Guest guest Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Hi Lori I would like to welcome you and assure you that even though there have been some recent off-topic issues, the intent of this list's founder and membership is to be here as a supportive group for new members. I hope you'll give us an opportunity! I would like to know more about your situation or questions that brought you to this list. You'll find a family here with a variety of life stories, but one issue in common: scoliosis and perhaps you are dealing with flatback issues or upcoming surgery. We have veterans of at least one or many surgeries or revisions to correct flatback or other conditions resulting from Harrington rods. Members come from all walks of life. I hope you'll share your story with us, and speaking for myself, I'm glad you are joining us. Jennie in Texas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Lori, If you have any specific (or general) questions, I will do my best to help you find answers. I am having revision surgery February 28 and March 7 and have done quite a bit of research in the last 3 months. There is a wealth of information and support available here. I hope you will find it accessible. kam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Thank you for your responses. Glad to know the background, etc. I've been diagnosed with Flatback for four years, and as yet haven't had surgery. I've had various opinions from various surgeons and specialists, varying from " Let's do it now, " to " Don't attempt it at all, the hardware is to enmeshed and the success rate is only about 50%. It's too risky. " I have prescriptions for Darocet and Flexeril, but avoid them unless it's unbearable because I can't function on them. I periodically get sent to physical therapy, which helps in the short term, but my insurance always stops it as soon as I feel better. They treat this as a series of acute flair-ups when the pain gets really bad, but offer me know long-term therapy to keep the pain from returning. I'm 41 and have lost an inch in height already from pitching forward and to the left. Does anyone else have difficulty getting straight answers? Is there any alternative to surgery that will lead to less pain without becoming drug-dependent? (I have a husband, three teenagers, pets and a part-time job!) Thanks so much! Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 You are in the right spot. There are many who can relate to your story. Where do you live? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Lori – this is a great website for information. Based on the information I received from this website this past year, I decided to have surgery this coming November. The arguments will pass – this is unusual for this website. Lorrie From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of loriw196 Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 9:21 AM To: Subject: New member Wow. I just joined this group in hopes of finding information and help concerning my chronic pain due to Flatback Syndrome. Yet after reading many of the most recent posts, the bulk of what I see are 1. arguments about money andd 2. chit-chat that has little to do with Scoliosis at all. I'm in need of information and real help. Can anyone disavow me of the notion that this board has wandered far afield from 's attempts to help everyone here? Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Hi , My name is Lyn from Australia, I suffer from Seno-negative Rheumtoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Anklosing Spondylitis. IBS, CFS, Asthma. I have had the effects for at least 40 years or more the Rheumy says. From the experience of going through most of the drugs and having no success, I am now on Methotraxate weekly injections. The Meth. has help me to control the high ESR levels and the joint pain. Keep in touch if I can help you. Bye Lyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 28, 2005 Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 Hello, I am sorry that you have Spinal Stenosis, I have that to, also Degenerative Disc Disease. I am in contant pain, can barely walk. Have had this since 1999. I have taken all kinds of medicines, had the Epidural shots and nothing has helped. I am so afraid of surgery as they want to put those metal cages in my lower back with screws and all and I am just petrified. I am so afraid I will be unable to walk at all soon. My family Dr. says avoid surgery at all costs, that I might be paralyzed and just so many bad things. I am so heart broken as this has ruined my life. Hope you can find something to help you. I know they have some non-invasive surgery, but it isn't anywhere near where I live in Arkansas. God Bless!! nachobaby2@... new member Hello,I was just diagnosed yesterday with spinal stenosis. My doctor hasn't really discussed this with me but has set me up with a pain management plan and I will be having steroid injections. I am 37 years old and I am in constant pain. Can anyone tell me how