'Indians think blood donation could alter their personality'

[prasad1]

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Indian recipients prefer to get an organ transplant or blood transfusion from a donor whose personality or behaviour matches theirs, a new study has found.


Some people in India and the US, who undergo transplants, believe that their personality or behaviour may change to become more like that of the blood or organ donor, researchers from the University of Michigan, said.


They feel so "creeped out" that they would decline an organ or blood that came from a murderer or thief, the study conducted on participants from India and US found.


People think that behaviours and personalities are partly due to something hidden deep inside their blood or bodily organs, Meredith Meyer, the study's lead author, said.


Surprisingly, researchers found that results from blood transfusions were just as strong as from heart transplants.


"Since blood transfusions are so common and relatively straightforward, we had expected people might think that they have very little effect," Meyer said.

Indian_Express

 

[renuka]

Dear Prasad ji,

I once had a Chinese patient who had undergone a Kidney transplant in India and he said that he has become much darker after receiving an Indian Kidney and developed a taste for curries after the surgery.

Medically I can say that he felt he was darker cos with Kidney Failure one's Hemoglobin production in the body goes real low and skin become pale and sallow..so after the transplant his paleness must have disappeared and got back his less pale hue and also steroids given to prevent graft rejection also can darken the skin by a shade or two...but I wonder how come he claimed he developed a taste for curries which he was not fond of before?

<May be after the transplant he became more adventurous to try various food cos as a patient with kidney failure before the transplant he would have been restricted to a low calorie..low salt diet...so may be in his adventure of tasting food he started liking curries.

I too initially thought that may the "donor" used to like curries and hence may be why the recipient started liking curries too.

But going by that theory...most meat eaters and those who drink milk would start eating grass like the herbivours....we dont see this happening do we??

I dont know ..but if you ask me I feel we should get rid of the mindset of trying to blame everyone else except ourselves.

I am reminded of the story of a sadhu who stayed in a house of a householder for the night and ate the food prepared by a person who used to be a thief and latter that night the sadhu had a overwhelming desire to steal something and stole a silver plate.

The next day..the Sadhu felt bad that he stole the plate and owned up to the householder and then all the blame of stealing fell on the person who prepared the food..cos the bad thoughts of the cook who was also a thief had "influenced" the Sadhu.

Even in Mahabharat we find Bhisma giving similar excuse of not helping Draupadi cos he said his blood was impure due to eating food provided by Duryodhana and after all the blood had drained off from his body he was pure again.

I frankly speaking do not buy all these stories anymore even though once upon a time I would have believed them but now I feel these stories do not teach us to realize our own faults...it only teaches us to play the blame game.

So I feel to a certain extent...even this blood receiving and organ receiving theory is somewhat a blame game for our own hidden vasanas(tendencies).

 

[sarang]

When routine organic and mineral medicines have side effects, why blood transfusion and organ transplant be excluded. Side effect depends on the strength of the external items added - blood, organ, medicines and DNa. seems logical to me.

Dear Prasad ji,

I once had a Chinese patient who had undergone a Kidney transplant in India and he said that he has become much darker after receiving an Indian Kidney and developed a taste for curries after the surgery.

Medically I can say that he felt he was darker cos with Kidney Failure one's Hemoglobin production in the body goes real low and skin become pale and sallow..so after the transplant his paleness must have disappeared and got back his less pale hue and also steroids given to prevent graft rejection also can darken the skin by a shade or two...but I wonder how come he claimed he developed a taste for curries which he was not fond of before?

<May be after the transplant he became more adventurous to try various food cos as a patient with kidney failure before the transplant he would have been restricted to a low calorie..low salt diet...so may be in his adventure of tasting food he started liking curries.

I too initially thought that may the "donor" used to like curries and hence may be why the recipient started liking curries too.

But going by that theory...most meat eaters and those who drink milk would start eating grass like the herbivours....we dont see this happening do we??

I dont know ..but if you ask me I feel we should get rid of the mindset of trying to blame everyone else except ourselves.

I am reminded of the story of a sadhu who stayed in a house of a householder for the night and ate the food prepared by a person who used to be a thief and latter that night the sadhu had a overwhelming desire to steal something and stole a silver plate.

