TEAM RSDSA: 2013 Achilles Walk for Hope and Possibility

Only 9 days left to register! Registration for the 2013 Achilles Walk for Hope and Possibility   closes on May 24th. Message from  "Team RSDSA" Co-chairman,  Casey Cashman Hello from TEAM RSDSA Committee! We want to remind you of the registration deadline and to introduce RSDSA's new look- just in time for the 2013 Achilles Walk.     Click here to take a look now  The Achilles Walk for Hope & Possibility is one of the best ways for the RSDSA to create awareness for CRPS/RSD as we stand together and make our voices heard!  Together we CAN and WILL make a difference. Please consider joining us the day of the walk, being a virtual walker or donating to TEAM RSDSA. We would also like to thank the RSDSA Team members who have already registered. Currently, there are 194 on site walkers and 57 virtual walkers from 21 states!  We will be sharing many of their inspiring stories (see below) on the new RSDSA Webpage and on the RSDSA Facebook page. Please don't hesitate to contact me at  achilleswalk@rsds.org with any questions or concerns! I look forward to seeing you all at the Walk or seeing the pictures from our Virtual Walkers! Casey Cashman TEAM RSDSA Co-chairman   Support for "Team Jeff"... Priceless Jeff Boyd with his family When Jeff Boyd saw an ad on the RSDSA Facebook page for the 11th Annual Achilles Walk for Hope and Possibility that will be held on Sunday, June 30, 2013 at Central Park in New York, he decided to share it on his own Facebook page.  Jeff posted the story and added that this was a good cause and that he wished he were well enough to go. It was this post that prompted Boyd's friend, Jenny Richardson, to figure out a way to support Jeff and the cause.  She decided that if Jeff couldn't get to the walk, the walk would come to him!  "I just went online and registered as a virtual walker," said Richardson. And, that is how "Team Jeff" was created!  "When Mrs. Jenny Richardson first told me about the virtual walk in my honor, I was speechless; I had never had anyone do anything like that for me." Boyd said. The South Carolinian, husband, and father of two developed the disorder after he injured his ankle at work in 2007.  After multiple surgeries on the ankle, doctors told Jeff he had CRPS and that there was nothing more they could do. "When I was first diagnosed with CRPS in 2007 I had never heard of the disease," said Boyd.  And, he says he was shocked that when he went for a second opinion at his family doctor, she said she had heard of it-in medical school-but knew nothing about it. For Jeff, the support of his family and his community has been priceless!  And, Richardson's vision for bringing support, awareness, education and hope to their Johnsonville, South Carolina community has had a tremendous response.  Boyd says he is amazed at the number of people who have been asking him "What is CRPS?" "That's really the goal for us all is to bring awareness to this monster of a disease!"  Today, CRPS has no cure; it is something he and thousands of others affected by the pain and disability of this disorder will have to live with for the rest of their lives.  That is why having friends like Richardson-a friend who was willing to bring the walk to him if he couldn't go himself-helps bring hope and comfort to those with this disorder. "I wanted to do it myself, but I was afraid; I didn't think I could handle it.  We now have "Team Jeff' and a couple hundred dollars already donated in my honor and it feels great!" said Boyd.  You can Join Team Jeff by making a donation to his virtual walker page or start your own team in honor of yourself or someone you care about.  For more information on how you can help, please contact RSDSA at info@rsds.org or call (877) 662-7737.   Click to Register or make a Donation      RSDSA is on a mission. With your help, we will continue to raise awareness and fund research to find better treatment options and, hopefully, a cure. Together we can make a difference.  Sign up today!   For Corporate Sponsorship opportunities,  please contact Jim Broatch at RSDSA for further information. "LIKE US" on FACEBOOK   877-662-7737     www.RSDS.org

CALMARE (CTTC) Soul-Suckers: You talkin' to me?

In the Slammer

Dearest Readers, you know how many times we've had to plod over to Tante Louise's Guest Houst and bail La Bonne et Belle Bianca Castafiore out of her very comfortable Cape Cod Cottage stylized "jail."  Except for the one time she ran off to Antarctica, we always got our money back.

Why Antarctica?  I dunno.  It had something to do with her certainty that her operatic powers would achieve unparalleled heights of purity given the quality of the air.  She ended up being a major contributor to global warming, or climate change, whatever we are calling the catastrophic impact of greenhouse gases 'n such.

Well, start setting some pennies aside as you empty your pockets of change at the end of the day.

Hmm, do people still do that?

Well, how about just donating a couple of your GOOG shares to a good cause, because the big bad Southern Mouthpiece of the CALMARE con, Ms./Mr./Mid-trans "Southern Gal" over at that hot spot for big time investors, InvestorsHub (which is, of course, not under fire, as its a regular full-service info arena for stocks, and stocks, by nature, are neither good nor bad, whereas the people *behind* them are sometimes malodorous clingons on one's pristine bright orange crocs...)  Whoa Nelly!  I lost my train of thought again.

Okay, in plain speech, Ms./Mr./Mid-trans "Southern Gal" is working itself into a fallacious lather.  I recommend 10 sessions of CALMARE sham transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, with placement of electrodes being placed in concentric circles reminiscent of those extraterrestrial crop circles that were once so in vogue.  You've always gotta have an exit plan.

Anyway, she wants to take all my money, she wants to send me to the slammer, she wants to shame moi!

Meh.

Here's her latest:

With regard to the recent legal battle between CTTC and a particular message board poster, I thought the following news release would be of interest to this forum. 