they cope or what treatments they have had that gives some relief? I really do not want to live the rest of my life all loopy on pain meds. I am hoping that the steroids will help, but are there side effects of these shots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 28, 2005 Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 Hi Tammi, I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but at least you have an idea now what you are up against. I have cervical spinal stenosis, arthritis, and fibromyalgia. I am 45. I had the epidural steroid injections last summer ('04). I was pleased with the results. I got about a 50-60% reduction in pain - enough to make a real difference. I started having some periods of time on some days where I was pain free. What a relief that was! There are side effects to the injections as far as bad long term effects on your bones, but your doctor will monitor you and won't give you the injections frequently enough to cause serious effects. My doctor was willing to give me another series as soon as 6 months after the first one, some doctors wait a year minimum. I had a series of three, two weeks apart. Each time, I was told to take a day off work and rest the balance of the day after the injection. It was not very painful to get the injections. It is done as an outpatient procedure. I was at the hospital about 2 hours each time. Once I got home, I felt a little tired and a little dizzy. I also had a mild sensation of heat along my spine. By the next day, those effects were gone. It took several days to get pain relief after each injection, and I got a little more relief with each one. I was told that the effects of the injections can last anywhere from 3 months to 18 months. I started feeling that they were wearing off after about 9 months. My relief is almost all gone now, but I am trying to wait until next year to have the next series, since I have no more sick leave this year. There is also a slight chance that the effect can be permanent. I'll try to explain this, but I'm no doctor. The pain of spinal stenosis comes from the spinal cord rubbing against the boney structures. The more it rubs, the more irritated it is and the more it swells - like a vicious circle. The steroids work by shrinking the spinal cord so that it is no longer pressed up against bone. Sometimes when the cord is relieved of rubbing on the bones, the lack of irritation will be sufficient to keep the cord from swelling again, or at least to keep it from swelling to the point of being impinged by the bones. It's just a slight chance, but it's something to hope for. For me, the injections were definitely a positive experience. I hope that if I can get about a year of relief each time I have the injections, I can hold off on surgery until they have made enough advances to make it more of a sure thing. Right now, the surgery is too iffy for me to want to try it. Some other things I do to cope are to use heat a lot, walk a lot and stay active, and minimize the amount of heavy lifting I do. I use heating pads frequently, as well as the Thermacare patches. I also do gentle stretching exercises. Before I had the injections, I was sent to a pain doctor who put me on morphine. I could not tolerate it and went off after a couple weeks. I understand what you are saying about not wanting to be loopy - I hate that feeling. I take Neurontin and Celebrex daily for pain. At first the Neurontin made me incredibly sleepy, but after a couple weeks I got used to it. I also have Robaxin and Vicodin that I use really sparingly when I absolutely have to. I hope you get a lot of relief from the injections. Best of luck to you -- --- Tammi <tammigirl1967@...> wrote: > Hello, > I was just diagnosed yesterday with spinal stenosis. > My doctor hasn't > really discussed this with me but has set me up with > a pain management > plan and I will be having steroid injections. I am > 37 years old and I > am in constant pain. Can anyone tell me how they > cope or what > treatments they have had that gives some relief? I > really do not want > to live the rest of my life all loopy on pain meds. > I am hoping that > the steroids will help, but are there side effects > of these shots? > > > > > __________________________________ - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Ezekial & Essene bread are made from the sprouted grain (explained by someone else) but regular bread is made from unsprouted grain that is ground into flour. Butter is dairy but there are different degrees of dairy. At any rate butter is best made into ghee or used very sparingly. Suggestion --- consumption from any food group that has very limited or no beneficials should be kept to a minimum. Like grains & dairy. Try to get new favorite foods. As you may have been reading in another group of posts, focus on what you can eat and not on what you cannot. KM ratardif <rtardif@...