The next day..the Sadhu felt bad that he stole the plate and owned up to the householder and then all the blame of stealing fell on the person who prepared the food..cos the bad thoughts of the cook who was also a thief had "influenced" the Sadhu.

Even in Mahabharat we find Bhisma giving similar excuse of not helping Draupadi cos he said his blood was impure due to eating food provided by Duryodhana and after all the blood had drained off from his body he was pure again.

I frankly speaking do not buy all these stories anymore even though once upon a time I would have believed them but now I feel these stories do not teach us to realize our own faults...it only teaches us to play the blame game.

So I feel to a certain extent...even this blood receiving and organ receiving theory is somewhat a blame game for our own hidden vasanas(tendencies).

 

[renuka]

When routine organic and mineral medicines have side effects, why blood transfusion and organ transplant be excluded. Side effect depends on the strength of the external items added - blood, organ, medicines and DNa. seems logical to me.

Dear Sarang ji,

Long back Porcine Insulin was used for Type I Diabetic patients...no one became a Porky in character and even Pig heart valves were used before(not anymore) as in heart valve operations...even then no one became a Piggy in thought,words and deeds after surgery!

 

[renuka]

Dear Sarang ji,


Ok lets try to discuss further:

1)You drink milk and I also drink milk..but so far both of us don't eat grass and we dont say "MOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

2)Some people eat meat like mutton and beef..still none of them feel like eating grass and none of them say 'MOOOOOOOOOOO" or "Baaaaaaaaaaaa Baaaaaaaaaaa"

So that is good enough to proof that what we receive via oral or parenteral route does not change us.

 

[sarang]

This is trivialising the issue.

Whatever we eat, imbibe, breathe, transplant will have an effect on our health, psyche and behaviour; degree may vary with individuals or his resistance or immune system.

This month, my wife's friends, parsees, went on a safari holiday to africa. When they were hovering over a forest in a balloon, they saw two lions attacking and devouring a wildabeest. They were so upset and depressed that they want to become vegetarians.

Changes felt are for good or bad, will of course depend on the individual, his level of sensitivity and development. In our area, one smart trader sells grass-juice for the morning walkers and joggers. At least some milk drinkers have turned to grass. Worth finding what grass-smokers did to get to that level.

Dear Sarang ji,


Ok lets try to discuss further:

1)You drink milk and I also drink milk..but so far both of us don't eat grass and we dont say "MOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

2)Some people eat meat like mutton and beef..still none of them feel like eating grass and none of them say 'MOOOOOOOOOOO" or "Baaaaaaaaaaaa Baaaaaaaaaaa"

So that is good enough to proof that what we receive via oral or parenteral route does not change us.

 

[renuka]

This is trivialising the issue.

Whatever we eat, imbibe, breathe, transplant will have an effect on our health, psyche and behaviour; degree may vary with individuals or his resistance or immune system.

This month, my wife's friends, parsees, went on a safari holiday to africa. When they were hovering over a forest in a balloon, they saw two lions attacking and devouring a wildabeest. They were so upset and depressed that they want to become vegetarians.

Changes felt are for good or bad, will of course depend on the individual, his level of sensitivity and development. In our area, one smart trader sells grass-juice for the morning walkers and joggers. At least some milk drinkers have turned to grass. Worth finding what grass-smokers did to get to that level.

Dear Sarang ji,

I am not trivializing the issue..you see at times we have to go as simple as possible to understand the complexity of a situation.

Good for your Parsee friends if they want to become vegetarians..we should thank the Lion for that.

Well you see a Lion needs to hunt for his prey..that is the Dharma of the Lion..dont see anything wrong with that...and the lion gives the prey a chance to fight back too..but that is not in the case of humans..we catch the animals and kill them without giving them a chance to defend themselves..so there a slight chance that Kumbhodhara the Lion chasing Nandini the Wilder Beast African Style effect might wear off after sometime..so it is much better people take a trip to the abattoir for a longer lasting effect in their journey of vegetarianism.

