My Mom Claims To Have Been Miraculously Healed, I Cannot Explain It

[zeldarocks]

Can the body heal itself entirely? From neuropathy, to eyesight, to reproductive organs, to a spontaneous ability to walk?

 

My mom was prayed for by a faith 'healer' about three months ago.

 

Since then, her reproductive organs have come back to life, the neuropathy on her feet and ankles has spontaneously disappeared, she has spontaneously regained the ability to walk, and her eyesight has improved.

 

Within 48 hours, her neuropathy (which went all the way up to her knees) disappeared completely. Her feet, once chapped, cracked and dry, now felt as soft as a baby's bottom.

About 1.5 months later, she experienced her first period in 4 years. The doctors had said that her reproductive organs had been "burned" by Chemotherapy.

 

As soon as she stood up in faith that first night at chuch, she has been walking, running, and jumping without ANY pain whatsoever, not even muscular pain from excessive movements.
 

The various doctors she sees for these various issues have all said that her turnaround has no explanation whatsoever, and some of the doctors are actually classifying this as a 'miracle.'

 

What do I make of this?

 

[UnFundEd]

I too come from a background that included "divine healing". While much of it was nonsense, I cannot explain a few of the things I saw and experienced. That being said, you have to realize that just because you don't know the explanation for something doesn't mean you have to buy into the explanation that someone offers you.

[mymistake]

So she had no medical care of any kind?

[par4dcourse]

It's the placebo effect, which can be extremely strong in some people.

[FreeThinkerNZ]

There are many possible explanations for it, that do not require faith in a god.  The first three that come to mind are placebo effect, actual medical care, and partial or full misdiagnosis before the prayer.  There could be a combination of all three.  

 

The signs and symptoms you mention are the kind of thing that are not easy to prove objectively one way or another.

[WarriorPoet]

From what I am able to find out, neuropathy often gets better on its own once the condition causing it has been eliminated^1,2.  The timing in this case seems very coincidental, but in people with chronic conditions, if there is improvement, they often don't notice it right away.  Her condition may have been improving and this experience gave her the motivation to actually try to get back on her feet instead of just living with the status quo.  Feet and legs are designed to be used, and under-use can cause degenerative symptoms that can get better just by getting even a small amount of exercise.  These symptoms may have been replacing the symptoms of her neuropathy and she didn't realize it.  I obviously can't prove this hypothesis because I am not a doctor and don't have all the details, but this is one possible explanation.

 

As far as the effects on her reproductive health, that I personally can't come up with an explanation for.  While I have a decent layperson's understanding of health and medicine in general, I am less than a novice when it comes to the topic of the internal workings of the female reproductive system.

 

(note:  I have found a few web pages that seem to indicate that an extreme sedentary lifestyle can cause loss of reproductive function in women, but the ones that I have found seem to be heavily influenced by the world of "alternate medicine".  That being the case, their validity is at best suspect.  It may be something to look into in more detail though.)

 

1:  http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/peripheral-neuropathy/basics/definition/con-20019948

2:  http://www.healthline.com/health/idiopathic-neuropathy#Treatment6

 

Edit:  (2nd note:  I personally know that doctors will occasionally use the word "miracle" when talking to patients and their families because it sounds a lot better than:  A-"I don't know".   B-"We won't be able to tell without $1000s of more tests that insurance likely won't cover since the illness or condition is corrected.")

[FreeThinkerNZ]

I know a fair bit about gynecology and IMO menstruation can often stop and start for no apparent reason, especially in women over 40.  I think there is a real possibility that the doctors did not accurately understand what caused menstruation to stop and whether it would be permanent or not.

[Vigile]

Here's a good documentary on remission:

 

http://www.primewire.ag/tv-10222-Horizon/season-33-episode-3

 

The firedrive link works well for me.  Just a warning though, if you don't have an ad block plus plugin on your browser, this site has lots of popups. 

[FreeThinkerNZ]

My Mom and her friends prayed and fasted for a pastors sister to be healed of kidney cancer.  They were scheduled to remove the kidney but came to discover a bunch of dead tissue but no more cancer.  My Mom asked the Doc if that's what it would look like if God healed her.  The Doctor said yes it would.  My Mom went outside euphoric and ran around the building twice.

 

She still had kidney damage so God didn't give her a new kidney but she was cancer free, didn't need to get it removed,  and didn't need to rely entirely on dialysis.   I believe in miraculous healings as a result of prayer.  I've seen documentaries on it, heard testimonies from Doctors showing the patients condition or ex rays or MRI's or Cat scans and the results after the pilgrimage or prayer that allegedly brought about the healing.

 

I know there is bullshit and hysteria out there and people providing bogus evidence, but still believe without a doubt that genuine miracles do happen for whatever reason and people receive unexplainable healing of an incurable malady sometimes instantaneously.

Hmm, where to start...

 

I don't believe any miracle-related stories about what a doctor said unless the doctor has published their findings in a reputable peer reviewed medical journal.  As far as I know, no doctor has ever done this.

 

MRI and CT scan results can be easily falsified.

