This week has been a busy time for conservative icon Glenn Beck. During his Monday program, Beck admitted to his audience at TheBlaze.com that he had been suffering from a rare neurological disease for five years, but after undergoing hormone therapy, electric stimulation and other treatments -- not to mention relying on his faith in God -- the disease has been reversed, and he's on his way to an almost total recovery.
Then on Tuesday, MSNBC's Ed Schultz stated that Beck had “access and opportunity” to get the best treatment possible and declared: “I hope that his story motivates those who think that ObamaCare is bad, that maybe they will rethink” their opposition to the Affordable Care Act.
And during his Wednesday radio program, Beck responded by calling Schultz’s commentary “the most ridiculous and third-grade argument I have heard” since “it was a private center doing ground-breaking work” for veterans -- which the Veterans Administration won't pay for -- “that helped heal me.”
Five years ago, the conservative host's health problems began with vocal cord paralysis, eyesight problems and what doctors at first believed was a painful nerve disease.
While speaking to his audience on Monday, Beck stated:
I have never lied to you, but I have omitted a few really important facts because -- they scared me. I didn’t have any answers, and the answers I was being given at the time meant … the end of our time together.
We didn’t know at the time what was causing me to feel as though, out of nowhere, my hands and feet, or arms and legs would feel like someone had just crushed them, set them on fire or pushed broken glass into them.
At the same time, Beck said, something unusual happened that he thought was an advantage: He only needed two to four hours of sleep a night. “Doctors tell me that up until recently, I hadn’t had a real REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep in maybe as long as a decade,” he noted.
The conservative activist's health issues were among the reasons he decided to move to Dallas, which has a warmer climate than New York City.
“Then … my body began going into a seizure-like state,” Beck said, adding that the episodes most frequently occurred on planes or after a large performance or speech. In one of the most frightening moments of his life, he was tested for traumatic brain injury and found that he was functioning in the bottom tenth percentile.
Soon after, Beck learned about the Carrick Brain Centers, a place in Irving, Texas, he had seen “work miracles” on people.
“After a few short visits, they found that I had several things going on, from an autoimmune disorder to adrenal fatigue,” he continued. His doctors told him he should not have been able to stand, and only his faith in God had kept him moving. Had he remained in New York City, they said, he probably wouldn’t be alive today.
“After months of treatment and completely changing the way I eat, sleep, work and live, along with ongoing hormone treatment and intensive physical therapy, I have reversed the process,” Beck said. “Some of the physical scars will be with me for the rest of my life … but my brain is back online in a big way.”
Then on Tuesday, Ed Schultz -- the host of MSNBC's The Ed Show – refrained from tossing barbs at Beck but used the situation to address the conservative activist's “viewers and people that basically are followers and worshipers of what the guy says and does.”
“I hope that his story motivates those who think that ObamaCare is bad, that maybe they will rethink the situation, that seeing a doctor and having it covered is paramount to a good life, to a chance at a good life,” the liberal host stated.
Soon after, Beck posted a message on the Facebook social website in which he stated:
Sorry, Ed. It was a private center doing ground-breaking work for VETS -- that the [Veterans Administration] won't pay for -- that helped heal me.
If private care like this were not available, many like me and much worse may be dead. Private charity and private clinics pave the way on experimental treatment.
And during his Wednesday radio program, he called Schultz’s commentary “the most ridiculous and third-grade argument I have heard.”
“I’m not even gonna try to change Ed Schultz’s mind,” the radio host stated. “I am just going to speak peace, and I’m gonna speak the truth.”
In a sign that his sense of humor has returned, Back stated: “Rush Limbaugh says he does the show with half his brain tied behind his back. With me, it’s actually been true. But now, it’s back online!”
