Sunday, January 25, 2009

Addison's Alerts

Becoming Jane Fansite: Later manuscripts of Jane Austen
By Icha
In early 1816, Austen suffered an illness (either Addison's or Hodgkin's Disease), and on 18 July 1817, she died at the age of forty-one in the arms of her sister, Cassandra, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. ...
Becoming Jane Fansite - http://becomingjane.blogspot.com/

 

One Doctor: Case 1 : Addison disease
By nmg
X-ray of her abdomen showed no calcified areas in either adrenal gland, and her serum contained antibodies to adrenal cortex, consistent with a diagnosis of Addison's disease due to autoimmune adrenalitis. Her serum also contained ...
One Doctor - http://onedoctor.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Addison's Alerts

Training because I can! Addison's disease, exercise and living in ...
By Dusty
Addison's disease, exercise and living in Idaho. I'd like to bring inspiration to people with adrenal disorders. Don't settle for half a life when so much more is possible! You can have good health, you can do the things you want to do! ...
Training because I can! Addison's... - http://addisonssupport.blogspot.com/

 

Cortrosyn Stim test Results-Addison's Disease - HealthBoards ...
Cortrosyn Stim test Results-Addison's Disease Addison's Disease.
HealthBoards Message Boards - http://www.healthboards.com/boards/

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Adrenal Articles

Health Digest: Children's health
News-Journal.com - Longview,TX,USA
Natural health consultant Wendy Wallace is scheduled to discuss adrenal exhaustion and thyroid deficiency at 10 am and at 6 pm at Ladies Workout Express, ...

High doses of steroids from an inhaler to prevent wheezing in ...
guardian.co.uk - UK
There has been concern among doctors that high doses of steroids can sometimes stop the adrenal glands working properly.[7] [2] Adrenal glands lie just ...

 

PsycNET - Display Record
By Cynthia García Coll, PhD
The activity of the major stress hormone axis in humans, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, is directly and indirectly associated with the onset and propagation of these conditions. Previous studies have shown differences between ...
Developmental Psychology - Vol 45, Iss 1 - http://content.apa.org/journals/dev

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Adrenal Alerts - 1/20/09

Addison's Help: Adrenal Alerts - 1/19/09
By MaryO
Addisons-Help: Adrenal Crisis, Addison's/Adrenal Insufficiency information and support. Adrenal Crisis can be life threatening. Print out this information, just in case you need it someday. / Addisons-Help.com Support for Addison's ...
Addison's Help - http://addisonshelp.blogspot.com/

 

In Phoebe's Memory: What is Addison's Disease?
By Laura
I think it's extremely important to post the symptoms of Addison's Disease. I often wonder if I'd known that the tremors & shaking were symptoms of Addison's SOONER (because she was doing that for about a month before she became very ...
In Phoebe's Memory - http://phoebehasaddisons.blogspot.com/

Monday, January 19, 2009

Adrenal Alerts - 1/19/09

Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome | Xoogie.net ...
ADRENAL FATIGUE: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome is a very empowering work cram-packed with vital information about a condition that very likely affects millions of people. by dave. Leave a Reply. Name (required) ...
Xoogie.net - Review - http://review.xoogie.net/

 

Goitrogenics - Raw Fu
That I wasn’t clean or pure enough, that I wasn’t getting enough greens — turns out, I am over alkalizing myself — and my thyroid and adrenals are completely shot…. Foods to stimulate thyroid tissue Some foods and drinks have an ...
Latest Activity on Raw Fu - http://raw100.ning.com/

 

Adrenal Fatigue - paxilprogress
Adrenal Fatigue General Discussion. ... It is not hard to see that this state is not far away from the start of even more significant adrenal fatigue, which I and other practitioners are seeing in CFS/ME patients. ...
paxilprogress - http://www.paxilprogress.org/forums/

 

