffered any trauma. Pretty much my whole childhood was traumatic - so yeah. He said there is significant evidence pointing to childhood abuse / trauma in many people with autoimmune disorders.

[SeattleGirl]

25. Exactly! If a person is under enough stress, particularly for a sustained

period of time, the body can start to break down, and be vulnerable to many different conditions and illnessess.

[Geek_Girl]

7. Well regardless of how he got Lupus.

We know he was abused and he was diagnosed with the disease, which was why he had issues with his looks, which led to all the surgery.

[Howardx]

28. who diagnosed him?

gma this morning made it sound like his personal dermatologist was the one who made the diagnosis. an excuse to prescribe narcotics.

[truedelphi]

61. That was my reaction too.

A person could be abused as a child, and have lupus or vitaligo - but was it the abuse or something else?

BTW, I have vitaligo - and the first questions the diagnosing physicians at Stanford asked was "Have you been around industrial-strength cleaning agents?"

[Critters2]

6. Chopra is just one more of MJ's hangers-on.

Not exactly authoritative.

[SeattleGirl]

8. Chopra did not say HE diagnosed MJ; he said MJ had BEEN diagosed.

There's a big difference there.

[Critters2]

9. Yeah, maybe to you. nt

[Raine]

13. There's a big difference, PERIOD. nt

[SeattleGirl]

15. Sorry? That was not a subjective opinion. The two things are

objectively different.

:shrug:

[Geek_Girl]

10. He said diagnosed

nt

[JuniperLea]

37. A dermatologist from UCLA diagnosed him with Lupus...

I'm not sure what a dermatologist has to do with an inflamatory disease, but there you have it. He was on the tube this morning.

[Aragorn]

50. lupus can have skin lesions

which are very accessible and so can confirm the diagnosis. However, the speculation and claims of "research" (none cited so far, notice) are likely an attempt to appear to be a world-expert, close to MJ, etc etc.

Ever wonder why a doctor (like anyone else) might want to be in the spotlight instead of humbly treating people without the fame?

[quiller4]

60. Butterfly-shaped skin lesions are one sign of lupus and it is

not unusual for a dermatologist to see that sign and order tests. That is how my ex-sister-in-law was diagnosed.

[Geek_Girl]

12. He's a very respected doctor and author internationally

nt

[Critters2]

14. Not really respected by other doctors.

Just sells a lot of books. Not at all the same thing.

Oh, and I did my clinical under him...when he really was a doctor.

[KittyWampus]

64. Ah, now it comes together. You hate Chopra because he's not a Reductionist like you

Materialists are so insecure. Sad, really.

[alarimer]

54. He is also the worst kind of woo-woo quack.

Utterly full of it.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

58. Actually, people hang on to Chopra and not the other way around.

[KittyWampus]

63. LOL! Deepek Chopra is quite well known and accomplished outside of anything to do with Jackson

what a fucked up, stupid comment.

[uppityperson]

11. "some research suggests" they "can" develop. Correlation does not = causation.

[SeattleGirl]

16. Of course it doesn't.

But correlation is a valid statistical measure.

I read tons of medical reports all the time, and quite often, no absolute direct causation of something can be identified, but enough of a correlation can be established to show that a particular incident can lead to a specific condition.

[Fire1]

19. ON POINT!!!! n/t

[truedelphi]

62. Good point. A lot of people do not understand that. n/t

[uppityperson]

17. Then why did he cut up his nose? To cut off the vitiligo or lupus spots? Serious question

I loved MJ as a kid and young adult and have felt sorry for him during his adult yrs. I believe he had vitiligo, hadn't heard of lupus, but still don't understand why the nose and face job. Even having white patches, or lupus connective tissue issues, still by have the facial plastic surgery?

This post is a serious one, unlike other snarking ones, since I do wonder. Not to cast judgement, but just wondering.

[SeattleGirl]

20. There are, unfortunately, people out there, famous and not famous,

who are so dissatisfied with how they look that they keep having more and more plastic surgery. I don't know really if that was the case with MJ, but that's what I thought when he kept going back for more. It's like those women you may have seen pictures of with huge lips and really tight skin. They think that makes them becautiful; I think it's just sad.

[uppityperson]

27. I wish him peace after a life filled with glamour and unhappiness.

[SeattleGirl]

29. Same here.

[EFerrari]

21. Do you know how many entertainers have plastic surgery?

I think it's a requirement in their union. :)

[Geek_Girl]

24. Watch the video link

Deepak explains it pretty well. MJ had serious issues with his personal appearance because of his disease and self loathing because of mental and physical abuse he suffered as a child.

[Occam Bandage]

26. I think it's clear that the nose/jaw/chin surgery were a result of body dysmorphic disorder.

I think it's likely that he had his skin lightened to cover up the vitiligo.

[greenbriar]

49. I think he didn't want to resemble the man he hated (Joeseph)

and when he looked in the mirror, that is what he saw and said NO FRIKIN WAY

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. I figure he just wanted a nose job, as many celebrities and others do.

But the job was botched, as many nose jobs in the 80s were, and had to have a lot of corrective surgery to fixed the botched job.

