Whiplash 101

Thyroid problems may make you fat and moody
By Amy Price PhD

People who have sustained head or serious neck injuries can also damage the thyroid as well. Sometimes people who are diagnosed with whiplash later develop thyroid issues. Many of the symptoms of hypothyroid are the same as those as those for people who have dealt with a brain injury so they tend to be ignored. This is tragic because low thyroid levels can eventually lead to cognitive damage and even dementia. The thyroid can be damaged even if you are thin. It is not always true that people gain massive amounts of weight with this kind of condition just as it is not true that people with a past brain injury need to be constantly exhausted or depressed. The video above will tell you about symptoms and what you can do about this disorder

Your thyroid gland weighs less than an ounce and is located in the front of your neck just below the Adam’s apple. The thyroid acts as a feedback mechanism for your metabolism so when it is too slow or too fast this can upset a lot of body functions The thyroid gland takes iodine and converts it into thyroid hormones. Thyroid cells are the only cells in the body which can absorb iodine. These cells combine iodine and the amino acid tyrosine to make T3 and T4. T3 and T4 are then released into the blood stream and are transported throughout the body where they control metabolism (conversion of oxygen and calories to energy). Every cell in the body depends upon thyroid hormones for regulation of their metabolism.

Get this checked by your doctor. It takes a simple blood test and oral medication. This disorder can show up years after an injury so be aware.

Symptoms of a slow thryroid include

•Fatigue, Depression

•Weight gain or increased difficulty losing weight, or loss of appetite

•Coarse, dry hair, thinning hair or outer portion of eybrows thinning out

•Dry, rough pale skin,

•Cold and heat intolerance  (you can’t tolerate cold temperatures like those around you)

•Muscle cramps and frequent muscle aches, weakness

•Constipation

•Depression, Irritability

•Memory loss, lack of focus, reduced coordination

•Abnormal menstrual cycles, decreased interest in sex

By Amy Price PhD

Ligament injuries can be more painful and take longer to heal than a broken bone. They are common in traumatic injuries like a car crash, fall or sports injury. A ligament is a tough band of white, fibrous, slightly elastic tissue. They are an essential part of the skeletal joints; binding the bone ends together to prevent dislocation and excessive movement that might cause breakage. Some people like to compare ligaments to duct tape; they hold bones together. Another way of seeing this is to compare ligaments with elastic. Have you ever had favorite clothes where the elastic goes and loses its ability to follow and cling to your body? This is how lax ligaments work in your body. Torn ligaments could be compared to a fan belt in your care or a belt in your clothes dryer or vacuum cleaner, once it tears there is no real way to fix the problem because each time the appliance is used it puts pressure on the belt.
Ligaments contain signaling features which tell the bones how much to move. Ligaments also protect the joints and nerves. When these structures are injured, the body works to rebuild them but this is a slow process. A severe ligament tear can take 18 months to heal whereas a broken bone heals in weeks. When the tear is bad and the ligament can’t heal the surrounding muscles work overtime and the nerves do not have the same degree of protection which can lead to chronic pain and atrophy of the surrounding muscles. Severe ligament injuries that can’t heal produce instability in the surrounding structures. When this happens, deep supporting muscles get weak, nerves get irritated (causing more muscle weakness), and joints get inflamed and painful. Ligament injuries may be accompanied by popping and cracking.
Tight muscles and bad posture that come from the strain of chronic pain and injury can also cause cracking and popping however in this case the popping and cracking relieves pain and pressure. When popping and cracking makes you feel worse and produces more pain, numbness, or burning; it may be due to instability. Special x-ray techniques called flexion-extension views could be done to rule-out any type of instability.
Ligament injury can be treated with prolotherapy and adult stem cell treatment. Ligament repair can treat the injured areas as well but surgery is invasive, there is extensive rehabilitation and considerable down time. Targeted physiotherapy can be used to strengthen the area around the ligament to give it the opportunity to heal. Sometimes bracing is used to rest the area to give it time to recover however this is a temporary solution to reduce pain and used long term can make the situation worse because the surrounding support areas weaken with lack of use.
There are some antibiotics such as ciproflaxin which can make hinder ligament repair. Anti-inflammatories can also slow the healing process for ligament injury.
Supplements that promote cell health such as vitamin C, Glucosamine, Fish oil supplements and anti-oxidants can help. It is important to have high quality protein in your diet to promote a healthy balance of amino acids which help your cells increase the building blocks needed to heal. Getting enough sleep and regular exercise is important. Stress slows your body’s ability to heal. Learning stress busting techniques or avoiding stressors promotes health.

