Ah, how nice to hear the voice of someone who understands.

Michelle Obama at the Democratic Convention:

I come here as a daughter - raised on the South Side of Chicago by a father who was a blue collar city worker, and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me...

My Dad was our rock. Although he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in his early thirties, he was our provider, our champion, our hero. As he got sicker, it got harder for him to walk, it took him longer to get dressed in the morning. But if he was in pain, he never let on. He never stopped smiling and laughing - even while struggling to button his shirt, even while using two canes to get himself across the room to give my Mom a kiss. He just woke up a little earlier, and worked a little harder.

He and my mom poured everything they had into me and Craig. It was the greatest gift a child can receive: never doubting for a single minute that you're loved, and cherished, and have a place in this world. And thanks to their faith and hard work, we both were able to go on to college. So I know firsthand from their lives - and mine - that the American Dream endures...

I can feel my dad looking down on us, just as I've felt his presence in every grace-filled moment of my life.

I love a good story, so I have to tell you about this.

Elizabeth Goodyear loves a good story, too. The thing is, she's 101 years old and has bad knees, so she doesn't get out of her New York apartment much. And a few years ago, she lost her sight, so she can't read the books that line her walls. But this is no pity party, because Goodyear has the spark of life in her, the one that attracts people like moths to a flame (you know what I mean). No, Elizabeth Goodyear lives at the center of something very good.

Put simply, people come to read to her. Many people, of all ages and backgrounds. A yoga instructor, a realtor, a nurse and others. All volunteers, not affiliated with any organization, though most now since go by the title of "friend" -- one who has moved away, for instance, calls Goodyear every week to read over the phone. At any one time, she'll have several different books ongoing.

(Credit: Josh Haner, New York Times)

It just kind of sprang up, this reading circle of friends. A neighbor named Alison West, who is two generations younger than Goodyear, began checking in as Goodyear grew frail, "to kiss her goodnight each evening." The two had done favors for each other before, and now West learned Goodyear was having difficulty affording rent and wages for her home health aide. West held a fundraiser to meet the immediate needs, and also sent out a message about this woman who loves lively conversation and a daily chocolate, a woman who has led a brimming-full life.

It's true, Elizabeth Goodyear's life would be the envy of most of us. Born in a Philadelphia suburb during the Teddy Roosevelt administration, she migrated to New York City as a young woman, lured by the bright lights of Broadway. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and worked in "the business" (as actors call it), mostly behind-the-scenes, throughout her life. That includes 20 plays she wrote or cowrote, two of which made the stage. Along the way, she rubbed elbows with Duke Ellington, Gypsy Rose Lee, George Balanchine, and Martha Graham, who caught her attending one of her classes while hung-over, and gave her the workout of a lifetime!

[See a story slideshow, narrated by Elizabeth Goodyear.]

One of my favorite aspects of this story is that West particularly, but also the others, recognized the wonderful person in their midst. They see Elizabeth, not an Old Woman. They see through generational lines. Perhaps that sounds like no big deal, but I'm not sure how many people can actually do this. I see some smirk or curse the old man in a hat who drives so slow and straight, and it makes me cringe because there's a good chance that guy was at Normandy or Inchon doing things that the plump softies of my generation can only imagine through video games.

In return for their insight, these friends are enriched by Goodyear, a one-of-a-kind personality who is obviously making an impact on many lives.

West's message was the beginning of Goodyear's salon. That's what it is, a salon. People drop in daily, some without books but instead with pets, gifts from abroad, ideas to discuss, and always, dark chocolate.

Goodyear says, modestly, "Usually there's something going on here. It's strange. You'd think if you got to be 101, nothing much would happen. But it does."

"I don't know how I ever managed to do it," Ms. Goodyear said of her numerous relationships.

"You hook them in," Ms. Sandleben teased.

"They come," Ms. Goodyear responded, "and for some reason, they always come back."

