Saturday, March 31, 2012

More Experiments on Myself

A couple successful ones, too.

First, Probiotics.  Love them.
I have been having problems ever since I took the antibiotics for my teeth.  Really sensitive guts, temperature control problems etc.  I went to the vitamin store and got some from the refrigerated unit, just to make sure the bacteria were live.  I don't know anything about them, so got the version for Women over 50.  Probiotics for  Seniors, kiss my ass...
Anyhow, I have to say, it worked wonders.   My guts aren't grinding and I no longer feel sick.   My gums and sinuses are much happier.   And my feet are WAY better.   Seriously.  I don't understand it, but my feet don't hurt anymore.   I had a couple warts on them, those went away immediately, but so did my neuroma that started  about 20 years ago.   I was told it required surgery.  It's gone.  Strange but true.  I am actually up to walking 1.5 miles in regular shoes! 


Second, Electric Cigarrettes.
I started using ecigs a while ago, but never could give up the real thing.  Apparently, my bad results were the product of inferior products.  After trying a few- I have learned a few things.
1.  Power matters.   You need a good battery with a manual switch.  Or a wired unit.
2.  Solvent matters.   The nicotine comes dissolved in different liquids.  Ethylene glycol was truly irritating to my mouth.  The cartridges that are half glycerine are not.
 
Get this one, it's better than smoking.
They even have coffee flavored cartridges.   Awesome.

Vaping video
It fits right into my internet obsession lifestyle.
I have now been tobacco free since January 13th.   Never looked back.

Brain Scan

Brain Map Reveals Grid-Like Pattern
I love this pic. It shows how neatly organized the brain really is.
It looks like a network wiring diagram. Each node wired to the central controllers.

Friday, March 30, 2012

How in the World

Did I miss this? I think I was leaving for Mexico...

Scientists shocked to find antibiotics alleviate symptoms of schizophrenia
A cheap antibiotic normally prescribed to teenagers for acne is to be tested as a treatment to alleviate the symptoms of psychosis in patients with schizophrenia, in a trial that could advance scientific understanding of the causes of mental illness.The National Institute for Health Research is funding a £1.9m trial of minocycline, which will begin recruiting patients in the UK next month. The research follows case reports from Japan in which the drug was prescribed to patients with schizophrenia who had infections and led to dramatic improvements in their psychotic symptoms. The chance observation caused researchers to test the drug in patients with schizophrenia around the world. Trials in Israel, Pakistan and Brazil have shown significant improvement in patients treated with the drug.
See what happens when you actually practice medicine and treat the illnesses people exhibit instead of blaming "lifestyle choices" for their symptoms?  Freakin Miracles.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Think about it

Autism in US more common than previously thought
Autism cases are on the rise again, largely due to wider screening and better diagnosis, federal health officials said Thursday. The rate of U.S. cases of autism and related disorders rose to about 1 in 88 children. The previous estimate was 1 in 110.
More than 1 in 100.
And narcolepsy is estimated at 1 in 2000.
Do you really believe there are twenty times more people with autism than narcolepsy?
I don't.   (according to my mechanism, it's not even mathematically possible)

This is a failure of the diagnostic criteria.  They are way too restrictive.  They have sacrificed recall for precision.   Diagnostic Reliability.
Sleep specialists don't recognize any of the mild or preliminary symptoms of narcolepsy.   They wait until the pathology has accumulated to the point it's catastrophic.  (And then they give us drugs that make it worse.)
They're fundamentally incompetent.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Now that's crazy

Coral infected by Herpes Viruses too
As corals continue to decline in abundance around the world, researchers are turning their attention to a possible cause that's almost totally unexplored -- viral disease.
One of the surprises from recent research was the predominance in corals of herpes viruses -- similar but not identical to the herpes virus that can infect humans. Herpes viruses appear to constitute a majority of the viruses found in corals, and one experiment showed that herpes-like viral sequences were produced in coral tissues after acute episodes of stress.

An Offhand Hypothesis

How Mefloquine may induce psychiatric symptoms-

Mefloquine is an antimalarial  drug.  It kills the parasite that lives in the blood cells.
I am guessing it changes the microbe population in the body allowing another parasite to flourish.
Gastrointestinal side effects of mefloquine are well known.