Oprah learns her weight gain is due to hormone imbalance ...
We are also sure to support the gland that is responsible for producing the hormones, such as the ovaries, uterus, and adrenal glands. This support will also, then, support the thyroid gland. You can see how everything in the Endocrine ...
Blogging for Balance - http://www.naturalbodyinbalance.com/blog/

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Google Alerts

Becoming Something:
So, Ashley and I had little Twitter conversation where I happened to mention that I'm losing my hair from this health problem I have (adrenal- and thyroid-based, it seems). She said that her boyfriend is an actor and a make-up artist ...
Becoming Something - http://www.becomingsomething.com/

 

Training because I can! Addison's disease, exercise and living in ...
By Dusty
Although we're all different ages, sizes and genders, most of the people in the pictures have one thing in common, we've all got Addison's disease. Thanks to those of you who emailed me pictures! If you have Addison's, didn't send me a ...
Training because I can! Addison's... - http://addisonssupport.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Adrenal Alerts

Cushie Blogger: Adrenal, Cushing's Alerts
By MaryO
5 weeks ago. Addison's Help · Adrenal Alerts - Medical Blog » Blog Archive » Adrenal Crisis Too rapid withdrawal of exogenous steroid may precipitate adrenal crisis, or sudden stress may induce cortis... 2 hours ago ...
Cushie Blogger - http://cushie-blogger.blogspot.com/

Addison's Help: Adrenal Alerts
By MaryO
Cushing's & Cancer: Medical PBL: Examination of a Cushing's By MaryO. In 2006, I was also diagnosed with kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma). My left kidney and adrenal gland were removed. Having an adrenal gland removed complicates my ...
Addison's Help - http://addisonshelp.blogspot.com/

Monday, January 12, 2009

Adrenal Alerts

Medical Blog » Blog Archive » Adrenal Crisis
Too rapid withdrawal of exogenous steroid may precipitate adrenal crisis, or sudden stress may induce cortisol requirements in excess of the adrenal glands’ ability to respond immediately. In acute illness, a normal cortisol level may ...
Medical Blog - http://odlarmed.com/

Cushing's & Cancer: Medical PBL: Examination of a Cushing's
By MaryO
In 2006, I was also diagnosed with kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma). My left kidney and adrenal gland were removed. Having an adrenal gland removed complicates my post-Cushing's symptoms. ...
Cushing's & Cancer - http://cushingshelp.blogspot.com/

Friday, January 09, 2009

A Bit about Thomas Addison

Summarized from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Addison

Thomas Addison (April, 1793 - June 29, 1860) was a renowned 19th-century English physician and scientist. He is traditionally regarded as one of the "great men" of Guy's Hospital in London.

...

Thanks to his teachers, Addison became fascinated by diseases of the skin (dermatology). This fascination, which lasted the rest of his life, led him to be the first to describe the changes in skin pigmentation typical of what is now called Addison's disease.

...

Addison is known today for describing a remarkably wide range of diseases. His name has entered into the annals of medicine and is part of the name of a number of medical disorders, including:

Addison gave one of the first adequate accounts of appendicitis and wrote a valuable study of the actions of poisons. He also made seminal contributions to the recognition and understanding of many other diseases, including;

Friday, January 09, 2009

Free Book Online: Living Healthier and Longer - What Works and What Doesn't

Welcome to the online edition of "Living Healthier and Longer - What Works and What Doesn't".

by Carl Bartecchi, M.D. and Robert W. Schrier, M.D.

Book

Download
Download and Print the Entire Book Free!

This is book is part of an innovative public health initiative to disseminate timely, accurate, and understandable health information on a wide scale.

This book has been provided, free of charge,
to 60,000 households in Pueblo, Colorado, thanks to the generous contributions of:

The Chamberlain Foundation
Parkview Medical Center
The Pueblo Chieftain
Pueblo City-County Health Department
Ryals' Family Foundation
St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center
University of Colorado School of Medicine

We are also making it available on this
website or soon you will be able to order a printed version for a nominal fee to cover book, handling and mailing.

Friday, January 09, 2009

What are the keys to successful adrenal venous sampling (AVS) in patients with primary aldosteronism?