[Source: In Strangers, a Blind Centenarian Finds a Literary Lifeline by Sarah Kramer, New York Times, August 1, 2008.]

Postscript: I think I just went through a tornado. An hour ago, in the middle of writing this. Everything A-OK. Wow.

While researching another story, I stumbled upon this news. Disability activist, lawyer and writer Harriet McBryde Johnson passed away in June at age 50.

Johnson wrote a pair of prominent articles for the New York Times a few years ago; plus a memoir, Too Late To Die Young; and a young-adult novel called Accidents of Nature. The one that really made an impact on me was Unspeakable Conversations, when she faced off with Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer, who is infamous for arguing for the euthanization of babies born with birth defects.

There, the depth of her intellect and her principles were apparent. Yet there was no grandstanding, none of the shrill diatribes or sheltered truisms we've come to expect when this kind of explosive issue is discussed. She didn't need that to stand her ground.

Instead, her observations were clear-eyed and nuanced. The details that stuck with me weren't searing debate points or sarcastic remarks, but how genial she found Singer to be (remember, he is also a prominent spokesman for animal rights). Her depiction differed so with my expectations, that as I followed their conversation I felt the hairs raise on my neck. Killer and Killed facing one another across a desk, one step away from Fellini.

Her strength of vision made me feel like a mere dabbler. Reading the tributes of others, I find that I'm not alone in this regard.

While her work should be emulated, it was Johnson's attitude that taught me something. McBride was afflicted by a form of muscular dystrophy. Her body sat small and hunched in her wheelchair, shaped by the years with her lifelong condition. She was probably a peculiar sight to most eyes.

Harriet McBryde Johnson

Her appearance was something she addressed forthrightly when introducing herself to us in her articles. She didn't gloss over, but detailed her physique to us. She framed her image matter-of-factly and boldly in our (her readers) minds ... because this is me. She was comfortable with her body, even liked her body, and was confident within it ... because this is me.

This is me, as I am. Can you, Peter Singer or anybody else, deny my humanity? Can you declare me any less human than you? You cannot, because I won't let you ... because this is me.

That, to me, is a powerful realization. It underscored to me something that I already knew, that we all know -- only in Harriet's case it was brought out in stark relief. That we are all individuals. We make our own ways, with a billion different paths. Harriet went one way. Oscar Pistorius, the Blade Runner, and Josh George, the wheelchair racer, go in different ways.

Me, with my slowly changing body, I've got to go along another. It's a challenge, but it's mine, and it's all good.

A Harriet McBryde Johnson Reader --

A New Mobility blog notice of her passing

Unspeakable Conversations, New York Times, February 16, 2003

The Disability Gulag, New York Times, November 23, 2003

Too Late To Die Young: Nearly True Tales From a Life

A fun piece in Ouch! a few weeks before she died

Articles and remembrances of Harriet McBryde Johnson

Scroll to the bottom for a list of Harriet McBryde Johnson's online works to read

Our hosts here at Microsoft make it easy to work against MS just by being on the Internet. Through Microsoft's i'm Initiative, you contribute to the National MS Society simply by sending your normal e-mails or instant messages.

All you have to do is go to im.live.com -- and sign up for a free Hotmail e-mail account, or Windows Messenger instant messaging software. Then on your behalf, Microsoft will contribute to the MS Society with every single e-mail or instant message you send. Painless and positive and pretty nice.

You can also designate other charities like the Red Cross, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, UNICEF, Sierra Club, the Humane Society and others.

Another great way to contribute is to play the free games at Microsoft's club.live.com

You can donate the points you rack up to the MS Society, or any of the other charities there.

Disaboom readers: Thanks for your comments! I'll get back to you as soon as I figure out the software: I can tell something's there, but no actual wordsies appear. Huh???

This being Stroke Awareness Month, take just a minute or two and learn these signs. Why, you ask? Aren't strokes only for old people?