Here is an article linking it to Pneumonia.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a pathogen which is known to cause sudden and extreme behavioral changes.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

How warped I am

This is what I am reading now:

Rheumatic Fever in America and Britain: A Biological, Epidemiological, and Medical History
and I ordered a few more similar titles.
I'm sure I'll annoy you with all the boring things I learn.

This one was pretty fun though:

The Killer of Little Shepherds
Murder in the 19th century. 
A deranged killer.   A brilliant scientist.  A substantial body count.  The birth of forensic science. 
(and a nasty oozing head infection too!)
Plenty of obsession for everyone... even me.

Correlation Games

Chronic Stress Spawns Protein Aggregates Linked to Alzheimer's
Repeated stress triggers the production and accumulation of insoluble tau protein aggregates inside the brain cells of mice, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

"Acute stress may be useful for brain plasticity and helping to facilitate learning. Chronic stress and continuous activation of stress pathways may lead to pathological changes in stress circuitry. It may be too much of a good thing."
My turn:   Stress activates Herpes Viruses.

Brain Imaging Studies Suggest Alzheimer’s Disease Spreads Through Linked Nerve Cells
Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia may spread within nerve networks in the brain by moving directly between connected neurons, instead of in other ways proposed by scientists, such as by propagating in all directions, according to researchers who report the finding in the March 22 edition of the journal Neuron.
My turn:   Herpes Virus spreads via neuron to neuron transmission

Monday, March 26, 2012

Their vision of your future

Stomach surgery more effective than medicine for diabetes
“With these operations, we could take people with diabetes who are just barely obese ... and put diabetes in full remission,” said surgeon Thomas Magnuson of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, who was not involved in either study.
Low Fat Diet.
Drugs. Drugs and More Useless Drugs.
Surgery.

Everyone Wins!
Especially if you're hyperinsulinemic, in which case you get to go to the Bonus Round!

Zombie Bunnies

The best zombies ever!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

This is Why

Military Scrambles To Limit Malaria Drug Just After Afghanistan Massacre
Nine days after a U.S. soldier allegedly massacred 17 civilians in Afghanistan, a top-level Pentagon health official ordered a widespread, emergency review of the military’s use of a notorius anti-malaria drug called mefloquine. Mefloquine, also called Lariam, has severe psychiatric side effects. Problems include psychotic behavior, paranoia and hallucinations. The drug has been implicated in numerous suicides and homicides, including deaths in the U.S. military. For years the military has used the weekly pill to help prevent malaria among deployed troops.
That explains a whole hell of a lot.
Collateral Damage Indeed.

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

David Eagleman

Great compilation of data.  Same old conclusion.

The Brain on Trial
Advances in brain science are calling into question the volition behind many criminal acts. A leading neuroscientist describes how the foundations of our criminal-justice system are beginning to crumble, and proposes a new way forward for law and order.
It's a remarkable achievement-  he presents all kinds of evidence of involuntary behavior- then concludes criminals just really need to buckle down and train their brains with real-time MRI imaging feedback.
He's outside the box and still can't see it.

See the Pathology

Kid has nap attack on skis

Sweet Sick Baby.  Good thing he had a helmet on.
I hate it when the light is too bright and you have to close your eyes...

He should probably eat more fruits and vegetables.
And take some adderall or something.

Friday, March 23, 2012

As I was saying

Hyperinsulinemic Hypoglycemia After Gastric Bypass
Hypoglycemia after eating a meal is being increasingly recognized in post-gastric bypass patients. While the etiology of this condition is not entirely understood, ongoing research suggests that approaches to treatment should involve a low-carbohydrate diet rather than pancreatectomy.
Dr Spanakis, explains that although there is a growing tendency to treat hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemic patients with pancreatic resection, it is often unsuccessful resulting in total pancreatic removal. “The end result of this approach is to cause iatrogenic diabetes, necessitating lifelong treatment with insulin”
  Tic Tic Tic Tic Tic

Something to Consider

When making alcohol policy...  the problem has been around for a while.
Your idea really isn't very creative.   Or effective.

