Is it coincidence? US News and World Report just came out with a bunch of new articles on brain stimulation treatments: TMS, ECT, DBS. Links to others are in this one:
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/brain-and-behavior/2009/07/15/brain-stimulation-can-magnetic-or-electrical-pulses-help-you.html?s_cid=related-links:TOP
2 years ago
photo by sadiescraps on flickr
2 years agoVision is an issue for many PWPs. The idea of vision loss is pretty scary, but we can take comfort in the development of this amazing new device that relays information to the brain via the tongue.
Read about it here and see a video:
http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/health/101881/visually-impaired-get-a-taste-of-sight-with-new-device/Default.aspx
2 years agoABSTRACT
Eleven patients with severe Parkinson’s disease and on-off-phenomena were included in a controlled double-blind study on the effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Pharmacological treatment was optimally adjusted before the trial. The severity of extrapyramidal symptoms was measured before, during and after the treatment. The patients were randomly allocated into one group, receiving active ECT and another, receiving sham treatment. The patients given active ECT showed significantly (P < 0.05) prolonged duration of “on”-phases after ECT, in comparison to the sham-treated group. When collecting data from the controlled part of the study and the subsequent with open administration of ECT, the treatment was in addition found to significantly decrease the time and number of steps required to walk 10 meters. Moreover it reduced the severity of parkinsonian symptoms according to the Webster scale. The improvement induced by ECT was generally short-lasting. Lumbar punctures were performed before and after ECT. The concentrations of mcnoamine metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid were not affected by the treatment. The results indicate that ECT has an antiparkinsonian effect which probably is mediated via changed responsiveness of dopamine receptors and that further improvement is possible in patients, therapy resistant to the presently available medication.
Accepted for publication April 21, 1987.
A double-blind evaluation of electroconvulsive therapy in Parkinson’s disease with “on-off” phenomenaK. Andersen1, J. Balldin2,*, C.G. Gottfries2, A-K. Granérus1, K. Modigh2, L. Svennerholm2 A. Wallin2 1Department of Geriatric and Long-term Care Medicine, Vasa Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. 2Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, St. Jörgen’s Hospital, Hisings Backa, Sweden. Correspondence to *Dr. Jan Balldin Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry St. Jörgen’s Hospital S–422 03 Hisings Backa, Sweden Copyright 1987 Blackwell Munksgaard
KEYWORDSelectroconvulsive therapy • Parkinson’s disease • on-off phenomena • monoamine metabolites
Source: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121522665/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
2 years agoFrom the American Journal of Psychiatry, 146:11, November 1989.
The following quote is the conclusion of an editorial by Richard Abrams, MD.
“I therefore strongly agree with Max Fink’s recent call for prospective controlled trials of ECT in the treatment of patients with intractable Parkinson’s disease (14, 15). While awaiting the initiation and completion of such studies, however, I further recommend a therapeutic trial of ECT for every patient with intractable or drug-resistant Parkinson’s disease, particularly those with the on-off syndrome. The morbid and mortal risks of such treatment are minimal, even in the presence of dementia (16), and minuscule compared with those of transplant surgery.”
1989. Twenty years ago. We don’t know a whole lot more now than we did then about ECT and PD. Isn’t it time to get those controlled trials under way?
2 years agoSince reading Dr. Goulston’s article (see the post just before this one), I’ve been doing some research on PD and ECT (electroconvulsive therapy, formerly known as shock therapy).
As far as I can tell, it’s mainly a few people in the psychiatric community who have been talking about ECT and Parkinson’s. Have the movement disorders people (and the drug companies) noticed?
I find it astounding that hardly anyone has bothered to look at possible benefits for Parkinson’s patients from ECT, a noninvasive, widely used procedure that has been greatly refined since its inception in the 1930s and is tolerated well by many recipients.
Here are some links:
1989
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/146/11/1451
http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Psychology-and-mental-health/ECT-for-Parkinsons-disease-Differential-effects-of-right-unilateral-and-bilateral-ECT-on-heart-rate.html
1991—part of a letter
http://journals.lww.com/ectjournal/Citation/1991/09000/ECT_for_Refractory_Parkinson_s_Disease.10.aspx
1995
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9620060
2003
http://jap.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/9/1/9
a letter and a response to the letter:
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/168/11/1391-b
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/168/11/1392
2005 There is a link to a downloadable PDF of the article.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.go/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1739437
Here’s a quote from pp. 5-6 of the PDF:
“Although we show that the effects of ECT are significant and, indeed, had a larger effect size when compared to TMS [transcranial magnetic stimulation], the small number of trials limits our ability to draw any definite conclusion about this technique in PD patients.”
This article by Dr. Mark Goulston on the Huffington Post really got my attention. Be sure to read it ALL THE WAY THROUGH—the material most relevant to people with Parkinson’s is at the end, almost as an afterthought.
Read the comments, too. One is mine.
2 years agoThis is National Poetry Month, and anyone who thinks of poetry as something ethereal and rarefied should read this poem by Kenneth Koch. For me, it resonates with the Parkinson’s sensibility, which often includes a rather biting sense of humor. Hey, doesn’t the PD life sometimes feel like one big “somebody ate the plums”?
Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams
Kenneth Koch 
1
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.2
We laughed at the hollyhocks together
and then I sprayed them with lye.
Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.3
I gave away the money that you had been saving to live on for the next ten years.
The man who asked for it was shabby
and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy and cold.4
Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy and
I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!
photo by RBerteig on flickr.com
2 years agoResearchers studying a volunteer program in which seniors work with elementary school children report that the program is helpful, not only for the children, but for the volunteers, too. Here’s a link to the article in the Baltimore Sun:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.tutor14apr14,0,3342512.story
It was true for me many years ago when I was a preschool teacher, and it still holds true now that I am an almost-60-year-old with Parkinson’s: working with young children puts me in a zone where my usual problems and concerns fall away and I function at my peak. Recently I’ve been spending time in preschool classrooms again and I am amazed at how I muster the wherewithal, without actually thinking about it, to do things that normally daunt me, like tying shoelaces, conquering a balky jacket zipper, or printing clearly.
Little kids are so upfront, too. If they see my hand shake, they ask me why. I tell them. So simple, so clear.
2 years agoWhat’s the advantage to knowing whether you have a genetic predisposition to a disease? What do genetics tests tell you, and how do you know what they mean? For whom are these tests useful, and for whom are they not? What are the possible down sides of consumer genomics?
Wanting to know more, I searched and found these articles, among others. It’s a start.
http://www.genomeweb.com/decode-throws-hat-consumer-genomics-ring
http://scienceblogs.com/geneticfuture/2009/01/diversification_consumer_genomics.php
http://www.genomeweb.com/nejm-editorial-warns-downside-%E2%80%98premature%E2%80%99-consumer-genomics-market
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_TDNVDNRR
