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Spina bifida occurs early in the development of a fetus, when the spine fails to close. The consequences can range from no symptoms to mobility impairment.
By Kelly Rouba
Jennifer Biggers (left) and Amy Saffell both have the same type of spina bifida, but every person’s condition is unique.
I first met Karen Palazzini in freshman year of high school. Although one might guess that our similar situations bonded us together, having a disability was something we rarely discussed. Instead, it was the countless chocolate desserts and sappy chick flicks-not her struggle with spina bifida or my battle with arthritis- that [...]
A rare spinal cord injury to an obscure bundle of nerves comes with a series of frightening and painful conditions. But to most witnesses, people with cauda equina syndrome don’t seem to have any disabilities at all.
by Your Friend Flicka
After years of working for a corporation, I felt I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life. So I went to graduate school to study rehabilitation counseling, a field working with individuals with disabilities.
In my first semester, a professor who was head of the department was able to connect the disability rights movement to other civil rights [...]
What we know about multiple sclerosis now, and what we have yet to discover.
By Tom Scott
Jean-Martin Charcot, professor of Neurology at the University of Paris, was the first to complete a detailed study of multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. In 1868, Charcot analyzed some unusual symptoms in a young female patient—tremor, slurred speech, and abnormal eye movements—comparing them to other patients with similar symptoms. He documented his observations and wrote a clinical-pathological defi nition of MS that is still accurate today. The three major signs of MS—diplopia (double vision), ataxia (disturbances of balance [...]
Naltrexone, in a low dose, can boost the immune system – potentially helping those with central nervous system disorders like multiple sclerosis.
By Ronald Hoffman, MD, and Skip Lenz, Pharm D FASCP
“LDN may well be the most important therapeutic breakthrough in over fi fty years,” says David Gluck, MD, editor of www.ldninfo.org, a Web site detailing the uses of low-dose Naltrexone (LDN). “It provides a new method of medical treatment by mobilizing the natural defenses of one’s own immune system.”
Naltrexone was approved by the FDA in 1984 in a 50 mg dose for the purpose of helping heroin or opium [...]
The AXIS Dance Company inspires in more ways than one.
Text and Photos by Alice Faye Love
Margaret Cromwell, Alice Sheppard, Lisa Bufano and Rodney Bell of San Francisco’s AXIS Dance Company perform at a public school in Birmingham, Alabama.
Many a dance performance has left me scratching my head wondering what just happened. Even having spent over 25 years as a technician for live performance, I still suffer from these moments. But that’s okay. Modern dance, for me, promotes thinking about what I just saw and digging a little deeper into myself to “get it.”
AXIS Dance [...]
by Richard L. Bruno
You may be asking why there’s a new column in Action about polio, a terrifying disease of the twentieth century that was cured when a vaccine was developed in 1955. The poliovirus, which caused muscle weakness, paralysis and death, is gone, you may say.
Unfortunately, the vaccine didn’t cure polio. And, the poliovirus is far from gone. The virus is alive today and paralyzing children and adults in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria despite a decades-long international vaccination effort. What’s more, 10 African and Asian nations that had been polio-free, thanks to vaccination, have had the virus reintroduced [...]
By Ed Lash
In her book, Multiple Sclerosis, a Self-help Guide to Its Management, Judy Graham tells the story of Rita Greer whose husband, Alan, had a particularly severe case of multiple sclerosis (MS). They tried everything and everyone to fi nd him a cure until their money was exhausted. Their poverty was such that they no longer could afford meat, after which it was noticed that Alan slowly began to improve. Rita deduced that their new austere diet must be the key, and through trial and error discovered that Alan didn’t do as well when eating meat and certain other foods. [...]
By Rosemarie Rossetti, PhD
After a spinal cord injury, where we go and who we visit become more limited. Since my injury in June 1998, I can no longer go to any of my neighbor’s homes and ring their doorbells. Even the two brand new homes a few doors down from me were built with concrete porches and steps that are barriers to me. I would have liked to have welcomed their owners to our neighborhood, but concrete barriers are hard to pass through when you are seated in a wheelchair.
Part of an international effort to make all new homes visitable, [...]
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