A snapshot of wet and dry America    (check out Utah)

Which reminds me of this post.

Anyhow, happy friday, friday!

But of Course

You Need Some Extra Austerity!

Brits to raise prices of alcohol to curb consumption

Let me know how that goes...

Zombies of the Day

Rush Limbaugh's Wife Mad at Him Too

Behold the true power of righteous indignation.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

The Root of the Problem

Doctors are just now beginning to realize the underlying error of their assumptions-
These traits do not survive in spite of being aberrent.
They survive because they are advantageous.

The Troublesome Bloom of Autism
Gradually he saw a pattern. At birth, children with autism had normal-size brains. But by the time they were a year old, the brains of most autistic children had grown far beyond average. The average adult human brain weighs 1,375 grams, but Courchesne encountered one 3-year-old autistic boy whose brain weight was estimated at 1,876 grams. The MRI scans further revealed that only certain parts of the brain became larger. The growth was striking in the prefrontal cortex, the region just behind the eyes that is responsible for language, decisions, and other sophisticated thinking. Courchesne also saw an increase in both the gray matter (consisting of dense clusters of neurons) and the white matter linking different regions of the brain. This explosive neural expansion continued in many autistic children until the age of 5, and then it stopped. Past that age, Courchesne found, the rate of brain growth slowed in autistic children, falling behind that of ordinary children. By the teen years, some brain regions actually started to shrink. 

People With Autism Possess Greater Ability to Process Information
People with autism have a greater than normal capacity for processing information even from rapid presentations and are better able to detect information defined as 'critical', according to a study published March 22 in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. The research may help to explain the apparently higher than average prevalence of people with autism spectrum disorders in the IT industry. The task involved looking at a circle of letters flashed very briefly on the screen and searching for some 'target' letters. At the same time, the participants were also asked to detect a small grey shape that occasionally appeared outside the letter circle. When only one or two letters were flashed on the screen, the researchers found that both groups could successfully find the letter and detect the shape. However, making the search task more challenging by increasing the number of letters significantly impaired the detection performance of the typical adults -- but not of the adults with autism spectrum disorders, who were able to detect the extra shape just as well in the more challenging conditions. When the task became harder, they significantly outperformed the typical adults.

Same as it ever was

My peeps.  Obsessed with liquid insanity.

Beer and Bling in Iron Age Europe
If you wanted to get ahead in Iron-Age Central Europe you would use a strategy that still works today -- dress to impress and throw parties with free alcohol.

Yo Psychs

This is what I know for a fact:

We will teach ourselves Medicine if it helps.
Watch and learn.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I have been wondering

And here is my answer-

New Study Finds That Patients with Gluten Sensitivity Have Tooth Enamel Issues

Thanks Gluten Free Society!

The Circle of Insanity

Lawmaker Targeted By Firebomb Slams Lack Of Funding For Mental Health Care In Texas
To state Sen. Wendy Davis, the firebombing of her Fort Worth district office on Tuesday was a clear sign that something is wrong in Texas. Targeted by a man who authorities said talked of space aliens and had a history of psychiatric problems, the Democrat ripped into her fellow lawmakers on Wednesday for providing so little funding for mental health care throughout the state.
Do you really think psychiatric care is going to help that man?
You're delusional.

Yo Doctors

You like to fry these people's brains too.

Diabetes mellitus and schizophrenia: historical perspective
Diabetes and schizophrenia have been linked since the beginning of the 20th century (Kooy, 1919; Raphael & Parsons, 1921; Lorenz, 1922).

Immune System Activated in Schizophrenia "This suggests that the brain's immune defence system is activated in schizophrenia," says Professor Göran Engberg, who led the study. "It now remains to be seen whether there is an underlying infection or whether the immune system is triggered by some other means."

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Very Very Troubling

Someone or some group is starting a push on ECT- Electro Convulsive Therapy for Depression.
It keeps coming up and it really scares me.

-The TV show "Royal Pains" spent a whole season on one character's depression and in the finale they convinced her to try it. (I actually went in the other room and cried during that scene.)
-My local news has done a report on how it's being used again.