No, stroke is the third-leading cause of death ... and it strikes everyone. Yes, the elderly. Yes, the overweight. But also young adults who are physically fit. Even, sometimes, children. It's true.

And the thing is, since nobody believes it will happen to them, many don't take the signs seriously enough. Sudden, excruciating headache? No problem, I'll sleep it off, just like I did in college. Dizziness? Inability to walk? Oh, it's just the sun. Get me a cold lemonade and let me sit here a while.

But a while is too long -- you only have about an hour to get those clot-busting drugs at the hospital that will dramatically improve the rest of your life.

Don't play around with this! Take just a minute or two and study these symptoms. There aren't many. Go over them once or twice, for you, for your loved ones.

This message is brought to you in honor of my courageous friend Vanita, who one day in her late 30s suffered a sudden, excruciating headache. Last year, she jumped at Skydiving for MS.

Keep going, girl!

Josh George has held world records in several sprints and long-distance races alike.

He weighs 98 pounds, but benches 220 pounds. Make that 98 pounds of pure muscle.

He does shoulder dips with 100 pounds strapped to his back.

Strong lungs to dominate marathons on consecutive weekends. Lightning-fast hands to spin tires at 140 pumps per minute.

But this 24-year-old monster athlete has legs the size of a six-year-old's.

Josh George is one of the predominant wheelchair racers going today. Like Oscar Pistorius, "The Fastest Man on No Legs" whom I profiled last week, George is expected to make major waves this summer in Beijing, when he trains his voracious competitiveness on the Paralympics.

"If a doctor said a magic pill could probably let me walk again, I wouldn't take it," said George, who has won three Chicago Marathons. "I've worked very hard to be who I am."

Photo by Deborah McFadden

There's talk that George will not only compete well, but will rise to another level -- to break the bigs. Will he, like Pistorius, be the one to break out of the niche category of 'wheelchair racer,' to fire the popular imagination? To become a world-famous mainstream athlete?

If George puts it all together, many in wheelchair racing say that he could be a breakthrough athlete, someone whose talent and personality could attract mainstream United States audiences and advertisers. (Many other nations' top wheelchair racers -- like Britain's Weir and Canada's Chantal Petitclerc -- are considered national sports heroes, worthy of product endorsements and other rewards.) This could prove crucial for George, because modest race purses barely help him make ends meet; in a few years, like many American wheelchair athletes before him, he could be forced to work a regular job, hurting his training.

"Is he the guy that can get the Coke ad? I think that he is," said Amanda McGrory, who finished second in the London Marathon among women and is another top United States medal contender for Beijing. "If anyone can do it, he will be the one that will be able to change wheelchair racing."

See this article, complete with film and multimedia analysis of George's technique and equipment:

A Blur of Hands, Spokes and Determination by Alan Schwarz, May 15, 2008, New York Times

SKYDIVING FOR MS COUNTDOWN: 14

Rent The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Life is filled with suffering, but it is precious. Sometimes its wonder floods down over you like glaring sunlight, but most of the time it's a trickle that you need to listen for, or a mere filament only glimpsed and memorized for a keepsake.

This film brings the wonders to the surface. (My eyes watered hearing Joe Strummer's voice at the end.)

The movie's not for everyone. It's subtitled, for one. It's about someone paralyzed from head to toe, so you know it's not going to follow a straight line from A to B. No car chases. But like the brilliant little memoir it's based upon, the payoff is all there.

Fight!

"The Fastest Man on No Legs," South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, will now be allowed to compete in the upcoming Beijing Olympics. He really does have no legs: they were amputated when he was a baby due to birth defects. (Like I always say, Who needs 'em!)

Watch this!

Instead, he runs on a pair of Cheetahs, J-shaped prosthetic blades made of carbon fiber, attached below the knees. Aside from Pistorius' magnificent story and competitive spirit, the issue has been, like stated in the old Michael Jordan-Spike Lee Nike commercial, Is it the shoes? Do the Cheetahs give Pistorius an unfair advantage?

