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parkinson's disease :battery in a brain !
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| CranberryJuice |
so i saw that on the news a few days ago and i wanted to post about it .....so french doctors found a way to hide the symptoms of the parkinson's disease...they insert little batteries in the brain of the patient and then you can see the person acting like if she wasn't sick at all ...moving her arms like a normal person and she doesn't shake anymore AT ALL .But if you take off the little batteries then you can see the person trembling again and having difficulties to do what a non sick person can do .So this little battery is actually helping the sick people to look normal in their everyday life whitout having to face the hostile looks of people for example
Now the doctors are tying to make a battery which could stop the disease |
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| Marc Summers |
| Yeah, I'm not a fan of all this stuff. They inserted a chip into my fathers spine to cancel all of the pain messages from his upper body. It's stupid because it doesn't help what his problem is, which is a deteriorating spinal column. Pain is there for a reason. It's there to tell the body that there is something wrong. that. |
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| Moongoose |
I think they did somehting like that in an episode of Greys Anatomy. Sounds really great, and obviously its goood news for people with parkinsons its just the thought of the battery in the brain that creeps me out a bit. Not the initial surgery what creeps me out is the thought that unless its some sort of self charging battery you will have to at some point change the battery in your brain :nervous:
| quote: | | Yeah, I'm not a fan of all this stuff. They inserted a chip into my fathers spine to cancel all of the pain messages from his upper body. It's stupid because it doesn't help what his problem is, which is a deteriorating spinal column. Pain is there for a reason. It's there to tell the body that there is something wrong. |
it may not help the problem but at least he is pain free. Thats still something right, its not like he doesnt know there is a problem but until the problem is fixed at least he doesnt suffer as much as he would without the chip. |
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| MisterOpus1 |
I can't speak for the technology or the exact effects of what it may or may not do. But as a student physical therapist I do know and have seen some of the unfortunate effects and difficulties Parkinson's disease has on patients in both of my clinicals I have had so far. I would surmise that such chips for this disease is not a means of curing it or masking it completely. Rather, the goal for such technology is to enhance daily function of these individuals, allowing them to achieve as close to their normal functional activities as possible prior to the symptoms of the disease becoming fairly detrimental (which is a subjective time marker, to be certain).
In any case, I think that's what needs to be kept in mind for these individuals. Think of it this way - take terminal cancer for example. The idea behind doctors, therapists, psychologists, etc. is not to cure the disease. At this point in which it is marked "terminal", we know this is not a possibility. However, we do want to maintain as high a level of comfort, pain-free, and function as much as possible throughout the remaining years. Until there are cures found for these diseases, all we can do is merely treat the symptoms and not the cause. |
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| Shakka |
| quote: | Originally posted by MisterOpus1
Rather, the goal for such technology is to enhance daily function of these individuals, allowing them to achieve as close to their normal functional activities as possible prior to the symptoms of the disease becoming fairly detrimental (which is a subjective time marker, to be certain). |
Correct. It greatly enhances quality of life. Even though the disease is still there, alleviating the symptoms allows the person to at least function in a more normal way.
Have you ever noticed that most over-the-counter medications are more-or-less designed to alleviate symptoms moreso than attacking the disease? When you have the flu you take something to quell symptoms like fever, nausia, aches, fatigue, etc. While you end up feeling better due to alleviated symptoms, you are still sick until your immune system completely rids itself of the virus. |
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| trancaholic |
| quote: | Originally posted by CranberryJuice
So this little battery is actually helping the sick people to look normal in their everyday life whitout having to face the hostile looks of people |
Hostile looks? Why on earth would anyone be hostile to sufferers of Parkinson disease?:conf: |
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| MisterOpus1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
Correct. It greatly enhances quality of life. Even though the disease is still there, alleviating the symptoms allows the person to at least function in a more normal way.
Have you ever noticed that most over-the-counter medications are more-or-less designed to alleviate symptoms moreso than attacking the disease? When you have the flu you take something to quell symptoms like fever, nausia, aches, fatigue, etc. While you end up feeling better due to alleviated symptoms, you are still sick until your immune system completely rids itself of the virus. |
Yep. Primarily because the beast that creates the flu and related ailments are virus critters that cannot be easily destroyed with medication, unlike antibiotics on the bacterial critters (which is becoming more and more resistant anyway).
That reminds me, I gotta get my TB test renewed. , I gotta get on that. |
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| Moongoose |
Apparently it is only considered if mediacation cannont tame the symtooms of the disease. I can see why, becouse if I understood this Wiki article correctly one has to go trough a craniotomy every three to five years to replace the whole DBS unit. Now i know that its supposed to not couse great discomfort for the patient (who is under local anaesthetic :nervous: ), but the thought that you have to have a party of your skull removed every couple of years isnt that comforting.
Nice touch that DBS can also help with depression and epilepsy though. |
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| NeoPhono |
There are options other than thalamic stimulation, you can remove portions of your thalamus or the whole darn thing if you'd like. As said before though, it's all just postponing the inevitable. Unless you can stop the loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra, nothing will help in the end. It's the same with with Parkinson's medications, you can only take L-DOPA for so long before it loses its effectiveness. The real kicker with Parkinson's is that once you start to show symptoms, you've already lost a great deal of those dopaminergic neurons I was talking about. Kinda like pancreatic cancer in that regard, being that once you figure out what's wrong it's pratically too late to do anything substantial.
However, as stated before, it's all about quality of life until the end (palliative care). Yeah, I'd be bummed if someone I loved had a terminal disease, but I'd be happy to know that their "end time" was as high of quality and pain-free as possible. Battery or not. |
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| Marc Summers |
| quote: | Originally posted by Moongoose
it may not help the problem but at least he is pain free. Thats still something right, its not like he doesnt know there is a problem but until the problem is fixed at least he doesnt suffer as much as he would without the chip. |
Ehh... I don't like him. |
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| CranberryJuice |
| soren .....once u have a serious disease AIDS or parkinson or whatever some people are just scared or just avoid u .....don't except everyone to behave nice ....there are a lot of discrimination towards sick people :( |
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| shaolin_Z |
| quote: | Originally posted by CranberryJuice
soren .....once u have a serious disease AIDS or parkinson or whatever some people are just scared or just avoid u .....don't except everyone to behave nice ....there are a lot of discrimination towards sick people :( |
Yeah, all that reflects is what s most people can be and are, how their entire lives revolve around themselves, how they have little to no sympathy for their fellow man, and the fact that they'd rather judge out of ignorance than try to understand others. |
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