Now this: Electroshock: First glimpse of how it works adds clues to depression

That study proves nothing. They have no idea what they're talking about.
Yes ECT calms the brain. Go figure- you fuckin fried the synapses.
If I send some jolts through my computer it will calm down quite a bit too.

There is a whole lot of data indicating depression is caused by immune responses.
How exactly does clamping electrodes on your skull affect that?

My working theory is those people forget to eat after treatment.
And their blood sugar goes down. And their orexin levels go up.
And then they feel better. For a while.

There is absolutely NO evidence that this procedure addresses the cause of depression, or is safe or effective over the long term.
And they are preying on the most vulnerable people.  People who think amnesia would be an improvement.  People who really don't care if they survive.

They know their shit doesn't work.  This just proves how incompetent and desperate they are.
They will literally toast our brains to get us to shut up.

One Google Search Later:
ECT alters brain glucose metabolism.
The hard way.
Fuck You Doctors.  Fuck You and your Low Fat Diets.

Zombie Shopping Spree

One of you crazy people sent me a box of brains-

















I got a brain making mold, a coffee cup with brain anatomy, a couple buttons and a brain fart (as if I needed any more of those)!!

Thanks so much-
Brain cells are a girl's best friend...

Monday, March 19, 2012

Can you say Dental Infection?

Sugar-Sweetened Drinks Linked to Increased Risk of Heart Disease in Men
Men who drank a 12-ounce sugar-sweetened beverage a day had a 20 percent higher risk of heart disease compared to men who didn't drink any sugar-sweetened drinks, according to research published in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal.
So what do you suppose the chances are of the AHA changing their low-fat/take statins recommendations?
(update: zero)

Childbirth: Small Babies May Weaken Mothers’ Hearts
Women who had had small babies were at about twice the risk for heart disease as those who had not, the researchers found.
I really like this bit:
The study could not explain the cause, but Dr. Bukowski said one possible factor was that delivery of small babies is associated with a reduction in placental hormones that stimulate blood vessel repair.
Honestly. Must you say something? Can't you just post your results?
This data points at an underlying illness not some direct cause.

They don't know what their drugs do

Do Statins Make It Tough to Exercise?
To learn more about the effect statins have on exercising muscles, scientists in Strasbourg, France, recently gave the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor to a group of rats for two weeks, while a separate control group was not medicated. Some of the rats from both groups ran on little treadmills until they were exhausted. It was immediately obvious that the medicated animals couldn’t run as far. They became exhausted much earlier than the rats that had not been given statins. The differences were even more striking at a cellular level. When the scientists studied muscle tissues, they found that oxidative stress, a measure of possible cell damage, was increased by 60 percent in sedentary animals receiving statins, compared with the unmedicated control group. The effect was magnified in the runners, whose cells showed 226 percent more oxidative stress than exercising animals that had not been given statins.
So let me get this straight- my diabetic husband who MUST exercise to keep his blood sugar in control, has been FORCED to take a drug which not only makes this less effective but dangerous?
Just checking.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

A convenient and willing Test Subject

Examining His Own Body, Stanford Geneticist Stops Diabetes in Its Tracks
(Misleading Title.  It should be:  Stanford Geneticist documents Diabetes onset following Infection)
Snyder had a cold at the first blood draw, which allowed the researchers to track how a rhinovirus infection alters the human body in perhaps more detail than ever before. The initial sequencing of his genome had also showed that he had an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, but he initially paid that little heed because he did not know anyone in his family who had had the disease and he himself was not overweight. Still he and his team decided to closely monitor biomarkers associated with the diabetes, including insulin and glucose pathways. The scientist later became infected with respiratory syncytial virus, and his group saw that a sharp rise in glucose levels followed almost immediately. "We weren't expecting that," Snyder says. "I went to get a very fancy glucose metabolism test at Stanford and the woman looked at me and said, 'There's no way you have diabetes.' I said, 'I know that's true, but my genome says something funny here.' "
A physician later diagnosed Snyder with type 2 diabetes, leading him to change his diet and increase his exercise. It took 6 months for his glucose levels to return to normal. "My interpretation of this, which is not unreasonable, is that my genome has me predisposed to diabetes and the viral infection triggered it," says Snyder, who acknowledges that no known link currently exists between type 2 diabetes and infection.
That's because you people have assumed it's caused by eating fat, dammit.
My husband had two salivary gland infections- and lost insulin function after both of them.

