Recovery Michigan

New treatment provides instant relief for children with migraine

New research - presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting in Washington, D.C. - suggests that an interventional radiology treatment method, called sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) blockade, is effective and safe for treating migraines in children and teenagers.

The treatment involves administering anesthetic to a small cluster of nerves that are believed to be linked to migraines. These nerves are located at the back of the nose. During the SPG block, a small, flexible catheter is inserted into each nostril and used to disable the SPG for a short period of time.

Physicians used lidocaine spray and gel to achieve anesthesia, and the entire procedure lasted approximately 10 minutes.

Before applying the treatment, the scientists recorded the patients' pain levels on a scale from 1 to 10. The children were then asked to reassess their pain level after the intervention, on the same scale. Overall, the average pain score dropped by more than two points on the 10-point scale, which, as the researchers point out, is statistically very significant.

This short disruption of the SPG resets the headache circuit and breaks the cycle of severe headaches. Researchers say that this minimally invasive therapy works almost instantly and the relief can last for months.

"This treatment, performed in an outpatient setting by an interventional radiologist, can safely relieve a child's migraine quickly," says Dr. Robin Kaye, section chief of interventional radiology in the Department of Medical Imaging at Phoenix Children's Hospital and a co-author of the study. "By reducing the need for medications that come with serious side effects or intravenous therapies that may require hospital stays, children do not have to miss as much school and can get back to being a kid sooner."

However, the SPG block will only be administered to children who have formally received a diagnosis of severe migraine, and who did not respond to the first line of treatment.

Building a Safer Community With New Suicide Prevention Tools

http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/03/building-a-safer-community-with-new-suicide-prevention-tools/

There is one death by suicide in the world every 40 seconds, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15-29 year olds. Experts say that one of the best ways to prevent suicide is for those in distress to hear from people who care about them.

Facebook is in a unique position — through friendships on the site — to help connect a person in distress with people who can support them. It’s part of our ongoing effort to help build a safe community on and off Facebook.

Today we’re updating the tools and resources we offer to people who may be thinking of suicide, as well as the support we offer to their concerned friends and family members:

Integrated suicide prevention tools to help people in real time on Facebook Live
Live chat support from crisis support organizations through Messenger
Streamlined reporting for suicide, assisted by artificial intelligence

Already on Facebook if someone posts something that makes you concerned about their well-being, you can reach out to them directly or report the post to us. We have teams working around the world, 24/7, who review reports that come in and prioritize the most serious reports like suicide. We provide people who have expressed suicidal thoughts with a number of support options. For example, we prompt people to reach out to a friend and even offer pre-populated text to make it easier for people to start a conversation. We also suggest contacting a help line and offer other tips and resources for people to help themselves in that moment.

A Surprising, Hidden Cause of Depression

Not all that surprising.....

https://goo.gl/9dJnkL

But they are intelligent and competent and likable, and so they do okay. They put one foot in front of the other, and take life step by step; doing what is expected, and providing what is needed, with no idea that they’re more vulnerable to life’s challenges than other people are.

Until unexpectedly their job changes, or their child has a significant problem, or someone they love moves away or passes away. Maybe it’s a problem in their marriage, or a rejection or a hurtful action directed at them, but something happens to throw them off their game.

Then they struggle mightily, and they sense that their struggle may be going too far, and they find that they are depressed. “Why is this so hard for me?” they wonder. “How did I end up here? Shouldn’t I be more resilient?”

For many of these fine people, the answer is, “Perhaps.”

Perhaps if you had received enough emotional attention in childhood you would now have access to your emotions in a more vibrant and helpful way. Perhaps if your parents had noticed what you were feeling as a child, you would be noticing that now, yourself. Perhaps if you had been filled with self-knowledge and self-care and and self-love as a child, you would have them to rely on now, in your time of need.