From http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/cend/2009/00000070/00000001/art00003

Authors: Young, William F.1; Stanson, Anthony W.2

Source: Clinical Endocrinology, Volume 70, Number 1, January 2009 , pp. 14-17(4)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

 

Abstract:

Summary

Adrenal venous sampling (AVS) is the criterion standard to distinguish between unilateral and bilateral adrenal disease in patients with primary aldosteronism. The keys to successful AVS include appropriate patient selection, careful patient preparation, focused technical expertise, defined protocol, and accurate data interpretation. The use of AVS should be based on patient preferences, patient age, clinical comorbidities, and the clinical probability of finding an aldosterone-producing adenoma. AVS is optimally performed in the fasting state in the morning. AVS is an intricate procedure because the right adrenal vein is small and may be difficult to locate - the success rate depends on the proficiency of the angiographer. The key factors that determine the successful catheterization of both adrenal veins are experience, dedication and repetition. With experience, and focusing the expertise to 1 or 2 radiologists at a referral centre, the AVS success rate can be as high as 96%. A centre-specific, written protocol is mandatory. The protocol should be developed by an interested group of endocrinologists, radiologists and laboratory personnel. Safeguards should be in place to prevent mislabelling of the blood tubes in the radiology suite and to prevent sample mix-up in the laboratory.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.2008.03450.x

Affiliations: 1: Divisions of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Metabolism, Nutrition, and Internal Medicine, 2: the Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA

Friday, January 09, 2009

Laparoscopic adrenalectomy for pheochromocytoma: take the vein last?

From http://www.springerlink.com/content/m46x377408274722/

PDF (158.6 KB)  HTML  Free PreviewFree Preview

 

Melina C. Vassiliou1 Contact Information and William S. Laycock1, 2 Contact Information

(1) Department of General Surgery, Division of Laparoscopic Surgery, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA

(2) One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA

 

Abstract
Background
  Traditionally, the adrenal vein has been ligated early during excision of a pheochromocytoma. Patient anatomy or size of the lesion can sometimes make early vein dissection difficult or unsafe. This study aimed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of delayed adrenal vein ligation during laparoscopic adrenalectomy for pheochromocytoma.

Methods  A retrospective review of all laparoscopic adrenalectomies for pheochromocytoma from 1997 to 2007 was conducted. All the patients had confirmed histologic evidence of pheochromocytoma. The procedures were performed using the same technique, which involved division of the adrenal vein late in the procedure after the gland had been dissected free. Patient records were reviewed for evidence of intraoperative hemodynamic variations, blood loss, length of stay, and postoperative morbidity.

Results  The review examined 27 adrenalectomies performed for 25 patients. Intraoperative hypertension exceeding 170 mmHg was observed in seven patients (26.9%). The overall morbidity was 7.7%, and the mean length of hospital stay was 1.7 days. No deaths occurred.

Conclusions  Delayed adrenal vein ligation during laparoscopic adrenalectomy for pheochromocytoma is safe and effective. The intraoperative hemodynamic parameters are comparable with those reported in the literature for the “vein first” technique. Dividing the vein late is an alternative approach to laparoscopic excision of adrenal pheochromocytoma and should be considered in appropriate situations.

Friday, January 09, 2009

In the News

Thyroid hormone might repair MS damage - 07 January 2009 - New Scientist

Mice, treated to cause MS-type symptoms, were treated with injections of the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine for three weeks and symptoms improved.

Friday, January 09, 2009

Adrenal Insufficiency: Hospitalists can focus time, energy on hospital patients

From http://lubbockonline.com/stories/010909/loc_375424188.shtml

By Kristen Hackney-redman |  AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Friday, January 09, 2009
Story last updated at 1/9/2009 - 1:27 am

Doctors are busy people. If you've had to sit in a doctor's waiting room lately, that's certainly not news to you. But a relatively new and growing trend in medicine is helping doctors take better care of you sooner.