I would just like to re-iterate this part:
The woman looked at me and said, 'There's no way you have diabetes.'
That is how you speak to us.   Sanctimonious Dismissal.
That is exactly what the nurse said to my husband.  His blood sugar was 247.

(Just wanted to mention that virus has also been associated with Asthma.)

Zombie Shopping

Fun with obsession.
My new favorite thing.  In any color as long as it's blue.

Decorative e-cigarettes

Pots and Kettles

Old white guys and sluts seem to have something fundamental in common:
Impulse control problems.

Progesterone actually seems to alleviate it.
So- I have an idea...

Friday, March 16, 2012

More Fruits and Vegetables!

Fructose Induces Transketolase Flux to Promote Pancreatic Cancer Growth
Carbohydrate metabolism via glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle is pivotal for cancer growth, and increased refined carbohydrate consumption adversely affects cancer survival. Traditionally, glucose and fructose have been considered as interchangeable monosaccharide substrates that are similarly metabolized, and little attention has been given to sugars other than glucose. However, fructose intake has increased dramatically in recent decades and cellular uptake of glucose and fructose uses distinct transporters. Here, we report that fructose provides an alternative substrate to induce pancreatic cancer cell proliferation. Importantly, fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different; in comparison with glucose, fructose induces thiamine-dependent transketolase flux and is preferentially metabolized via the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway to synthesize nucleic acids and increase uric acid production. These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation. They have major significance for cancer patients given dietary refined fructose consumption, and indicate that efforts to reduce refined fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may disrupt cancer growth.
I know several people who have/had cancer.  One of them has a brain tumor.  Not one of them has ever been given this information.  And they seem to feel I'm meddling when I tell them.

Too Late

The meme is stale now, but I just realized I should have done a "Sh*t Doctors Say" list.

My number one- "Let's try this..."

This is the last thing my sleep specialist said to me-
"Don't worry- I will help you.  Come back in two weeks."

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Thanks for the Info

Menopause really does cause 'brain fog'

 Here's what you can already guess-
Women who reported memory difficulties were also more likely to report symptoms of depression, anxiety, and sleep difficulties.
But then they say this-
The team did not find any link between memory problems and hormone levels.
So how do they conclude a correlation to menopause?   Just askin'.
And then there's always the expert advice-
For women who feel they are having memory problems, [Dr Miriam]Weber has some advice. “When someone gives you a new piece of information, it might be helpful to repeat it out loud, or for you to say it back to the person to confirm it – it will help you hold onto that information longer,” Weber said. “Make sure you have established that memory solidly in the brain.
LOL!
First of all- your own study shows it's working memory that's impaired, not episodic memory.
Secondly- I would have tattooed information on myself a la "Memento"- but I forgot...

(If you look at her picture you will understand.)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

I also believe

Night Shift nurses are going to change the course of medicine. They know and do things Doctors can't even imagine.

I Know Hope

This is how I carry on: I know I only have to reach a few of you.
Then you will do this yourselves. And you will do better than me.
Some of you still have the ability to write proper sentences...

Hi Heidi -

I've been plagued by excessive daytime sleepiness, gradually increasing in intensity and frequency, for a few years now.  I've also experienced cataplexy over the same period, again increasing in intensity, most often invoked by sudden anger (secondary triggers are anything which prompts an emotional 'surge' such as telling a witty joke on impulse and getting a laugh from people).  My cataplexy bouts are usually a couple of seconds long and consist of a 'buckling' of the knees and neck and loss of facial muscle control (noticeable by others). 

My EDS had gotten to the point where multiple times per day I would find myself being 'pulled under.'  Frequently at work I would fall asleep at my desk or have to go sleep in the restroom for a few minutes.  I have a long commute to work (1 hour) 3 days a week, and my route is pockmarked with my 'nap spots' where I will pull off when drowsy, which is always.   I have splashed cold water, and smacked my face repeatedly to wake up, more times than I can remember.  It was my norm.  My girlfriend called it my curse.  It was ruining my life.

