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justashell

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Everything posted by justashell

  1. I was interested in reading about this, but can't get the pdf to download.
  2. MK---I think things are much the same way here---the doctor's look for the obvious---and just treat the symptoms---which doesn't always save any of us money...sadly, some pay with their lives---as you've indicated. Healthy people are productive people---that should be what we're aiming for...not trying to save a nickel...
  3. Robin--- What a heart-breaking experience for the family to have to endure---but how courageous of them to share it with others. One of the passages---"He used to say he felt like he was in a bubble where everything he did inside it seemed to be normal but to everyone outside the bubble he appeared to be losing his mind." really hit me like a ton of bricks---this is the best description of something that happened to me a couple of times... If and when I ever get a diagnosis, I'm sending a copy of this article to my "former" doctors, who did not and could not help me when I was most vulnerable. Thanks for sharing this!
  4. Victoria---

    I just want you to know that I care---we're all pulling for you---we know you're going through some tough stuff..

    Shelley

  5. I have had times when I was more active at night---but kind of thought it was the effects of all the diet coke I drank throughout the day. Having Hashimoto's has really caused lots of confusion for me and the doctors. It's great to know that there may be some other, less obvious reason, why there are days I'm up until late and other times when I'm on a more normal sleep-wake schedule.
  6. Equine Cushings Disease (ECD) is also called "Old Horse Disease"----that's exactly how I feel---like an old horse.
  7. Corporations are adopting a different paradigm---instead of having a management style that works from the top down, they are structuring things so that everyone contributes. My husband works for a university and he is active in a program they call "Shared Leadership". Maybe in my quest for a new pcp, I should be looking for someone younger, who is open to new ideas and willing to listen to the patient.
  8. DR. Robin, et al.--- Well, well, well...let's see---doctors are looking to sources outside themselves to diagnose "rare" diseases? Wow. Did they have a medical convention in some tropical paradise to learn this "new and complicated" technique? Or did they go home and find their kids googling for information about some weird disease like porphyria, so they could shock and impress their 7th grade English teacher? The internet is an incredible tool for all of us to use. If someone gives me grief about using the internet, I remind them that I can read---I may not know all the chemistry and molecular biology and other stuff that doctors have to know, but I can read and comprehend medical abstracts.
  9. WOW ROBIN!!! That is so awesome! I just went to their contact page that you linked to---and it's real interesting to see what they all are doing. Who knows---maybe Cushies will catch a break with the research they're involved in.
  10. Ha, ha! Lab tests and cat scans!! Robin---Wouldn't that be nice to have what the diabetics have? Hopefully we're the next frontier!
  11. I can't remember where I saw the thing about breath tests. I wonder if it was on a show like "Beyond Tomorrow" or something. It seemed to me that the doctor or scientist or whoever it was made the point that whatever is in your blood is also in your breath. Kind of makes sense. I'll try to see if I can google something on it. Interesting that your dog does the sniff thing too. I found the story: Beyond Tomorrow Breath Scanner Page
  12. I can't remember where I saw the thing about breath tests. I wonder if it was on a show like "Beyond Tomorrow" or something. It seemed to me that the doctor or scientist or whoever it was made the point that whatever is in your blood is also in your breath. Kind of makes sense. I'll try to see if I can google something on it. Interesting that your dog does the sniff thing too.
  13. This case illustrates the efficacy of high-dose long-term treatment with mifepristone in refractory Cushing?s syndrome. The case also demonstrates the potential need for concomitant mineralocorticoid receptor blockade in mifepristone-treated Cushing?s disease, because cortisol levels may rise markedly, reflecting corticotroph disinhibition, to cause manifestations of mineralocorticoid excess. Here's the Link: Endocrine Care
  14. I've wondered if dogs could be trained to "detect" the excess presence of cortisol or other hormones. The reason I've wondered about this is due to a couple of things: First off, I heard of a doctor who said he thought that instead of doing blood work for labs, we could do "breath test". The other thing is that each morning since I've been sick, my black lab comes and sniffs my breath. I don't know why he does it, but he kind of makes a wincing or odd sound and then turns away. He doesn't do this to anyone else in my family. With that in mind, I found an article about dogs being trained to detect cancer. Dogs Trained To Smell Human Cancer Man's best friend, will become man's best diagnostic tool, to detect cancer in there owners, and other people. There ability is more effective then conventional scientific equipment and least expensive A dog's ability to smell odors, can be trained to smell chemicals that are emitted in urine (example), by cancer cells. This odor from cancer cells can be detected in very small quantities. Bladder cancer is the ninth most common cancer worldwide, diagnosed in 330,000 new cases a year, and more then 130,000 deaths. Also, a dog can smell a person's breath, to detect if there is any development of lung cancer. Canine's sense of smell is generally 10,000 to 100,000 times greater then humans, because dogs have greater number of neurons, that act like smelling receptors to the brain. Recent '60 Minutes' Show (June 2005), with correspondent Morely Safer, made arrangements with dog trainer Andy Cook, at the Hearing-Aid Dog Center near Amersham, England to conduct a test to see if a cocker spaniel, can detect a cancerous urine sample, from a patient diagnosed with bladder cancer. Six other samples where included, that came from patients with other diseases, and healthy patients. The test conclusively showed, that the cocker spaniel was able to detect the cancerous sample twice. March 2004, Debbie Marvit -McGlothin, learned she was pregnant, and soon afterwords, her dog, a two year old shepherd-hound mix, began