This is a Test of the Emergency Blogcast System...

...do not adjust your computer screens.....

Overheard at the ER this weekend......

The patient had a headache this morning then while eating supper food started falling out of her mouth. She came in and is presenting with left sided facial paralysis.

We may have to divert. We're short people and we've got two trucks coming in....

I've called Jen and she's on her way in....

16 year old overdose coming in. We'll stabilize her and send her in town....

Did you stub your toe recently or drop something on it? No? How about any history of gout?

Mom, let's see if her fever is any better. It's been two hours since she got (some medicine, couldn't make out the word).

Did we do a pregnancy test?

When's Jen coming in?

The guy in 13 will be going in to (bigger hospital) in the morning. (he was a heart patient)

I spoke to the neurologist and he agrees it's Bell's Palsy. So we'll start you on some prednisone. Your eye isn't completely shut, so that's a good sign.

Jen! Thanks for coming in. Boy, are we swamped.

Okay, we'll have to move her to room 20 for the internal.

You and your husband can take a seat around the corner (laughter). This is my dad! Not my husband.

As you can tell I had a rather eventful weekend. Two ERs, an ultrasound, and CT scan, and no, the appendix is fine, but the stupid cysts around my ovary are not. I was feeling kind of stupid by the time I was in an exam room as the pain was all but gone and thinking I really didn't need to be in the ER any more (but I did have signs of appendicitis). And it was an educating experience. I've learned a little bit more about my body and my family medical history. I've learned that if I don't have anything to eat or drink for twenty hours or so, it's damn near impossible to find a vein in my arms to draw blood. I've learned that we have very compassionate nurses and med students here, that if they don't think they can complete a procedure, they hand it over to someone with more experience so as to diminish any pain or discomfort (thank you thank you thank you). I also learned I'm not pregnant, to which I told my mom, if I was, we'd have to call the Pope.

I will be followed up in 6-8 weeks, but if the pain returns, I am to go straight to emergency again (that's a relief, knowing that I can go and not feel like I'm wasting time and resources on an already burdened system).

There were a few funny moments through all this that I will have to blog about at a future time. I just wanted to let you know regular blogging will resume momentarily.

S.

Diet of Worms (apologies to history buffs)

I have mentioned in passing, findings researchers have made about parasites and MS. I even podcasted about it on Charles' MSBPodcast. So here (as Paul Harvey would say) is the Rest of the Story.

There is something known as the hygiene hypothesis. Basically, immune system related illnesses such as allergies are more prevalent in families with fewer children than in large families. The fewer children in a family, the less opportunity a child has of becoming exposed to infectious agents, and that in turn results in a child's immune system remaining "weak" and the child more susceptible to illness or disease. So more siblings lessens your chances of developing allergies.

There has been a steady rise in incidence in the developed world of allergies since the industrial age. And there has also been a steady rise in the incidence of auto-immune diseases, like MS and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

The hygiene hypothesis has now been expanded to include bacteria and parasites. And the more siblings you have, the greater your chance of exposure to bacteria and parasites. (Can you see where I'm going with this?)

Apparently exposure to bacteria and/or parasites stimulates development of regulatory T cells.
"To use a rough analogy, an unbridled immune system (without regulatory T cells) has the dynamic of a rowdy, unchaperoned beer party. It is likely to overreact to slight or non-existent insults (analogous to allergic disease) and may even attack members of its own party (analogous to autoimmune disease). The role of the T regulatory cells of the immune system is similar to that of the bouncer, keeping the beer party in check." Great explanation from Wikipedia.

A couple of years ago I was reading reports of the link between parasites and MS. And I also read Carl Zimmer's Book, "Parasite Rex", which talked of the rise of auto-immune disease since the Industrial Age. As we have gotten "cleaner" by improving sanitation and hygiene, we have gotten sicker. You've probably heard all the furor about the overuse of antibiotics and antibiotic soaps. As we kill off all bacteria, both good and bad, with these things, we leave ourselves open to attack by adapted bacteria, super-bugs as it were.

There are studies being conducted using parasites to determine how helpful, if at all, they are to folks with MS. The nifty thing about these little parasites is that it looks like only a handful is needed for a beneficial result. And they don't reproduce while they're in you (they seem to want more romantic locales to do that). So once you get over the gross-out factor, it's not such a bad thing.

Links for the studies:Times OnLine
New Scientist

S.

Slow and Steady

It seems that every week we 're hearing about some new drug, some new study, or some new regimen that is going to change how we deal with MS. It's overwhelming. 10 years ago when I was diagnosed there were only a handful of treatments and I could list them all and tell you how they worked. Currently there are around 30 drugs or treatment regimes being used. And that doesn't include the countless drugs and therapies still in the research process.

So it's no surprise that people will say to me, and probably you, "I thought they had found a treatment" or "I thought they found a cure".