> wrote: Hello. I've recently found out that I am highly sensitive to most of the foods I love, including wheat, dairy, sugar (cane & beet), corn, yeast, eggs, and soy. I was searching through some food allergy information and decided that I was going to starve to death if I had to stay on the food allergy rotation diet. But then I came across the Eat Right 4 Your Type book on allergies. And realized that most of the foods I'm supposed to be avoiding for my type - O - are also the ones I should be avoiding according to this diet. I'm going to try it for a month and see what happens. But I have a few questions. I've noticed on some lists that butter is okay to eat, but in general dairy is not. Butter is dairy. How is this possible? Also, type Os are supposed to avoid most grains, especially wheat, but are allowed to eat Essene Bread and Ezekial bread. From the recipes I've seen, both breads have grains, but they are sprouted. What's the difference? And if I have wheat sensitivities, can I eat these breads? I've got a lot to learn. Please help me some. I'm really missing my favorite foods. Robin A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 In a message dated 10/10/2005 3:50:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time, rtardif@... writes: Butter is dairy. How is this possible? Butter is fat with the caesin (sp) removed. It does not contain the harmful lectins found in milk and other dairy products. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 In a message dated 10/10/2005 3:50:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time, rtardif@... writes: Also, type Os are supposed to avoid most grains, especially wheat, but are allowed to eat Essene Bread and Ezekial bread. From the recipes I've seen, both breads have grains, but they are sprouted. What's the difference? And if I have wheat sensitivities, can I eat these breads? Sprouted grains have left the shell casing behind that contains the majority of the gluten and harmful lectins. Sprouted wheat breads are an avoid, however, because they contain wheat flour that is not sprouted. Same for rye bread. It also has wheat flour added. Grains are just not good for Os. I for one can't eat much Ezekial or Essene bread. Rice is about the only grain I can tolerate. I grew up eating corn, wheat, potatoes, etc and was astounded to find that they made me very sick after I detoxed on the diet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 In a message dated 10/10/2005 3:50:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time, rtardif@... writes: I've got a lot to learn. Please help me some. I'm really missing my favorite foods. Once you detox and get sick from eating your " favorite " foods, you'll change your mind. Good luck, Max Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 Hi Cooky. Sorry your mother is dealing with so much. My scoliosis is congenital. Was fused when I was 11yo & my pain is mild. My right hip & left knee hurt some. My knee is worse but I'm still years away from needing replacement. My mother on the other hand had terrible knee problems. She knew she had scoliosis but had never had any treatment. We learned about our scoliosis together when I was diagnosed. My surgeon examined her at one of my appts & told her she had it. No xrays were done at the time since I was the patient. My surgeon speculated that it was probably idiopathic. Since congenital scoliosis is not considered hereditary it seemed highly unlikely hers was congenital as well as mine. In the last couple years, during the course of diagnostics for other problems, she found out she has a hemivertebra causing her scoliosis. (She only just told me this New Year's day.) That appears to make us a rare mother/daughter pair with congenital scoliosis. In my mother's case her knee problem was actually a result of additional wear & tear on that side caused by her scoliosis. She also has a prob with the opposite hip. For her, knee replacement surgery was first because it was the priority. Actually, she has minimal back problems so I doubt she will seek treatment for her scoliosis. If mom had needed back surgery I simply cannot imagine her making it through the recovery with her knee in the condition it was. So for her the knee would have had to come first I think. Like yours, my mother hates taking pain meds. She will take if needed for post surgical pain but otherwise gets by on ibuprofen. I realize these situations are different but thought I'd share. --- " cooky " <brntcooky_2000@...