 

As you learn more about skepticism and develop your critical thinking skills, you will be able to assess claims on the quality of their evidence and not "believe without a doubt" that miracles happen.  When something happens that isn't explained or understood, that does not mean "god" did it.

[Overcame Faith]

I am happy for your mother's improved medical condition.

 

Spontaneous recoveries from a variety of illnesses with no known medical explanation do sometimes happen. Given the timing, I tend to agree with those who suggested that it was a placebo effect.

[moanareina]

Spontaneous healing happens. Misdiagnosis too. And health has a lot to do with the psyche. My mom has constantly something to whine about. I am sure it is not made up but I am also sure it has to do with her unconscious need for attention. And her lack of self respect and self esteem.

 

There was a story in the news about two years ago about a guy who was diagnosed with cancer. And no hope of recovery. He was a farmer who never left the country and was married etc. So he left and went on a world trip, since he was going to die he thought he at least wanted to see some of the world. I don't remember where he exactly ended up, think it was latin america. He found a whole new life there, drunk, had parties, women...and he just would not die. Finally they did not find any cancer in him. Wrong diagnosis, or spontaneous healing...who knows. Fact is, he found happiness and freedom, a new lifestyle...

 

There was another story about a year ago of a guy who got diagnosed with cancer. He too went on a trip with his wife though. They just spent all the money they had left and trusted that once he was dead, life insurance would cover for it...'unfortunately' he did not die...and so they returned with a huge amount of depts...and him cancer free...false diagnosis or spontaneous healing...who knows.

[Thackerie]

I know a fair bit about gynecology and IMO menstruation can often stop and start for no apparent reason, especially in women over 40.  I think there is a real possibility that the doctors did not accurately understand what caused menstruation to stop and whether it would be permanent or not.

 

I don't want to go into detail but, yes, this has happened to me.

[RogueScholar]

My Mom and her friends prayed and fasted for a pastors sister to be healed of kidney cancer. They were scheduled to remove the kidney but came to discover a bunch of dead tissue but no more cancer. My Mom asked the Doc if that's what it would look like if God healed her. The Doctor said yes it would. My Mom went outside euphoric and ran around the building twice.

 

She still had kidney damage so God didn't give her a new kidney but she was cancer free, didn't need to get it removed, and didn't need to rely entirely on dialysis. I believe in miraculous healings as a result of prayer. I've seen documentaries on it, heard testimonies from Doctors showing the patients condition or ex rays or MRI's or Cat scans and the results after the pilgrimage or prayer that allegedly brought about the healing.

 

I know there is bullshit and hysteria out there and people providing bogus evidence, but still believe without a doubt that genuine miracles do happen for whatever reason and people receive unexplainable healing of an incurable malady sometimes instantaneously.

Sometimes misdiagnosis occurs. Medicine is not cut and dry and mistakes and misinterpretations are not uncommon. A cancer diagnosis is a complex process that involves much more than a MRI, CT-Scan or X-ray. While anomalies that could be cancer may show up on these tests, a cancer work up typically follows. This will often involve blood work, a PET scan and possibly a bone marrow work up. Finally, an actual tissue biopsy is needed. This should be looked at by a pathologist trained to identify neoplasms, and now genetic profiling of the cancer is also done.

 

Often people are told they have cancer based on an incomplete work up only to think they are magically healed when a more robust work up does not find cancer.

 

Unfortunately, the health care system failed them.

[zeldarocks]

My mother had cancer beyond a reasonable doubt, needle biopsy and surgery. They made SURE they knew what they were dealing with before they went in.

[RogueScholar]

Needle biopsies have a rather high risk of false negatives and possibly positives however. Pathologists can still make mistakes when looking at surgical tissue samples. Medicine is imperfect and mistakes do happen. I don't know what happened with your mother however. I am glad she appears to be feeling better.

[Orbit]

There are studies that show prayer doesn't heal illness, I can't see that faith healing would be any different.

[midniterider]

 

 

 

Can the body heal itself entirely? From neuropathy, to eyesight, to reproductive organs, to a spontaneous ability to walk?

 

My mom was prayed for by a faith 'healer' about three months ago.

 

Since then, her reproductive organs have come back to life, the neuropathy on her feet and ankles has spontaneously disappeared, she has spontaneously regained the ability to walk, and her eyesight has improved.

 

Within 48 hours, her neuropathy (which went all the way up to her knees) disappeared completely. Her feet, once chapped, cracked and dry, now felt as soft as a baby's bottom.

 

About 1.5 months later, she experienced her first period in 4 years. The doctors had said that her reproductive organs had been "burned" by Chemotherapy.

 

As soon as she stood up in faith that first night at chuch, she has been walking, running, and jumping without ANY pain whatsoever, not even muscular pain from excessive movements.

 

The various doctors she sees for these various issues have all said that her turnaround has no explanation whatsoever, and some of the doctors are actually classifying this as a 'miracle.'

 

What do I make of this?

Good for your mom.

 

I wish all people who are prayed for would recover from their illnesses.