The Dino-Aspie Ex-Café (for Those 40+... or feeling creaky)

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I just put my two-cents worth a few minutes ago:
Poll
Adults with ASD: If there were a cure, would you take it?
Your Answer: No
(total votes: 265)
Yes
8%
No
80%
I'd wait and see what happened to others
5%
Don't know
4%


My vote was no of course.
I've learned how to live with being the way I am.

By the way today marks my first anniversary of WrongPlanet membership.
I lurked for about a month before opening up:
This here is my second post that I made last year:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp447404.html#447404
My very first post was on a topic I found to be objectionable and
that thread was locked for a good reason.

Excellent programme.
I felt most of the treatments covered seemed rather intrusive, and I couldn't say I liked most of them.

The meditative approach, at the end of the program, sounded fairly sensible. I feel quite strongly that tinnitus is hugely tied up with perception, rather than any simplistic neurological factor. Drug and electrical treatments seem far too coarse. I would have thought that they would result more in damaged hearing, which incidentally reduced the tinnitus, rather than addressing the higher level auditory processing.

I was interested to hear the fact that they have a higher success rate with people who hear a single tone effect, less with narrow band and worst with "sea" noise (broadband white noise). Maybe that is indeed a problem at a lower level, localised in only one area of the cochlea. Preferentially targeting that frequency band would seem to help.

I'd say that I mostly hear high-ish frequencies, but fairly broadband, hence I'd be best served by meditating on it.

Oops. Accidentally contributed here, instead of there ^
-> http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp1139925.html#1139925

A great big "Hey" to everyone in Dino-Café land. Abdo infection + systemic malaise = Sleepy-D feels like five miles/nine kilometres o' bad road. [Nannarob, you must be feeling similar, you've been quiet lately too.]

Sudden thought: I didn't eat enough chocolates over Chrissie-New Year! That must be my trouble.

So, is this malaise that you and nannarob have prevelent on the Sunshine Coast?


Merle

I think it's just the lingering after-effects of whatever bug I had.

There's some nasty bug going around up here in NW Pacific and Caffiene-ville, and while I got it, it was pretty mild compared to my niece and her youngest boy's version of it.

Then I went into a full arthritic flare, and I will never complain about a cold again. At least until the next cold.

Anyone know where I can get a cool cane? I don't want some grampa cane--I want a cool one. My doc suggested a walker but I looked at her cross-eyed and said I'll check on canes. I'm going to check out some sites, but if anyone has a line on someone who does cool canes, it would be greatly appreciated.

Nannarob and Dragon--getting your strength back? Take care, and get good sleep.

Metta, Rjaye.

Hope everyone who is feeling sick will soon be full to bursting with vibrant health! (Including myself). I am worn out from my social group. There were four new people, and it got pretty lively. I actually ordered wine, which is a bad idea for someone like me. Thank God I only drank about a quarter of a glass.

oh, Rajaye!
I, too, have arthritis and I have had one cane for my left knee. I like the sheleileigh style ( a knotted length of wood rubbed and painted with shellac.) but you leave that somewhere and it is gone for good! I did like the adjustable ones where you can get it just the right height to lean on when you walk (a la House). Since it is not a prop, but an actual tool to keep the weight off that danged leg the adjustable is best.

I looked into cortisone and although it is not good for all folks, and not appropriate for all arthritis, when I got my first shot of it in that danged knee. . I used my adjustable cane like a drum major as I marched out of that doctor's office!
I can only hope as much for anyone else and my heart goes out to those it does not work for.

Merle

who wishes life and health for all!

Canes. Walking sticks have been around for a while and come in pretty handy when walking the woods here. Not much flat ground, always stuff to step over, slippery with leaves, balance not so hot anymore, etc. We have a lot of hard wood type trees here. My Dad got into making walking sticks and canes for a while (obsession) and probably a good twenty still tucked and buried in the garage (Garage? I don't think a car has been able to get into it in over 30 years) someplace although the more interesting shapes long gone, I would guess. There used to be places, shops, you could find what they advertised as walking sticks and they are not cheap. I don't recall what Dad's favored wood was, but the shapes were very cool. The undergrowth is pretty dense in this area and very easy to find the young trees that won't make it anyway, just due to what has gotten the faster start. Then all you need is a small saw, a good eye for the odd, tree ID book (heaven forbid you pick a poplar tree. I learned that one fast as a kid, easy to climb, but a long fall when the branches break and everyone that supported you going up, will break on the way down.), a small pocket knife (sharp blade) to remover the bark, dry the wood, sandpaper and a finish product to it. Probably a good idea to get a tip on it, but for walking the woods it isn't needed, just whittle the tip some so it doesn't split. Hell I suspect you might do ok selling the things. There is also a blight that hits, I think the oaks, here that will give some of them the bulbed look. A dandy thumper to be sure and another reason to have a walking stick. My favored "flipping stick" was a brier, which I used for years while looking for artifacts/sites. But I had fitted a small metal blade in it to get the flip effect easier. It still stands in the corner, never know, may need it with out the metal. Tis a rough year for the joints.