> wrote: Hi, I joined the group as my mom has scoliosis, stenosis and osteoarthritis of the spine and I'd like to learn more. It seems she has a hard time convincing herself to take the pain meds and is in alot of pain. Anyone have any suggestions about this dialema? She will see the scoliosis specialist to see if surgery is possible and will also see an ortho about a knee replacement within the next two weeks. Anyone have any recommendations about which surgery to do first if both are recommended? I have no doubt that both will be recommended. Thanks in advance for your help/suggestions. cooky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 8, 2006 Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 Thanks for sharing and I can appreciate your words regarding your mother's conditions. Something I forgot to throw in there is that mom took Arimidex for breast cancer, and the Ortho and Oncologist said this caused the worsening of bone problems. I hope we will find some positive things to work towards after the appointments in the next few weeks. cooky > > Hi, > > I joined the group as my mom has scoliosis, stenosis and > osteoarthritis of the spine and I'd like to learn more. It seems she > has a hard time convincing herself to take the pain meds and is in > alot of pain. Anyone have any suggestions about this dialema? > > She will see the scoliosis specialist to see if surgery is possible > and will also see an ortho about a knee replacement within the next > two weeks. Anyone have any recommendations about which surgery to do > first if both are recommended? I have no doubt that both will be > recommended. > > Thanks in advance for your help/suggestions. > > cooky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 4, 2006 Report Share Posted February 4, 2006 Welcome Elke... I think people should be concerned about the Bird Flu. But at the moment it is still totally unknown as to where its headed. I think it could easily be stopped in its tracks and never be heard from again. Our ability to map these sorts of things is greater than ever before. Our methods to control and treat have also advanced. I do think we should be prepared, but we can also go overboard. I like the idea of stocking up on some things like water and canned goods, and having other essential items stashed away. These things could also come in very handy for many other possible disasters. Pete > > Hi all, > I just signed up for this group a few minutes ago.-My husband and I live > in the hills of WV. I have been keeping up with all the latest news on > the bird flu through the internet. I'm stocking up on canned good and > water just in case. What bothers me is the fact that I seem to be the > only one in my immediate environment who takes the threat of avian flu > seriously , > Glad to have found this list with of other concerned folks. > Elke > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 4, 2006 Report Share Posted February 4, 2006 Hi Elke, Welcome to the group. You will find that people in New Zealand, Australia and in Europe are far more concerned than most Americans are about the mutation of bird flu. Since the USA has troops all over the world at about 750 military bases, such lack of concern is strange: the military would be an excellent conduit for strange foreign diseases to come to the States. Indeed, the military stopped monitoring diseases among its troops some time ago (for lack of funds). If you are interested in the topic, I may recommend that you read Laurie Garrett's book " The Coming Plagues. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 4, 2006 Report Share Posted February 4, 2006 This is from our Files Panic Everywhere By STEPHEN S. HALL; THE COMING PLAGUE Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance. By Laurie Garrett. 750 pp. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $25. AS far as we know, viruses do not daydream. But if they did, if one of the so-called " hot " viruses lurking in the rain forest plotted the perfect dream sequence for breaking out, it would go something like this: Civil war erupts in a small, politically unstable country in equatorial Africa. Decades-old ethnic enmities, suddenly aroused, lead to the wholesale slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent civilians. Fleeing almost certain death, a quarter-million refugees stream into neighboring countries. There, incubated in the overcrowded, unsanitary refugee camps, the old familiar contagions -- cholera, drug-resistant malaria and tuberculosis -- soften up the crowds for a final, swiftly fatal punch by an even more terrifying pathogen, an airborne version of the highly lethal Ebola virus. Ebola is a virus to which the adjective " deadly " clings like spandex in the overheated, sensationalistic shorthand of popular medical prose, and not without reason. It can kill up to 90 percent of the people it infects, and that would become horrifyingly apparent in the African refugee camps within a week or two. First people would develop fevers and headaches, and then they would begin to bleed from every orifice -- suffering nosebleeds, bleeding gums, bloody diarrhea, bloody vomit, bleeding eyes -- until, in a viral end game, they would be reduced to a feverish slush of blood, a single soggy imploding hemorrhage (thus the name " hemorrhagic " virus). Once it was loose in the camps, the Ebola virus would hop from refugee to refugee, then to aid workers, U.N. peacekeepers and the volunteer doctors and nurses who minister to the dying. In less than two weeks, carried far and wide by soldiers and relief workers returning home, Ebola virus would disembark on