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Spousal caregivers face special issues. The marital relationship, finances and child-rearing complicate the issues. Anderson, a caregiver for his late wife who had systemic scleroderma during 29 of their 31 years of marriage, said the top two issues for spouses are sex and money. App.com. 11/28/08. (Also see: Caregivers)
Govt pays for deadly, unapproved drugs. Dozens of deaths have been linked to medications that have never been reviewed by the government for safety and effectiveness but are still covered under Medicaid. Comcast.net News. 11/24/08. (Also see: FDA Warnings and Colchicine)
Scleroderma Patient Experiences: SCOT Trial on You Tube. A short film documenting the experiences of several patients undergoing experimental treatment for scleroderma. It also includes physician interviews which provide information on the SCOT study and advances in research. Duke Clinical Research, 11-17-08.
Woman battling hypertension. Shortly after her diagnosis, Mary Beth Schumacher went online to learn all she could about pulmonary hypertension. The lesson left her gasping. THonline.com. 11/22/08. (Also see: Pulmonary Hypertension)
Anti-inflammatory Diet: Road to Good Health? Experts concede that anti-inflammation eating is more effective for some health problems than others, and that the scientific evidence for the disease, reduction benefits of these eating plans is still being gathered. K. Doheny. WebMD. (Also see: Scleroderma and Diet)
Warning over untested web 'cures'. Leading medical experts are warning patients against using untested remedies advertised on the internet which, they say, sell "false hope". BBC. 11/10/08. (Also see: Alternative Therapies)
Blue fingers can be an early sign. 98% of people with scleroderma also have Raynaud’s phenomenon, a condition in which blood is prevented from reaching the fingers and toes in response to the cold or any slight change in temperature. Halesowen News. 11/08/08.
Hope For Patients With Gadolinium-Induced Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis? Patients suffering from gadolinium-induced nephrogenic systemic fibrosis share a lot in common with scleroderma patients – the progressive loss of use of their extremities due to skin thickening and contractures and the development of a rare and incurable disease that confounds medical science causes these injured victims untold anguish. InjuryBoard.com. 10/31/08. (Also see: Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis)
Now, I Realize the Healing Power of a Good Nurse. Often wonder what doctors think about while sitting on their swivel chairs across from you? Do I frighten them? I am their peer: young, educated, a successful academic, a mother, a wife. I'm not one of "those people," who drank, smoked, ate poorly, etc. If it could happen to me, it could happen to them. WashingtonPost.com. 10/21/08.
Glucosamine and chondroitin don't slow arthritis. Two hugely popular supplements used to fight arthritis and joint pain, glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, do not seem to work any better than placebo to slow the loss of knee cartilage in osteoarthritis, researchers reported. Reuters. 09/29/08. (Also see: Arthritis)
Prescription drug injuries and deaths reach record levels. A watchdog group reports that 4,825 deaths and nearly 21,000 injuries occurred in the first three months of 2008. The drugs heparin and varenicline are cited as the most dangerous. Los Angeles Times. 10/23/08.
Got inflamed joints? Did you know that many common conditions that cause inflamed joints are actually types of arthritis? Canada.com. October, 2008.
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