 

[sangom]

As far as my information and knowledge goes, blood transfusion has been very common, especially among women - due to many medical necessities. Even my wife had several bottles of blood during her first (caesarian) delivery caused by ruptured placenta. We just don't know the blood donors, here in India, and even illiterate village folk do not have any (even an iota of) feeling that the external blood has affected them or their personality.

I am not aware of people having organ transplant. We had one or two Malayalam films in which the accident victim whose organ is used in another person gets haunted by the donor's ghost but even in those films there is no change in personality depicted.

People who are acutely conscious of their bodily ritual purity may feel that their original purity has been compromised by blood transfusion/organ transplant. The ordinary folks as also those who think rationally, may not have any such problem.

But then, recently I read an article which said that there are "neurons" in our stomach/digestive system and these neurons constantly interact with the brain neurons through the vagus nerve. So, may be, the stomach tells the brain that the fellow is eating meat (prohibited by sastras) and the personality gets altered!!

 

[prasad1]

I personally believe that if the late Sage Charaka, an eminent Ayurvedic surgeon, were here today, he would be very excited about organ transplanting and will most likely delve into this field with no hesitation. Charaka is an historic figure in the development of Ayurveda, the Hindu medical system. During his time, about 1000 years ago, he innovated facial reconstruction techniques. I am surprised that members here who are struck in ancient culture otherwise, can not accept Charaka's position.


From the spiritual point of view, organ donating will amount to good karma for the departing soul of the body and also the family who willingly allow the use of the donated organ. This is obvious especially if the organ transplanting is successful and the welfare of the receiver is preserved or becomes better. The good feelings and gratitude of the receiver and his loved ones will transform to a good deed for the soul and his immediate family, hence the good karma.


According to Hinduism the body of the departed is but a shell or vehicle of the soul to experience life and express itself on earth. Once the soul departs, the physical body is not important to the welfare of the soul. In general unless the soul has achieved liberation from the cycle of reincarnation, the soul will go on to another life on earth in a different body. Thus the preservation of the body after the soul departs has no consequence to the evolution of the soul. In fact the tradition of cremating the body is to make the soul become aware as soon as possible of its disconnection from life on earth so it may continue with its spiritual journey.

Being on the receiving end, the patient has to go through various challenges to accept the new organ into his or her body. Since the process is against the basic natural order of nature, the body initially rejects it biologically. However, technology to overcome this has become more advanced and efficient over the years, therefore success rates and risk have considerably improved. I believe these days it is taken for granted that organ transplants are successful.


From the spiritual point of view, the receiver neither accumulates good nor bad karma. However organ donation can have psychological consequences for the receiver of an organ. According to yoga philosophy, which is the basis of Hinduism, our mind, particularly the subconscious mind exists in the entire body and is not isolated in the brain. In fact different organs will hold different emotional impressions, memories and tendencies of the donor. Organs that hold the most intense of these are the heart, eyes, stomach. liver, larynx, hearing organs, pancreas and the gonads. Other organs such as the bones, skin, kidneys, tongue and blood hold mainly personality tendencies.


Thus when an organ is transplanted from one person to another, part of the mind and personality of the person can be transfered. This transfer however is more subtle and depends on the intensity of the memories of the the donor. In most cases overcoming the rejection process of the body can erase most of these subconscious impressions in the organ. However, if the impressions are especially intense positively or negatively, they can amalgamate into the subconscious of the receiver. The receiver can have flashes of memory that is not theirs and changes in personality can occur.


As far as I know mainstream medical care does not recognize this consequence of organ transplanting. There is sporadic evidence for this, but because of the subjectivity of it, it is mainly ignored by modern medical care of organ transplant patients. I believe that modern medical care also dissuades the receiver from knowing of or meeting the donors family, that is if they are unrelated. Though it would be therapeutic for the patient if they encounter changes in their personality or encounter memories not theirs, to meet with the donors family. At the very least they should be prepared to ignore memories not theirs and regain their own personality if they sense changes since the subconscious can be reprogrammed internally.


To summarize, organ donation from the Hindu point of view is a spiritually advantages deed for the donor, if the decision is made with the knowledge and agreement of those close to the donor. For the receiver it is more challenging physically and in the mind. However, when these challenges are overcome, it can be considered their good karma to have a new lease on life. A win-win situation in other words.