By Amy Price PhD
My husband underwent adult stem cell therapy in hopes of staving off hip replacement. The technique in the USA was in the early stages and his hip degeneration was acute. In the end he underwent bilateral hip resurfacing in the UK. The procedure was successful and gave him his life back. The UK surgeons were most interested in stem cell therapy and they were working on getting stem cells federally funded particularly for revision surgery which happens when the artificial hip wears out after about fifteen years.

It was exciting to learn about six hip patients who underwent a very creative stem cell procedure in Spire Hospital, Southhampton UK. This procedure could prevent thousands of people from needing to have an artificial hip fitted.

Here is a short breakdown on how they are doing this. Surgeons are using the patient’s own stem cells to rejuvenate the affected bone and donor bone to speed the process. The stem cells are extracted from the patient’s pelvis, purified and cultured in an organic mixture that promotes growth. When the cells had multiplied they were mixed with cleaned, ground-up hip bone from other patients who had hips replaced.Surgeon then excised dead tissue from the ball of the hip and filled the cavity with the mixture of stem cells and donated bone.

Professor Richard Oreffo of Southampton University explains that stem cells send out chemical signals to attract blood vessels. “Bone is a living vibrant tissue. These stem cells generate new tissue and drive new blood vessel formation to bring in nutrients,” he said.

Dr Dunlop is hopeful that this therapy will fix the hip for life. Early reports look promising with good results in 5 out of 6 study participants. The television footage on this was stunning. One patient who had his procedure a year ago looked like he had never experienced a hip problem.
Scientists and doctors are working together to expand this study and to explore the viability of using artificial bone. This would eliminate the problem of donor generated deficits being passed on although I suspect those already in need of new body parts are happy to take their chances.

This news is hot on the heels of research by scientists in New Jersey USA who have successfully isolated nerve growth factors in mesynchemal stem cells and grown them out as published in the latest issue of the Journal of Neurochemisty. Cell biology and Genetic engineering advances may soon provide real answers for those with untreatable neurodegenerative conditions and even those who have sustained brain injury.
Scientist and doctor teams are now considering how this therapy could be applied to other degenerative conditions.

By Amy Price PhD

Predictive medicine can change our tomorrows today. Regenerative medicine can replace artificial body parts with lab grown technologies while genetic breakthroughs can save families from generations of genetic disability. It is possible that new knowledge of human genetics and cell biology is likely to transform medical practice. Three likely scenarios could evolve:

•Genetics will lead to the classification of diseases on the basis of the underlying genetics or biochemistry, rather than by symptoms alone leading to preventive rather than crisis orientated treatments.
•Genetic information will identify people who are likely to respond to drugs, or to be harmed by them (pharmacogenetics). This is already possible with certain psychotropic drugs on an experimental level but has not trickled down into mainstream medicine.
•Genetic variation will be a new ‘susceptibility factor’, permitting monitoring and early treatment or, perhaps prevention, of an increasing proportion of common, multifactorial diseases, such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Even stress management can be amplified with knowledge of individual genotypes

It is the genetic variation susceptibility factor which is considered to be the change maker for the advent of predictive medicine. This could lead to regenerative medicine on a cellular (somatic) level or even in vitro gene manipulation (germ line therapy) which could prevent intergenerational transfer of genetic disabilities.
Predictive medicine, when it comes, will be based on a much wider use of genetic testing, at present the gap between what the healthcare system is geared up and trained to deliver and what is scientifically viable is huge. For example there are treatments approved for traumatic brain injury that are effective but most be given within a couple of hours of trauma. This can’t happen now because emergency room personnel are not adequately trained or equipped to diagnose MTBI… As with any new technology applied to health in the context of a complex delivery system, implementation is not going to be simple.