Seafarer Exploration ( OTC:SFRX ) announced a Hillsborough County Jury rendered a verdict on April 5th 2011 at 4:45 pm in favor of Seafarer for $5,080,000.00 in compensatory damages. After two days of evidence had been presented in court, a jury determined that hundreds of on line posts written by ####### under the screen name of “xxxxxxxx” were false and caused a decrease in market price. Seafarer believes collecting any or all of the damages will be difficult to do, but will continue to try to collect until paid in full. One of the Board Directors for Seafarer, Pelle Ojasu, stated, “We are pleased with the verdict rendered by the jury and I am very happy our CEO maintained his vigilance to prosecute those who would maliciously hurt the Company and its’ personnel through relentless false postings over the last year. Now that the truth has finally come out, we can continue our focus on building shareholder value and executing our business plan.” Lead trial attorney, Craig A. Huffman stated, “Mr. ###### is going to be an example of what should happen to people who sit behind screen names and negatively, falsely, impinge the lives of people and of good companies. We are not done with him yet. This will set a precedent for small market companies to fight back.” Co-counsel, David Chalela, stated, “We and our client are weighing the approach to take toward punitive damages in this case to dissuade others from doing this.” 

 I'm scared.

Bring it on, you money-grubbing turdified idiot soul-sucker.

CALMARE / CTTC: It's important not to confuse "turds" with "money-grubbing turdified idiots"

Competitive Technologies Inc. CTTC:OTC US
Bloomberg Businessweek

One of CALMARE / CTTC 's apologists is not even trying very hard.  I feel for him/her. It calls itself "Southern Gal," a pseudo-friendly monicker that calls up trust and stand-by-your-man-shipness. On an InvestorsHub message board, s/he proudly posted the results of a study (actually ended before it had the necessary number of test subjects for statistical relevance) as if it were a GOOD thing for CALMARE "technology." Give it a quick read, with one half of your brain tied behind your back, and see what you derive as relevant information.

Let's start with what we know.  We know that Dr. Jose Ochoa is a turd, a money-driven bought mouthpiece for the insurance companies.  We hesitate to go beyond calling him a deceptive, perjuring, money-grubber turd, because he has been known to sue.

The thing is, he's not an idiot.

These CALMARE turds-for-hire?  They share his essential traits.  But... there is nothing available, as of yet, to make naming them idiots an act capable of tort-power.

Hence, until further information is disclosed, the CALMARE/Scrambler therapy advocates shall be known as "money-grubbing turdified idiots." It might be argued that their paycheck recuses them from the "idiot" category, but we are using the broadest definition of "idiot," which, in our experience includes "amoral soul suckers."


So here is the latest contribution of the Southern Belle's propagandish silliness, and any inaccuracies are hers:

A randomized, double-blind study of “Scrambler” therapy versus sham for painful chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN).  

Sub-category:
Symptom Management/Supportive Care/Palliative Care  

Category:
Patient and Survivor Care  

Meeting:
2013 ASCO Annual Meeting  

Abstract No:
9635  

Citation:
J Clin Oncol 31, 2013 (suppl; abstr 9635)  

Publication-only abstracts (abstract number preceded by an "e"), published in conjunction with the 2013 Annual Meeting but not presented at the Meeting, can be found online only.
Author(s): Toby Christopher Campbell, Amit J Nimunkar, Janet Retseck, Jens C. Eickhoff, Miroslav Backonja, James F. Cleary, Kristine L Kwekkeboom, Thomas Y Yen; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics, Madison, WI; Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; University of Wisconsin School of Nursing, Madison, WI; University of Wisconsin Biomedical Engineering, Madison, WI
Abstract Disclosures

Abstract:
Background: CIPN is a debilitating, dose-limiting toxicity. The MC5A is a non-invasive electro-analgesia device delivering “Scrambler Therapy,” which has shown benefit for painful CIPN in uncontrolled studies. No sham-controlled trials of MC5A have been performed. Methods: Eligible patients included adults with neuropathic pain (NP) for > 6 months, pain scores =4/10 numerical rating scale (NRS), and no history of diabetes or other peripheral neuropathies. Patients received up to 10 daily sessions of 50 minutes with either MC5A or a novel active sham device constructed to deliver a just perceptible electrical sensation. Sham output is neither a TENS nor MC5A and is designed to be nontherapeutic. Active and sham treatments were applied to the affected limbs. 14 patients were randomized with no baseline differences. Patients and evaluators were blinded to study arm. Pain was measured before, daily during, after and 3 months post-treatment (verbal NRS). The primary endpoint was change in pain. Secondary endpoints included quantitative neurosensory testing (QST), validated patient-report measures, and cytokines. Results: There were 7 patients in each arm. The table shows changes in pain scores pre- and post-treatment by day and group. There was no difference between arms and no arm x day interaction. There was no significant day or arm effect for the function sub scales. Conclusions: In a small pilot study, MC5A was not significantly different from sham therapy for the primary outcome. The sham is feasible and provides a mechanism for future controlled studies with MC5A. Secondary endpoints, e.g. QST are forthcoming. Clinical trial information: NCT01261780. 

So, Dear Readers, how have you been doing?  Holding up okay?  That's right, I'm angry.  I spent a good third of the night screaming, writhing in what can only be called pain and pure misery.  Spasms, with but 10-40 seconds rest in between "sessions."  Burning limbs.  I'm gone all red, hugely edematous, a physical caricature of fire.  Oh, how I wish I had access to a machine that might provide relief that is "not significantly different from sham therapy."

Soul-sucking turdified money-grubbing idiots.  We are people in desperate pain and it's not five minutes in my "shoes" that I wish for you -- but all of my pain, in its entirety, forever.

Margaret and Helen: Still My Heroes

Few practitioners of the epistolary arts cheer me more than Helen writing to Margaret, or Margaret and her retorts -- all mixed up with that grandson of Helen's who keeps popping up, trying to keep the folks on the porch in order, and the ducks in a row.

If you're not familiar with Margaret and Helen, please do go visit.  It's refreshing and you can let your hair down, if you've any left.

And consider the well-phrased plea of that annoying grandson who has launched a Support MargaretandHelen.com Campaign.  If Helen trusts him, I guess that's good enough for me.

