'Diagnose and adios'*

Biogen Idec Lobbying Efforts

I pay about $1,800 a month for Avonex. Here's one way Biogen spent $1.2 million, paying lobbying firms.

Pharmaceuticals spent $226,999,560 on lobbying last year.

All I can say is F*CK Them!

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Tags: healthcare

I’m Ill, but Who Really Needs to Know?

ONE of the first decisions you make in the emotional hours after a
scary diagnosis is whether to tell others. Most of us share the news
with our loved ones, but what of the circles beyond, particularly those
at work? Your boss?

Disclose here.

Judge Judy

I don't watch Judge Judy, in fact I don't even watch television but on her February 14 episode the following exchange apparently occurred:

Judge Judy said "What is your disability?"

Girl "I have MS, multiple sclerosis"

the judge replies "YOU LOOK FINE TO ME"!

Hope she isn't the Judge on this guys case.
Judge Judy lives on the web here.  Send her "Honor" a message here.

Anyone capture it on youtube?

Hello Again

It's been awhile. I've been busy. I've been traveling and working. Tanzania, Mexico, Costa Rica, an Internet company based in Montana, the local hospital and now an Independent Living Center.

Report urges end to stigma of incontinence

One in four U.S. adults will experience incontinence at some point, a surprisingly high toll, and the condition is so embarrassing that many suffer silently, a government panel said Wednesday.

Women are most prone to incontinence, which is the inability to control urination or bowel movements. But everyone's risk rises as they get older. Being overweight and a couch potato adds to the risk.

With the population rapidly graying and fattening, scientists convened by the National Institutes of Health issued an urgent call for research to find better ways to prevent incontinence and to remove the stigma so more people will seek help.

"We as a society need to get over our discomfort with this subject so that incontinence sufferers receive the compassion, acceptance and care they need, and our aging population can take steps to prevent incontinence in the future," said Dr. C. Seth Landefeld, geriatrics chief at the University of California, San Francisco, who led the panel.

Dribble here....

 

 

Internet cafe opens for disabled users

Link: Internet cafe opens for disabled users.

The Good Bytes Cafe has stained concrete floors, jars of scones and a small bank of computers in the corner, making it much like any Internet cafe.

But the computers — outfitted with a joystick mouse, magnifying software and equipment allowing people to point and click with their eye movements — make Good Bytes one of just a handful nationwide specifically designed for disabled users.

Governor's jet to be sold on eBay

With an eBay account and about $2.5 million, you too can fly in the state jet that cost former Gov. Frank Murkowski so much political pain in his failed re-election campaign.

Read here.

It doesn't appear to be posted to eBay yet.

Buy here.

Of late, death has seized too many of Alaska's remaining giants

The unique nature of Alaska comes not from the beauty of it's land but from the independant nature of it's people. Traveling in Botswana, Africa I met a British couple that had spent two weeks in Alaska and met one 'local'. That's like visiting an art musum with your eyes closed.

I meet Herbie in 1980 after one of his legendary Iditarod sprints. Susan's daughter is in dance with my daughter, we worked stage crew on the Nutcracker just two Decembers ago. Most Alaskan's could probably tell you a story or two about these folks, they will be greatly missed.

"Statistics don't exist for this kind of thing, but Alaska must lead the nation when it comes to living legends. The state is young enough that some of its first leaders and explorers are still around. Its vastness and mystique act like a magnet for the kind of people who become legends. Its remoteness and hostile climate inspire the resourcefulness and resiliency that produce legends.

We walk with giants because they walk with us."

Read more here. (registration required)

Got cash to spare? Starting soon, Gates Foundation will accept it

This year the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation accepted its largest pledge ever — more than $30 billion from a high-powered investor named Warren. Next year it will accept its smallest — $35 from a 7-year-old girl named Olivia.

Read here.

Martin Luther King and Google

Why? Read this.

Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
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Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King

Demographic and Disease Characteristics of People With Multiple Sclerosis Living in Urban and Rural Areas

This study compares demographic and disease-related characteristics of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) living in urban and rural areas. The data analyzed for this study were collected from a survey of 1518 people with MS living throughout the United States from October 2004 through January 2005. We found significant urban-rural differences in various MS characteristics, including type of MS. A significantly larger proportion of people with MS in remote rural areas than their urban counterparts responded that they had primary progressive MS. People with MS in rural areas were significantly more likely than those in urban areas to report that MS symptoms interfered with their independence A significantly larger proportion of people with MS in remote rural areas than in urban areas were not receiving disease-modifying medications. Our results suggest that MS disease expression varies across urban-rural gradients.

I fit into the rural camp.

PDF here

Representative not giving up seat because of multiple sclerosis

State Rep. Dan Stevenson, a Democrat from Highland, said he was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but doesn't plan to retire from the Indiana House of Representatives.

Stevenson, who is unopposed in the November election, said he expects to keep up with the busy pace of the 2007 legislative session by using treatments for the disease, which affects the central nervous system.

More here.

Can a vitamin alleviate chronic, progressive multiple sclerosis?

Researchers have found a possible way to protect people with multiple sclerosis (MS) from severe long-term disability: increase nervous-system levels of a vital compound, called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), by giving its chemical precursor.

More at www.childrenshospital.org.