John Schappi, Parkinson's and Me

Little Things That Make A Big Difference to Me

|

With one exception, I do all my pill popping when I get up, or when I go to bed. It’s easy to remember to take these pills. With the same one exception, it really doesn’t matter much if I forget and skip a pill.

The one exception is Sinemet (generic: carbidopa-levodopa). I’m supposed to take this pill four times a day at about six hour intervals. After my “joy of quiet” meditation hour, I try to keep this pill schedule: 5am, 11am, 5pm, and 11pm. The first and last are easy to remember. But I was having trouble with the two middle pills: remembering to take them in the first place, and then remembering IF I’d taken them. Messing up the Sinemet schedule carries consequences: skipping the 11am pill, for example, would would create serious balance problems for me by mid-afternoon.

Continue Reading

Seven Exercises to Prevent Memory Loss

|

I know: lists you find on the internet are often pretty stupid.

This time, I came across a list on AgingCare.com, a site for people taking care of their aging parents. It was part of an article titled “Prevent Memory Loss: Exercise Your Brain to Keep Your Mind Active.” The list was created by Sue Maxwell, who heads the Lee Memory Care Clinic, in Ft. Myers, Florida. The facility provides evaluation, treatment, family counseling, and community outreach for people affected by memory loss. There are even one or two ideas here that I might try.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

It is very important to keep your brain active. Here are some simple exercises that take a few minutes out of your day and help prevent memory loss.

  • The obvious one: play games. Any board game is OK such as Clue, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, Monopoly, Pictionary to name a few. Card games are also very important. Or, computer games. It is important to have your brain do new things and not just do the same thing over and over like playing Bridge, or crossword puzzles. Most importantly, have fun while exercising the brain.
  • Switch it up. Here is a fun way, but challenging way to exercise the brain: If you wear your watch on the right hand, switch it to the left. Every week change your watch from wrist to wrist. Teach the brain to look at everyday things differently. Even think about a different way to drive to church, grocery store and work—get out of the ho-hum of doing the same thing the same way every day. Stop being a creature of habit. This one is guaranteed results!
  • Switch sides. Try this one: If you are right-handed, try writing with your left and vice a versa. Shave with your other hand or blow dry your hair with the non-dominant hand and see what has to happen for the brain to complete this exercise. Change hands with the phone. If you always talk on the phone with the same ear, then try the other one. The brain hears differently in each ear.
  • Go back in time. Pick an activity that you used to do in the past like playing jacks, shooting pool or maybe even jump rope or hula hoop. Don’t be surprised if you need some extra practice. Most of all have fun and keep with the new activity until your skills return.
  • Learn a new activity. How about line dancing? It requires you to remember the steps – which takes mind-body-coordination and its fun. Any type of dancing accomplishes the same memory goal: learn and remember new steps, body positions and techniques. Other new endeavors: golf, chess, or take an adult education class at the local community college.
  • Practice active listening. Sit in the living room while watching TV and close your eyes. Use all the senses to understand the world around you. After the program has concluded, then go back in your mind and state how you felt and repeat what your heard. Paying attention without any other interruptions is very important — try not to multi-task.
  • Be good to yourself. Eat healthy foods… add nuts, berries and fish rich in omega-3 oils. Try drinking green tea in the afternoon for a boost. Give up those snacks rich in carbs and fats. In addition, walking is one of the best forms of exercise and doesn’t cost one penny. So get off the coach and dust off those sneakers and head out for a brisk walk.

You will be amazed at how simple it is to exercise your brain and stimulate neurons and dendrites on the opposite side of your brain.


/////////////////////////////////////////////////

Continue Reading

The Tale of Avandia and Big Pharma: Why Critical Skepticism Matters as We Review Drug Studies

|

The front page of Sunday’s The Washington Post featured an article by Peter Whoriskey titled “As drug industry’s influence over research grows, so does the potential for bias.”

In a nutshell, the writer tells the story of how in 2006 Big Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) managed to land a glowing 17-page report about their diabetes blockbuster Avandia in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), even though:

  • there was apparently clear evidence linking Avandia to increased risk of heart attack and death, 
  • the drug trial had been funded by GSK, 
  • all 11 authors of the report received money from GSK. 

Four years later, in 2010, Avandia had disappeared from American drugstores. An FDA scientist estimated that while doctors in this country prescribed Avandia – propelled by laudatory reports like NEJM’s – 83,000 people using the drug suffered heart attacks or died.

A Washington Post review found that the NEJM published 73 articles about new drugs between August 2011 and August 2012. Here’s how Whoriskey characterized the literature over those 12 months:

Of those articles, 60 were funded by a pharmaceutical company, 50 were co-written by drug company employees and 37 had a lead author, typically an academic, who had previously accepted outside compensation from the sponsoring drug company in the form of consultant pay, grants or speaker fees.

My sense of smell is non-existent these days, but even I get a whiff of something unsavory here. Is Big Pharma’s drive for profit superceding public welfare?


In decades past, the government conducted more of these studies, presumably concerned only with drugs’ efficacy and side effects. Big Pharma’s role in these drug studies has grown sharply, begging the obvious question of conflicting interests. Last year, NIH spent $31 billion on drug studies; Big Pharma ponied up $37 billion.

It’s a long article, worth reading.

In fairness, the Post also published a response from GSK to Whoriskey’s article. That response includes this comment:

With regards to Avandia, we firmly believe we acted responsibly in conducting the clinical trial program, in marketing the medicine, in monitoring its safety once it was approved for use and in updating information in the medicine’s labeling as new information became available. 

No question, the Avandia story is a cautionary tale. It made me recall another article – a “Consumer Reports Insights’ — I saw in the Post several weeks ago, titled “Add a healthy dose of skepticism.” It, too, is worth reviewing, since we win when we’re more informed and critically aware as we read new reports about drugs we just might take.

In short, here are the bullet points:

Check the background

  • Was the study published? 
  • Who paid for it? 
  • What’s the context? 

Examine the Methodology

  • Was it a controlled clinical trial or an observational study? 
  • Did it address “confounders”? 
  • How long was the study? 

Grade the Journalism

  • Are harms mentioned as well as benefits? 
  • What do other sources say? 
  • Who’s quoted? 

Determine What the News Means

  • Do the findings apply to you? 
  • Do you have access to the care that the study participants did? 
  • What does your doctor think? 

Good questions for all of us to keep in mind.

Continue Reading
browse all posts
Or search for a post here:

ChangingAging Newsletter

Join 30,636 subscribers and stay updated on all things ChangingAging

No charge. No Spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

#ChangingAging - Explore what's next!