The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the a school(Little Village Academy) in Chicago has banned kids from bring in their own lunches unless they have a medical reason to do so. While the school & the district is spinning this as being about protecting kids from bad food choices many think that the school & it’s food service provider are putting profit over pupils. The principal, Elsa Carmona, says that other schools have a similar policy, though she was unable to name which other schools have such a policy. More worrying is that the school district has no official written policy on bagged lunches, nor do they keep track of which principals have decided to do away with allowing them. Parents don’t have much choice in the matter as the school their child goes to usually depends on where they live. They may not have any recourse to send their child to another school & perhaps many aren’t going to be inclined to do so over something “petty” like the school lunch program. Continue reading “Chicago School Bans Kids From Bringing Their Own Lunches” »
Yahoo! Sports is running a great story on David Loewenstein, a long time dedicated clubhouse attendant for the San Francisco Giants. Loewenstein has been battling Crohn’s Disease since 1978 & over the last few years his Crohn’s has become progressively worse to the point where he can no longer perform his duties for the Giants. Instead of quietly firing Loewenstein, the Giants kept him on the payroll & health insurance plan. Teammates helped pay for some of his operations & visited him at his home. On top of this, he was recently voted a full share from last years San Francisco Giants’ World Series revenues pool. The cash value of that share is over $317,000 dollars. Continue reading “San Francisco Giants Taking Care Of One Of Their Own With Crohn’s” »
The WANTED: Crohn’s End blog has a post up about the possibility of the Long Beach, WA organic farm Green Angel Gardens having their land foreclosed on. I am a big fan of locally produced food as I think it could solve a lot of problems such as reducing consumption of oil as well as making everyone healthier.
The farm needs to come up with $9,000 by April 15th, 2011. You can help by donating on their website or at their Astoria, Oregon fundraiser on April 9th, 2011. If you don’t have the funds to donate, please tweet, blog or tell your friends the old fashioned way(in person) about the situation.
There have been a lot of recent news stories regarding people dealing with Crohn’s Disease. I thought I’d go over some of them here. It just goes to show that there are people of all walks of life who are having to deal with the issues that arise with Crohn’s Disease & other chronic illnesses.
Jennifer Jaff was a successful trial lawyer until both Crohn’s Disease & Gastroparesis brought her career to a halt. As she searched for answers and help about her own condition from others, she found that her skills as a lawyer could help those facing the same illnesses as her. She started helping others with basic questions about things like health insurance, Social Security disability requirements & the Family & Medical Leave Act. Eventually someone asked if she could help them with their disability retirement appeal, which she did & won. She has since created the non-profit organization Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness so that she can help more people dealing with chronic illnesses. She is also writing articles on EmpowHER.com. Continue reading “Stories Of People Living Life With Crohn’s Disease” »
Some interesting analysis from both Pacific Northwest National Laboratory & University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey has found unique protein types in the spinal fluid of those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome(CFS) & Neurological Post Treatment Lyme Disease(nPTLS). Those with CFS were found to have 738 proteins that were unique from a healthy individual or someone with nPTLS. Those with nPTLS were found to have 692 unique proteins that were not found in a healthy person or someone with CFS. What’s interesting as well is that there were also 305 unique proteins that were shared by those with CFS or nPTLS, but not with someone who was healthy.
While the test group was relatively small(79 people), it does shed more light on both of these hard to diagnose diseases. Lyme Disease is somewhat well known, but notoriously hard to diagnose & treat. Meanwhile Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, until recently, has usually been labeled as a “psychosomatic illness”, as in it being “all in your head”. These proteins do seem to back up the notion that there are physical differences between a healthy person and one who has been dealing with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Lyme Disease. Hopefully it will open doors to better testing & open the minds of some doctors.