to sniff a tiny mole on the back of her leg. The dog was persistent, licking, biting and scratching the mole. Her doctor then took, a biopsy of the mole from her skin. Results from the laboratory proved the mole was melanoma, the most severe type of skin cancer. The remaining area around the mole was later removed, and she was clear of cancer. Another case study, in 2001, man had for 18 years, eczema on his leg. His pet Labrador started persistently sniffing this area of skin, and even when he was wearing trousers. His doctor examined this area, and diagnosed he had a tumor, which later had been removed. Afterwords, his dog stopped the attention on his leg. Dr. Armand Cognetta, dermatologist at a clinic in Tallahassee Florida, worked with police department dog trainer, to train a dog to locate, and retrieve tissue samples of melanoma, which where stored in doctor's laboratory. The result of the study showed that the dog was able to find and retrieve these samples, 100 percent of the time. Dr. Cognetta, then had the dog smell suspected areas of cancer on patients. The dog was nearly 100 percent accurate, detecting cancerous skin lesions in these tested patients. Dogtor Dogs (Dogtor Dogs: HC 77 Box 240, Altamont, TN 37301), a nonprofit organization kennel that specializes in training dogs to find human cancer. Including, detecting for lung cancer, skin cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer. Takes two years to fully train a dog, from ten weeks of age. A trained dog can screen over 11, 500 people in a lifetime. Early detection for cancer is essential, for better life expectancy in humans. A dog sense to detect smallest molecule of cancer may not always be detected, by conventional medical tests. Often, retesting can diagnose the cancer that a dog found earlier.
  15. article from our local paper, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2006 MRI technology may aid diagnosis by Betsy Mason Contra Costa Times Berkeley, Calif.---The MRI machine that most doctors use to get three-dimensional images of everything from strained knee ligaments to ovarian cysts could become 10,000 times more sensitive with a xenon gas technique devised at Lawrence Berkeley Lagoratory. The advancement would allow doctors to track biological processes at the molecular level and could be extremely useful for diagnosing early stages of cancer or heart disease. "If it works as well as we hope it will, it will be a singificant advance in cancer detection," said chemist David Wemmer, a member of the team at Bereley Lab and the Universtity of California, Berkeley, that developed the imaging technique. Their findings were published Friday in the journal Science. Wemmer and his colleagues found a way to use xenon atoms to highligh specific types of molecules, such as the proteins on the outside of cancer cells, in very low concentrations. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, isn't sensitive to see cancerous cells until a fair amount of them have accumulated. The xenon amplifies the signal of these cells, allowing them to be seen more easily. "The key to really diagnosing disease earlier and earlier is to start to look at hte differences int he molecular expression that's taking place," said atomic physicist Bastiaan Driehuys at Duke University Medical Center. "It's thought that we'll see things earlier and we'll be much more sensitive than if you wait until there's some functional or anatomical consequence of these molecular processes." The xenon technique can also image several different types of molecules at the same time, which is also very beneficial for diagnosing specific types of cancer. "The best analogy is if you were able to look with your eye, it would be the equivelant of having several different colors," Wemmer said. "With conventional magnetic resonance imaging that's already used widely for cancer detection, there's no way of making multiple colors. Even if you can tell a tissue is cancerous, sometimes there are many different types of cancer in the same organ." Because different types of cancer respond better to different treatments, knowing the specific cancer type would help doctors choose the most effective treatment for a patient. Wemmer and his team have only tested their methiod on a model system made of water and beads that mimic human tissue, but have hope the results will work in people some day. They created synthetic molecular cages that have a special linking device on their shells that bind to specific molecules in the body, such as the proteins characteristic of cancer cells. The patient would be injected with molecular cages designed to catch whatever type of molecule needs to be found, and then would inhale xenon gas before entering the MRI machine. Xenon atoms---which flow early in and out of the cages---can be "hyperpolarized" by hitting them with polarized light. This makes xenon very easy for MRI machines to detect. The trick is that the cages turn off the xenon atom's signal, leaving a dark spot in the middle of all the other xenon atoms that are lit up and giving away the presence of cancerous cells. End Of Story Hmmmm... I wonder if this is a development that would help with pit. tumors?
  16. It's not a waste if you have helped others. I'm know it's not fun---but thank goodness for the help and support I have found here.
  17. I totally understand what you mean. On Sunday, the day before the RD issue showed up in the mail, I had hit one of my lowest points---not a pretty picture---and when I found the article on Cushings, it helped me to remember that I was not alone---and it has also helped my family, friends and others to understand what I am experiencing. I hope this helps someone as much as it has helped me.
  18. I would have cancelled our subscription when they went to the change in format except it was a Christmas gift from mom-in-law. The old RD used to be one of my favorite mags---but now, I feel that it's not much different from many others. After experiencing a particularly rough week, I was looking forward to reading something uplifting for a change---thank goodness for the Cushing article! It is helping my family and friends better understand what I'm going through and that it is not "all in my head". BTW---don't we have enough mags to tell us what to eat and to exercise? I tell my family I'm more than happy to exercise---if my leg and butt muscles would just cooperate with me! I started up again on DHEA this week and it is helping.
  19. Check out Reader's Digest October 2006 for an informative article on Cushings and the problem of misdiagnosis.
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