First, of course, there needs to be demand from medical personnel and the general public. Typically wide spread change will only take place after the following criteria are established:

•Demonstration of clinical effectiveness and patient safety – through statistically valid clinical trials
•Cost-effective for general use – through economic analysis of trials and other data;
•Standardization of technology, and quality control – generally through outside regulation of suppliers and laboratories;
•Allocation of resources;
•Recruitment and education and training (or retraining) for health workers – including specialists, MDs, nurses, counselors and technicians. For instance a surgeon who makes a good living performing spinal fusions and cervical repairs will need significant convincing, retraining and motivation to become an early adopter of treatment that makes the previous way of doing business obsolete.

Predictive, regenerative medicine may be the wave of the future. History teaches us that the way to greatness is to find a way to serve many. My dream is to witness a generation of scientists and medical professionals join in unity with a foundation of integrity to build a tomorrow for the patients and public who have make their careers possible.

References:

Materials adapted from Open University Course Materials (accessed july,2009)

By Amy Price PhD

Adult stem cell viability is on many minds. I have had queries from UN ambassadors to children of only nine asking me about stem cells. The curiousity is international but the questions are the same. People are not sure who to trust and they need stem cells now. Many can not travel to other countries because they are too ill and others lack funding for private stem cell clinics. Some of these feel the FDA or the NHS is unreasonable in thier demands for testing while others feel patient testimonials should be outlawed. My own training is in mental health/psychology so patient to patient information is all I can offer.

I personally like patient testimonials especially when they are accompanied by forums where people discuss how and if the treatment worked and what the hurdles were in getting treatment. I have often learned more from groups of patients with an experience than from professionals with just a theory. Forums are not meant to be professional research, they are peer to peer information only. Google stem cell or regenerative medicine forums and you will get many choices.

I agree clinical trials and time are important to assess treatments but realistically it will be 15 or 20 years before long term results are on the table for clinical trials. There are some companies that have obtained FDA approval for trials, others are listed at clinicaltrials.gov It may be useful to look at this Doctor’s description of FDA off label drug use for drugs to understand how the rules were set up and to get an inkling of how this could all translate to cell biology.

My concerns are that engineering any living object is not a simple process and what looks simple from the outside in a needle in/needle out sort of process is very complex from a laboratory perspective and all the answers may not be in. Some clinics are reputable, give good patient care and patients are reporting good long-term results. Some patients are fortunate enough to get into a university sponsored trial that is tied to a major research hospital. Other clinics are still using methods that were proven ineffective many years ago. Patients are vulnerable and need protection sometimes even from themselves. I can no longer count the number of friends I have lost to questionable therapies after spending family fortunes in a quest for a cure. There are no easy answers…

Having said this and knowing from personal experience the agony of chronic unrelenting pain and the sadness of life lost because of disability I would not likely wait until the votes were in but would join in the age old clamor of patients trapped by pain “Just fix me!” The International Society for Stem Cell Research has released guidelines which are helpful to use when considering any new therapy. The PDF is available here

By Amy Price PhD

With spinal injuries and head injuries it is often the secondary damage to the neurons that causes big problems especially when that swelling and inflammation is in the spinal cord or the brain. The worst damage shows up several hours to many days later. Now, scientists in Rochester, New York, have discovered a simple way to stop a lot of this secondary damage in its tracks…at least in mice by using that old familiar blue food dye that gives M&Ms, blue bubble gum and blue raspberry popsicles their color. Patients with spinal injuries could escape with vastly reduced loss of function if this works in people but they’ll turn bright blue in the process.