My PCP ruled out all things blood sugar related; glucose testing results were normal, thyroid function normal - I'm not diabetic or hypothyroid.

My symptoms had gotten to the point where I was ready to pursue the diagnosis so I could seek stimulant medication.

I was incapable of going to the movies or watching a great TV show because I would always fall asleep.  It happened to me all the time and was more pronounced after (most) meals.

In September of 2011, I quit smoking and embarked on a diet and exercise program.  I began eating and living HEALTHY.  Counting calories, no artificial sweeteners, lots of complex carbs, and, yes, lots of whole grains.  I figured, well, hey, this might help my sleepiness too.  However, it got worse, by a lot (and yes, I included lots of whole wheat as part of my diet and exercise program, much more than I had been eating previously - go figure).

When I decided to try eliminating things from my diet, I started with gluten because I found a few indications online that people had had gluten-related fatigue problems.

That was 3 weeks ago.  OH MY GOD.  My life has changed drastically in such a short time.  I have had a total of 5 sleep attacks since going GF (as opposed to at least that many PER DAY previously).  3 of these were within the first 2 days.  I have not had one in a week and a half.  Episodes of cataplexy are noticeably decreasing in intensity.  I had one last night, with a normal (for me) trigger, and it was maybe 30% of the intensity of my 'normal' attacks.

The eczema on my hands and feet, which had been getting progressively worse and worse, has immediately begun to recede, like weeds that have had roundup sprayed on them.  Now, after 3 weeks, it is barely there, and does not itch at all.  This is after fighting this particular symptom for more than a year.

But the biggest, and most amazing change, is the removal of the fog from my brain, and the miraculous boost in energy levels.  I feel like me again.  It happened so gradually, the loss of my mental acuity, that I hadn't even realized it was happening.  All of a sudden I feel like I'm HERE.  I feel snapped back into reality.  My skin looks healthier.  I am waking up easily in the morning.  I am so ecstatic, so giddy, I can't even begin to describe it.  And it's getting better every day.

I didn't find your website until a couple of days after going GF and looking for more supporting data, and your theories and testimonials (on zombieinstitute) provided much-needed validation and affirmation for sticking to my new diet.  So thanks for that :-)

I figure you'd like to hear about it when somebody makes this connection and personal breakthrough, so I wanted to share this with you.  I will never touch gluten again.  I'm not clinically diagnosed N with C or celiac, but I know what I had, and I know what fixed it.

I never had any "classic" celiac symptoms, except for maybe excessive bloating/gas.  But no IBS or anything.  Just sleep.  Just fatigue.  Ever-present and exacerbated by the consumption of gluten (I know now, in hindsight).

I feel like a new man, and I have a new lease on life. 

Andy in Sacramento

Bad for your Brain

More Trans Fat Consumption Linked to Greater Aggression
"We found that greater trans fatty acids were significantly associated with greater aggression, and were more consistently predictive of aggression and irritability, across the measures tested, than the other known aggression predictors that were assessed."
Trans-fats incorporate into your cell membranes and make them weaker. That causes all kinds of intrinsic problems as well as making them more susceptible to infection.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Boy Stuff

Circumcision May Help Protect Against Prostate Cancer
A new analysis led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has found that circumcision before a male's first sexual intercourse may help protect against prostate cancer. Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study suggests that circumcision can hinder infection and inflammation that may lead to this malignancy.
Men Respond More Aggressively Than Women to Stress and It's All Down to a Single Gene
If the SRY gene is absent the testes do not form and the fetus develops as a female. People long thought that SRY's only function was to form the testes" said Professor Harley. "Then we found SRY protein in the human brain and with UCLA researchers led by Professor Eric Vilain, showed that the protein controls movement in males via dopamine."
Huh.  How about that.
Men may actually be subject to the laws of physics...  
Who coulda guessed?

Theory vs. Practice

University to Offer Zombie-Fighting Course
Michigan State University students will soon get the opportunity to take a seven-week summer course called “Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse: Catastrophes & Human Behavior,” which focuses on how humans behave in plagues and catastrophic events. It’s not all fun and games: the course will cover events like the Great Plague and disastrous earthquakes, before moving on to a theoretical zombie invasion.
Silly Humans. We're already everywhere.
Real life sleeper agents.  Ha.