In discussing this with my neuro last week, he suggested not to try to focus on all the research still in the early stage (that's a full time job), but instead focus on what's available. And ignore the press releases about "new treatments possible" based on testing on flatworms or some such thing. The press releases to pay attention to are the ones that say "New treatment for MS now available".

Good advice if you are one to get your hopes up at the slightest provocation.
It takes years for a treatment or drug to reach the population that needs it; years of study, and testing, and development, especially for a disease such as MS. It's not like a bacterial infection that once treated, goes away fairly quickly. It has to be followed for years to determine progression or remission. That's why it seems so slow to us. It IS slow. But slow and steady wins the race.

S.
Picture credit: Photo taken by Erin
Tortoise and Hare by Nancy Schon; Copley Square; Bronze on brick; May 19, 1993

Carnival of MS Bloggers #4

The Carnival is up! The Valentine's edition is posted so click on that gorgeous button on the right and give it a read.

It's another great collection with all sorts of hearts to make you feel musht.

S.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Gerbera daisies are my absolute favourite flower. They smile.

And these are from my sweetie.

S.

Up in Smoke (with apologies to Cheech and Chong)

A report came out today that said that MSers who use pot to ease symptoms have a slowing down in their ability to process and remember information and a rise in mood disorders like anxiety and depression.

Not really a big surprise. Our cognitive skills diminish as we ingest a mind altering drug. The study only involved 10 patients so it's not really big enough to make sweeping conclusions about the use of pot. The folks who used pot were using illegally obtained pot, so there's no verifying what else, if anything, was in those funny little cigarettes that may or may not have contributed to the findings. And the folks who used pot were not evaluated before they started using the drug so who's to say they hadn't already had diminished skills and revved up anxiety to begin with.

But let's think about the uses of pot for MSers.

To ease neuropathic pain. Pain is such a subjective thing; it's difficult to quantify how much is acceptable to any individual. But if it's keeping you awake at night or keeping you from leading a relatively normal life (with its usual aches and pains) then it's unacceptable.

To ease muscle spasms. Spasms can be painful. They, too, can keep you awake at night and prevent you from leading a relatively normal life. (And speaking from experience, they can cause you to hit the wrong button on the computer at work.)

To ease anxiety. Let's face it, life can make us anxious. We all have different coping mechanisms for anxiety. Some of us kick the dog, some of us drink to excess, some of us wash our hands 1000 times a day. Not great coping mechanisms. Now add a degenerative disease to the mix of life's usual anxieties. Would a joint once a week, say on a Friday night at home, be an any worse method of coping? Personally, I think not. Do I do it? Nope, but I have a healthy fear of a criminal record and luckily I haven't had pain or spasms bad enough to make me seek it out (almost, but not quite).

So we have a population of people with pain, spasms, and anxiety, and a disease that is destroying their brain, seeking out relief. All these stressors contribute to diminished cognitive skills and reduced mental health. The bigger issue I think is, Is the use of pot by MSers detrimental to their life.

Before we determine that pot is bad for MSers, remember that MS is bad for MSers.

S.

Ball of Poop

The population of the city in which I reside is about 350,000. On the planet there are about 350,000 species of beetles. Not bugs. That's beetles alone. That's a lot of protein. I love bugs, of all kinds, but I truly adore beetles (not these ones, but they were good, too).

To paraphrase J.S. Haldane, the creator had an inordinate fondness for beetles. The neat thing about beetles is that they all have a purpose and are all adapted for their environment. They exist almost everywhere on the planet. Some are voracious predators, eating whatever is smaller then they are, others sip nectar from flowers. Some live their lives rolling a ball of poop, inviting a female to lay her eggs in it. Others break down organic matter so we have a cleaner environment in which to live. Some have huge, scary looking horns on their face to intimidate rivals and flip them over (kind of like wrestling on a small scale) and others are tiny little things that live in our flour and other grains that we unknowingly ingest. Some even exhibit parental care. Some are quite drab looking while others are spectacularly coloured.

350,000 species of one type of animal. It boggles my mind. There are only 3 living species of elephant, about 20 species of rabbit, 10 species of horse, and around 50 species of rat. Imagine 350,000 species of rat! Approximately one quarter of all living organisms are beetles.

Why? Why are there so many species of a little bug? They all have specialized jobs to do and many have more than one. Many seem to exist only to be food for something higher up in the chain, but that's a job, too (in a way).

They've been around for millions and millions of years. They will be around long after we are gone. These little creatures are one of nature's most successful evolution stories. But why? They have a purpose, whether it's breaking down decaying plant matter or as predators of pests.

So what does this have to do with MS? You knew there had to be a connection, admit it. Many people, when faced with a diagnosis of MS (or any trial for that matter) ask Why? The answer I've come up with is that there must be a purpose. Do I have MS because there weren't enough people with MS and a big mouth to do PR for it? Will my brain hold a clue as to how it develops? Will my ramblings and ideas reach the right ears and eyes to inspire a cure? Who knows?

I'll just keep rolling my little ball of poop like a dung beetle until something hatches from it.