Archive for May, 2009
Have you heard of CureTogether? We recently stumbled across this website and after trying it out, decided that it most definitely rates a closer look.
CureTogether describes itself as a place to help people “anonymously track and compare health data, to better understand their bodies, make more informed treatment decisions and contribute data to research”.
While the site is still new, it’s gaining momentum with more than 3,000 members. The website is “currently funded by its founders, and does not host or receive funding from advertising”.
They have a simple profile where you can start by adding data you want to track such as weight, caloric intake, sleep, and excercise. A nice feature is that you can add anything else you would like to keep track of such as mood or water intake – anything you think is important for your particular situation.
Something we really like is that you can view and edit this data on your Google search page (to learn how to use iGoogle, click here).
On your bio page, you can tell your story and add details such as location, avatar (picture) and date of birth. This is, by default, kept completely private though you have the option to share your details anonymously.
So far there are 289 conditions on the site and CureTogether highlights the “most active”. Back pain, anxiety, and depression are among the top five. Click on back pain and you will get a list of user generated symptoms. You can check off whether or not you’ve experienced it as well as the severity level. If you don’t see something that you are experiencing, it’s easy to add it.
Next are treatments. What have you tried so far? For back pain ice packs, stretching, and vicodin are some of the options. Again, it’s easy to add to the list. Now you can document what you think (or know) causes it. Does your back hurt after sex, after sitting for long periods of time, or from an injury?
The related conditions portion list the most commonly reported ones first. The fact that anxiety is number one and depression number two for back pain gives us some food for thought! This ability to compare user data is where CureTogether really shows its potential usefulness.
A this point, you can view resources, document how you are feeling (much like Facebook updates, this allows you to share status updates with your friends), invite friends, or revisit any of your health pages.
For those living with chronic pain, or even those who just want to keep track of their day to day health, CureTogether offers some unique tools.
Check out their site here and let us know if it works for you!
Decoration Day, now called Memorial Day, is here! May 25th marks 2009’s American holiday that commemorates U.S. men and women who lost their lives while serving in the military. This year we would like to honor not only those who gave their lives for our country, but those who sacrificed their health, mental well being, and way of living.
Mathew Drake, one of an estimated 300,000 U.S. veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who have suffered head injuries, was critically wounded by a suicide bomber while serving in Iraq in 2004. He was unable to speak for three months after sustaining a brain and spine injury in a blast. Five years later he lives in a supported living apartment as on of the “lucky” ones who managed a degree of recovery.
Kim Tanner was a truck driver for the Army, delivering supplies and weapons throughout Iraq. After surviving multiple roadside explosions during his tour he has been discharged with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Unable to work more than part-time, suffering from memory loss, speech impairment, and hearing loss, Tanner has paid an incredibly high price for his service to our country.
Drake and Tanner’s are only two stories among thousands.
Many veterans are coming home to bills that they can’t pay, families who are unprepared for the mental, physical, and financial strain of caring for a disabled relative, and a system that provides inadequate support for their injuries.
According to the US army, up to 20% of its soldiers have suffered from a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Armo
red conveyances and superior helmets can’t protect the delicate brain tissue from shock waves created by the roadside bombs that are common in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The effects from these blasts can take weeks, months or even years to fully manifest. This can prevent time-dependent care and a proper diagnosis. The confusion between PTSD symptoms and those of a TBI can further confuse treatment.
As TBI incidences increase, the US government has upped their priority level. One resource, the Defense and Ve
terans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) in Washington DC, is set up to help military personnel who’ve suffered brain injuries. In 2007 $900 million was allocated by congress for research and treatment of battlefield TBIs and PTSD. This was followed by George Bush’s re-authorization of the Traumatic Brain Injury Act. This act is designed to improve federal health care and treatment for civilians and soldiers with TBIs.
Some of the research areas currently receiving special attention are early or immediate identification of TBIs, clarifying the symptoms (TBI vs. PTSD), and proper diagnosis.
Of course, prevention would be the best route to take, but in a wartime environment, options are limited.