The Hindu View of Organ Donation

 

[kunjuppu]

it is true.

a tambram was infused with blood of a murderer about to be hanged. after the transfusion, the recepient hung himself too.

another tambram, was given the blood of a non brahmin. he craved for chicken and fish after that, and gagged at the sight of aviayal and molagoottal.

 

[prasad1]

12 Myths about Organ Donation
Dr A.S. Soin,
Director of Liver Transplantation,
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi




Read more at: 12 Myths about Organ Donation

Please read, and save lives.
Please do not spread misinformation about organ transplant and cause harm to humanity.

 

[prasad1]

GUANGZHOU, Feb. 16(Xinhuanet)-- Scientists in Guangzhou will monitor liver transplant patients for personality changes after reports that U.S. scientists have found that recipients seem to sometimes take on personality traits of the donor.
Chinese scientists have found no evidence so far indicating distinct personality changes in liver transplants patients. Yang Yang, a liver specialist from Zhongshan University in south China's Guangdong Province, says doctors will track patients more closely to see if they exhibit new personality traits.


He said it was quite natural for liver transplants patients to undergo some personality changes after their life-and-death struggle with liver failure, but most patients return to normal after a few months."These changes are not necessarily caused by donated organs," he told an ongoing forum on liver transplants in Guangzhou.


Yang said he had read a U.S. medical journal that reports some patients began to act like their organ donors after a liver transplant."The report said an introverted person, for example, might become outgoing and a very quiet person might suddenly become extroverted."


Between 40 and 50 percent of the world's liver transplant patients are from China. This is due to liver damage caused by pollution and a high incidence of hepatitis, said Wu Mengchao, a liver and gallbladder specialist of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.


He said doctors in Guangdong Province have made great progress in liver transplant technologies over the past decade.


Professor Chen Guihua, a top liver specialist in the province, has carried out more than 1,000 liver transplant surgeries since the the rapy became popular in the 1990s, making up 10 percent of China's total liver transplants. At least 90 percent of patients survive one year, 70 to 80 percent live for three years and 67 percent for five years.


Chinese hospitals have also encouraged families to consider liver donation in order to overcome the shortage of transplant organ.


In 2004, 2,600 patients received liver transplants and 6,000 received kidney transplants. This ranks China second only to the United States in organ transplants, the Ministry of Health said. Enditem

China to track"personality changes" in liver transplant_technology_English_SINA.com

 

[prasad1]

Are there risks in receiving a blood transfusion?
Most transfusions are performed without any problems. Mild side effects may include symptoms of an allergic reaction, such as headache, fever, itching, increased breathing effort, or rash. This type of reaction can usually be treated with medication, should you require additional transfusions. Serious side effects are rare and may include difficulty breathing, chest pain, and sudden drops in blood pressure. Transfusion reactions can occur even if the donated blood is the correct blood type. Transfusion with blood of the wrong type can be fatal, but this is unlikely to occur because blood is checked multiple times by medical personnel.

Blood Transfusions | Johns Hopkins Medicine Health Library

 

[sarang]

Transplants changed our personalities

For full report see link at the end. I find it easy to accept that when even type of food can change us in subtle ways, an organ transplant with attendant medication, genes and DNA will have some effect on the donee.

Amazing cases of patients altered by new organs
[h=4]Isabelle - FACE[/h]“When I look in the mirror, I see a mixture of the two of us. The donor is always with me.
“The most difficult thing is to find myself again, as the person I was with the face I had before the accident.
[h=4]Simon - Lever[/h][h=4]“It was from an 18-year-old girl but I didn’t really think too much about her. I was just grateful to have a new liver.
I felt more or less normal – that is, at least, until I let out a long list of expletives to describe the pain I was suffering.
“Mum said she’d read that transplanted organs could change your personality. I think it’s happened to me. And 13 years later, I still can’t control my tongue. Luckily, it hasn’t affected my job prospects or my love life. But it does make me wonder about the girl who saved my life.”