Canes? We buy ours out here in the desert. Palm trees and cactus do not provide much in the way of walking sticks. We have other trees, of course, but none of them with strong enough wood.

postpaleo, I am jealous. You have woods!

Hey Rjaye!

Not sure if you consider these cool or not, but I typed in "cool walking canes" and got these:
http://www.uniquitiesonline.com/acatalog/canes.html
http://www.walking-canes.net/walkingcanesinfo.html ("pimp" canes ?)
http://www.african-art-work.com/walking-cane.html
http://www.african-art-work.com/walking-stick.html
http://www.brokenbeauties.com/comfort-m ... -canes.php
http://www.chaincane.com/
http://www.replicadungeon.com/cane-swords.html
http://www.coloredplastics.com/
http://www.parisdailyphoto.com/2005/11/ ... canes.html
http://www.canequest.com/lost-wax.asp
http://www.improvementscatalog.com/home ... -cane.html
http://jpeterman.com/product.asp?cat=191&sku=NCL%20C179
http://www.bornrich.org/entry/doyoner-c ... -in-style/
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/03/ ... fish-pole/
http://www.walkingcanesetc.com/
http://www.fashionablecanes.com/g3.html
http://www.dragon-art-work.com/wood-art ... alking.htm
http://www.clearcanes.com/
http://www.ecoartisticproducts.com/walk ... 5_122.html
http://www.walkingcaneco.com/category.a ... goryID=150
http://www.goantiques.com/scripts/image ... 60686.html
http://www.remingtonsociety.com/questions/Canes.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_Gun (I'd opt for the ricin poison pellet cane gun. )

I'd say some of these are no longer available, and some may be a little on the "Whoa! I just wanted a cane!" price range.

Anyhoo, enjoy.

fashionable canes

house of canes

Kentucky Walking Sticks and Canes

Whistle Creek Walking Stick

Spirit Creek Walking Sticks Kind of like theirs and the Kentucky one.

Hartz, I almost forgot to tell you:

I've got good news/lousy news/maybe good news:

Remember when I said I thought fibromyalgia may possibly be due to excessive substance P in the spinal cord?
I looked for a systemic (taken by mouth to affect nerve cells internally) substance P antagonist, and found aprepitant (brand name Emend).
https://health.live.com/article.aspx?id ... Aprepitant
(Most substance P antagonists are creams that are absorbed through the skin, and being made from hot peppers, they "light you up". The creams do not penetrate deeply enough to go into the spinal cord.)

The good news:
At the brain and spinal cord seminar I attended last Friday I asked the researchers if anyone has been testing anti-substance P drugs in fibromyalgia, and if anyone had seen good results doing so. One of the researchers told me that he did a small trial using aprepitant on fibromyalgia patients, and it worked very well!

The lousy news:
Aprepitant (Emend) is marketed for preventing nausea and vomiting following chemotherapy and/or surgery only.
And it is expensive:
Emend 80mg caps #30 = $2,999.99
Emend 125mg caps #30 = $4,251.09
If the caps are used the same way as the cream, you would take them daily for a few months until substance P is depleted from the nerve cells. Since it is not indicated for fibromyalgia, it isn't covered by insurance.

The maybe good news:
Merck tested Emend to see if it would be effective as an anti-depressant - and it did a lousy job. I wrote them and suggested that they do a trial run on fibromyalgia patients. I told them that a small study has already been done with good results, and reminded them that 1 in 50 Americans has fibromyalgia.

If they do a trial - you may be able to participate - and be paid to do so. Even if you can't participate, if they actually proceed to research Emend's effectiveness in treating fibromyalgia, and find that it works, and apply for a "fibromyalgia indication", and it is granted - the price will come down, and Emend will be covered by insurance.

So... ...maybe happy belated birthday news.?!

Thanks Chuck, SwampBlossom just wrote down some of the info...some she already knew. She had a bad flare the other day and said she thinks they're getting worse. Feel so powless and I am, when they hit.

I thought a few more people might be interested in voting on this poll:

http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/about_asds/
A Web Project of Kennedy Krieger Institute • Sponsored by Autism Speaks

I also posted a thread on the newsgroup alt.support.autism about it.