"Impulse" and "Damage" question

[Distracted]

In Linda's proposed storyline she's assuming that trellium-d is a substance with long-term consequences to the body, like a carcinogen. There are many real substances which behave that way. All of them interfere in some way with the body's natural mutation surveillance mechanisms, allowing carcinogenic cellular changes to occur. We'd have to assume that trellium is stored somewhere in the body, like in the body fat stores similar to LSD or perhaps in the liver, and over time exerts mutagenic effects on the DNA, so the crew would get unexplained cancers... or perhaps it's stored in the BRAIN since it seems to have an affinity for the central nervous system, so the effects would be like multiple sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's disease with gradual neurologic degeneration. The effects on Vulcans could be explained by an affinity for the tissues of the frontal lobes, causing disinhibition, and perhaps on the limbic system resulting in a stimulation of opioid receptors and a "high" which is addictive. Each species could have its own distinct response and each individual would be affected to their own individual degree, just like the usual human response to toxic drugs. And then in the story Phlox would have to come up with a way to detoxify the tissues and halt the damage before permanent neurologic damage could occur or the patient died of cancer. A very interesting premise, actually.

[Alelou]

Yes, addicts are inherently selfish, but they don't necessarily start out that way. Most of the people I've known who are alcoholics or drug addicts were initially self-medicating their own pain or depression or anxiety. I also think a hell of a lot of people can sort of slide along between down and out addiction and staying functional for a loooong time, years, decades ... building up tons of denial about their addiction in the process. T'Pol actually figured it out fairly quickly thanks to her withdrawal episode.

[JadziaKathryn]

Well, I can't stand the Addict!T'Pol storyline. Grrr. They should've used Pan'ar if they needed an excuse for her to be less Vulcan.

But, that aside, I kind of like the idea that Vulcans are especially vulnerable to Trellium-D (which I still think sounds more like a flowering plant than anything else) because so often they're presented as being stronger, faster, etc. and it's realistic that they also have weaker areas, compared to humans.

Then again, maybe humans are unusually unaffected, and other species are adversely affected as well.

[Asso]

Do you see?
Everyone takes from T'Pol's addiction the impression which it inspires "personally", on the basis of the background of one's own feeling.
For me, for example, T'Pol is strong and weak, like all people.
And what I said doesn't mean she needed Trellium in order to love Trip.
She didn't need to be an addict so as to love him.
But she's a person, like all of us, and - believe me - the addicteds are very often the best persons of world.
Please, don't try to rationalize - and to categorize - things which cannot be rationalized and/or categorized.
I don't like T'Pol's addiction per se, but I think we shouldn't attempt to find in this, something which there's not.

[Aquarius]

I want to thank the medical professionals for weighing in here! It's a lot of great insight and food for thought as any of us writes.

Dis--I liked the LSD comparison. I hadn't thought of that. When we see the Vulcans on the Seleya they're so strong and unstoppable my mind went right to PCP.

Asso--I think you and I are saying essentially the same thing about T'Pol's behavior on Trellium, but we're just saying it differently. I think I'm just being much less poetic about it than you are. You said:

Obviously, for me Trellium is nothing else than the projection of T'Pol's soul and T'Pol's desires. As every living creature, she is who she is. I don't search for any else reason than the fact that she is T'Pol. A specific Vulcan female: T'Pol. And I think also among Vulcans every individual is unique, like among Humans. Maybe I'm too much romantic, I know, but - for me, I repeat, - she wants simply to feel, freely, and she wants to feel because she is T'Pol and because she met Trip.
But this doesn't mean that people can't look for some "more rational" causes.

Basically, in another thread, I had made the comparison to alcohol, how it strips away your inhibitions and alters judgment, but it does not put thoughts or feelings into a person that aren't already there. So bottom line is, we're both agreeing that what we're seeing is a secret part of T'Pol that's usually locked away somewhere. Yes, she does simply want to feel these things for Trip freely and without shame...hence my furthering the point by adding the "rational" thought that she "needed" the Trellium for this.

[Distracted]

So it sounds like, in a roundabout way, we've come up with a "This is Your Brain on Trellium-D" challenge, in which the writer must hypothesize how trellium-d does what it does and then write a story about what would happen if their hypothesis were true. Cool. Feel free to use my brainstorming as a starting point since I'm still supposed to be writing a novel. Better get to it, though. Linda's got a head start.

[Alelou]

How's your novel coming, D?

[Distracted]

Sigh.