Much secondary damage is caused by adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. This chemical can go into overkill with trauma and cause neurons to fire until they burn out and die leaving inflammation and sludge to trip up the neurons behind them causing an unhealthy destructive cycle. With spinal trauma, the area around the injury is flooded with ATP, which causes otherwise healthy neurons to fire out of control until they die of exhaustion. It also increases the swelling around the wound. Swelling around an injury site is a positive healing factor in many parts of the body, but because the spinal cord is encased in a narrow column blood supply gets cut off and cells die. But a study published in July 28′s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) seems to show that it’s possible to block the actions of ATP and greatly reduce the severity and permanence of spinal injuries – using the same type of food dye that gives blue M&Ms their color, a food dye called Brilliant Blue G, or BBG.

BBG can be administered intravenously with no need to inject directly into the injury site. It has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, which then gives it access to the spinal cord. BBG binds to the same neuroreceptor (P2X7) as the ATP binds to but it has a stronger affinity for the receptor than ATP has and gets there first so it effectively blocks the action of the ATP at the injury site.
Only one problem….patients turn blue ! It is temporary and is sure better than having a serious injury. You wear the injury but the blue die wears off…..All I can say is color me blue for spinal injury.

See the full method of the experiments here (PDF). BBG has been a food dye approved by the FDA since the 1920s but would this be considered off label use like the cholesterol lowering of Cheerios cereal. While all the rats were severely injured, the BBG-injected rats showed a greatly improved ability to support their bodyweight on their hind legs, control their bladders, and even walk in some cases. The blue skin coloring eventually faded as well, and no side effects were noted.

Human testing would be required before BBG can be moved forward into clinical use. It would be a terrific tool for ambulance drivers and paramedics. They could begin treatment right at the site of the incident, It is cheap and easy, even hospitals can use the blue stuff as soon as they get the patient hooked up and ready to go.

The kids must have known best when they told me blue ice cream was good for me …As for me…I will stock up on blue Gatorade and drink it down just in case it could make a difference!

Image from Harvard.edu

By Amy Price PhD

There is some information on the internet declaring Alzheimers is more common in people who take NSAIDS. I have watched people do things like take vicodin instead of an antiinflammatory or discontinue baby aspirin therapy suggested by a cardiologist to deal with sticky platelets. Some will not take an antiinflammatory because bone fractures don’t heal as well if one is simultaneously taking this class of medication.

Getting drug addicted,setting up the CNS for chronic pain sensitivity by not treating inflammation,or letting excess platelet aggregation continue doesn’t help cognition either and in may ultimately set you up for the very condition you are trying to avoid.

There is research reporting specific use of antiinflammatory agents may reduce Alzheimers. It could be chronic pain and inflammation that aggravate loss of cognition rather than the NSAIDS taken to alleviate the symptoms.

There are many cardiac patients who took part in a Canadian study 25 years ago. They were encouraged to take a baby aspirin, vitamin C, and calcium buffered with vitamins K and D rather than be placed on beta blockers and more heavy duty cardiac meds. For many of these individuals this regimen solved the problem.

Drug addiction doesn’t always come from illegal street drugs. There are multitudes who became addicted just trying to stop the long term pain. These drugs work by altering nerve and brain messengers and overtime this leads to imbalance in the way the brain works.
As for the bones? Studies show that in eostrogen deficient or aged persons aspirin use may protect bone density. Research also shows fracture healing can be slowed by antiinflammatory use but this effect is temporary and if you stop taking them the fracture will heal at a normal rate.

In conclusion it is all about balance…

Brains have axons. These are tiny fibers that are like an electronic circuit board. Axons make brain communication possible. If these are stretched past ten percent of their length they can not function and the connection is broken. To put this in perspective you can stretch your hair sixty percent beyond its length before it breaks. Broken connections mean lost function. Hair can be broken simply by running a brush through it. We seldom question the news when we are told the ninety pound teenager shook the baby to death. Yet when an adult brain is shaken by the impact of a 2500 pound car people think this could not happen. The injured are often asked if they were unconscious.