Civilian groups such as The Bob Woodruff Foundation provide “resources and support to service members, veterans and their families to successfully reintegrate into their communities” and other like the Iraq War Veterans Organization, Inc helps organize and represent returning soldiers. These two are excellent examples of available resources created by caring family members and communities that appreciate what our soldiers have provided our country.
On this memorial day we’d like to take a moment to thank those who have given up so much, who have worked so hard to assist, and who lost their lives in the effort.
“It’s more life therapy…more daily living,” Drake says, “…what do you want to do and how can we do it? If there is an obstacle what do we have to do to work around it? Never give up. Everyone needs to know life’s not over after an injury. It may be more difficult, but don’t give up.”
Image from here.
While treatment of anoxic brain injury depends on the cause, some of the more familiar methods include barbiturates to slow down brain activity, medications such as steroids to reduce swelling, oxygen therapy, hyperbaric treatments, and cooling techniques.
For anoxic injury survivors who have tried the “old” methods and are hoping for a new and improved approach, there aren’t a whole lot of options to choose from, but we wanted to make sure people were aware of one treatment that, so far, has some significant promise.
Anoxic brain injuries are due to a restricted or cutoff flow of oxygen to the brain. The brain, starved of oxygen, is unable to perform its usual functions and cells begin to die. The more limited the flow, the more damage is done. Injuries run the gamut depending on the length of time the brain goes without this vital requirement, from memory impairment to a loss of speech and the ability to communicate. Causes include everything from attempted suicide by hanging to assault – anything that can potentially cut off the flow of blood to the head.
Not long ago, it was discovered that the use of a drug meant to treat insomnia had an intriguing side affect: it could temporarily improve the brain function in a patient who developed akinetic mutism (the inability to speak or move) due to a failed suicide attempt by hanging. The anoxic brain injury she suffered was “reversed” for up to three hours after taking this medication called zolpidem.
She could walk, talk, and read during the time the drug was effective. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans showed that the drug increased her brain metabolism allowing for a temporary return of her cognitive abilities. The study of this particular patient suggests that her recovery may be due to an activation of neural circuits in her brain that control movement and speech.
The study, printed in Annals of Neurology, March 2007, wasn’t the first of its kind or the last. There are a handful of others that show zolpidem’s effectiveness in temporarily improving a variety of anoxic damage results.
With additional therapy such as physical, occupational, speech, and neuropsychology, could this drug make a real difference in the lives of those with anoxic brain injuries?
Until more studies are done, we have no way of telling for sure just how many people might benefit from this drug or others like it. Recovery can take months, years, and often it’s never achieved. We can help by spreading the word about lesser known treatments, trials, and studies. Ask your doctor, subscribe to neurology publications, and most of all, don’t give up hope!
Image from here.
Four Stages, One Man
By
Benjamin Luskin
When I look back on my life from the ripe old age of 27, I remember many great moments. I recall exciting events, convincing conversations, and adored acquaintances, each of which helped me to build my character and plot my course through life. Yet, when I consider what moment was most influential in my life, I realize that it was not a memory at all, but rather something which I have no memory of.
On Sept. 28, 1994, on a deserted highway on the coast of Lake Superior, the van I was riding in was hit head-on by a semi-truck going 60 MPH. Lucky for me, my seat belt stopped me from flying forward to an early dismissal, but all the same, my head rocked forward so fast that my brain smashed into my skull, sending me into a coma right there on the side of the highway.
Lying there, not breathing, with nothing but my vital signs in-tact, my future looked grim. But then an angel arrived, resuscitated me, called a helicopter, and then drove away. Soon, the emergency helicopter arrived, packed me in, and flew off to the Duluth Emergency Center. To this day, the identity of the angel is unknown.
Following a lengthy three month stay at the hospital, in which I relearned how to walk, talk, eat, and breathe, I proceeded through four successive stages of development before arriving to where I am today. These stages were as follows: denial, acceptance, rejection, and transformation. In the following speech, I will briefly describe the main themes of each stage to you, so that you may better understand the subsequent progression.