three continents. Pandemic, panic, public health disaster. It sounds more like a nightmare than a virus's daydream, and it also sounds an awful lot like Rwanda, but as Laurie Garrett reports in her book " The Coming Plague, " this viral dream sequence was actually a " war game " scenario, set in the fictional country of " Changa " and concocted by infectious disease experts five years ago at the 1989 meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Hawaii. The good news is that Ebola hasn't made an appearance in Rwanda -- not yet, at least. The very bad news, according to Ms. Garrett, a health and science writer for Newsday, is that if this worst-case scenario came true, even after five years of fret and preparation, no national or international agency (not even the World Health Organization or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) would be equipped to do much about it. VIRUSES are never out of season, but they have become so trendy of late that perhaps they should all have their own agents. The hottest of late are the " emerging viruses " -- either new viruses suddenly appearing or recognized viruses suddenly expanding their range, often hopping from rodents or monkeys, where they usually cause little harm, to humans, where they can cause a great deal of harm. Ever since a 1989 meeting organized on the subject by Morse of Rockefeller University, emerging viruses have become a topic of intense scientific interest, which in turn has generated a growing library of books that bridge two genres, popular science writing and Gothic horror tales. Emerging viruses have found their latest Cassandra in Ms. Garrett, who has ably covered recent outbreaks of disease for her newspaper rather like a war correspondent. But these viruses form only part of the larger medical alarm sounded by " The Coming Plague, " a meticulously researched, genuinely disturbing but ultimately unsatisfying chronicle of the increasing dangers humankind faces from all sorts of microbes, including re-emerging bacteria and parasites. After a century of onward-and-upward public health triumphs against diseases like smallpox and polio, the laws of optimism have begun to catch up with medical intervention. Ms. Garrett argues that we are falling back to earth swiftly, that " the disease-causing microbes of the planet, far from having been defeated, " are " posing ever greater threats to humanity. " The old bugs are back, badder than ever, and a new breed of miscreant seems to be crawling out of the rain forests, the oceans, even the air conditioning ducts, to assail us. As this century of medical miracles draws to a close, the eminent microbiologist Avrion Mitchison is quoted as writing, " Will Homo sapiens and the microbes continue to coexist, or will one side win? " That such a question can even be asked speaks volumes about the fear and pessimism taking hold in the medical community. When Marshall McLuhan popularized the concept of the global village, his vision encompassed lots of electric plugs and no bugs, yet no global world view can be said to be complete, much less reliable, without microbes teeming in a corner of the picture. One of the book's persuasive themes is that the global village is really a vast biotic sea of genetic possibility, of viruses mutating, of bacteria- swapping genes that confer resistance to our most powerful drugs, of ships and airplanes shrinking the geography of contagion, of a larger ecology where human recreations like making love and waging war and leveling undeveloped wilderness facilitate the spread of diseases, and where the endemic poverty of " Thirdworldization, " as Ms. Garrett puts it, insures that a permanent global underclass of malnourished, chronically ill and overcrowded victims will serve as human petri dishes where future epidemics will be cooked up. A 1991 outbreak of cholera in Peru perfectly illustrates how genetics, culinary tastes, sanitation policies and even global weather patterns can all conspire in an epidemic. The El Tor strain of Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, made its first appearance in 1961 in Indonesia, but by then, as Rita Colwell, a scientist at the University of land, discovered two decades later, the germ had become unusually tenacious; it had survived in ocean water by shrinking itself to 1/300 of its normal size and hibernating inside algae. In January of 1991, a Chinese freighter docked at Callao, Peru, and discharged its bilge water, teeming with algae drawn from Asian seas, into the harbor. The cholera bacteria, dormant stowaways inside the algae, made their way into local shellfish, which made their way into the popular raw seafood dish ceviche. And soon the bacteria spread into the water supply. Because of a feared link between chlorine and cancer, Ms. Garrett writes, " Peru had abandoned the longstanding disease control practice of using the chemical to disinfect public drinking water. Later, C.D.C. studies would show that the majority of Peru's cholera microbes were