Here is something to lure you over there, if my faint praise hasn't done it:

Nobody will ever need to be shushed in the Bush Libraryby Helen Philpot

Margaret, the next time you go on one of those cruises, you’re just gonna have to take me along because I need a vacation.   Fine wine may mellow with age but I sure as hell haven’t.  I watched the dedication today for that architectural oxymoron known as the George W. Bush Library.  That man was and remains an idiot.  In fact, the only one in the family who seems to have any brains at all is the mother, Barbara Bush, who said the country has had enough Bushes’ in the White House.  I couldn’t agree more.  I hear, however, that she’s a real bitch.  That’s certainly alright by me.  It takes one to appreciate one.

While watching the dedication I was reminded of his idiocy (I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully) as well as his  arrogance (I am the decider).  Lord help me.  I wonder if that man’s library even has books.  I bet nobody ever has to be ssss-hushed in that place.   It’s probably filled with paint-by-number sets.

It just kills me that we put that idiot in office… twice.  But I guess there has never been a shortage of idiots in politics.

And speaking of idiots, it seems like every time there is an explosion in the world, Ann Coulter and a bunch of other old white Republican men crawl out of their caves long enough to thump their chests for the cameras.  Funny how a bunch of yahoos clinging to the 2nd Amendment after kindergarteners are murdered, suddenly want to throw the  rest of the constitution to the curb because this time the culprit was a Muslim using a pressure cooker.... READ THE REST HERE.

CALMARE / CTTC: Help Stop This Scam!

Though one hopes these things will reach a natural conclusion, completely market-driven, in this case -- certainly not driven by any sense of moral imperative, or a desire to cleanse both personal and corporate souls of the damning damage being done to desperate people suffering the horrendous pain of CRPS, among other neuropathic conditions -- until they do, we have ourselves, Dear Readers, the opportunity for a series of posts on this moral malignancy of Competitive Technologies and CALMARE.  

*************************************************************

It says a lot that the first thing I want to write about after a brief "vacation," is CALMARE.  No, I am not promoting it, quite the opposite.  Just as Dr. Jose OCHOA is a dingleberry on the ass of the medical profession in terms of CRPS quackery, CALMARE vendors (mostly non-neurologists, often former ob/gyn specialtists, for some reason!) are aslo turds.

I'm very, very tired.  Very depressed.  In a dingleberry-bouquet of pain.  But the anger I felt upon opening my emails to find a "response" to a comment I had made on YouTube about a CALMARE snake oil bullcrap video comes close to matching the anger I feel upon reading any of Ochoa's "forensic" work in the courts, denying worker's compensation to thousands of CRPS sufferers, whose CRPS was engendered by an accident at work.  Orthopedic trauma is frequently a root cause and Ochoa lined his pockets with people's pain.

There's nothing new to say about CALMARE that I haven't said in my previous posts.  It's a scam.  It's NOT FDA approved as a treatment for CRPS.  It has applied for various statuses but has been granted none of them.

It has the same uses that any Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator (TENS) unit has.  It can be comforting while in use.  In a sort of "burst" mode, it's effects might last a few hours in a very limited area of the body.  It does virtually nothing to the central nervous system, and CRPS is, in short, a central nervous system disease -- although in the beginning it has considerable action in the peripheral nerves.

I have asked Dr. Michael Cooney why he won't show pictures or videos of his CRPS cures before treatment.  All we are offered are tenuous, tearful, emotional "testimonials" (snake oil salesmen's best media) of the cured patients.  Most never had, I would wager, true CRPS.  Most couldn't explain the basics of the disorder, I'd bet my life on it.

Here's the intro to Turd Number Two, Dr. Michael Cooney:

Dr. Cooney is one of only 10 certified providers of Calmare Pain Therapy Treatment in the U.S. He introduced this treatment for his patients with treatment and medication resistant severe chronic neuropathy and now helps patients from around the country. Dr. Cooney administers every treatment session personally.

Dr. Cooney is a CHIROPRACTOR. No offense to chiropractors.  My brother Grader Boob, in his more athletic days, relied on a chiropractor to keep those bike wheels whirring on the pavement for those 400 mile jaunts.  I know people who believe in regular "adjustments." I know that my doctors have said "don't you dare ever go to a chiropractor." Not for CRPS.  First, manipulation of any sort is going to be too painful to tolerate;  second, a chiropractor doesn't have the specialized training or experience to deal with CRPS; and third, applying CALMARE as a solution to CRPS is DINGLEBERRY-ASS thinking and just taking money out of folks' pockets.  I would imagine that -- unless used as an adjunctive, alternative, or complementary treatment undertaken with the advice of a neurologist or board certified pain management specialist -- CALMARE might waste valuable time between onset and the close of the window of opportunity for treatment that really may cure the disorder -- the initial 3-9 months or so.

Worse... there are people being featured who clearly were not correctly diagnosed to begin with, or who are obtaining a short term placebo effect.  After they've forked over the dough, they're going to be left worse than they were before, if they truly have CRPS.

I wanna see the BEFORE videos.  I want to hear the "science" -- excuse me for a moment, I just snorted hot coffee up my nose -- behind CALMARE.  Oh, wait, I've covered that already.  More on that after the testimonial entertainment below.

Shame on you, Dr. Cooney.

Here is the video that I find so incredibly offensive.  Please go to YouTube as well to read the illuminating conversations I am having with these... people.

As I said, I keep asking for "before" documentation -- photography (doctors love to photograph CRPS patients -- we're all innately lovely), video (to show spasticity, gait disturbances, guarding behaviors, etc.), child-like fingerpaintings, anything!  Maybe something along the lines of this, a now out-of-date video of my feet/legs,
hands/arms:

Twas on Friday, May 6, 2011, that this dingleberry machine was first brought to my attention by one of its pushers, who goes around YouTube and to CRPS support group boards pedaling their dingleberry dumbassedness. It prompted the following write-up here, and I had hopes it would fade away, or rot off, whatever form of decomposition most suited it:

At the moment, the only physician in the entire United States who has suckled at the tit of the inventor of the Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology is one Dr. D'Amato, of Rhode Island (or so I hear, over here in Tête de Hergé, where there is no illness, of course, nor traffic accidents). 