Full Study PLoS Online
An interesting study by Dr. Gerard E. Mullin(John Hopkins University) provides some evidence that vitamin D3 may be of some use to people dealing with Crohn’s Disease. Dr Mullin gave patients with Crohn’s disease a 1200 IU daily dose of vitamin D3 & tracked the results for 12 months. After those 12 months, of the 46 given the vitamin d3 dosage, only 13% showed a relapse with their Crohn’s Disease. The 48 patients who received a placebo saw a relapse rate of 29%. While the total number of patients was only 92, these results are still pretty impressive, especially given how simple oral vitamin D3 supplementation is.
Some news articles are stating that 1200 IU is a high dosage, really it’s not that high at all and is easily obtainable in supplement form. If you’re interested in buying some vitamin D3 supplements you might want to check out Now Foods 2000 IU Vitamin D3.
MSNBC.com has reported a story about a 55 year old Chinese farmer who, until recently, had lived his entire life without an anus. He suffered from a condition called “imperforate anus”, essentially meaning that his anus was not connected to his digestive tract correctly. An “imperforate anus” is typically corrected when someone is still an infant, at least in what are considered “first world” countries. Given that his parents didn’t have the money for the proper surgery when was born, the solution at the time was for him to receive a small colostomy near his scrotum. This was an imperfect a solution as he had to manually, “massage out” bowel movements using his hand. He also had to be careful about what he ate & used laxatives on a regular basis.
He recently finished saving enough money to get the proper surgery done & is now able to have normal bowel movements. There are many people who have to deal with colostomies, perhaps the thing that’s shocking about this story is that his condition is somewhat easy to fix by first world standards & the amount of time he had to endure with such a embarrassing & inconvenient condition. Despite the struggles he faced, he still got married & even had kids… Impressive.
James Marshall who had success in the cult TV show “Twin Peaks” as well as playing a role in the blockbuster movie “A Few Good Men” is currently in the midst of a trial against Accutane creator Roche. Marshall is contending that after starting a regimen of Accutane in 1992 he developed debilitating Crohn’s Disease which eventually lead to the removal of his colon. Due to his illness, Marshall states that the illness severely crippled him & left his career in ruins. Continue reading “Twin Peaks Actor James Marshall Suing Accutane Creator For $11 Million” »
Representatives Jesse Jackson Jr. & Ander Crenshaw teamed up recently to create the Congressional Crohn’s and Colitis Caucus. The aim of the new caucus is to raise awareness for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases such as Crohn’s Disease & Ulcerative Colitis. Republican representative Ander Crenshew personally knows the struggle that Inflammatory Bowel Diseases can cause due to the fact that he has a child with one of the diseases.
“As a parent of a child with Crohn’s and colitis, I have witnessed first-hand the often debilitating effects of this disease,” Crenshaw said, according to a press release. “Alongside Congressman Jackson, I am continuing to help raise much-needed awareness about issues related to Crohn’s and colitis — across party lines.”
Quote from Politico.com
This is not the first time that Crenshaw also has teamed up with others in the past to raise awareness about Inflammatory Bowel Disease. In 2009 he teamed up with NFL player David Garrad for the Take Steps Walk for Crohn’s and Kick-off Event.
A recent study from the Archives of Surgery is shedding some light on how well stomach band weight loss surgeries are at shedding the pounds. The study looked at the medical histories of 151 patients who had received some form of stomach banding surgery at least 12 years ago. Over half(54.3%, 82 patients) needed some form of follow-up after the initial surgery. Patients experienced minor complications 22% of the time & major complications 39% of the time. Only a little over half(51.4%) the patients still had their stomach band in place, of those the mean weight-loss seen by them was approximately 48%. Overall, 60% of patients stated that they were happy with the results of the surgery, regardless of the fact that not all of them saw major results. Given the fact that many had complications & only half the patients ended up keeping their device, the study suggests that stomach banding surgery has poor long term outcomes.
It’s definitely food for thought for those who may be thinking of surgical measures to help them reduce their weight. While the FDA has approved stomach band surgeries for people with body-mass indexes as low as 30, surgery should still be seen as a last resort after diet & exercise options have completely failed.