Growing up in a household where feelings are not addressed enough (Childhood Emotional Neglect, or CEN) takes a remarkable toll on a developing child. Not the least of which is this: It sets the child up to be more prone to depression throughout her lifetime, and to forever blame it on herself.

Surge in opioid epidemic death rate continues, hitting 2.5-fold increase

https://goo.gl/rGq8nK

Opioid’s deadly grip on the US continued to tighten in 2015, pushing up death rates across the board, according to new data released Friday by the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Overall, drug overdose deaths rose to 16.3 per 100,000 in 2015—that’s 2.5 times the 1999 rate of 6.1 per 100,000. In that time range, increases were seen for both men and women, as well as across all age groups and races, with whites seeing the most dramatic increases. Generally, overdoses of opioid painkillers continued to be a leading killer, but heroin and synthetic opioids, such as deadly fentanyl, are behind an increasing number of deaths.

Drug overdose deaths rose 43 percent in Hispanic persons, 63 percent among blacks, and 240 percent in whites.

Among the age groups, the hardest hit is the 45-to-54 group. While all age groups saw increases in death, the 55-to-64 group saw the biggest increase, with a five-fold jump since 1999.

This Town Adopted Trauma-Informed Care—And Saw a Decrease in Crime and Suspension Rates

https://goo.gl/8DXxar

A few months into her freshman year at Lincoln Alternative High School, Kelsey Sisavath got into a fight with a girl outside of class. She was sent to the principal’s office and arrived still fuming. There was a time at Lincoln, a school once known as a last resort for those who were expelled from the area’s other high schools, when fights often ended in out-of-school suspensions or arrests. But Principal Jim Sporleder didn’t immediately scold her. Instead, he asked how she was doing, then left her alone in the office with a granola bar, a water bottle, and some tissues to dry her tears. When he returned half an hour later, Sisavath was feeling calm enough to talk.

“If he would have asked me the details and talked about punishment right away, it probably would have just pushed me even more off of the edge,” she reflected.

At the time, her personal life was riddled with pain. For years, Sisavath had bounced back and forth between her mother, who was addicted to opiates, and her emotionally distant father. Just two years earlier, she had been sexually assaulted by a stranger. All of these experiences left her feeling emotionally and physically neglected. In the eighth grade, she started hanging out with kids in gangs and skipping class to smoke marijuana.

That kind of behavior followed her to high school, where she could have faltered. But Sisavath’s experience at Lincoln was different. Sporleder and the staff created an environment built on empathy and redemption through a framework called trauma-informed care, which acknowledges the presence of childhood trauma in addressing behavioral issues. The practices vary depending on the environment, but they begin with the understanding that childhood trauma can cause adulthood struggles like lack of focus, alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and suicide.

Lincoln Alternative High School is in the small city of Walla Walla in southeastern Washington. It had been a place for students with disciplinary issues, those removed from the area’s other high schools, ordered there by a judge, or those who had performed poorly in middle school.

Brain Cells Prefer One Parent’s Genes Over the Other’s

For some years, it has been clear that there were phases in the development of each of our brains over our lifetimes that were controlled by either the mother's or the father's gene contribution. Interestingly, this switching of control happens because the parent's genes are in competition with each other to control the development of their children's brains. Now it seems that even the individual nerve cells in the brain prefer one or the other of the parent's genes.....

https://goo.gl/CWGGDI

Most kids say they love their mom and dad equally, but there are times when even the best prefers one parent over the other. The same can be said for how the body’s cells treat our DNA instructions. It has long been thought that each copy – one inherited from mom and one from dad – is treated the same. A new study from scientists at the University of Utah School of Medicine shows that it is not uncommon for cells in the brain to preferentially activate one copy over the other. The finding breaks basic tenants of classic genetics and suggests new ways in which genetic mutations might cause brain disorders.