Yeah, there *is* a guy opening up 14 pain clinics using the Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology (Spero Pain Relief Therapy clinics).  Guess what?  He's an OB/Gyn.  Just who I want doing pain management for a central nervous system degenerative disorder.  

CTT is the parent company in the USA...and it's now a penny stock.  Or almost -- it closed today at 1.70.  Because some rubber-stamping idiot approved Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology as a vendor to the VA, all the devious, deviants, and the hoodwinked are going on and on about how if it's good enough for our Wounded Warriors at the "flagship" Walter Reed (I'm thinking they don't read the Washington Post), then, by gum, it's good enough for you CRPSers! 

The Italian inventor was less circumspect, if you can believe it.  He claimed that Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology could reverse aging. 

Now you're talking! 

Meet, my friends, Giuseppe Marineo, and his explanatory woo and gobbledy-gook from the Italian arm of operations, Delta R&D:

Delta R&D is a bioengineering research centre with a unique history. It was born out of individual research work begun in 1983 by Giuseppe Marineo, a researcher and bioengineer, who advanced theories to reformulate the concept of disease (and the corresponding treatment) from a biophysical rather than biochemical point of view. The idea was to restructure the known features of both according to the principles of thermodynamics by means of an analysis and the detailed specification of the relations between entropy, disease, repair processes and ageing. 

This new approach to the interpretation of the traditional aspects of medical science makes it possible to go from a highly heuristic system to an extremely conceptual and rationalized system, which can create models of disease and treatment so sophisticated as to render the experimental results highly predictable. If the latter are in line with the predictions they automatically validate the development model. 
Furthermore, the very name of the theoretical system developed entails a natural transition from reductionist methods to systems theory which, in the present research, takes the form of a powerful working tool capable of providing adequate support for the development of therapies of practical utility. 

In practice Marineo introduced into medical science the research and development criteria typical of engineering, in which the thoroughness of the preliminary theoretical work fully determines the expectations of the experimental verification of the method used. In 1987 the basic research was already sufficiently well structured to be supported by a technology capable of translating the theoretical system into a truly useful therapy. 

The first experimental verifications fully confirmed the validity of the theoretical models developed and opened up concrete future prospects for the safe and non-invasive treatment of pathologies for which conventional methods had proved ineffective.  

In 1998 the Italian scientific community, which had been constantly informed of all research developments, deemed the product of 15 years research to be scientifically valid, the theoretical principles and experimental data to have been clearly demonstrated and the bioethical principles regarding the respect and protection of the patient to have been respected. 

In other words, the research carried out by a private individual was accepted and supported by the public authorities. It was consequently possible to begin official university and hospital studies, at the conclusion of which the first international publications were produced. 

In order to support these changes, in May 1998 Delta R&D was set up, thus marking the beginning of the mature stage of this individual research endeavour. Although the original philosophy was retained, a logistical structure was now available to satisfy the new phases of development and to maintain and expand relations with the international scientific community. 

In Italy the Delta R&D company became a research centre incorporated into a public structure thanks to the prestigious acknowledgement of the Tor Vergata University of Rome in the form of an agreement in which Delta R&D is recognized as part of the scientific structure of the university while retaining its autonomy and individuality. 

Outside Italy, Delta R&D, the theoretical and research work on the Delta-S Entropy Variation Systems and “Scrambler Therapy” pain therapy resulted in Giuseppe Marineo receiving scientific awards for the originality of the basic research, in addition to numerous other acknowledgements by the international scientific community inherent in the acceptance of the proposed published works.

I dunno, maybe that's not your favorite type of woo and gobbledy-gook. How about this? From the lips of Dr. Robert Chalmers, former OB/Gyn:

Q-How do you do Calmare , Exactly?

The treatment is actually quite simple. It involved the machine, wires and surface electrodes that deliver the electrical waveforms. The surface electrodes are the same used in heart monitoring such as an EKG. The patients sits or lies comfortable during each 45 minute treatment session. The electrodes are placed OUTSIDE the area of pain so they will not increase the pain in patients with allodynia from CRPS

Q-How does it work?

The mechanism is completely unique. The primary issue with CPRS is the so called physiologic "wind-up" in the brain. This is a complicated change in the nervous system and can be traced at least in part to changes in NMDA receptors in the brain. We need to get to the brain to help with this disease. The use of electricity for the management of pain is not unique to the Calmare system and I am sure many RSD sufferers have tried traditional TENS therapy. However, the Calmare system is not anything like a TENS unit. Injury or other noxious stimulus in the body creates pain chemicals. These chemicals in turn get converted into electrical impulses by your nerves which get transmitted to the brain and get INTERPRETED by the brain. When we use the Calmare system we "control" the electrical impulses that the brain is recieving. By manipulating the input into the brain we "convince" the brain that the area of the body where pain was present is now normal. We know that the brain can be taught, in medicine we refer to thoses changes as Neuroplasticity and there is quite a bit of interesting reading on that topic on the internet if you have the time. I was the worlds biggest cynic prior to actually treating patients with the machine. I thought it was TENS or Placebo but nearly every patient I have treated has already tried TENS therapy and they can tell you this is nothing like TENS.It works!

Mystery solved.  "It works!" He hits all the right buzz words:  allodynia, neuroplasticity, NMDA receptors, physiologic wind-up...  Oh, gag me with a spoon.  Does any of it make sense?  Not a bit.