The brain…you can build it a team can help!

Dr. Gail Denton author of the best selling book Brainlash states the Brain Injured person needs a team to restore their potential. Dr Denton wrote the first addition of this book after she sustained a brain injury. She is a successful artist, author and therapy consultant. She is presently working on research to determine the optimal brain diet and has contracted with her publisher to produce a new book featuring food for the brain and great recipes. Brain Injury does not have to be a death sentence! For helpful strategies for yourself or others take a look at this book!

Every brain injury is unique. Recovery usually does not mean returning to who and how you were before, but rather finding a new relationship to your abilities and your world. Lisa sustained a brain injury in 1993. She used her recovery to create a remarkable tool for individuals and families that struggle with brain injury. The kit was developed with Sandra J. Knutson, CRC, CDMS, CCM, Lisa’s former brain injury caseworker, and a thirty-year veteran in the brain injury recovery community. The Brain Injury Recovery Kit™ (BIRK) was created by Lisa Keller.

Try the complimentary 39 Point Learning Assessment to see if you can be set free from brain fog and live in the land of clarity! Try some free brain games to help with brain fog. CDC has published a helpful guide about what to do if you or a loved one has experienced a head injury with or without loss of consciousness. It is free http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi/tbibook.pdf

‘Peace is not the absence of war….it is a deposition for benevolence, confidence and justice’ (Francis Bacon)

Even one night without sleep can increase the amount of dopamine in the human brain, according to new imaging research in the August 20 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Dopamine and endorphins are keys to promote pain relief in the human body. On one hand, when endorphins are released in response to pain, dopamine seems to be triggered to move into the frontal lobe of the brain, neutralizing the feeling of pain.

On the other hand, when dopamine levels are too high, they tend to reduce the amount of endorphins available for pain relief. That may be why antidepressants that are designed to reduce dopamine levels sometimes relieve chronic pain–they allow endorphin levels to stay higher than when excessive dopamine is present. Vigorous exercise and sweets can increase Dopamine, moderate exercise releases endorphins. Because drugs that increase dopamine, like amphetamines, promote wakefulness, the findings offer a potential mechanism explaining how the brain helps people stay awake despite the urge to sleep.

The study also shows that the increase in dopamine cannot compensate for the cognitive deficits caused by sleep deprivation. Given this research it seems that depression, brain fog, chronic pain, weight gain and insomnia may be trauma related rather than social psychological factors as previously imagined

In MVA involving injury memory deficits can become an issue. Pain and lack of sleep contribute to this as do many of the medications prescribed to make it go away. There is anxiety and grief over financial loss or changed status. This compounds the issue. Each year more money is spent on pet food than for treatment to restore survivors of mild traumatic brain injury. Eighty percent of individuals diagnosed with mild brain injury have needs pertaining to the injury that are not presently met by current legislation. Treatment is described as too little, too late.

It was once thought that if there was no improvement in cognitive status in the first six months following an injury further progress would be minimal. Advances in science show this is no longer an absolute. Progress is possible.Every year Traumatic Brain Injury causes 20 times more disabilities than AIDS, Breast Cancer, Spinal Cord Injuries, and Multiple Sclerosis combined. Traumatic Brain Injuries have claimed more lives than all U.S. wars combined since 1977. Approximately 1.5 million Americans sustain a Traumatic Brain Injury each year. Traumatic Brain Injury is the number one cause of both death and disability in children and young adults.

WHAT IT DOES & HOW IT WORKS

Do you need help fixing your broken brain? Even if you don’t this article contains great strategies for improving memory skills and coping with life.
Want help with your memory? Let us look together at where the problem might be so we can suggest solutions. Information is first filtered through the senses (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling) or sensory memory. The sensory input combines with what we already know as the brain attempts to classify the information before it is encoded into our memories. Before it can be encoded accurately we have to pay attention or attend to it. The brain has only a few seconds of what is called working memory to encode material. When the information is needed we call on it to come out. This process is called retrieval.