Immediately following release from the hospital, after my bracelet had been clipped, I entered the first stage of denial. During this time, I often looked to Alfred E. Newman’s profound words, “what, me worry?” for guidance. Like other kids my age, I could not see beyond a short-term perspective. Happiness was but a sensual and immediate concept to me, so I did a lot of hanging out. I pursued some pleasures, a few vices, and generally did not think of my injury. And then I graduated from high school, left my familiar home in Minnesota and headed for Portland, Oregon, where I started a new life as a college student at Lewis and Clark College.
In this new environment, my limitations suddenly became apparent. Try as I might, I could not seem to integrate into my new environment. My high school strategies for survival proved inadequate and I was left dangling in thin air. Have you ever tried to cut a thick, juicy tenderloin with a dull knife? It doesn’t work, and that’s precisely how I felt. My tools were useless.
During this time, however, I also found myself engrossed in a collage of new ideas and beliefs. And so it was that I became intrigued by the ancient Chinese philosophy of the Dao, or the way, and spent many hours seated in the tall grass of a nearby ravine contemplating its meaning. As a result, I slowly but surely began to accept my lot and just “go with the flow.”
In this new stage of acceptance, I acknowledged my limitations and worked around them, focusing my efforts on intellectual pursuits and self-discovery. One could say I became a bit of a college hermit, reading books by candle light late into the evening. Consequently, college became a worthy venture, fulfilling and entertaining. I excelled in my studies, graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Religious Studies, gained employment with the Portland Public Schools, discovered martial arts, met my girlfriend, and poof, had a baby.
At which point, I was catapulted into the next stage of my development, one of rejection. I realized that I needed to stop dealing with my life as it unfolded, but rather take control of my life if I wished to manifest my desired lifestyle. And so, quick as a lightning flash, I quit my job, moved to Eugene, and entered the blue collar world of hard physical labor. Following suit, I came to devalue intellectual pursuits and academic knowledge and took pride in the new identity I had created for myself. I worked hard and lived an honest and simple life, returning home each day covered in dirt and sweat to a singing partner and a cooing baby daughter.
After several months, however, this romantic existence began to fade. Unable to perform sufficiently, I lost my jobs, sank into depression, and became consumed with self-pity. I spent entire days in bed, convinced that I would never be good at anything worthwhile, that I was destined to be a charity case. In retrospect, it seems that I had become so frustrated, so helpless that I began to crave despair. In the words of Richard Farina, (I’d) “been down so long it looked like up to me.” I refused all help from others, preferring torment to relief, until one day I grudgingly allowed a job-coach to help me find a job at Lane Community College.
Though it was not apparent to me at the time, this job turned out to be my ticket to the next phase of development, transformation. What started out as a basic method to make ends meet soon became a waterfall of opportunity. For the first time in my life, I discovered that my skills were perfect for the job. As a result, I gained confidence, earned my co-workers respect, and like magic, my limitations disappeared.
I was encouraged to develop my ideas and soon implemented a non-combative martial arts training program for my clients as well as designed and drafted a program newsletter. Ideas kept flowing and before long I had developed a new program for rehabilitation and written an extensive article on its design. Then I began a rehabilitation business, “Launch Empowerment Mentoring,” attracted several initial clients, volunteered with various organizations, and taught workshops at Oregon Country Fair.
Which brings me to where I am today, a busy, busy, content, and jubilant young man.
Today, in addition to my job at Lane Community College, I continue to develop and expand my business, travel to Portland once a month for life coach certification training, attend training seminars and tackle various tasks as an intern for LILA, train diligently in martial arts, better my public speaking skills with Toastmasters International, and broaden my horizon through music, reading, and writing. All this, in addition to being an affectionate partner and devoted father to two beautiful girls.
In conclusion, it was not the event, the traumatic incident, that most affected my life, but the challenges it incurred. In rising to meet these challenges, I transformed into a stronger, more capable individual. I looked to these challenges to discover the nature of my strengths and in which realms they might best flourish. I have since used this knowledge to manifest a choice lifestyle and could not be happier.
One last thing before I sit down. I invite each of you to consider your own greatest challenges through life. How did they affect who and where you are today?