They are even trying to sell this stuff to cancer patients.  I found a reply to this snake oily approach from a kindred spirit, reprinted below.

rrtzmd PERMALINKMay 26, 2010 9:06 am
…oh, lordy!…what walks like a scam and goes “scam, scam, scam”?…you get three guesses and one hint — its initials are “CTT”…their idiotic “Calmare device” is NOTHING more than a TENS device…and just like a TENS device, the extent to which it works depends ONLY on whether the doctor can con the patient into believing that it actually IS doing something — which, other than making a muscle twitch now and then — it doesn’t…you can even see it in CTT’s description:
“The method incorporates electromedical equipment for electronic nerve stimulation, and uses the nerve fiber as a passive means to convey a message of normality to the central nervous system (CNS) by a procedure defined as scrambling or tricking of information, which then enables the CNS to modify the reflex adaptive responses – referred to as TEMPR – Transcutaneous Electrical Modulation Pain Reprocessor.”
…have you ever heard such a line of malarkey in your life?…how on earth can a nerve transmit a message by a “passive means”?…that sentence is nothing more than gobbledygook meant to sound impressive…an even better example of obfuscation:
“The assumed pre-coding capacity is a more logical explanation than stochastic fluctuation (which in this case must be re-interpreted as a consistent modification of the information content per stimulus/time) the different discharge time characteristic used by the receptor for the same stimulus if this occurs in sufficiently short time intervals. In this perspective, to return to our model, the comparator?? Is the arbitrary module that sorts the information, compares it with a short-term memory and if it recognizes a stimulus similar to the preceding one, modifies the gain data and the information property which it passes on to the amplifier/attenuator (synapsis), a vital element that controls the passage/non passage of the “decoded” information stripped of spurious signals, associating it with the correct degree of intensity. Again with reference to the model, the noise and stochastic variations are separated since, in my analysis, at least some of these fluctuations actually consist of sub-information capable of modifying the learning capacity and sensitivity to the stimulus if repeated over short time intervals. If the data are reinterpreted in this sense, frequency modulated discharge sequences immediately took on a different significance when combined with the “pseudo-noise” modulation accompanying them and which became an essential element of the “primary” information. At this stage I considered that I had all the elements required to materially construct a pain scrambler (technically an information mixer), that is, a system capable of “masking” the pain signal.”
…that came from Marineo’s website:
http://www.deltard.com/eng/leggi.php?id=1476&
…don’t strain too hard trying to understand that since it’s little more than confabulation…but do read at least the other pages about how he can cure cirrhosis, remove scars and reverse aging using his “entropy variation system Delta S”:
http://www.deltard.com/eng/leggi.php?id=1440&
…and if THAT doesn’t convince you the guy is a goofball, then consider his “technowind” :
http://www.deltard.com/eng/tecnowind.php…a “limited edition” and “autographed” FAN!…I mean, where did CTT find this character?…come’on!…wake up and smell the scam!…do your readers a favor and don’t pump idiotic quack devices…

"show your work"

it's been so long since i've messed around in french.
however you choose to take that...
i dared give it another go this afternoon, and was surprised at the story that wanted telling.
there was a theme to the contest, which set it all a-twirlin' -- "la roue tourne."

SHOW YOUR WORK


la première fois qu'on m'a permis
d'enseigner un peu de littérature
{dite}
française, juste avant chaque réunion
de classe, j'ai vomi, violemment.

j'étais en train d'essayer
de tomber profondémment amoureuse
d'un mec quelconque --
et oui, c'était un de mes étudiants
{pour ainsi dire}
mais pas de littérature
{dite}
française, non, pas du tout.

lui, il faisait un effort
de lier les pronoms personnels sujets aux formes
appropriées des verbes, de comprendre
le sexe féminin d'une "porte,"
et la masculinité évidente d'un "stylo."

nous sommes allés prendre un verre
et écouter un peu de jazz, comme on trouve
dans quelques trous encore à oakland,
où le verre est sale, et le vin
amer.

il avait 24 ans, faisait
des études graduées,
mais
{quand même}
j'avais tort, alors
on attendait la fin de semestre,
les notes finales,
avant de trouver ensemble un appartement,
un endroit sacré, des salles pleines
de musique
poésie
poètes maudits.

c'était bien rare, le vomissement
avant sa classe de grammaire.

mais ces êtres bizarres
qui me suivaient de près
dans la lecture
de littérature
{dite}
française?

parmi eux figurait une jeune femme
énormément sérieuse
{et belle}
et que je n'ai jamais vue
sourire même une fois,
qui raidît visiblement
devant beckett, devant ionesco,
devant sartre, et même camus.

un jour j'ai conquis la nausée
et en donnant les devoirs
à la fin de classe, a inventé
un sujet sur le coup:

"Sarte dit qu'il est impossible d'imaginer sa propre mort.
Je veux que vous essayiez,
{malgré lui}
 et comme on dit en maths -- 'show your work.''"

cet après-midi-là, mon amant, l'écrivain
toujours en train d'arriver,
a fait l'amour dans notre lit
{que j'ai acheté}
commun, notre nid
de tendresse,
avec une femme
qui a gagné l'or
dans les jeux olympiques
{patinage artistique}
et moi, enceinte, lourde,
sans médailles
d'aucune couleur.

le jour prochain, les yeux
rougeâtres, le nez coulant,
avec des centains de maux
dans ma tête?

cette jeune femme
énormément sérieuse
{et belle}
et que je n'ai jamais vue
sourire même une fois?

quand je lui ai demandé son devoir,
elle a dit, à très haute voix:

"je ne l'ai pas fait.
au lieu de le faire,
j'ai passé deux heures
en prière pour mon professeur
{on dit}
de français, qui avait l'audace
de donner un sujet
à écrire
tellement grossier,
si offensif
{envers le bon dieu}."