Friday's surprise decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a ban proclaimed in January by the International Association of Athletics Federations. After three days' extensive scientific testing of Pistorius and his technique, the IAAF ruled that the flexible prosthetics are more efficient than a human ankle, feeding back energy such that Pistorius expends 25 percent less energy. Pistorius' lawyers appealed on the contention that the evidence is inconclusive. The testing had measured forces on the hips, knees and ankles, using cameras, oxygen-consumption readings, and sensor plates placed in the running path. However, researchers were instructed to gauge only straightaway running, and not turns.

“There is no science that he has an advantage, only that he is competing at a disadvantage,” said Robert Gailey, who studies amputee runners as an associate professor of physical therapy at the University of Miami Medical School. Gailey maintains that prosthetic legs return only about 80 percent of the energy absorbed in each stride, while a natural leg returns up to 240 percent, providing much more spring.

Pistorius and Louw have listed other disadvantages, as well. It takes around 30 meters to attain his rhythm. In flexible knees limit his power. Rain lessens his tread. Headwinds and fatigue create forces that Pistorius must battle in order to prevent the blades from turning sideways.

It's a whole other can of worms, complicating officials' task of judging when prosthetics “go from therapy to enhancement,” said Angela Schneider, a University of Western Ontario sports ethicist and 1984 Olympic rowing silver medalist.

The controversy arises from Pistorius' fabulous performances. A May 15, 2007, New York Times profile detailed:

Pistorius has delivered startling record performances for disabled athletes at 100 meters (10.91 seconds), 200 meters (21.58 seconds) and 400 meters (46.34 seconds). Those times do not meet Olympic qualifying standards for men, but ... Pistorius is fast enough that his marks would have won gold medals in equivalent women's races at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Pistorius’s time of 46.56 in the 400 earned him a second-place finish in March [2007] against able-bodied runners at the South African national championships.

“I don’t see myself as disabled,” said the blond, spiky-haired Pistorius, a former rugby and water polo player who declines to park in spaces reserved for the disabled....

At 20, his coach says, he is like a five-speed engine with no second gear.... “The kid is a born champion,” Ampieat Louw said. “He doesn't settle for second best.”

On the other hand, under growing world scrutiny, Pistorius placed a disappointing seventh in the rain at a prominent international competition last May in Sheffield, England, and he was disqualified for veering from his lane. It seemed one less excuse to bar him from Beijing.

Athletes do already modify themselves in a number of legal ways. Ballplayers have laser surgery to sharpen their vision, and pitchers undergo elbow reconstruction using sturdier ligaments from elsewhere in the body. The IAAF has embraced some of these advances. For example, it allows sleeping in tent-like enclosures that simulate high altitudes and so increase oxygen-carrying capacity.

Of course, the I.A.A.F. is bound to limit assistive measures. Performance-enhancing drugs are a well-known example, or wheelchairs in the marathon because of the speed advantage that wheels confer.

Pistorius joins a growing list of top-caliber disabled athletes. High jumper Jeff Skiba, with one leg amputated below the knee, competed at the February 2007 United States indoor track and field championships.

Among Olympians, American gymnast George Eyser took gold at the 1904 St. Louis Games while using a wooden leg.

Neroli Fairhall, a paraplegic from New Zealand, competed in archery at Los Angeles in 1984, despite concerns that her wheelchair acted as a stabilizer.

U.S. runner Marla Runyan, legally blind, ran the 1,500 meters at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Meanwhile, Pistorius' countryman Natalie Du Toit, whose left leg was amputated, will swim in Beijing.

Still, Pistorius must break the 45.55 second qualifying time in the 400 meters, and has 63 days left to do so. In that time, he has 3-4 qualifying races scheduled, 3-4 chances to crack the big nut. Although, in the sign of a true champion, Pistorius has said that even if he does not make Beijing, he wants to compete at the world championships or in the London games in 2012.