Spring Break

What I did on my vacation: I cheated on my diet.
Here it is, March 6, 2012- my last gluten meal-


That is the only gluten food that tempts me: The Best Chile Rellenos in the World.
They are served in the Saylita Cafe in Sayulita Mexico. We probably won't be going back there again, so I decided to document the occasion.
I really didn't have a narcoleptic reaction after eating- I think my antibody load is negligible at this point. I did bloat up and feel terrible the next day, though.

Sayulita is a tiny town, and the grocery stores are tiny too.  Nonetheless, this year they actually had GF food for sale!










Here are my souvenirs-













Heh.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Travel Day

I am kind of busy but here's an article for you-

Dating with Narcolepsy

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Tick Tock

27th Annual Narcolepsy Network Conference
SAVE THE DATE! We are delighted to announce that the InterContinental Hotel Cleveland (Ohio) will host our 27th Annual Conference from October 19-21 this year. Several researchers and narcolepsy specialists have already agreed to present. More information is coming soon.
Heh.  Plenty of time for us to organize the Second Annual Zombie Intervention.  
I hope to see more of you there this year.  

This is Why

Suicides, Mental Health Woes Soar Since Start of Iraq War
The study, an analysis of data from the Army Behavioral Health Integrated Data Environment, shows a striking 80 percent increase in suicides among Army personnel between 2004 and 2008. The rise parallels increasing rates of depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions in soldiers, the study said. The high number of suicides are "unprecedented in over 30 years of U.S. Army records," according to the authors of the study.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

As I was saying

Sleepy Pilots, Train Operators and Drivers
Lots of great info in this article, but I am especially interested in this:
Roughly one in ten Americans say they are likely to fall asleep at an inappropriate time and place, such as during a meeting or while driving.
That strongly indicates the 1 in 2000 number the Narcolepsy doctors like to quote is way too low...
(and sugar consumption is way too high.)

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Most Weight Loss Supplements Are Not Effective
Melinda Manore reviewed the evidence surrounding hundreds of weight loss supplements, a $2.4 billion industry in the United States, and said no research evidence exists that any single product results in significant weight loss -- and many have detrimental health benefits.
Duh.
Here's her advice-
As a dietician and researcher, Manore said the key to weight loss is to eat whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean meats, reduce calorie intake of high-fat foods, and to keep moving.
Innovative.

Pop Quiz

I bet even crazy people can see what is wrong with this "expert's" logic...
Poor Sleep May Impact Stress Response in Older Adults
The study included 45 women and 38 men with an average age of 61. Though all of the participants were in good health overall, about 27 percent were poor sleepers. Compared with good sleepers, those who slept poorly reported more depressive symptoms, more loneliness and more general stress. At the start of the study, levels of IL-6 didn't differ between poor sleepers and good sleepers. However, when put through a battery of verbal and memory tests intended to stress them out, poor sleepers' levels of IL-6 spiked higher than that of the good sleepers.

"Our study suggests that, for healthy people, it all comes down to sleep and what poor sleep may be doing to our physiological stress response, our fight-or-flight response," study author Kathi Heffner, an assistant professor of psychiatry at University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

No Comment

This article was published in 1999. Gluten-free diet prevents diabetes in NOD mice

A couple articles

In the NYTimes today:

Preschoolers in Surgery for a Mouthful of Cavities
This one blames the parents, of course.
Those kids clearly need more toothpaste.

Too Often, Doctors Overlook Narcolepsy
This one repeats all the same misinformation from Stanford. But at least they're "increasing awareness", right?

Monday, March 5, 2012

Another medical mystery

Child behaviour link to snoring
Children who snore, or who have other night-time breathing conditions, are at risk from behavioural problems, according to a study. Sleep apnea and snoring made conditions such as hyperactivity more likely later on, researchers said. The study, published in the US journal Pediatrics, looked at data on 11,000 children living in the UK. One estimate suggests one in 10 children regularly snores and 2% to 4% suffer from sleep apnea, which means the breathing is obstructed and interrupted during sleep. Often enlarged tonsils or adenoids are to blame for the conditions.
This is when I started snoring.
It took a while for my bad attitude to become apparent.