Henry – KIDNEY[/h]"This time, I didn’t know my donor. I didn’t give him or her much thought – until I started craving bitter.
“I’d always stayed away from bitter. I thought it was foul. The smell was enough to put me off. So I thought it was strange when I really fancied a pint of it.
[h=4]Sharron - KIDNEY[/h]“Prior to surgery I loved seafood. Now the thought of it made me ill. Instead I craved brown bread, mustard and cheese. It was like my tastebuds had been swapped over as well.
“I went online and discovered cellular memory. Some doctors think it happens, others don’t. I am proof it does.
[h=4]Jennifer - LUNG[/h]CYSTIC fibrosis sufferer Jennifer Wederell, 27, of Hawkwell, Kent, thought a lung transplant would save her life – but it tragically killed her after she was given the lungs of a smoker.
Jennifer died of cancer last August – 16 months after receiving her transplant.
[h=4]Shaun - HEART[/h]“You hear about people learning new skills after transplants but I never believed it could actually happen.
“I used to hate cooking. Thanks to my organ donor, not only am I healthy but I’ve learnt to cook up a mean Sunday roast too. They’ve given me my life back.”
[h=4]Bill - HEART[/h]BUSINESSMAN Bill Wohl, 64, from Arizona, USA, was fat and unfit – until he got a new heart, donated by a Hollywood stuntman.
After receiving the organ at 52, Bill went on to become a medal-winning swimmer, cyclist and runner.

Sonny - HEART
TRAGIC Sonny Graham, 69, from Georgia, USA, took his own life with a gun – after receiving the heart of a suicide victim who had died in the same way.

Organ transplants changed our personalities | The Sun |Woman|Health|Health

 

[biswa]

I am a little disappointed that the caste angle or guna angle or race angle has not yet come into this discussion.

Jokes aside, blood has relatively less DNA as compared to other tissues because RBC do not have cell nucleii. Liver could have more influence, not because it alters the rest of the body's DNA, but because it synthesizes a lot of proteins. Kidney though doesn't as much.

Organ rejection happens when the antibodies of the recipient attack the proteins of the donor organ. This can happen for blood too, hence the need for blood typing. But it is still not clear that sattvikness can be passed on through blood donation. Most of the donated RBCs die out anyway after 6 months.

 

[prasad1]

Post#14 is masquerading as proof, is full of holes. People can believe in anything, tooth fairy, Santa clause, and monster under the bed.

Show scientific proof in an discussion among adults.(similar to post#15 for instance).
Organ donation and blood donation saves lives. Does it matter or not?

The argument against organ transplant or blood transfusion is same as, "If I wear my brothers hand me down suit, I will acquire his personality".

Body has been equated with cloths in Advaita philosophy.

This is exactly the question explored by University of Bristol cognitive neuroscientist, Professor Bruce Hood. He is the author of the recent book Supersense, which is all about how humans are hardwired to feel as if we have a psychic or metaphysical connection to other people and the universe. For example, during some of his lectures he will hold up a cardigan sweater and ask the audience who would be willing to wear the sweater. Most hands go up. Then he informs them that the sweater belonged to a famous serial killer – almost every hand goes down.

He recently conducted a study in which subjects were ask to imagine they needed an organ transplant and were asked to view pictures of people and rate how happy they would be to receive an organ from each person. They were then told that specific people were either good or bad people, and he showed that subjects were less happy about receiving organs from morally bad people. This, of course, makes no scientific sense. He says:
“This explains the findings that most people were repulsed by the thought of receiving a transplant from a murderer.
“Essentially they believe they will somehow take on those characteristics of the donor.”
The source of this repulsion, he argues, is in our evolved emotion of disgust at feeling we are being contaminated by something tainted. This emotion extends to moral taint, and includes the “sense” that we can be tainted through a psychic connection to others – even through a physical object, like a sweater.

Therefore, in my opinion, it is OK to feel what we feel. Feeling revulsion at the notion of receiving a transplant from a cold-hearted killer is just part of the human condition. This is not something to be criticized, but to be recognized. As long as we exercise our higher cortical functions and make rational decisions despite what our guts might be telling us. Listen to your gut – but don’t think with it.

