Epilepsy Talk
Epilepsy and Melatonin – Yes? No? Or Maybe So?
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Most of us are familiar with melatonin and it’s purpose: To help you sleep. Or at least to help you get to sleep.
In fact, melatonin is one of the most commonly used supplements in the United States. (Lots of sleepless people out there!)
BIG Pharma’s Outsized Profits
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Just how profitable is the pharmaceutical industry?
A study indicates that the profits gained by drug developers outpaced those of other publicly-traded companies by a wide margin over an 18-year period.
Merck & Co., long a standard bearer for the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, earned $10 billion in profits last year. Pfizer, its larger peer, booked even more: $16 billion.
Tags: BIG Pharma, money, new drugs, price gouging, price of prescription drugs, profitability, profits, unaffordable drugs
Tell us about your first seizure…
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All of a sudden, it felt like my blood was rushing out of my toes. As all of my energy drained out of me, I thought: “I’m going to drown.” Then, as I fought with the locked door handle to get out, I realized: “I’m going to die.”
Hospital Bill Relief…
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One of the best-kept secrets in the healthcare industry is that there are financial and charitable aid programs available to lighten the staggering financial and emotional burden caused by medical expenses.
Believe it or not, that financial aid department can become your best friend. They have the power to make your bills more manageable…consolidate them…discount them…and work out a payment plan at reduced cost.
But first, you have to ask…
Tags: aid, charitable, discount, eliminating your hospital bill, financial, lower cost, medical bills, medical expenses, payment plan, reduced cost, secret
Hospitals Criticized For Keeping Quiet On Charity Care…
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“Too many nonprofit hospitals fail to adequately publicize their charity-care programs, two advocacy groups say in a survey report…”
Tags: charity care, criticized, free or discounted care, indebted patients, nonprofit hospitals, under-insured, unpaid bills
A ‘Pacemaker’ for the Brain…Reducing Seizures by as Much as 50%…and Depression up to 30%
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Some people know Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) as a treatment for epilepsy, reducing seizures by as much as 50 percent.
It’s designed for the considerable number of patients suffering from medically refractory epilepsy who are not candidates for for resective brain surgery.
This tiny pacemaker-like device, is implanted in the brain to deliver a small amount of electricity when it detects the onset of a seizure.
But, what most people DON’T know know is that Deep Brain Stimulation, can help depression by up to 30 per cent.
Tags: can help depression by up to 30%, DBS, Deep Brain Stimulation, emotions, individualized, nearly 1/3 of the more than 250 million people with depression, one size does not fit all, pacemaker-like device, reducing seizures bu as much as 50%, tiny
The Four Stages of Seizures – Prodromal, Auras, Ictal and Postictal
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Welcome to the world of ictals and postictals. A world you’re probably familiar with.
Seizure Phases
A seizure often has four distinct phases: Prodromal Symptoms, Auras, Ictal and Postictal Stages.
Let’s start at the very beginning.
What Is the FDA Thinking?
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Getting the FDA to retract a decision is like getting the toothpaste back into the tube, once it’s been squeezed out.
Take the current all-star Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab. It’s not a proven but it IS approved. To the hefty price tag of $56,000 a year!
Seizure Free – A Hope or a Promise?
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Is it a reality…a hope…or a promise?
Have you been there once for a visit?
And then come back, to the land of falling down, shaking, quaking and blackouts.
We all know, the only thing that remains the same is change.
Everything is in a state of flux.
Drugs, science, our bodies, our brains.
From that you can choose hopelessness. Or hope.
Tags: angry, courage, drugs, Epilepsy, hope, hopelessness, information, perseverence, possibility, promise?, science, seizure-free, seizures, support, surgery, victim, VNS
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