Streptomania

From th PANDAS Network:
Dr. Trifiletti posted this statement earlier in regards to the students in Le Roy…
 “I have now had the opportunity to review laboratory data collected in a standardized fashion on eight of the nine girls I examined in Leroy, NY on 1/29/12. Five of eight girls show evidence of carriage of Streptococcus Pyogenes and seven of eight show evidence of infection with Mycoplasma Pneumonia. All eight girls tested show evidence of infection with at least one of these pathogens. Both of these agents have been associated with a PANDAS-like illness with the sudden onset of motor and vocal tics. Thus, a PANDAS-like illness is my working diagnosis, rather than a mass conversion disorder.

For those of you unfamiliar with this story-   Twelve teen aged girls in the Western New York community of LeRoy suddenly began exhibiting mysterious tics and spasms last October.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Got Milk?

Soda’s Evil Twin – The Dangers of Fruit Drinks
Soda takes a lot of heat from the health science community. With astronomical levels of sugar and calories and no nutritional value whatsoever, health experts commonly equate it with poison. Yet the big beverage companies themselves are starting to leverage this public perception of soda in exceedingly insidious ways. Namely, they are producing an alternative to soda that is supposed to be healthy: the “fruit drink.” Often shelved next to soda, fruit drinks appeal to the health conscious individual that still wants something sweet. Ditch the Coke, and grab a Snapple, they say. Unfortunately, the people who do this are unknowingly falling into the trap that Big Beverage has set for them, because fruit drinks are, on average, no healthier than soda. In fact, they’re often even less healthy, with more sugar and calories and negligible amounts of actual fruit juice. So the next time you’re in the beverage aisle, beware the fruit drink. It’s merely soda in disguise.
First of all- soda is basically the same as fruit drinks, but natural fruit juice is no better. Secondly- they talk all about the sugar and obesity- that's only half the story. Soda and fruit juice are also very acidic and create an optimal environment for oral pathogens. The acid etches the enamel surface of your teeth allowing the bacteria to attach to them. It also causes tissue damage and facilitates chronic infection of the entire oral cavity.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Third Party Profit

High health care costs: It’s all in the pricing
In 2009, Americans spent $7,960 per person on health care. Our neighbors in Canada spent $4,808. The Germans spent $4,218. The French, $3,978. If we had the per person costs of any of those countries, America’s deficits would vanish. Workers would have much more money in their pockets. Our economy would grow more quickly, as our exports would be more competitive.
But all that money is a huge disincentive to change anything...

So very very close

Depression: An Evolutionary Byproduct of Immune System?
For several years, researchers have seen links between depression and inflammation, or over-activation of the immune system. People with depression tend to have higher levels of inflammation, even if they're not fighting an infection.
"Most of the genetic variations that have been linked to depression turn out to affect the function of the immune system," Miller says. "This led us to rethink why depression seems to stay embedded in the genome."
The basic idea is that depression and the genes that promote it were very adaptive for helping people -- especially young children -- not die of infection in the ancestral environment, even if those same behaviors are not helpful in our relationships with other people," Raison says.
A couple things-
  • It seems clear that depression is advantageous during an infection. It reduces resource usage and mobility when impaired.
  • Unfortunately it seems the same immune response is often caused by allergens, not infection. (It would have been nice if an immunologist had thought of that.)
  • The depression may not be the evolutionary selected trait. The specific advantage of orexin depletion seems to be altering metabolism and increasing fat storage. That used to be a good thing.
And while I was looking at that, I found this:

Depression A Common Consequence Of Chronic Rhinosinusitis

Imagine that.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

The steep learning curve

Success of Woodinville's Ali Forde masks struggle with narcolepsy
Forde, one of the best all-around athletes in Woodinville High School history, suffers from narcolepsy, a sleep disorder that causes frequent daytime sleep attacks. There is no known cure, but medication is finally helping Forde manage the condition, which she first experienced in ninth grade.
I love the advice from her doctor: she's too active.
I gotta find this girl. Make sure she opens a gluten-free bakery.