 

[prasad1]

CONCLUSION


There will probably always be some small group of people
who believe that human organs can remember something about their original owners.
But investigators who follow the scientific method
will probably conclude that such claims are baseless.
Advocacy science can never be refuted
because the advocates have decided in advance
never to recognize contrary evidence.


But real science will conclude that there are only biological dangers
involved in the transplanting of human organs.
Damaged, diseased, or defective organs might be transplanted.
Transplant doctors will do their best to avoid all such problems.


However, they need not worry that the moral character of the donor
might be transmitted along with the heart, lungs, liver, or kidneys.
All human organs have well-known biological functions.
But only the living human brain contains any memories or character.


AUTHOR:


James Park is an independent existential philosopher.
He is an organ donor.
But after his death, his ideas will be found only in his books,
not in any of his donated organs.
Once his human brain is dead,
that location of his memories will be gone.
The biological container of his personality and character will be lost.
DONATION OF ORGANS, TISSUES, ETC.--- Do transplanted organs carry the character of the donor?

 

[renuka]

I had transfused my father before with platelet cells when he has got Dengue fever...never saw any change in him.

I have seen patients with Thalassemia who take repeated blood transfusions and yet no change.

I can safely see it is in the mindset of the individual but for Hindus we should actually understand this better cos the physical body is merely like a chassis of the car..the subtle body(driver) has left..so there is no one to activate the car.

So for all practical purposes the organs need to be activated again by a new person..that is the recipient.

When we buy a second hand car..we still drive the car the way we want..the car does not drive on its own following the roads the previous owner drove it.

Going by the cases given by Sarang ji...about a women committing suicide after receiving an organ from a suicide victim...you see organ recipients are put of high doses of steroids to prevent graft rejection.....high doses of steroids can alter one's moods and cause major depression and some even feel suicidal..so there is a logical explanation for everything...I still go by my simple believe...that we all drink milk yet we dont feel like eating grass or saying MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

 

[prasad1]

I had transfused my father before with platelet cells when he has got Dengue fever...never saw any change in him.

I have seen patients with Thalassemia who take repeated blood transfusions and yet no change.

I can safely see it is in the mindset of the individual but for Hindus we should actually understand this better cos the physical body is merely like a chassis of the car..the subtle body(driver) has left..so there is no one to activate the car.

So for all practical purposes the organs need to be activated again by a new person..that is the recipient.

When we buy a second hand car..we still drive the car the way we want..the car does not drive on its own following the roads the previous owner drove it.

Going by the cases given by Sarang ji...about a women committing suicide after receiving an organ from a suicide victim...you see organ recipients are put of high doses of steroids to prevent graft rejection.....high doses of steroids can alter one's moods and cause major depression and some even feel suicidal..so there is a logical explanation for everything...I still go by my simple believe...that we all drink milk yet we dont feel like eating grass or saying MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Lovely yet simple explanation of complex problem.
Some people as usual are still way back there in the la-la land.

 

[renuka]

Let us all remember the story of Adi Shankara when he inhabited the body of of the dead King Amaruka..we can take this as a whole body transplant itself.

Ok the story goes that Shankara inhabited the dead King's body to learn about marital life...Ubhaya Bharati had asked him questions on this and Shankara had no idea and hence He decided to learn about love and marital life by inhabiting the Kings body.

So he learnt all about this from the queens but the queens and ministers detected that the mind set of the back from dead King was not the same and that prompted the ministers to go looking for any lifeless body of a sanyasi cos they suspected a sanyasi had occupied the body of their king and wanted to destroy the body of the sanyasi so that the Kings body will remain alive to rule the Kingdom.

So you see the differences in the thoughts, words and deeds of Shankara in the body of the King made the queens and ministers suspect it was a Sanyasi in the body of the King.....so this story proofs that Shankara did NOT become the King...The Kings body did not influence him but the new lifestyle could influence the Mind..that is why it is also said that his disciples had to sing verses to "remind" Him to give up the Kings body as soon as possible after the required knowledge was got becos hanging around too long in a sensual lifestyle could drag anyone away from Truth.

Going by this example...it is very clear that the Physical Body/Organ of another does NOT influence the recipient.