Hospitalists are doctors - typically internists - who work only in hospitals. The concept of hospital medicine developed in the late 1990s because physicians were having to run back and forth between hospitals and their practices, said Kaiser Tarafdar, a Covenant Medical Group physician who practices internal and hospital medicine.

Because they do not have clinics, hospitalists can focus their time and energy on caring for the very sick patients in the hospital, said Tarafdar.

Similarly, the primary care physician of a hospitalized patient would not have to travel between his or her office and the hospital to see that patient. That gives the physician more time to devote to the patients in his or her clinic - and ideally, less time in the waiting room for you.

But hospital medicine is more than just a time-saver for physicians and patients. It's also a life-saver.

The patients hospitalists see are typically much sicker than the patients seen in a doctor's office, Tarafdar said. Often the patients have multiple

health problems, he said, but hospital medicine is designed with certain protocols to improve the quality of care for these very sick patients.

For example, if a patient has an infection that has invaded the bloodstream, causing low blood pressure, and is not improving with fluids and antibiotics, the hospitalist would look for internal causes, such as the patient's adrenal gland function.

If the hospitalist found an adrenal insufficiency, he would treat the patient for that, Tarafdar said. Failure to identify and treat the adrenal insufficiency could lead to death, but such protocols, or standards of care, he said, are like reflexes to the hospitalist and have been shown to improve mortality and morbidity rates.

"You can make a real life-saving impact," said Tarafdar. "We are geared toward saving patients' lives."

Arundhati Harati, who is also an internist and hospitalist at Covenant, said as a hospitalist, she is more accessible to the hospitalized patient.

"I can be by the patient's bedside two, three or four times (a day) if need be," she said.

Harati also said working in the hospital allows her the chance to sit down face to face with the families of her patients and counsel them about their loved ones' situation. That way she can help them understand if they are making the right decisions concerning their loved one's care.

More and more patients are beginning to understand the role of the hospitalist, but Tarafdar said he does occasionally encounter a patient who is unfamiliar with the system.

"We always introduce ourselves to the patients," he said.

Harati agreed. She said the first thing she does is explain to her patient that instead of seeing his or her primary care physician, the patient will see her while he or she is in the hospital.

But while patients are under the hospitalist's care, the patient's medical records are accessible to the hospitalist physician, who also maintains regular contact with the patient's primary care doctor.

A hospitalist's job is to get his or her patient better faster and back into the community sooner, Tarafdar said.The hospitalist is able to do this because of his or her experience in caring for very ill people and doesn't have to divide his or her time between the hospital and a clinic.

Reducing the number of days a patient must stay in the hospital is better for the patient because she or he is happier at home, Harati said. But it is also cost-saving for the hospitals, insurance companies and patient, Tarafdar said.

Ultimately, the hospitalist's goal is to see a once very ill patient get better.

"When we take care of the sick patient and the patient walks out of the hospital, that makes me very happy," Harati said. "That would be the reason for me to get up in the middle of the night. ... I think that is why all of us are in the health care profession.

"I'm very proud to be a hospitalist."

To comment on this story:

kristen.hackney@lubbockonline.com l 766-8713

shelly.gonzeles@lubbockonline.com l 766-8747

Friday, January 09, 2009

Today's Alerts

Cushing's & Cancer
By MaryO
My left kidney and adrenal gland were removed. Having an adrenal gland removed complicates my post-Cushing's symptoms. I am not planning to have any more rare and unusual diseases. My entire bio to date can be found here: ...
Cushing's & Cancer - http://cushingshelp.blogspot.com/

Health and Fitness: Thymoma
By kazim
Rare associations that have been reported are: acute pericarditis, Addison's disease, agranulocytosis, alopecia areata, ulcerative colitis, Cushing's disease, hemolytic anemia, limbic encephalopathy, myocarditis, nephrotic syndrome, ...
Health and Fitness - http://healthforworld.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Addison's Disease and two of its famous sufferers

From http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s18569.htm

with Robyn Williams
on Sunday 31/01/1999

Addison's Disease and two of its famous sufferers
Summary:
John F. Kennedy and Jane Austin both had Addison's Disease. While John F. Kennedy survived the disease, Jane Austin died from it.

