Nov
17
Environment Causes Increase In Multiple Sclerosis Among Women Only
Filed Under News, Research | Leave a Comment
Gender has become a dominant factor in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) during the last decades. Already with a ratio of 3.2 to 1 MS is gradually changing into a disease predominantly among women. Since genetic factors can be ruled out as a cause of this gender related increase, scientific attention is on environmental factors that may increase MS risk in women exclusively. Most likely environmental factors include smoking, viral infections, Vitamin D deficiency, hygiene changes and dietary factors.
Almost 400 MS scientists and clinicians from around the world gathered this week during a medical scientific conference on ‘Multiple Sclerosis and Gender’, organized by the independent European Charcot Foundation, to share and discuss their scientific views on the backgrounds of this major shift in gender ratio.
“In due course the raised attention on gender related topics will undoubtedly lead to better results and questions regarding individualized MS treatment, both in women and men”, professor O.R. Hommes, chairman of the European Charcot Foundation stated. “This conference has raised the simple question whether females with MS should be treated differently than males”.
One of the main focal points in the gender related approach is the effect of pregnancy on disease progression in MS. The disease practically disappears during the last trimester of pregnancy. Why is that and can we use our vast knowledge of natural female sex hormones, such as estriol, progesterone and prolactin, to develop new ways of treating women with MS? Several phase III clinical trials are already underway that will provide answers to this question by the end of 2009.
read the rest: Environment Causes Increase In Multiple Sclerosis Among Women Only
Nov
13
Campaign to end 2-year insurance gap for disabled
Filed Under News, Work & Disability | Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON AP — Congress and the Obama administration should end the two-year wait that people deemed too sick to work by the government face before qualifying for Medicare, lawmakers and leading advocacy groups said Wednesday.
Medicare covers people 65 and older and the disabled, and at any time, 1.5 million disabled people find themselves waiting to qualify. About 40 percent are uninsured during part of that wait, while 25 percent are without insurance during the entire 24 months. Of the rest, some get coverage through Medicaid, but many end up depleting their savings on private insurance and medical bills.
Legislation sponsored by Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., would eliminate the waiting period gradually over 10 years. The proposal also would set up a process so people with life-threatening illnesses could get coverage right away.
“Every year, we’d reduce it by a few months, so we get down to a level that’s manageable for folks,” Green said at a Capitol Hill event. He and Bingaman are trying to get their plan incorporated in a health reform package expected from President-elect Obama, who co-sponsored a version of their bill last year.
But if a health overhaul stalls as it did during the last Democratic administration, Green and Bingaman say they think they might be able to pass their bill anyway. Separately, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who heads the committee that oversees Medicare, also announced he supports doing away with the waiting period.
The legislation would solve the kind of predicament that 45-year-old Yvonne Brown of Waldorf, Md., had to face. She had a steady job as an audio engineer for a radio network. But in 2000 she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease in which the immune system attacks the nerves. She was granted Social Security disability payments in 2003, only to find out that she would have to wait two more years for Medicare.
Brown said she sold her house to pay for medical bills, but eventually wound up homeless. She was reduced to sleeping in her car because shelters were concerned that by accepting her, they would become liable for the costs of her treatment. One type of MS medication was costing $2,200 a month.
“It is an irresponsible and demeaning system that declares people disabled, and then forces them to wait two years for health insurance,” Brown.
read the rest: The Associated Press: Campaign to end 2-year insurance gap for disabled
Editor’s note: As it stands now, the two year waiting period starts to run from your date of disability, which may be determined to be much earlier than when you are actually certified by SSA as disabled. In my case, it was nearly 1-1/2 years after I first sought medical treatment for what turned out to be MS that I was awarded SSDI, so I only had to wait six months after that before I became eligible for Medicare.
But any waiting period makes no sense.
Nov
6
There’s an ingredient in our food that scientists are beginning to suspect could be a cause of auto-immune disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Grave’s disease.
Excitotoxins – amino acids that, quite literally, excite the nervous system, and cause neurological damage – may be a bigger culprit than anyone has suspected, and often they’re a hidden ingredient in the food we eat.
The two most common excitotoxins are the artificial sweeteners monosodium glutamate MSG and aspartame, but they are also hidden behind ingredients such as hydrolyzed proteins, hydrolyzed oat flour, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate and yeast extract. Soybean extract are also rich in glutamate.
read the rest: Multiple sclerosis: Food ingredient may be cause of autoimmune disease | What Doctors Don’t Tell You