Category Archives: Living with a Neurological Condition

American Pain Society’s Centers of Excellence

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Occasionally, group members have loved ones experiencing extreme pain.  Generally, I
recommend families consult the American Pain Society website (americanpainsociety.org) to learn if there are any clinical centers of excellence in pain management nearby.

In Northern California, recent awardees of the status “clinical centers of excellence in pain management” include:

* Stanford University, Division of Pain Medicine (2012)
* UCSF Pain Management Center and UCSF PainCARE, San Francisco (2007)
* UCD, Center for Pain Medicine, Sacramento (2010)

See the past recipients of the award here:

americanpainsociety.org/get-involved/awards-grants/ccoe-past-recipients

Study Says DNA’s Power to Predict Illness Is Limited

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This interesting article in today’s New York Times says that a recent study of twins indicates that knowledge of a “every aspect of a person’s DNA” cannot predict the diseases in that person’s future nor could that knowledge “forestall the otherwise inevitable.”

See:

www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/health/research/dnas-power-to-predict-is-limited-study-finds.html

Study Says DNA’s Power to Predict Illness Is Limited
New York Times
By Gina Kolata
April 2, 2012

Robin

Using bidet toilets or seats for older people (NYT)

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The New York Times has a blog called “New Old Age.”  In a recent blog
post, the author mentions the use of bidet toilets “as a safer and more
effective way for the elderly to clean themselves.”

The author notes that the idea is to use a “bidet toilet” rather than a
free-standing bidet.  Here’s the description:
“A bidet toilet has a wand under the seat that moves into
position and sprays warmed water over the perineal area;
some also come equipped with warm-air dryers. More practically,
for those not interested in major plumbing investments, bidet
seats can be installed atop existing toilets.”

A variety of possible benefits are mentioned.  The author notes that
nothing has been proven.

Here’s a link to the blog post:

newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/begin-the-bidet

Begin the Bidet
New York Times
By Paula Span
March 27, 2012, 3:32 pm

Robin

“When Medicine Gets Personal: The DIY Clinical Trial”

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This is an interesting post to the Health Blog of the Wall Street Journal (wsj.com).  It’s about an article in the journal Personalized Medicine about the do-it-yourself (DIY) science movement.  The journal article, written by Melanie Swan (melanieswan.com), lays out seven steps to “accelerating the professionalization” of do-it-yourself studies by laypeople.

Here’s a link to the WSJ blog post:

blogs.wsj.com/health/2012/03/30/when-medicine-really-gets-personal-the-diy-clinical-trial/

Health Blog/WSJ
When Medicine Really Gets Personal: The DIY Clinical Trial
By Amy Dockser Marcus
March 30, 2012, 3:38 PM

And here’s a link to the article in Personalized Medicine:

www.futuremedicine.com/doi/abs/10.2217/pme.11.97

Good luck to all your lay researchers!

“You’re Looking at Me Like I Live Here and I Don’t” – New film

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The New York Times has a blog called “New Old Age.”  In a recent blog post, a new film
titled “You’re Looking at Me Like I Live Here and I Don’t” is described.

The film, shot in April 2009, stars Mrs. Lee Gorewitz, who lives in a dementia unit
at a care facility in Danville, CA.  The film is basically a picture of dementia from
the inside out.  It will air on PBS stations tonight (March 29) in San Francisco.

The blog post notes:

“Mostly, the camera follows her wanderings through the unit, her
interactions with other residents and staff, her sudden swings from
conviviality to despair to anger. We hear the background noise and
conversation, if you can call it that, of residents and aides. Family
members are never in the frame. We are there only to the extent Mrs.
Gorewitz is. What she cannot tell us, we don’t know. … The title of the
film is simply something Mrs. Gorewitz said one day, sitting at the
edge of her bed, not far from tears and playing with a bunch of small
stuffed animals.”

Here’s a link to the blog post:

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/dementia-from-the-inside

Dementia, From the Inside
New York Times
By Jane Gross, Founding Blogger
March 28, 2012, 8:19 am

Sounds like a very powerful movie….

Robin