A Philosophical Approach to RLS

Three people are looking through tiny holes in a high fence. They are all trembling.

On the other side is a grey monster.

The first person, called “My Experience”, says, ”It’s long and thick and very flexible”.

The second person, called “My Opinion”, says, “It’s quite short and thin and it has a tassle at the end”.

The third person, called “My View”, says, “It’s very big, broad and flat”.

Which one is the most credible can be judged by a fourth person called “The Expert”. The Expert has a drone with camera and can see over the fence. This person is an authority on grey monsters, but nothing else.

What The Expert says -

My Experience isn’t particularly credible because they can only see through their own hole. NO matter how many times they look through it. In itself this does not make them an expert on the monster.

My Opinion isn’t particularly credible either. What they say may be solely based on their subjective experience and/or even on their beliefs. In itself this does not make them an expert on the monster.

My View is probably the least credible. They may even be observing what they think they see, instead of what is actually there because of their beliefs and a failure perhaps to recognise their own biases. In itself this does not make them an expert on the monster.

DOES THIS MEAN THAT EXPERIENCE, OPINION AND VIEW HAVE NO VALUE?

NO IT DOESN’T - SEE BELOW

Who is The Expert?

The Expert, (in health care) has both a wide experience and comprehensive knowledge of their particular monster.

The Expert can offer “expert” Opinions or “Informed “opinions that are more credible

The Experts’ views are likely to be more objective and undistorted by personal beliefs or biases.

The underlying key to all of these is knowledge of the facts.

What is a fact?

Three people get up on a stage to give a speech, each in turn. There are 100 people in the audience

“I am the fact”, says person A. 20 people cheer, 80 people boo!

“I am the fact”, says person B. 50 people cheer, 50 people boo!

“I am the fact”, says person C. Everybody cheers!

Which of the three is the “real” fact?

In everyday life, a “fact” is something that is generally accepted to be true by most people. Unfortunately, being generally accepted isn’t a good test of truth.

For example :It’s generally accepted in the West that democracy is the best political system.

Four philosophers sat in a café

At the rear of the café are two doors, one says, “Toilets”, the other says, “Reality”.

Remy Dustcarts says, ”I’ve thought about this, therefore there is an absolute reality and there are absolute truths.

J P Sparta says “Everything is as only as it appears to be, there’s nothing behind the door, you can’t rely on anything being true.”.

Mr Plates says “We never see reality only a reflection of it, especially if you go into the toilet instead of the other door”.

Andrew Waterhole says, ”Don’t ask me now, too much cannabis!”

I’d vote for Mr Plates in the next reality election!

The closest we can get to reality is by using “models”. We do this by observing a thing (e.g. RLS) then making a model of it. This helps us to predict what might happen next. For example, what happens if we take all the iron out of this part? What happens if we put a DA in this part.?

Models are only true for as long as they enable us to predict all potential outcomes. When they fail, the model has to be changed or replaced.

Example, in the famous last words of the scientist Bob Hopppingtimer, “What does this button do?” He pressed it!

OR

Dr Johnson to his servant, “I’ve written a book. It’s called a dictionary. It contains a list of every single word there is in English”

Servant : “Well I’ll be discombobulated.”

Long silence disturbed only by the sound of distant church bells.

Eventually –

Dr Johnson, “Er, how do you spell that?”

WHAT HAS THIS TO DO WITH RLS?

If you want to know the realities of RLS, you have to read the latest models or read what the best RLS experts say.

WHAT VALUE HAS EXPERIENCE, OPINION OR VIEW?

The expression of these allows people to come together, to share their ideas, their feelings, to find common ground, to debate meanings, to support each other and engender a feeling of belonging.

In addition, if many people share them, they can challenge a model, or suggest a new model. Anecdotal evidence.

They can give insights into the "lived experience" of RLS

My Experience, My Opinion and My View meet up later in a café with the Expert’s report. A cup of (decaffeinated) coffee, no sugar, later.

OMG it’s a RLSephant!

Finally

DOG

[Jules1953]

Thanks Manerva for sharing , I always enjoy reading your postings.This Healthunlocked site has helped me so much in my RLS journey, which has now been going for 50 years.

It is such a "safe" place to share and discuss our experiences and concerns related to our own personal RLS journey.

The people in this group contribute vital information and give much needed support. This helps us to keep going in our quest for answers to and relief from this dreaded condition.

Thanks Manerva and the many others who reach out and help those who ask for assistance on this site.

Kindest regards Julie McGowan from Western Australia.

[Dougg]

Thanks for your thought-provoking post. The first part reminded me of an old story about three baseball umpires who were asked about their approach to calling balls and strikes. The first umpire said, “I call ‘em as I see ‘em.” The second umpire said, “I call ‘em as they are.” The third umpire said, “They ain’t nothing until I call ‘em.”

Cheers!

[Hidden in reply to Dougg]

Like it!

Reminds me of the "flat earth" theory which goes like this.

When people believed the earth was flat, it WAS flat.

When people started to believe it was round, it BECAME round.

The only problem with that is, WHEN did the belief change?

It must have been at least no later than 240BC when a greek called Eratosthenes measured its circumference. Very clever and he was nearly right!

The popular belief then, that people believed the earth was flat until the middle ages, isn't believable.

The past isn't as certain as you think it is.

Somebody I know was a professor of Russian History. He once told me that Russian History is very hard to predict.

Another interesting snippet which defies belief : The Piri Ries map dated to the 16th Century, but believed to be a copy of an earlier map depicts Antarctica, which hadn't yet been discovered at that time.

However, it showed it's shape WITHOUT THE ICE.

I'm just waiting for the news that an archeologist has dug up an ancient fossilised petrol car.

[Dougg in reply to Hidden]

Love it, Manerva! Thanks!

[ziggypiggy]

Nice! As I was reading this I thought of the article in the other thread I just replied to you in. Some real world processes on how doctors, medications, patients, and research all work together to make progress.

I'd be up for coffee.

But, I also wouldn't mind a pint of ale. It's on my naughty list but I've found that If I have just one pint before two in the afternoon, I'm generally good to go by bedtime.

So, occasionally I'll treat myself to a glass.

The picture captioning your post brings back fond memories of a pair of dalmatians I had twenty years ago.

[Hidden in reply to ziggypiggy]

Yes it would be great if everybody could work together to develop health services that had more benefiits for both health professionals and those needing care.

There has been some progress towards this in the UK, I'm happy to say and I have been involved in this.

There have been moves towards the "co-design" of services by professionals and patients, now limited because of covid 19

Interesting that a recently built mental health hospital in Blackpool, UK, was physically co-designed by architects, health professionals and patients. An interesting result, but not entirely effective in this case.

Architects aren't always in touch with reality!

[ziggypiggy]

All I know about architecture is from my M. C. Escher prints on my wall. So I'm all for a little weird. 🤪