I got my results. They weren’t anything unexpected — for the most part. This was my fifth (I think … I’ve lost count) overnight sleep study, and the results of each have been pretty much the same. And the solution has been as well. I did this sleep study in the raw, that is, without…
Tag: Health
Clinical Trial Woes
Sooo … I was in a clinical trial recently. It was, uh, interesting being on the other side of the guinea pig fence. The drug did more than expected. And then it was taken away! But I get ahead of myself. It was March 1 when this story began. I saw a new specialist and…
What Doctors Don’t Know: Brain Injury Equals Weight Gain
Weight loss. The entirety of North American society is grappling with weight loss. With diet. With exercise. With staying at a healthy weight. But believe it or not, people with brain injuries struggle even more than the typical North American. We struggle more because we may no longer be able to perceive that one’s stomach…
The Sleep Study
It’s me and the men. Fat men. Snoring men. Young men. And extremely picky men. That latter is a new one to me in my five (six?) sleep studies. Seriously, does this guy think a hospital is going to purchase his preferred kind of sheets just for him? It’s not like in the pre-bed bug…
The New Sleep Specialist
A new year, another new doctor. The first thing my new specialist said as soon as I sat down was: I know what your problem is. Pause. You have physician fatigue. No kidding. Astute. I don’t recall another doctor noticing that on their own or, if have, acknowledging it openly to me. I immediately paid…
The Sleep Questionnaire Marathon
Sleep disturbances and brain injury go together like bread and butter. But I had sleep problems even before my injury. I’ve had four (five?) night-time sleep studies and one day-time one, the latter as part of the first night-time study. They’re, uh, fun. Think round things glued with concrete to your skull, straps round your…
Bell Let’s Talk Day
People don’t perceive traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a mental illness but neither do they see it as a physical injury. So it gets less attention than even mental illness, which is not exactly visible and the reason why Bell is sponsoring Let’s Talk day today. But TBI is often accompanied by depression or can…
Twelve Years
Every year, I say to myself this anniversary, I’ll be fine. After all, it’s been sooooo long since the day two drivers crashed into the car I was a passenger in and pushed us into the car ahead and injured my neck, shoulders, and brain. Such nice, good drivers Kimberley Best and Carla Marchetti were.…
CBC’s Marketplace Posits A Theory About COLD-FX
Bad science: have a pet theory, manipulate the results to suit it. Marketplace mimicked bad science well this past week. Their theory: COLD-FX does not work. Their results: don’t fit. A little manipulation was in order using panning camerawork, fun quizzes, people-on-the-street interviews journalists are addicted to, jerky camerawork as they follow some poor target,…