Transcript:

Robyn Williams: This week Ockham's Razor is presented by one of its great stalwarts: Dr Jim Leavesley, a great expert in the indispositions of the famous. He's now retired in the beautiful Margaret River south of Perth. Jim.


Jim Leavesley: It is not now fashionable in medical circles to call diseases by their eponymous names. To do so is said to be confusing to those not in the know. So pathologically descriptive names are used, the Greek or Latin bases which are supposed to be universally understood.


For we old fogies, the passing of a named disease is a pity, for not only do we honour the person who first described the condition, but eponymous names are often much more mellifluous than dry descriptive tags. For instance, it is much more satisfying to say someone has Charcot Marie Tooth syndrome, or von Recklinghausen's Disease, rather than the politically correct peroneal muscular atrophy or multiple neurofibromatosis.


But one or two have slipped through the net. Meniere's syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, spring to mind as well as the one I wish to look at in conjunction with two of its victims, Addison's disease.


In 1795 at Long Benton, a village just outside Newcastle-on-Tyne, in northern England, the wife of the local grocer, Joseph Addison, was delivered of a second son. They called him Thomas.


A bright lad, he went on to Edinburgh to do medicine and qualified in 1815. From thence to Guy's Hospital, London, where he became an assistant physician in 1824 and the full works in 1837.


He was a contemporary of Richard Bright, of Bright's disease, and of Thomas Hodgkin, of Hodgkin's disease. What a trio.


Anyway, whatever mental jousting went on, it did not lift Addison's mood, for he was a chronic depressive. He made several attempts on his life until in 1860, he retired to Brighton, disturbed enough to have need of two constant attendants. Despite the care, within months he managed to elude them, flung himself down a stairwell and died of a fractured skull.


But let's go back a bit. On 15th March 1849, Addison had read a paper to the South London Medical Society entitled 'A Remarkable Form of Anaemia'. He cited three cases of increasing lethargy, but made no mention of those characteristic features we associate with his disease, skin pigmentation and low blood pressure. He didn't know how to measure that, anyway. He did note, however, that at post mortem there was a disease of the suprarenal glands, situated just above the kidney.


He did not connect the anaemia and suprarenal condition and said he had stumbled on a second condition, which he called 'melasma suprarenale.' It is this we now call Addison's disease. However, it did show for the first time that the adrenals were necessary for life, and it has been said that the whole of endocrinology dates from 15th March, 1849.


He did not publish until 1855, by which time he had separated the two anaemias, one he called 'pernicious', later known as Addisonian anaemia. The other he associated now with bronzed skin and suprarenal pathology, true Addison's disease. Publication produced no fanfares, no royal honours and his fame has been mainly posthumous. In any case, he was too late for our first famous patient with Addison's disease, who was that model of sense and sensibility, Jane Austin.
Like its houses, its chairs and its coffee pots, 18th century England has managed to convey to us a society which was at once both sensible and elegant. It seemed to manifest good manners, piety, and cultivated discernment.


At least it did if you were of 'the gentry', which was the case with Jane Austen, one of the greatest writers in the English language. It was a lifestyle which provided the ideal ambience in which her genius could flourish.


Daughter of a clergyman, the seventh of eight children, she led a life of gentility and ease spent entirely in the quieter rural southern England. She drew her characters from her own circle and never strayed from the world in which she moved.


Further, she was much too well bred to let her own name grace the title-page of her novels. All her books were styled as being written, 'By a Lady', as indeed they were.


Her towering reputation is based on only six works of fiction written between the ages of 34 until her death at 41. They have never been out of print in 175 years, and have flourished even more during the last decade or so.


She never married, and it appears the creative impulse, then customarily fulfilled by the task of being a wife and mother, was in her attained through her art. She took considerable pains to conceal from her friends and visitors the nature of her life's work, and wrote on small pieces of paper, the more easily to slip under a blotter or into a drawer if chanced upon. She said her books were her children and she was later remembered as the caring wit of the family.