transmitted straight into people's homes, dripping from their water faucets. " Meanwhile, the currents of El Nino carried the infected algae to other Latin American ports, and airplane passengers infected with the virus brought it to Los Angeles. The epidemic rages on even today, the most conservative figures suggesting 900,000 cases of cholera and more than 8,000 deaths as of October of 1993. Whereas Preston's book " The Hot Zone " wisely conveys the threat of emerging pathogens by exploring one riveting episode, the outbreak of a strain of Ebola virus in an animal facility in Reston, Va., Ms. Garrett has opted for a different and less wise strategy. She has made a nearly encyclopedic survey of virtually all the emerging and rebounding diseases, as seen through the eyes of the field epidemiologists she calls " disease cowboys. " WE learn about the emergence of an early hemorrhagic virus, named Machupo, in 1962 in Bolivia, and the epidemiological work that traced it to rodents. We learn how another lethal hemorrhagic agent, the Marburg virus, an excruciating torment whose symptoms include peeling skin, spread from Ugandan monkeys to German vaccine workers in 1967. We learn of the appearance in 1969 of the highly contagious Lassa fever (during which a Yale University researcher became infected with Lassa but refused to believe his illness had anything to do with his work). We learn of mutant microorganisms that can survive a hit of Clorox and of a relatively common bacterium that genetically engineered itself to cause toxic shock syndrome. We learn of last year's hantavirus outbreak in the American Southwest. And we get what is by now an obligatory account of the dramatic outbreak of the highly lethal strain of Ebola virus in Zaire in 1976, in which 18 of 21 people infected by one gregarious individual perished, including family members and friends who prepared the body for burial. That would be plenty for any book, but there is more: the swine flu scare in the United States in 1976, the story of Legionnaire's disease, the emergence of deadly forms of bacteria in hamburger meat, the comeback of malaria, updates on drug-resistant cases of herpes, tales of how we breed some of our most virulent pathogens in hospitals, even detailed accounts of disease outbreaks (or zoonoses, as they're called) in seals, ducks, pigs and dolphins. And in the middle of all this comes what is practically a book within a book, a lengthy account of the emergence of AIDS, which -- whatever its virtues -- will make no one forget Randy Shilts's impassioned, highly readable book " And the Band Played On. " It might seem churlish to complain about a book's thoroughness (especially a 750-page tome that was composed in longhand because the author, as she tells us in her acknowledgments, suffers from an occupational injury that prevents the use of a keyboard). Still, " The Coming Plague " covers an awful lot of ground, way too much for the casual reader. The obsession with detail -- dozens of bugs, hundreds of scientists and, by my count, 1,348 footnotes -- is as huge as Ms. Garrett's energy and enterprise. Her journalistic instincts are excellent. She cites the key articles, talks to the right researchers, focuses on the crucial scientific issues. Unfortunately, the book's flaws are huge, too. Any writer attempting to work on such a vast canvas needs exemplary compositional skills and fine stylistic brushwork for the details. The writing here is, at best, journeyman journalism; it tells more than it shows, and usually it does so in the passive voice. That kind of prose, coupled with an almost compulsive inclusiveness, creates a narrative that ultimately becomes as deadly as its subject matter. Yet to read " The Coming Plague " is to come away with perverse admiration for the invisible agents of so much suffering and mortality. Viruses and bacteria do not care about national health reform or the information highway; they do not think; they do not daydream. They thrive in the chop shops of evolution, borrowing or stealing or mutating the biologic tricks that will serve their single reason for being -- to find hosts and replicate, to copy their genetic material so they can borrow and steal and mutate another day. They do so as part of a beautiful, if not always benign, ceremony of adaptation and interaction. The bacterium that causes Legionnaire's disease has learned to live in shower heads and water fountains, and to spread via air conditioning ducts; the Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria seem always to bob and weave around whatever pharmaceutical punch we throw at them. Survival is biology's ultimate meritocracy, and microbes do it exquisitely well. IN recalling the history of the Black Death in 17th-century London, Ms. Garrett quotes Defoe: " The plague, like a great fire, if a few houses only are contiguous where it happens, can only burn a few houses. " In the global village, though, where urban density and poverty, the trafficking of goods and services and human desires all conspire to crowd our houses together, Ms. Garrett suggests, we are busily engineering an ecology ready made for biologic disaster. If these disquieting scenarios are true, then Rwanda and the rain forest and even a crowded New York City subway car at rush hour are all part of the same village, and we are all -- to strike a match to Defoe's metaphor -- so much human kindling. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html S. Hall's most recent book is " Mapping the Next Millennium. " See also the reviews on http://www.lauriegarrett.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 Hi It's always a good idea to have some extra supplies on hand for any kind of emergency so just keep doing what you're doing. A lot of people aren't taking the pan flu seriously right now but hopefully that will change. Cat~www.niteflytes.us [Flu] new member Hi all,I just signed up for this group a few minutes ago.-My husband and I live in the hills of WV. I have been keeping up with all the latest news on the bird flu through the internet. I'm stocking up on canned good and water just in case. What bothers me is the fact that I seem to be the only one in my immediate environment who takes the threat of avian flu seriously ,Glad to have found this list with of other concerned folks.Elke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 Lee, I am in the US and very concerned. I was online doing my research the other evening when I came across an article (with photo) of the 15 yr old girl in Iraq that died of the flu. Interstingly right under that article was yet another article with a photo of our troops and it stated how they will be coming home by sometime in 2007. I stopped for a while there looking at these articles and photos next to them and wondered how many people made the connection. I personally have run the gammut from I'm POSITIVE this is it and it's coming soon to I'm really overreacting to finally... I just have to prepare and hope that our world does as well and may be we CAN BE the first ever to at least make a huge dent in the damage a pandemic can do. a. > > Hi Elke, Welcome to the group. You will find that people in New > Zealand, Australia and in Europe are far more concerned than most > Americans are about the mutation of bird flu. Since the USA has troops > all over the world at about 750 military bases, such lack of concern is > strange: the military would be an excellent conduit for strange foreign > diseases to come to the States. Indeed, the military stopped > monitoring diseases among its troops some time ago (for lack of funds). > > If you are interested in the topic, I may recommend that you read > Laurie Garrett's book " The Coming Plagues. " > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 Funny that you mention this. I was thinking today how strange it is that the outbreak in Iraq has not been mentioned a lot in the US media. I was reading articles from Asian newspapers which told off 165 people with bird flu symptoms were admitted to hospitals WHO mentioned today that it is indeed fluu season and that some of those in hopitals probalby just half the regular flu.. there finally was an article today-which mentioned that 12 people were being tested and that there maybe a human to human case-from the girl who died to the uncle. Like you said, this would really put our service personnel at danger. it's almost it isnot talked about on purpose. Elke Lee wrote: Hi Elke, Welcome to the group. You will find that people in New Zealand, Australia and in Europe are far more concerned than most Americans are about the mutation of bird flu. Since the USA has troops all over the world at about 750 military bases, such lack of concern is strange: the military would be an excellent conduit for strange foreign diseases to come to the States. Indeed, the military stopped monitoring diseases among its troops some time ago (for lack of funds). If you are interested in the topic, I may recommend that you read Laurie Garrett's book "The Coming Plagues." .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 Hi, welcome. I'm Cat~ and I work for a state health department in the midwest. Nice to meet you. Enjoyed looking at your blog. Cat~www.niteflytes.us [Flu] New Member Just wanted to introduce myself to the group. My name is Jim and I'm looking forward to participating in the discussions here. I've become so interested in bird flu that I've started a blog about it. If anyone is interested, please feel free to look at it at http://flufactor.blogspot.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hi there. Lots of good info here! There's none like this group in the UK., even though a comment was posted that we are " More concerned " about H5N1 than citizens of the US (!) Mike. > > Just wanted to introduce myself to the group. > > My name is Jim and I'm looking forward to participating in the > discussions here. I've become so interested in bird flu that I've > started a blog about it. If anyone is interested, please feel free to > look at it at http://flufactor.blogspot.com. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 Most of us do after we have been on the diet fully for several weeks. After a while it is a way of eating. Check and see if any of the food stores you use have a blood type kit. You will do best to eat by your blood type. I don't know your age, but I understand now babies are often typed at birth and it might be in your health records. If you have ever given blood, they would know. New Member Hello List, I have been on the diet for months now and am doing great. My sleep is better, less allergies, more energy. I stocked up on beef and love my beans. I even like the seltzer water. Honestly I am not sure what my blood type is but I liked the foods on the O list so I decided to just go for it. Is anyone else noticing an improvement in energy? Sincerely, Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 Welcome to the group! I am taking the liberty of forwarding your post, as I believe you may have sent it to my email rather than to the group as a whole. What kind of physician do you see? She may be well-meaning, but she is definitely misinformed in telling you that " once rods are in nothing can be wrong with them " -- nothing could be further from the truth! From pseudarthrosis to broken rods to flatback syndrome, all kinds of things can go wrong with rods, or as a result of the type of rods you have and their placement in your back. Steroids and muscle relaxants are palliatives at best. You need to learn about more definitive treatments that could actually eradicate your problems. Depending on what data is obtained from a complete physical and neurological exam plus today's sophisticated imaging technologies as indicated, problems with your rods should be readily diagnosable. Once you know exactly what is wrong, a knowledgeable physician -- most likely, an expderienced revision surgeon -- can offer you reasonable options for treatment. You need to get to a qualified, up-to-date specialist who can advise you of your realistic options in gaining relief from the problems that are plaguing you. I hope and trust that we can be of help to you in your quest for expert medical care. As far as your signs and symptoms are concerned, many of us have been there ourselves -- I think I can speak for all of us in saying that you have our sincere empathy and unqualified support! Best, --- baddgurlbree <baddgurlbree@...> wrote: > Hi!I just happened to find your web sight and was > thrilled to see other > people talking about their experiences.I had > harrington rods put in 30 > years ago this month and a laminectomy done 18 years > ago. I have pain > in my back,tingling and numbness both arms and > legs,and severe pain in > righ hip if I lay on right side.I trully feel like I > am leaning more to > the left and my physician thinks steroids and muscle > relxers are the > answer. She says once rods are in nothing can be > wrong with > them.Hopefully I will learn more reading and > interacting with your > group. > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 28, 2006 Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 --- Hi , My name is Holly I am one of the moderator's for this group we have one thing in comon. I had a teathered spinal cord and had a teathered cord relase done in 2000 I have under gone 5 stimulator surgeries I have had the one that is in me now for about two years and pain free. I do know that not every one gets those results. I should tell you I had a tarlov cyst surgery done on my low back seven months before the theathered cord release so 7 surgeries total. I do have some information on the diffrent leads if you would like it. Just private email me if you are interested. I found it as I was looking through some of my old medical records that a rep gave me. Take care Holly In Stimulator , Fitz-Roy <fitzroyj@...> wrote: > > Hi All! > > I just joined the group and wanted to introduce myself and say hello. I'm 21 years old and I have spina bifida and tethered cord syndrome, and just underwent placement of a Medtronic thoracic spinal cord stimulator on March 8, 2006, with a revision on March 13, 2006 for lead migration, for left leg pain of about a year's duration. My trial was conducted entirely in the operating room (my neurosurgeon has an unusual trial philosophy and does this with all of his patients) and so far, I've had about a 10-20 percent reduction in pain. We're hoping that the stimulator's effectiveness will improve, and with other therapies (physical therapy, acupuncture, medication, and chiropractic care) I can avoid more surgery (a sixth spinal cord detethering and/or intrathecal Baclofen therapy). > > I hope that everyone's having a fantastic day and I look forward to chatting with you. > > ~Jen > > > > ========================= > Fitz-Roy > Boston College LSOE '06 > 110 St. More Rd. #305 > x 6-2443 > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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