TW, calling TW...

hey you,

would you please contact this woman and tell her where the mmmhmm to mail your b'day package?
i've now screwed up the address three times. i must have copied it wrong into the 2013 Red Book of addresses and contact info because your local PO claims your addy does not exist (probably your dream come true).

i know you could care less about "stuff." do this because i want to give you this gift.

you should not deny the little sister.  ever.

besides, it is beautiful -- she's a great artist.  you deserve beautiful art.  and more.

i love you,
eljay

Stuff I Stole From The Social Good Project / Ignite.Me

TO JOIN:  click HERE

Radical Self-expression: Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

PHOTO BY SCOTT LONDON
is he not, at this moment, the most beautiful man in the world?

well, okay, this is a little along the lines of "find your happy place and let roots grow out your ass,
reaching down to the rich loam of the earth" but it's tuesday and we've all got to get to wednesday, and so on
and so forth.  i once paind a woman $350 dollars to wave sage over my body and make a crystal bowl sing.
 i had wine glasses which, if filled with a good wine, would have sung better, and cigarettes,
which would have smelled better and not made me cough.

dr. seuss is god-like. in tête de hergé?  he is god.

I stole the three images above from a come-hither advertisement to join the Ignite movement.  That's just the kind of mood I am in... So sue me!  Here's some other stuff I stole.

Decommodification: In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

i dunno.  do you?

Participation: Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic

 We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, 

can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. 

We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. 

Everyone is invited to play. 

We make the world real through actions that open the heart.

What Can I Expect From The Ignite.Me Movement?

Nothing is sold to you, ever. This is a completely altruistic effort to introduce millions more people into a new, more inclusive, sustainable and wholesome way of life;

Expand your own horizons through pictures, videos, documentaries, online forums, live events and festivals dedicated to these principles, which you may not have known about;

Find out about spur-of-the-moment opportunities to get outdoors and do exciting things with amazing people everywhere;

See if a daily dose of exhilaration and motivation from fellow enthusiasts for life is what you need to get out of a rut.

TO JOIN:  click HERE

Update on Hannah

It's been a while since I've updated my Dear Readers on Ms. Hannah and her progress.

To briefly skim her story:

Hannah was diagnosed with osteosarcoma that involved an area just below her knee.  The standard treatment is chemotherapy, radiation, and amputation.  Hannah made the courageous decision to go with another option that is slowly gaining in popularity, despite its seemingly radical nature.
She opted to have a rotationplasty, in which the cancerous area is, indeed, amputated, but the foot is reattached, backward, essentially to the knee.  It's much more complicated than that but what it allows is for the later fitting of some awesome prosthetics that permit people to remain very athletic and active.

She had the chemo and radiation.  She had the radical surgery.  She worked like a true champ in Physical Therapy and was doing very well.

Do you know what one of the side effects of the chemotherapy is?  One of the leukemias.  And yes, Hannah has developed leukemia.  She also was found to have a nodule in her lung that was a spread of the original osteosarcoma.

So she has had to change horses midstream, as they say.  She is now undergoing the preparatory chemotherapy to set the stage for a bone marrow transplant -- a European man is a perfect match, "except" for a few compatibility issues in typing.  I know, I know... so he's not a perfect match.  Near perfect!

At the moment, while her counts are down so low, she's been hit with some viruses, precisely at the time when she has NO immune system with which to fight back.  Her Mom is feeling low, too, because she thinks that she is now catching a cold, which means she cannot be a bedside cheerleader until she's well.

So... give a thought to Hannah tonight, and her family, particularly her Mom.

She is one plucky kid, and she is my hero.  When I get all slobbery pitiful about missing a shoulder and not being able to move a leg... I think of this girl in her heroic "crane" pose, in her quest to get back on the soccer field, and in the pool, and I read about her doing the very hard PT work without a word of complaint... and am so humbled.

From Caringbridge:

FEBRUARY 7:  Please forgive my tardiness in updating you all on how our Hannah is doing. It has definitely been a crazy week since she got her new diagnosis last Wednesday.

Hannah is still recovering from lung surgery. As of today they still are NOT going to remove her chest tube. There is a bubble in there and it has to be gone before they can take it out. First prayer is that the bubble goes away and she can get that tube out. It is terribly uncomfortable and painful for her when she moves around.

As soon as she is cleared from her surgeon, she will go straight to the 9th floor to begin chemotherapy treatments for her AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). She will be in the hospital anywhere from 4-6 weeks straight depending on how fast her numbers go back up after treatment. She cannot leave the hospital until her numbers are cleared...then after a couple of days at home, she will go back in for another round of chemo with the same parameters. After that she will have to have a bone marrow transplant. This is as far as we know for her treatment. Once she's past the transplant, we will see where we are going from there to get her in remission.

As for the tumor they took out on Monday, it was confirmed as Osteosarcoma. While we are all disappointed that it recurred so quickly (only 2 months), the good news is they did get all of the tumor and because the margin around the tumor was healthy cells, we know they got all of it. That means, at this point, there are no plans to put her through treatments for Osteosarcoma. We are so grateful for this "silver lining" in our very dark cloud.

We are so grateful for all of the prayers and positive thoughts coming our way. Hannah is in wonderful spirits, as always, and is ready to fight this monster called cancer. I will update you when I know more.