Jane Austen was born 20 years before Addison, in 1775, into a closely-knit family in which she led a sheltered home life, interspersed with occasional visits to Bath to take the waters, or to the nearby houses of her elder brothers.


It all sounds like a rural idyll, and so it was, until June 1816, when at the age of 40, she had an attack of nausea and vomiting and low backache.


In July she was depressed and felt weak. This was put down to her dissatisfaction with the book, 'Persuasion', which she had just completed. Two months later it was noted she tired easily, had uncharacteristic mood swings and further back pains. She improved and life progressed in its customary premeditated way.
In December she declined an invitation to dinner, saying 'The walk is beyond my strength, though I am otherwise very well.'


The following months she wrote to a friend that she was stronger but felt 'bile' was at the bottom of her nausea and malaise.


All pretty vague so far. Then in March 1817 Jane wrote to her favourite niece, Fanny, and in it gave the clue which could lead us to the likely diagnosis. She wrote, 'I certainly have not been very well for many weeks; I have a good deal of fever at times, but am considerably better now and recovering my looks a little, which have been black and white and every wrong colour. Sickness is a dangerous indulgence at my time of life.'


She wrote to a friend two months later, recounting details of recurrent vomiting, concluding, 'My chief sufferings were from feverish nights, weakness and languor.'


We know the slightly built Austen was bright eyed and had an olive complexion, certainly not 'black and white and every wrong colour.' A visitor in May observed the author was looking very pale and spoke in a weak, low voice.


A concerned family moved her to Winchester to be nearer expert medical help. It was of no avail. Over a six weeks period she became progressively weaker and had a number of fainting fits, until on July 18th, 1817, after several hours of unconsciousness, Jane Austen died in the arms of her only sister, Cassandra.
So what did she have? Well I don't think she died of boredom, as someone unkindly suggested. The story is one of unimpaired intellect but increasing languor and intermittent backache, fainting attacks, gastrointestinal disturbances, and fever, especially at night. Night sweats are a well-known feature of tuberculosis. Added to all that, and crucially, is a darkening of the face. The delicacy of the era regrettably precludes us from knowing about skin changes elsewhere, especially the vagina, in the mouth or where pressure was applied to the skin, at the waist, for instance.


A number of conditions come to mind, but probably only one fits the whole scenario.


The lassitude could have been due to a rare neuromuscular condition, myasthenia gravis, but there seems to have been no speech or swallowing problems. Maybe the heart could be implicated with an infection of its valves, or bacterial endocarditis, but fainting crises are not a feature of this. Perhaps cancer of the stomach with anaemia from the slight but persistent blood loss which characterises the condition. The digestive problems did not seem either very great or progressive.


Skin discolouration occurs in a number of general diseases: the rare so-called bronzed diabetes, or haemochromatosis, but the other symptoms do not fit; chronic inorganic arsenic poisoning with its raindrop pigmentation and abdominal symptoms, or indeed poisoning from any of the heavy metals, lead especially, possibly from medication or water pipes. But the other history is inappropriate and no other family member was affected.


No, none of these seem right. From the admittedly rather thin records, coupled with the melancholy fact that living in the country she did have ready access to almost certainly tubercular contaminated milk, the most likely diagnosis is Addison's disease due to TB of the hormone producing suprarenal glands.


As we have seen, it was not until 1849 that Thomas Addison first described the malady. It's best known features are weakness and skin discolouration which he described as 'various tints of deep amber or chestnut brown.'


One alleged feature was not displayed. My old forthright chief used to claim, rightly or wrongly, that tubercular patients, possibly due to their low grade persistent fever, were almost always more sexually charged than the general run of the population. No hint of sexual impropriety in Miss Austen has come down to us.


Whatever her private life, we know from her books that Jane Austen was a consummate writer whose genius was tempered with gentle humour and a subtle insight into the nature of humankind. It is better we remember her thus, rather than someone who suffered from an uncommon and debilitating medical disorder.