I don't claim any expertise or enlightened opinion on such a complicated issue. But one way or another, prepare to be inspired.

SKYDIVING FOR MS COUNTDOWN: 24

Back from Texas! Thanks to all who wrote while I was gone -- good hearing from you. Now, we're gearing up for Skydiving for MS 11, with details to come ...

Meanwhile,

Topper Realty, a New York real estate management firm, gave a pair of MS sufferers -- one bed-bound and unable to speak, and the other in a wheelchair -- 30 days to vacate their apartment before elevator repairs. No relocation assistance (they don't know anyone in the business, no), no stipend, no negotiation, for one man caring for two people.

Today they are stranded in Long Beach's Lido Shores high-rise for at least six weeks.

Elevator Repair Imprisons Multiple Sclerosis Patient by Emerson Clarridge, New York Newsday, May 6, 2008.

Vanita and Abe, wishing you joy!

This item piggybacks nicely to my recent post about virtual-reality gaming acting as therapy, and also what I've written about neural plasticity and physical rehab.

If you've been looking for a good excuse to splurge on that new video platform this holiday, well, here's Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from your pal Abe!

Wii Technology Used in Brain Rehabilitation
by Jodie Sinnema, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Friday, May 11

EDMONTON - The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital is the first in North America to use the [Nintendo video game] Wii technology to treat patients with movement and balance issues. Patients like [brain injury patient Albert] Liaw, 34, have progressed from their wheelchairs, unable to bend at the waist or pick up things from the floor, to stand and play in front of a TV screen, swinging a virtual golf stick, scoring a virtual bowling strike or knocking out an opponent in a boxing match.

Dr. Grigore Burdea, a world leader in computer-based virtual reality techniques in rehabilitation therapies, said in five years, he believes every hospital and rehab clinic will have embraced the gaming technology for their patients.

"It's very ingenious," Burdea said, in Edmonton to speak at conference on virtual rehabilitation. "This is pioneering work."

...

"People are addicted to games, but in this case, the addiction is towards a good cause," Burdea said. "Bill Gates (billionaire founder of Microsoft) would be wise to sponsor this kind of research."

Don Simoneau, an occupational therapist at the Glenrose, said he has used the technology on only about five patients in the past two and a half months, but already the 200 hospital therapists are clamouring to be involved with the Wii equipment.

"I think it's going to be huge," Simoneau said. Patients who used to resist boring therapy sessions throwing balls or balloons now spend hours playing games, practising their coordination and balance and gaining back their strength.

This one's for you, Sloane ...

An interesting article that ran a little while back in the Washington Post: some of the disabled and others in recovery find therapeutic benefit in online gaming.

By immersing themselves in role-playing games, moving and living as idealized alter egos in these artificial worlds, some users experience healing through rebuilt self-esteem. By functioning and socializing so capably in this alternate world, they foster the seeds of self-confidence within themselves. Eventually they can move beyond their seats at a terminal, and bring that confidence into the real world that was once so stigmatizing and intimidating.

It's another version of the rebuilding process many of us have to go through in recovery.

Hey, my column is even a form of that, for me. When I started writing it, it focused on a specific set of qualities within me. By writing my columns, I reinforced those qualities. Over the years, I became the superhero you see before you now! (When my wife lets me, of course.)

It's visualizing the better you. Or, as Chevy Chase put it in Caddyshack, "Danny, see your future ... be your future!"

Read New Hope in a Virtual World, by Rob Stein. (Registration may be required, but it's worth it.)

CNN Heroes: Battling MS with Kevin Bacon

When 39-year-old Robin Maxwell of Charlottesville, Virginia, began feeling numbness and tingling in her legs, she was in for a shock. Here was another gorgeous and energetic young person -- a marathon runner -- who was headed for a MS diagnosis.

But this one wouldn't go down without a fight.