It is all in our mind finally..if we feel something can influence us then it happens..not becos of the organ or physical body of another but purely becos of our own mind.

 

[biswa]

I agree. The mind is everything. However the brain is still a machine, so it will be influenced by other chemicals and stimuli. For example, we know the brain is influenced by hormones that are produced by various endocrine glands in the body. One well known example are the adrenal glands that produce the hormone adrenaline that gives us the high needed to survive in fight or flight scenarios.

So I guess it is conceivable that if somebody was grafted a kidney with a defective adrenal gland, that person may not show the fight or flight response and we may believe he/she has had a personality change. Now we may debate how superficial or deep is this personality change, but at the end of the day, we are all a mass of chemicals, so any change in the chemical distribution (whether by steroids or otherwise) is going to produce some effect.

 

[renuka]

I have a logical explanation of behavior changes in those who has received organ transplants.

OK there could be 2 types of people..the extrovert and the introvert.
Both receive organ transplants.

The extrovert who led a devil may care attitude life might think after the transplant that 'I had led a devil may care attitude type of life and nearly lost everything..and thank God/luck etc that I managed to survive..so better take life more seriously and thank my stars for even seeing day light the next day"..and he becomes an introvert and changes his lifestyle.


Ok next case...the introvert...he thinks "OMG I had led such a quiet life and sans over enjoyment and yet I got hit by disease and had a close shave with death...so life is so unpredictable...I could lose it anytime so since I have a second chance of life now...I better enjoy as much as I can"...so the introvert becomes an extrovert.


If we observe patients closely..events in life can totally make or break a person.

Just like some unhappy events in life can even turn a believer into an Atheist and vice versa.

 

[prasad1]

I agree. The mind is everything. However the brain is still a machine, so it will be influenced by other chemicals and stimuli. For example, we know the brain is influenced by hormones that are produced by various endocrine glands in the body. One well known example are the adrenal glands that produce the hormone adrenaline that gives us the high needed to survive in fight or flight scenarios.

So I guess it is conceivable that if somebody was grafted a kidney with a defective adrenal gland, that person may not show the fight or flight response and we may believe he/she has had a personality change. Now we may debate how superficial or deep is this personality change, but at the end of the day, we are all a mass of chemicals, so any change in the chemical distribution (whether by steroids or otherwise) is going to produce some effect.

Much more than the glands change, the anti rejection drugs, and other drugs you take will change the behavior. The doctor order also changes your life style. Suppose the person was consuming alcohol and damaged his liver, the doctor will tell him to change his life style, and that might cause dispersion. So there are many more unknown. So we can not blame the donated organ for change in personality.

 

[Raji Ram]

Dear Renu,

Drinking milk or eating beef / meat is NOT the same as blood transfusion or organ transplant, right?

P.S: I donated two units of blood to Ram's mom but till her end she was full of 'madi' and 'AchAram'

and absolutely no changes in her - like me! :becky:

 

[Raji Ram]

HITHENDRAN'S MOTHER DR. PUSHPANJALI ASHOKAN SPEAKS ABOUT THE EVENTS WHICH LEAD TO ORGAN DONATION OF HER SON

A.P.HITHENDRAN TO MEGA TV TAMIL CHANNEL. THIS IS A SAD AND INSPIRING INCIDENT OF 15-YEAR-OLD A.P.HITHENDRAN, ELDER SON

OF DR.ASHOKAN AND DR.PUSHPANJALI OF TIRUKALUKUNDRAM A PLACE NEAR TO CHENNAI CAPITAL CITY OF TAMILNAD IN SOUTH INDIA.

HITHENDRAN WAS DECALRED BRAIN DEAD ON 22 OF SEPTEMBER 2008 FOLLOWING A ROAD ACCIDENT NEAR TIRUKALUKUNDRAM, HIS

PARENTS BEING DOCTORS DONATED ALL HIS VITAL ORGANS INCLUDING HIS HEART TO MORE THAN SIX NEEDY PATIENTS WAITING FOR

A NEW LEASE OF LIFE.

Source: DR. PUSHPANJALI ASHOKAN INTERVIEW TO MEGA TV