Until the mid-20th century, tuberculosis was the prime cause of Addison's disease. Now it is likely to be an auto immune reaction, as was believed to be the case in that other famous sufferer and quite different personality, John F. Kennedy.


I have spoken before in this place about Kennedy, so will not burden you with the details again. But briefly, during the 1960 Presidential campaign, a Republican questioned the candidate about an article in the November 1955 edition of the American Medical Association's Archives of Surgery, and which was concerned with operating for one reason or other, on sufferers from Addison's disease. The questioner wondered if JFK was one of these cases.


The piece was entitled 'Management of Adrenocortical Insufficiency During Surgery'. Of the three listed cases, one told of an unnamed man in for a bone fusion, and insertion of a metal plate who had had Addison's for seven years, and who was managed by desoxycorticosterone pellets every three months and 25 milligrams of cortisone daily by mouth.


It was a typical bread and butter piece for that journal, but suddenly became hot political property when at the end of the piece the authors inserted a quite unnecessary throwaway line which sparked off the question. They simply wrote, 'The operation was accomplished on October 21st, 1954.'


Now on October 11th, on page 39 of The New York Times, it was reported that 37-year-old Senator Kennedy was entering hospital for spinal surgery. On the 21st it wrote he had undergone the operation that day. On February 26th 1955 it saw fit to record that the plate had been removed.


Now you don't need much nous to conclude that two people of the same age, with the same spinal condition, having undergone similar surgery in the same hospital and who returned on exactly the same day four months later to have the plate removed, were in fact one and the same. So we know for certain John Kennedy had Addison's.


His treatment was successful, but in those days, dosage of cortisone was chancy. Accumulating drug gave a fullness of the face, a so-called moon face, which in the President gave him those boyish good looks and appearance of rude good health which made him the darling of the chattering classes.


It increased energy and JFK's well-known bedroom athleticism may have been enhanced by the treatment, though his back will have suffered.


Kennedy did not die of the disease, Jane Austen did. Treatment was relatively unrefined in one and non-existent in the other. The basic cause in one was probably tuberculosis; in the other, an auto immune reaction. The victims had widely differing personalities, but both had one thing in common, and something which indeed they shared with Thomas Addison: they touched the lives of countless people in all corners of the globe and have gone on doing so long after their deaths.


Robyn Williams: Jim Leavesley, in forensic mood, as always. His book is called 'What Killed Jane Austen, and Other Medical Mysteries', published by Harper Collins.
Next week, Sue Taylor has trouble with elephants. I'm Robyn Williams.
Guests on this program:

Dr. James Leavesley
Margaret River
Western Australia
Author of the book: "What killed Jane Austen and other Medical Mysteries", published by Harper & Collins

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Adrenal Alerts

MCQsOnline - Online Collection of MCQs of Medical PG Entrance ...
By Doctor Bruno
In the original case of excessive and inappropriate aldosterone production, the disease was the result of an aldosterone-producing adrenal adenoma ( Conn 's syndrome). Most cases involve a unilateral adenoma, which is usually small and ...
MCQsOnline - Online Collection... - http://www.mcqsonline.net/

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Adrenal Fatigue: Flatley feared he'd never dance again

From http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/a139870/flatley-feared-hed-never-dance-again.html

 

Flatley feared he'd never dance again

Saturday, January 3 2009, 20:28 GMT

By Michael Thornton

Flatley feared he'd never dance again

Rex Features

Michael Flatley has opened up about the mysterious illness he feared might bring an end to his career.

The Riverdance performer believes the ailment, which could not be diagnosed by doctors, had come as the result of a long, demanding career.

"Nobody knew what the illness was, and they still don't. They tested for every virus known to man, and I didn't have any of them. My body had simply had enough. I'm convinced the reason I got ill was because I was burnt out," he told the Daily Mail.