Maxwell came upon actor Kevin Bacon's charity website, sixdegrees.org (get it?), where he offers to assist those who are most dedicated to their causes. Inspired, she raised almost $900 for the local MS Society by that evening, which within a few months grew to $18,000. She did this in large part by selling T-shirts that she designed.

Bacon, true to his word, took notice, and matched her with $10,000.

MS warriors Robin Maxwell and Kevin Bacon (the movie star is the one on the right).

Maxwell has since raised more than $50,000 for the cause.

Here, CNN profiles the partnership of the two (story and video).

[Thanks to Diane for the heads up, and happy birthday!]

Boys and ghouls, meet Newton Grossbeek.

Newton is a 1,239-pound jack-o'-lantern, one of the recent creations of artist Patrick Moser. Moser has carved numerous detailed pumpkin characters over the years (including massive ones about a half-ton), which he calls Grumpkins.

What's even more amazing is that Moser continues to create -- including those half-ton biggies -- after losing most of the use of one of his hands from MS.

I've interviewed this fascinating me and will profile him in my next column, available at my website, in time for Halloween. Meanwhile, enjoy the work of one of the premier pumpkin artists.

Happy Halloween!

"Stem Cells and MS: What's at Stake?"

[Thought this would be of interest. I won't be able to make it, so if anyone attends, I'd love to hear what happens. -- Abe]

Stem cell transplants could revolutionize the treatment of MS. Tune in to the HealthTalk network on Thursday night, October 25, for a topic of interest to all affected by the disease.

You'll learn where stem cell transplants have been proven to treat MS, and where they're still falling short. You'll also hear the latest news from clinical trials, and insider details about what's really at stake when embryonic cells are used for research. Finally, you'll touch on the ethical and political debate, and how to get involved, no matter which side you're on.

Experts will be on hand to answer your questions. (These are typically doctors, researchers and therapists, and are usually listed, along with their credentials. Tomorrow night's experts are not listed, however.)

BONUS: Attend the live show online for your chance to win one of three newly designed iPod nanos. Use your new nano to download all the HealthTalk webcasts.

DATE: Thursday, October 25

TIME: 5:30 p.m. PDT / 6:30 p.m. MDT / 7:30 p.m. CDT / 8:30 p.m. EDT

HOW TO PARTICIPATE: About 10 minutes before the show, go to the following Web address:

http://www.healthtalk.com/multiplesclerosis/programs/10_868/index.cfm

You will need Windows Media Player. For information:

http://www.healthtalk.com/wmpdownload.cfm

live HealthTalk chat show, Thursday, September 27

If you or someone you love has MS, you know that the stakes are high when it comes to getting the right treatment.

Tune in to a live chat with MS experts who discuss the most effective MS treatment options and building a plan that won't leave you with disability or flares that could have been prevented. You'll also get important treatment updates about oral medications, clinical trial news and research for a cure.

You can participate on the phone or the Internet.

Register now to submit your question. It's OK if you haven't registered prior to the show -- you can still participate.

If you can't make it, don't worry: you can listen to a recording later at the HealthTalk site.

Bonus: Attend the live show online for your chance to win an Apple iPhone, or one of two iPod shuffles! Use your new iPhone or shuffle to download all the latest MS podcasts now available at HealthTalk.com

DATE: Thursday, September 27

TIME:
5:30 p.m. PDT
6:30 p.m. MDT
7:30 p.m. CDT
8:30 p.m. EDT

EXPERTS:
Robert J. Fox, M.D., of the Cleveland Clinic
Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, M.D., director of the Baird MS Center, State University of New York
Trevis Gleason, writer and MS blogger, as host

TO CHAT:

By phone: About 10 minutes before the show, call 1-800-601-8584. An operator will greet you and transfer you to the show.