POSITIVE STRATEGIES FOR A VARIETY OF SITUATIONS

Retrieval can be enhanced by rehearsal. The most common kind of rehearsal is saying something like a phone number over and over until it sticks in the brain. This is a problem for a person with memory deficits as by the time they get to the last number they forget what it is! In this case there is an unorthodox but useful strategy called chunking, instead of remembering numbers digit by digit such as 301 5700 think of three hundred one, fifty seven hundred. There are other solutions, write information down while repeating it to your self or ask someone else to write it for you. This is most useful when someone is giving you directions. The next step is to read the information back to who ever you got it from and ask them if your version is correct. This is also good for reinforcing understanding in conversation as sometimes what someone says to us is different to what we heard them say or is not what they meant.

To deal with problems of losing things here is some help. Pick places where you are comfortable storing things like keys, licenses etc. Make it a habit to always put them back in those places only. Write down where these places are and put it somewhere you will see it everyday in case you forget. When you go to a store only take something that can be attached to your body, forget about the purse that could be left in the shopping cart or car keys you carry in your hands.
When the memory is less than stellar even a parking lot can seem like a hopeless maze. Most cell phones have voice recorders on them as do many other devices. Record where you parked the car, for example the car is at exit c parking lot level three, third car down. Pay attention to which store you enter and what is close to the door, for example Macy’s, men’s shoes. This way if you get lost you can ask someone where these landmarks are and find your way.

Here is another strategy A piece of paper/card with a grid (kids math jotter paper with the little blocks) with place for a couple of stores names around the periphery or a land marks/monument, a McDonalds or a gas station and make an X in the block of the area where you best estimate your car is. A good place to put ID, credit card, money, parking lot stubs is in a ‘fanny pack’. If you can not remember how to get somewhere or get home buy a turn by turn GPS or phone a non judgmental friend.

There are many kinds of memory, visual auditory episodic, semantic, conceptual and more. This is good news because it means that you can use another kind of memory to enhance which ever kind is not working for you right now.

Here are some useful strategies. To remember an event think about what else you did, where it happened, the conditions around the event, ask your self how you felt that day, who was with you even what you did afterwards. Anyone of these can release a cue to help you remember.
To remember Peoples’ names, think about where you first met the person or go through the alphabet mentally, sometimes it helps to recall their significant others’ names or occupation. Just one piece of information can trigger the missing link. If all else fails ask them for a business card and read it or ask how they spell their names.

Learning something?-To remember something you need to learn, teach it to someone else, read your notes on tape and play them as you walk or at the gym, create a mind map or make the information into a story. Trouble finding words, look up a word that means the same in a good dictionary usually the synonyms will be displayed and your missing word will show up. A good dictionary can also show you how to pronounce words you have forgotten how to say. Forget how to spell it and spell check is not bright enough to figure it out? Break the word into syllables and spell the part you can figure out, from here spell check may pick it up or you may remember the whole word.

In the kitchen-For kitchen memories….don’t leave the room or be otherwise distracted when you have a pot on the stove. The same people that distracted you will remind you over and over about how you forgot something again! Do one thing at a time until your memory is healed, your ability to multitask will usually return. Buy appliances that turn off automatically, this may be expensive initially however it is cheaper than a house fire! Discipline yourself to use timers.
Often individuals forget steps of a process/task. In this case it is useful to lay everything out ahead of time. Think through what steps you need to take to complete a process/task. If this is difficult get someone to help you and write it down or record it for yourself.

For schedules…got an appointment write it down, put it on the computer, in the day timer or on a PDA. Another method is to call your telephone answering service and leave your self messages as they come up. Alternately make a list and number it for priorities then cross them off when you are finished. Too busy to prioritize…you are too busy! Make changes or you will get buried.
I Hope this helps some, nobody remembers everything so don’t beat yourself up. Keep working at it slowly and surely the more you use your brain the better it will get.