[CatWoman]

30. he broke his nose when in his early teens

and had to have it reconstructed.

[NC_Nurse]

31. I didn't realize he had lupus. It's a very serious illness which effects every

system of your body. That could very well be why he passed away so young. I've had patients who died in their 20's and 30's with SLE..

[Howardx]

32. could your lupus patients

dance their way through a 50 concert tour? the way jackson was apparently planning on doing? lupus and all...

[NC_Nurse]

34. If it was in remission, it's possible. Like most autoimmune diseases, it doesn't

follow a clear trajectory. Some people go downhill consistently, others do not. But it can damage your heart, which could contribute to an arrest.

[LisaL]

33. Yea, that got to be a reason he passed away so young.

And reports about five doctors being investigated for prescribing him meds, and reports about diprivan found in his house-obviously all those doctors can rest easy. Obviously it was lupus that did him in.
:sarcasm:

[SeattleGirl]

39. Really no need to be so snarky. Lupus could have been a contributing

factor in his death.

And yes, the drugs he was taking most likely were a huge contributor to it also.

Death sometimes is not the result of one single thing.

[LisaL]

43. If it is true that he used diprivan to help him sleep (as was alleged)

then I don't think his lupus or lack of lupus has anything to do with his demise.

[Howardx]

45. junkies OD and die

especially intravenous drug users. very common. occams razor.

[NC_Nurse]

57. Whatever. I'm just saying it could have contributed. Geez.

Lighten up people.

[CatWoman]

35. ...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-e-dowlin/what-really-killed-michae_b_223610.html

[JuniperLea]

36. His dermatologist gave that diagnosis...

He was on the tube this morning... sweating, and stammering...

[LisaL]

38. And as far as he knows, he isn't the father of Michael Jackson's

kids. :wtf:

[JuniperLea]

42. Yeah, as far as he knows...

His seed must be spread far and wide, eh?

Gross. He was really gross. And nervous as hell!

[LisaL]

46. I know. It's totally bizarre. Should be easy enough to say, no,

there is no chance I am the father, and those rumors are totally false. But good doctor didn't say that.

[LisaL]

55. And then he went on LKL and said he donated sperm once

to a sperm bank. I think chances of him being the father if he randomly donated sperm to a sperm bank would be astronomical. He also said the rumors about him being the father could have came from Debbie. Why does he think Debbie would say he is the father if he isn't?

[Philosoraptor]

41. So what? He admitted to sleeping with little boys

[JuniperLea]

44. Ok, that is just gross...

Seriously. Help seeking gross. Really.

[Philosoraptor]

47. Yeah, it IS gross

[ColbertWatcher]

48. Did Dr. Phil Choprah diagnose him in person or via video a la Dr. Frist? n/t

[Aragorn]

51. take a guess

If it was in person it would violate privacy to say it in the media. This feeds the doc's ego, and is bogus anyway (IMMO).

[ColbertWatcher]

52. I notice how all these people who may have met Jackson before he died ...

... are now all of a sudden on TV.

I guess PR jobs are recession-proof.

[rainbow4321]

53. Bottom line is he had the money to doctor shop and the docs caved.

And those doctors need to go to jail. I hope the money they got was worth giving up their freedom. I imagine they will be paying ten times whatever they got on lawyer fees.

Doctors have the means to NOT be on the doctor shopping list.

I work in an outpatient setting, low income/urban setting. Most of the patients are on state or federal grants/funding for their care. They are lucky to have 2 pennies to rub together. We have a system set up for doc shoppers.

Our biggest problem is hydrocodone. I've had patients quickly flip thru a stack of prescriptions that the doctor wrote because they are FRANTIC to see if the hydrocodone 'script was written. Forget the BP/cholesterol/blood sugar meds, all that matters is the hydrocodone.

And yes, if the patient is really known for "I'm only here for the Lortab", I put the damn Lortab prescription in the BACK of the stack of 'scripts just to watch them freak a little bit longer than if I had put it in the front of the stack.
But we have put several measures in place. They have to sign a "pain contract"..they can ONLY get their Lortab filled at the hospital pharmacy. Prevents pharmacy shopping. It lets us see the last time they got it filled via our pharmacy website. They are subject to random urine tests...if any illegal drug or some other narcotic/sedative not gotten from us, etc.. pops up in their pee..no more Lortab for them. At all.
Come in and give us the ever so popular "someone robbed me and stole my Lortab". Police report, please..you did CALL the police when you got robbed, right? No? Nope..no new 'script for you.
There are MEASURES that these doctors could have out in place, They chose not to. They chose to enable.
BTW, those pee tests also tell us if they are actually TAKING the hydrocodone and not walking out into our parking lot and selling those pills to get $ for their illegal drug of choice. Yes, it happens, quite frequently. One guy had the balls to try and sell them to another patient while he was IN the pharmacy still. In front of a staff member.
No trace of hydrocodone in their pee, no more 'scripts for it.

[scheming daemons]

56. More excuses...

...by those who want to cash in themselves.

[HOLOS]

59. MJ was following dr's orders...umbrella etc