By Internet: About 10 minutes before the show, go to the following website: http://www.healthtalk.com/multiplesclerosis/programs/10_805/index.cfm

Be sure to install Media Player for Mac or Windows before the show. If you don't have it, find the instructions at: http://www.healthtalk.com/wmpdownload.cfm

In his blog, Dr. Edward Zimney names five simple health steps that would save 100,000 lives. They are

1. Quit smoking. Doctors should step up cessation programs and medications -- only 28 percent of smokers receive such advice.
2. Adults take a daily aspirin (81 mg) to help prevent heart disease. Less than half of adults currently do this.
3. Increase those over 50 who get an annual flu shot. Only 37 percent in this bracket get this important vaccine.
4. Increase those over 50 who are up-to-date on colon screening. Now, less than half are tested enough.
5. Increase the number of women over 40 who are up-to-date on breast cancer screening. Only 67 percent of women have been screened in the past two years.

We are talking two routine tests (one yearly and one every few years), a yearly shot, an aspirin, and cutting back on the smokes.

I'm guessing that all five measures must cost less than $500 yearly. Multiply by 300 million Americans. That's about $150 billion.

$150 billion is a lot of dough, but figure how much these five steps would save (in hospitalizations for treating heart attacks, strokes, cancers, rehab, missed work, etc.). I bet that number would astound us.

Two more inexpensive no-brainers: cut out a doughnut or soda each day (150-200 calories), and spend 15 minutes walking. Everyone loses several pounds in a year, looks better, and cuts down further on medical emergencies.

Zimney's blog is based on a report by the Partnership for Prevention, a civic group of businesses and agencies.

To read the Partnership's full report, click here.

To watch the ABC News report, click here.

Depression gets a hold of people, with or without MS or disabilities or anything else. I'm not ashamed to admit it's whipped me before, and I'll bet, just about everyone else too at one time or another. Then we can drop all pretense. Let's look it square in the eye, and do something about it.

If you or a loved one are anywhere near a depressed state (no Texas jokes, now), get help. Don't let pride or indecision get in the way of treatments that can turn your entire life around. Really, those measures are out there, waiting for you!

The first step is to learn. Perhaps some of the material offered today can help.

HealthTalk is a health site that offers a lot about depression. Look at all these great topics, and once there, you can search for more.

Read Depression Basics, including symptoms, diagnosis and treatment info.

You may ask yourself, Why am I so down? Or is it, so depressed? I don't know, but this doctor, Francis Mondimore, probably does. Here he is in a recorded webcast from August 20.

There are definite symptoms (tiredness, lack of appetite, sleeplessness and others) and definite treatments here, and no one will call you names over a recording. Life is short -- get treatment and really live it.

There can be other medical and hormonal causes of depression. I want to mention one that's affected my close friend. It's called hyperparathyroidism, and it manifests in a calcium imbalance in tumors in the parathyroid glands. It does cause depression and lethargy, among other serious symptoms, especially if left untreated.

If all that sounds alarming, the condition is relatively rare, and the fix is a new procedure that's a snap! A 15-minute outpatient surgery that requires nothing more than a 1.5 inch incision -- and the improvement is immediate and exhilarating.

Well done, Kay!

Find more discussion of hormonally triggered depression here at "Symptoms of depression versus thyroid trouble." It comes from the Ask the Doctor column by Michael E. Thase, M.D.

Also see the columns on the right-hand side, with interesting related questions like "I can't talk to anyone about my depression" and "I can beat depression myself, without taking drugs" and others. Check it out. Again, nobody will see but you. Be well.

Man, this summer is busy busy! I'm out making hay while I can.

This week we're talking about depression. I've got details lined up for a live HealthTalk webcast tomorrow night (Thursday), called MS and Stress: Breaking the Vicious Cycle. It should be of general interest to anyone with depression concerns, whether you have MS or not.

However, if today's description doesn't interest you, then later in the week, I will run a link to a prerecorded conference you can listen to, about the basics of depression. I believe both of these address treatment of depression using both medication and non-medication measures. I think that's important.

Thanks for stopping in!

MS and Stress: Breaking the Vicious Cycle

Are you confused about the relationship between stress and MS? This is your chance to get straight answers.