APRIL 19:  Just had another big informational meeting about Hannah's bone marrow transplant at St. Louis Children's Hospital. We know that Hannah's donor is a man from Europe and that he is a perfect match based on the criteria however there are a few things that could be a potential problem. It's a lot of medical terms so rather than go into a long explanation I'll just say she will have a heightened risk for GVHD (graft vs host disease) as well as CMV. His blood type is A+ and Hannah's is O+ so initially there could be issue despite them taking out the red blood cells. There are also lots of meds she's going to take for prep for the actual transplant. Also they pushed back her transplant date to June 12. Sooo many hurdles yet to jump. Please pray everything goes as planned with no rejection or problems. I feel so overwhelmed with all of this...soooooo overwhelmed! :'(

TONIGHT:  Hannah's still feeling rotten. Her ANC is back down to 0, but that's to be expected. These viruses (rotovirus is one of them) are kicking her tail. Still coughing and runny nose. Had to have 2 units of blood today b/c her hemoglobin was WAYYY low. Had platelets yesterday. She's really getting frustrated and down about it all... she told me today "I just want to be done!" Translation: Ive had enough of hospitals and medicine and doctors and all of this. She and I had a bit of a cry together, which I think helped her. Another hurdle for me (I know I never post about myself so please forgive me) is I feel myself getting sick too. If I'm sick, I can't be on the floor, meaning I can't be with Hannah. This is all so overwhelming! I can't be sick! My Hannah needs me! :'( 





Uploaded to YouTube by mayoclinic on Sep 3, 2010:  "This is a pre-surgical video which describes rotationplasty, who the procedure is appropriate for and possible complications. This video depicts the process of being fitted for a prosthesis and learning to use it. The patient describes her active and satisfying life after rotationplasty, her emotions and the process of adjusting to living with a prosthesis."

An Anniversary Repost: Little Green Apples

I'm having trouble using my hands today... and then there's this pesky newly broken ankle.  O, Woe and Alas, and Poobah!  So I wondered what I was writing about on May 6, 2009.  Yes, that's right, an anniversary repost.  It's bittersweet, as it turns out, being a memory of one our now lost pets, the one, the only Uncle Kitty Big Balls, shortened to an affectionate "Little Boy." Fred loved him so... he was totally Fred's best buddy.  Me, I was good for putting out the kibble and for a good scratch and grooming session -- but for pure love, Fred and Little Boy, all the way.  There are other things to commemorate on May 6th, so happy birthday to those things, too.  Really. I mean it.  Sorry.  Did you ever notice that bitterness leaks?

***********************************************************

 The one day we had open for this week -- Thursday -- has now been filled with yet another visit to the Infectious Disease office, as they want a higher vancomycin trough level. We went by yesterday to pick up the antibiotics-in-a-ball to learn that we are going to dosing every 12 hours.

Today I see Bob for my first post-op visit; The Fredster has dinner with the Existentialists; and we proceed with... The Taming of Uncle Kitty Big Nuts, our newly rescued cat!

Yes... last Wednesday, as I lay dying in ICU, Fred delivered quite the performance.

The male cat, formerly known as Little Boy, is brother to the last cat we rescued, Little Girl, now officially known as Marmy. We took her in off the mean streets of Tête de Hergé so pregnant that she was sway-backed; Her humongous belly almost touched the floor; She waddled around, miserable, swishing her swishy tail. Of her five kitten litter, we kept the runt, known to us as Dobby. Dobby is our little idiot.

Sam-I-Am, the elder spokesman for the group, was born in a Walmart -- hence we named him for what's-his-face... Sam Walton, with a deeper, more appreciative nod to Dr. Seuss. Known to his friends as Stinky Boy, Sammy's life is filled with neuroses. I love him bunches. What can I say? He likes to kiss me.

When I was little, I wanted to be a vet and had a fairly active veterinary hospital that specialized, it seemed, in rehabilitating birds. My grandfather and a neighbor of his down the curvaceous country lane kept me supplied with injured blue jays and carrier pigeons. I raised a blue jay that had been tossed from the nest by one of *those* types of mothers -- he was a small ball of wrinkled skin with a huge gaping mouth and wirey neck -- eyes closed. I fed him purée of bugs with vitamins. I taught him to fly. Neither of us thought much about the details of first flight -- he fluttered, dipping and rising, his path almost plotted out by slow, huge dashes in the air -- "landing" with a complaining screech amid the branches of the crabapple tree next to Granddaddy's back porch. We had no exit strategy, and he almost spent the night in that crab apple tree. Usually, Squawky flew about the neighborhood during the day, coming into the house just a few times, and usually to hide his catches of bugs under the cushions of my grandmother's old-timey loveseat. She hated that bird. At night, Squawky came inside. He was killed by a hawk the next summer -- having lived only a little over a year.

Fred had me in tears as he pitched the notion of adopting Marmy's brother, "the sweetest cat in the world." I felt like the big bad meanie -- not wanting him near the others if he had anything infectious, not wanting to have to clean up after another long-hair.

Still, I made it out of ICU and meant to keep my promise. Little Boy, or Uncle Kitty Big Nuts, was delivered to our vet for a complete overhaul on Monday -- he had a large leg wound that they cleaned and packed with a drain, large nuts that they snipped, ear mites that they smote, plus worming, flea treatment, and a very punk whole body shave, as his long white and grey fur was matted beyond hope of repair by brush or comb. All his shots, too.

Amazingly, Uncle Kitty of the Former Big Nuts is disease-free. I just knew that The Fredster would come home Monday night sobbing, because the little guy just looked so very rough and haggard, limping and way skinny.

Yesterday, we set out to see The Boutiqueur, so punchy already that we sat giggling in the waiting room, sipping gourmet coffee. I had a fever and couldn't breathe. Saw Boutiqueur and got my first and best piece of practical advice. Should my lungs shut down again, and if I am alone, COUGH. Cough as hard as I can. The thing is, my brain seemed to be the first thing to stop working!

Anyway, we got lost in the parking deck, and by the time we found Ruby and loaded me -- they wanted $5 for the privilege of spending an hour and two minutes in the doctor's building.

Then we got lost on the highway, then we were found, and proceeded to the damned Infectious Disease group o'peeps. After that? Speed-demon Fred floored it across town to the vet's office, where we picked up a cross-eyed and bewildered Little Boy.

He is ravenous and has gulped down three cans of food. His sister and the rest of the feline crowd huddle outside the bedroom door -- Sammy is growling, Marmy is "ack-ack-acking" away and seems very happy, and Our Little Idiot, Dobby, is the most affected, surprisingly.

