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Aspartame’s Sickeningly Sweet Controversy

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Members of the New York assembly are hoping to change the state’s organ donation system to increase the number of organs available for transplant, and are currently working on two separate bills to that end.

One bill seeks to move to “presumed consent.”

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Presumed Consent for Organ Donation: Smart Move or Orwellian Prophecy Come True?

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/803695

Well that actually does sound like an insanely ridiculous thing for a wife to say to her husband, but I said it nonetheless. It was another baby step in my overall plan to take back the life that MS would destroy if I allowed it.

After the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, physicians, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and MS patient-advocacy groups unleashed a mountain of printed material and videos upon us, and we set about the task of learning all we could. Even prior to diagnosis, our suspicions of MS lead us to online research. We began with well-known and well-respected medical sites, then gravitated toward something less formal but slightly more tangible — other people with MS.

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Your Choice: Exist with It or Live with It

Multiple Sclerosis Education & Awareness Month

A Diagnosis Odyssey: Learn why a diagnosis of MS may take years.

Who Gets It and Why: Get the who, what, where, when, why, and how of it.

Diagnosis, Denial, Due Diligence: After the diagnosis there may be a period of denial. Then the real work begins.

Longing for Liberation: Controversial new Liberation Treatment turns conventional MS wisdom on its head.

Photo Copyright WebCamp One LLC

In this case, debate centers around “Liberation Treatment.” All around the world people with multiple sclerosis have been clamoring for action, ever since last September, when cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Paolo Zamboni released the results of a preliminary study of MS patients indicating a link to chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI), a narrowing of the veins that restricts the flow of blood from the brain, causing iron build up, in turn causing the degeneration of neurons.

Dr. Zamboni undertook this research in response to his wife’s own heartbreaking battle against MS. The resulting theory that some types of MS are caused by CCSVI, told him that it might be treated by clearing out major veins to free the blood flow. After confirming that his wife did indeed have CCSVI, he opened the veins by using a small inflated balloon to clear the blockage, a procedure that has earned the moniker Liberation Treatment. In the three years following her surgery, she has not had a relapse…

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Longing for Liberation

More on Multiple Sclerosis Education & Awareness Month

A Diagnosis Odyssey

Who Gets It and Why

Diagnosis, Denial, Due Diligence

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1095865

Confused? You are not alone. That’s why the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation recognizes March as National MS Education & Awareness Month, and the National MS Society designated March 8-14 as MS Awareness Week.

Throughout the month of March, I will offer glimpses into my own life with MS. While there is no such thing as a typical case, those who are familiar with MS will nod in recognition. If you are not familiar with MS, please allow us a few moments of your time during MS Awareness Month.

A Diagnosis Odyssey

It began with a seemingly benign but persistent tingly feeling in my upper right arm. It was the kind of thing you tend to dismiss and certainly not the kind of thing that makes you rush out to see a doctor.

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Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month: A Diagnosis Odyssey

Photo: copyright WebCamp One LLC

Read this post in its entirety and find how you can:

• Be pro-active about your health.
• Foster a strong doctor-patient relationship.
• Advocate for yourself and your family.
• Research and learn — seek out multiple trusted sources for medical information.

Health Care Self-Advocacy: Be the Squeaky Wheel

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/961618

As the health care debate rages on, we continue to look at ways individuals can take charge of their own health and become our own best health care advocates.

The doctor-patient relationship is the cornerstone of patient-centered, compassionate medicine — but only if both doctors and patients take responsibility for their role and cooperate in the best of interest of the patient.

Most patients can come up complaints about doctors and doctors’ offices, but do you make some of these common mistakes with your doctor?

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Are you guilty of making these 5 mistakes with your doctor?

Photo: U.S. Centers for Disease Control

Health care is built upon the doctor/patient relationship, but that crucial relationship has changed drastically over the last decade. Without that fundamental building block, the practice of medicine suffers greatly.

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What happened to patient-centered, compassionate medicine?

Photo: U.S. National Institutes of Health

Photo: CDC

It is one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States, responsible for an estimated 99,000 deaths per year. It is largely preventable and hits you when you’re down.

It is health care-associated infection. You get it when you go to the hospital for treatment, but end up with the added problem of a life-threatening infection.

Mandatory public reporting of health care-acquired infections and preventable medical errors will spur quality improvement. You can help by asking your representatives to support legislation to improve the prevention, detection, and treatment of healthcare-acquired infections.

Find out how you can be part of the solution… read this post in its entirety:

What Causes 99,000 Deaths and is Largely Preventable?

Pharmaceutical companies are playing into every fear and every illness, real and imagined, as never before. Why market only to doctors when you can reach the patient — the consumer — directly. The number of pharmaceutical ads in prime time television has risen so dramatically that they are all but impossible to ignore. Whatever ails you, there’s a pill to make you feel better.

Photo credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/755991

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Should Pharmaceutical Ads be Banned from TV?