Stress management can be a struggle. But how much stress should you try to cut out, and how would your MS change as a result? Tune in Thursday, August 23, to discuss stress and MS. Find out what researchers really know about the relationship, and what you can do to break the vicious cycle.

Treatment experts will answer questions from the audience.

BONUS: Attend the live show online for your chance to win one of three iPod nanos. You can use your new nano to download all of the MS podcasts available at HealthTalk.com

DATE: Thursday, August 23, 2007

TIME: 5:30 p.m. PDT
6:30 p.m. MDT
7:30 p.m. CDT
8:30 p.m. EDT

LOCATION: on the Internet, at
http://www.healthtalk.com/multiplesclerosis/programs/10_828/index.cfm

How to participate online:

It's OK if you haven't registered prior to the show -- you can still attend.

On Thursday, August 23, approximately 10 minutes prior to show time, access the following Web address from any computer:
http://www.healthtalk.com/multiplesclerosis/programs/10_828/index.cfm

Be sure to install Media Player for Mac or Windows and test it before the show. Find easy download instructions at
http://www.healthtalk.com/wmpdownload.cfm

Read In Latest Robotics, New Hope for Stroke Patients by Amanda Schaffer, in today's New York Times.

Like our friend Vanita, Mary O'Regan of Westwood, Massachusetts, suffered a paralyzing stroke while young. As a result, she went some 20 years without using her arm.

Then she enrolled in a clinical trial testing the robotic arm called Myomo e100. This robot is an arm brace that assists stroke patients in movement and function. Taking cues from patients' muscles, the robot helps them flip light-switches or even lift boxes.

(Graphic: New York Times)

The device exploits our new understanding of the plasticity of our brains. Contrary to the rigid old thinking of "use it or lose it," we now know that the brain and nervous system continuously rewire themselves to adjust and adapt toward new ways of functionality.

Schaffer writes, "By practicing [with the robot], patients may begin to relearn how to extend and flex the arm, rebuilding and strengthening neurological pathways in the process."

"The goal is to make neurons talk to each other again," said Dr. Hermano Igo Krebs, of MIT. Krebs has been one of the guiding lights of robot-assisted therapy for patients of stroke, brain injuries and neurological disorders. Krebs said that even those who at first cannot move at all will benefit by making the attempt, and by seeing and sensing functional movements as aided by the robot.

Schaeffer writes that "this experience, it turns out, may be a crucial part of the learning process."

"The more they are able to use the arm, the more improvement they begin to see," said John McBean, co-developer of the unit. "So it's a virtuous cycle."

Patients who worked with the robot over six weeks gained 23 percent improvement in arm function. That includes O'Regan, who came to the robot 10 months ago.

"At first it felt weird and foreign," O'Regan said. "You have all these little muscles that are suddenly awake for the first time in 20 years. But as I went back and practiced, it felt like my arm was doing the straightening and bending itself, just with some assistance. It was extremely encouraging."

O'Regan now uses the brace to fold towels, open drawers and lift a yoga mat. According to Schaffer, "one time [O'Regan] was delivering mail at work (she is an administrative assistant at a medical software company) and the envelopes started to slip."

"And my left arm shot out to catch them," O'Regan said. "That hadn't happened in years."

Robotic devices are perfect for this type of repetitive-movement therapy, because "they can do the same thing 2 million times with perfect consistency," said Dr. Steven C. Cramer, a neurologist at the University of California, Irvine.

But this is only the beginning of a revolution. MIT neuroscientist Dr. Neville Hogan observes that today's therapeutic robots are "like looking at flight around 1915."

"This is an area that's exploding. There are now a hundred groups around the world working on this," Krebs said. "In five to 10 years, I expect we'll see these kinds of devices in all major clinics and rehab hospitals in the developed world, and even in patients' homes."

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the Myomo for the medical market. It will reach you and I in a matter of months.

Let the revolution begin!