We are planning a family reunion and low key meet-and-greet for this afternoon, before we haul ass to see even more white coats.

CRPS research, the latest...

As usual, fellow CRPSers, the offerings range from titillating in potential to near-angering regurgitation of things we've known for, oh, decades.  But we must read what comes, must encourage all the efforts.

On the one hand, they are helping those who contract the syndrome in the future, and maybe we can help in the clinical trials (big toothy grin!);  On that other hand, if it's working for you, we have to hope the slower researchers/fields will catch up with the rest of the research world.

First up is a disappointment:

Interventions for treating pain and disability in adults with complex regional pain syndrome.

O'Connell NE, Wand BM, McAuley J, Marston L, Moseley GL.

Source

Centre for Research in Rehabilitation, School of Health Sciences and Social Care, Brunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK, UB8 3PH.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

There is currently no strong consensus regarding the optimal management of complex regional pain syndrome although a multitude of interventions have been described and are commonly used.

OBJECTIVES:

To summarise the evidence from Cochrane and non-Cochrane systematic reviews of the effectiveness of any therapeutic intervention used to reduce pain, disability or both in adults with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).

METHODS:

We identified Cochrane reviews and non-Cochrane reviews through a systematic search of the following databases: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, CINAHL, LILACS and PEDro. We included non-Cochrane systematic reviews where they contained evidence not covered by identified Cochrane reviews. The methodological quality of reviews was assessed using the AMSTAR tool.We extracted data for the primary outcomes pain, disability and adverse events, and the secondary outcomes of quality of life, emotional well being and participants' ratings of satisfaction or improvement. Only evidence arising from randomised controlled trials was considered. We used the GRADE system to assess the quality of evidence.

MAIN RESULTS:

We included six Cochrane reviews and 13 non-Cochrane systematic reviews. Cochrane reviews demonstrated better methodological quality than non-Cochrane reviews. Trials were typically small and the quality variable.There is moderate quality evidence that intravenous regional blockade with guanethidine is not effective in CRPS and that the procedure appears to be associated with the risk of significant adverse events.There is low quality evidence that bisphosphonates, calcitonin or a daily course of intravenous ketamine may be effective for pain when compared with placebo; graded motor imagery may be effective for pain and function when compared with usual care; and that mirror therapy may be effective for pain in post-stroke CRPS compared with a 'covered mirror' control. This evidence should be interpreted with caution. There is low quality evidence that local anaesthetic sympathetic blockade is not effective. Low quality evidence suggests that physiotherapy or occupational therapy are associated with small positive effects that are unlikely to be clinically important at one year follow up when compared with a social work passive attention control.For a wide range of other interventions, there is either no evidence or very low quality evidence available from which no conclusions should be drawn.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS:

There is a critical lack of high quality evidence for the effectiveness of most therapies for CRPS. Until further larger trials are undertaken, formulating an evidence-based approach to managing CRPS will remain difficult.

**************************************************************************************

Next up is a case study.  Never overlook reading case studies.  The whole investigation into the Ketamine protocols derived from one case study of a woman who happened to receive ketamine for anesthesia purposes following a bad auto accident.  She also had CRPS and improvement was noted in her involved limb while she was in the medically induced coma.  So read those case studies!

Korean J Pain. 2013 Apr;26(2):164-8. doi: 10.3344/kjp.2013.26.2.164. Epub 2013 Apr 3.

Searching for hidden, painful osteochondral lesions of the ankle in patients with chronic lower limb pain - two case reports -.

Ri HS, Lee DH, Kim KH.

Source

Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Korea.

Abstract

It is easy to overlook osteochondral lesions (OCLs) of the ankle in patients with chronic lower limb pain, such as complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) or thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO, Buerger's disease). A 57-year-old woman diagnosed with type 1 CRPS, and a 58-year-old man, diagnosed with TAO, complained of tactile and cold allodynia in their lower legs. After neurolytic lumbar sympathethic ganglion block and titration of medications for neuropathic pain, each subject could walk without the aid of crutches. However, they both complained of constant pain on the left ankle during walking. Focal tenderness was noted; subsequent imaging studies revealed OCLs of her talus and his distal tibia, respectively. Immediately after percutaneous osteoplasties, the patients could walk without ankle pain. It is important to consider the presence of a hidden OCL in chronic pain patients that develop weight-bearing pain and complain of localized tenderness on the ankle.

KEYWORDS:

ankle, cementoplasty, complex regional pain syndrome, osteochondritis dissecans, thromboangiitis obliterans

PMID:

 

23614079

 

[PubMed - in process] 

PMCID:

 

PMC3629344

 

Free PMC Article

                       **************************************************************************************

Lastly, a rare occurence, worth noting:

Korean J Pain. 2013 Apr;26(2):160-3. doi: 10.3344/kjp.2013.26.2.160. Epub 2013 Apr 3.

Concurrence of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor at the site of complex regional pain syndrome type 1 - a case report -.

Jeong YH, Choi EJ, Nahm FS.

Source

Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea.

Abstract

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) are very rare sarcomas derived from various cells in the peripheral nerve sheath. Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors have a known association with neurofibromatosis type 1. Diagnosis of MPNSTs is difficult in patients with chronic pain, when MPNST occurs at an overlapping area of chronic pain. Therefore, the diagnosis can be missed unless clinicians pay attention to the possibility of this disease. Here in, we report a case of concurrent malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor with complex regional pain syndrome type 1. A 44-year female patient, who was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) type 1 in her left ankle, visited our clinic because of aggravated pain. The cause of the aggravated pain was revealed as concurrent MPNST in the left common peroneal nerve territory, which overlapped the site of pain from CRPS.

KEYWORDS:

complex regional pain syndrome, nerve sheath neoplasm, neurofibromatosis

PMID:

 

23614078

 

[PubMed - in process] 

PMCID:

 

PMC3629343

 

Free PMC Article