Slowly. I lose focus without comments. I'm shamefully addicted to them. I'm trying to wean myself and FOCUS. It's hard.

[Alelou]

Have you tried to find a writer's group? Having that regular audience really is useful (assuming there are at least a few members on a similar wavelength, anyway).

Usually if you ask at local bookstores you can find some. Or you might find some online groups devoted to mysteries. My group is affiliated with the local writer's guild, so I probably could have found out about it by googling that, but I actually found out about it by asking a bookstore owner. It meets in a B&N.

[Asso]

Asso--I think you and I are saying essentially the same thing about T'Pol's behavior on Trellium, but we're just saying it differently. I think I'm just being much less poetic about it than you are. You said:

Obviously, for me Trellium is nothing else than the projection of T'Pol's soul and T'Pol's desires. As every living creature, she is who she is. I don't search for any else reason than the fact that she is T'Pol. A specific Vulcan female: T'Pol. And I think also among Vulcans every individual is unique, like among Humans. Maybe I'm too much romantic, I know, but - for me, I repeat, - she wants simply to feel, freely, and she wants to feel because she is T'Pol and because she met Trip.
But this doesn't mean that people can't look for some "more rational" causes.

Basically, in another thread, I had made the comparison to alcohol, how it strips away your inhibitions and alters judgment, but it does not put thoughts or feelings into a person that aren't already there. So bottom line is, we're both agreeing that what we're seeing is a secret part of T'Pol that's usually locked away somewhere. Yes, she does simply want to feel these things for Trip freely and without shame...hence my furthering the point by adding the "rational" thought that she "needed" the Trellium for this.

You're right, Aquarius.
And it's astounding and very enriching the thought that people can find so many tinges in something which they perceive basically in the same way.

[Silverbullet]

On another board there was a brief discussion of Impulse. some of the people seemed focused on the fact that T-Pol ws naked under the sheet.

Of course she was naked. Her Uniform and undergarmets would be soaked in trellium and Phlox would have to remove them to reduce her exposure to it so he could gt her calmed down.

True he should have had Hoshi go to T-Pol's quarters to get fresh undergarments to protect T-Pol's modesty.

Still her Uniform and undergarmets had to be removed for her own good. Had they been left on she would have continued in her highlly emotional state fighting Phlox.

[WarpGirl]

Someone was naked in Enterprise in every other episode! Usually it was T'Pol, and Archer. Thank God not together! Really it got annoying after a while. ALL RIGHT, we get it this is a sexy youngish cast, on a sexy Trek. Dear god it's not as if it made the bad writing any better.

[Aquarius]

On another board there was a brief discussion of Impulse. some of the people seemed focused on the fact that T-Pol ws naked under the sheet.

Of course she was naked. Her Uniform and undergarmets would be soaked in trellium and Phlox would have to remove them to reduce her exposure to it so he could gt her calmed down.

True he should have had Hoshi go to T-Pol's quarters to get fresh undergarments to protect T-Pol's modesty.

Still her Uniform and undergarmets had to be removed for her own good. Had they been left on she would have continued in her highlly emotional state fighting Phlox.

Well, in an emergency situation, A) You're usually not in any kind of condition to care if you're naked, and B) nobody else cares if you're naked, either, because the priority is to get you stabilized and save your life. My mom's a nurse, I worked at her hospital for a couple of years as a teen, and I'm here to tell you, ER staff cut away clothing all the time in order to get the job done, be it to remove a source of a contaminant or to have access to various parts of your body to take samples and run tests, depending on what's going on. If the patient is freaking out and fighting the way T'Pol was, nobody's gonna say "But wait, she's not dressed..." They'll worry about that later.

Once she was somewhat stable, it might've even been a matter of comfort. She was sweating a lot, she might've been sweating right through any exam gown they put on her in fairly short order. She was covered by the sheet, and it's not like random people were coming around to look at her. Besides, in a hospital situation, I've seen patients rip their own gowns off in their sleep, or just because they're out of it. If you can't keep the patient dressed, what are you gonna do? Just pull the curtain closed around their bed so they can have a little privacy and get them dressed in a fresh gown as soon as they can handle it.

So I guess I'm saying it's not that big of a deal, it's pretty plausible.

[WarpGirl]

More people have seen me naked in a medical situation than Mick Jagger has slept with. Believe me it's no big deal for a doctor to take away your clothing underware and all for treatment. After a while you lose all sense of physical modesty.

[Alelou]

More people have seen me naked in a medical situation than Mick Jagger has slept with.

Oh dear. Good line.