"I'd been working at a tremendous pace physically for years and years, not just performing but running my own business, too. I'd had years of dancing too hard and partying too hard, and when you come off the stage and 15,000 people are on their feet, screaming for encores, it takes a long time to come down from that. Your adrenal glands are bursting.

"I spent weeks flat on my back and, I have to confess, it was a very scary time for me. I was really worried about the future, and it kind of gave me the time to reflect on things and focus on what was important in my life," he said.

Flatley revealed that a meeting with Michael O'Doherty, a man who specialises in the body's 'energy flows', gave him hope, saying: "After spending an hour with him, I managed to walk for about a mile, which was the first time in a year that I'd been able to do that.

"He visited me about ten times afterwards and now, I feel really good. Great, in fact. I can dance at speed and I'm close to 100% fit again," he added.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

The Word Is Already Getting Out...

Google Alerts for today:

Is there a connection between Addisons Disease, Diabetes, and PCOS ...
My ( maternal) Grandma died of an Addison Crisis at 40. My first cousin has type 1 diabetes, and my sister and I both have Insulin Resistance, I also have.
Sensilun - http://sensilun.com/


Cushie Blogger
By MaryO
Addison's, sort of - Parents brought home a lot of Addisons and Jaydens in 2008 - Quad Cities Online: "Addison was the most popular name for baby girls and Jayden was the mo... 7 hours ago. Cushing's Family. - The new year begins. ...
Cushie Blogger - http://cushie-blogger.blogspot.com/


Cushing's & Cancer
By MaryO
Saturday, January 3, 2009. Based on last blog post about Addison's Disease - a new blog (again!) to promote Addison's awareness. http://ping.fm/xQAMV. Posted by MaryO at 8:28 PM ...
Cushing's & Cancer - http://cushingshelp.blogspot.com/

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Acts of Gratitude

...The speaker was looking at things only from the doctor’s perspective. But it struck me that there are at least two sides to every medical story. And it got me thinking back 30 years, to when I was a young man dying of no apparent cause.

My symptoms then included listlessness, faint-headedness, an inability to climb stairs without resting and unquenchable thirst. Twice, I took home a jug for a 24-hour urine test, and both times I came back with an extra bottle on the side. It didn’t seem to signify much to my doctor. The heart was his specialty, and he kept doing electrocardiograms suggesting something wrong there, but no particular diagnosis. I wasn’t much interested, in any case. I was only 26 years old, but the idea of dying seemed perfectly fine.

Then one afternoon on my parents’ front porch, I stood up in front of my father and briefly passed out. My parents arranged for me to see an endocrinologist named Robert Modlinger, who got hold of my ample test records, phoned me, and started to talk in a strangely unmodulated voice. His wife April was also on the line, repeating my answers to his questions so he could read her lips. I learned later that he’d gone deaf a decade earlier, in his mid-twenties, when he was a student in medical school. Finally, he said, “I want you to come into my office. I think you have Addison’s Disease.” It sounded more like, “I THINK you have AHHHH-dison’s Disease.”

Read the rest of this blog post here.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Addison's, sort of

Parents brought home a lot of Addisons and Jaydens in 2008 - Quad Cities Online:

"Addison was the most popular name for baby girls and Jayden was the most popular name for baby boys born at Genesis BirthCenters in 2008."

I only learned of this trend because of the Google Alerts I have set up.  One is for Addison's.  I was hoping to get information about Addison's Disease. Instead, I'm seeing about Addison's first birthday, Addison's first Christmas, Addison goes to jail...

Precious little about Addison's Disease.  Maybe 2009 will be the year to write more about this disease.  I already have a website about it (DUH!) but maybe there needs to be more awareness on this front, too.  Cushing's is getting pretty well out there now.

Parents must not be doing their homework!  Why in the world would someone name their child something that's a serious disease?

Will future kids be named Cancer or AIDS?  I think not.
I guess this is just a trend, a faddy type thing and people don't check into what names signify anymore.

I wonder how the parents will feel if someday I meet an Addison and I say: "Gee...I know lots of people who have that..."