Negligent nursing homes allow for widespread elderly abuse

https://goo.gl/U3t29X

Negligent nursing homes have made way for the sexual assault of elderly residents across the nation. Residents, typically the severely disabled, have filed numerous reports of sexual assault over the years, however, most go unsubstantiated due to the cognitive condition of the patients.

It's impossible to know just how many victims are out there. But through an exclusive analysis of state and federal data and interviews with experts, regulators and the families of victims, CNN has found that this little-discussed issue is more widespread than anyone would imagine.

One family's story details a Minnesota facility where a nursing aide was caught in the act of sexually assaulting an 83-year-old Alzheimers patient. The aide had previously been suspended from his job after other residents had accused him of sexual assault, however, all of the previous cases had fallen through blaming patient's dementia, hallucinations and, in one case, history of "sexual promiscuity."

Across the board, nursing homes and state departments have dismissed accusations of sexual assault and failed to investigate, sometimes intentionally. A Minnesota attorney calls it an epidemic.

Gay marriage legalization linked to drop in teenage suicide attempts

https://goo.gl/77BJ5a

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is the third leading cause of death among 10-24-year-olds in the U.S., accounting for 4,600 deaths each year.

In recent years, there seems to have been a dramatic increase in suicide rates in the U.S, particularly among adolescents. Gay and bisexual teenagers seem to be particularly vulnerable, as almost a third - 29 percent - of those who identified as a sexual minority in the current study reported trying to commit suicide in the past year.

In comparison, 6 percent of heterosexual high-school students reported attempting suicide.

The new research suggests that the legalization of same-sex marriage - which occurred for the first time in the state of Massachusetts in 2003 - has had a positive impact on teenage suicide rates.

Pets Provide Invaluable Support to People With Mental Illness

https://goo.gl/7hTWR8

There’s no limit to the love and companionship pets add to our lives, and this may be particularly true among people with long-term mental health conditions. For many who fall into this category, the ability to stay engaged in their day-to-day life is a key concern.

Other ongoing concerns reported by those experiencing mental health problems include losing previous connections and social status, an inability to continue on with activities once enjoyed and feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Mental illness may chip away at a person’s sense of purpose and life meaning, especially if the person feels they’re being judged or stigmatized. Breakdowns in relationships with family and friends are common, as are challenges in maintaining a daily routine.

A positive support network is invaluable in these situations, with human friends and family often viewed as the most important sources of such support.

New research suggests, however, that animals may fulfill an important support role, with pets bring emotional and mental benefits to their owners. The findings were so convincing that the researchers concluded

“Pets should be considered a main rather than a marginal source of support in the management of long-term mental health problems.”

Researchers from the University of Manchester interviewed 54 people with long-term mental health problems regarding the role of pets in their lives.

They were given a diagram with three concentric circles surrounding a square meant to represent themselves and asked to fill in their sources of support (with the most important sources filling in the closest circle and then radiating outward).

Nearly half of the participants included pets (dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, fish and more were part of the study) as part of their social network. Among them, 60 percent placed pets in the closest circle while 20 percent put them in the second closest.

The participants noted many benefits of pet ownership, including being a source of physical contact and comfort, as well as providing a way to channel emotional energy.

Many participants reported that their pets intuitively know when they’re feeling unwell and act accordingly. One participant, an owner of two dogs and two cats who placed them in the closest circle, explained:²

First They Got Sick, Then They Moved Into a Virtual Utopia

I am uncomfortable with this because of the real possibility of increased isolation, but we all find support and friendship where we find it, not where we are supposed to find it....

https://goo.gl/Vf09SO

Today, Second Life is mostly forgotten by the broader public. An estimated 800,000 users are active on a monthly basis, according to Second Life parent company Linden Lab. That’s tiny compared to the 1.86 billion users who are active on Facebook each month.

Yet some communities have quietly continued to thrive in the virtual world. One of these is the disability community, a sundry group whose members include people who are blind or deaf, people with emotional handicaps such as autism and PTSD, and people with conditions that limit their mobility, such as Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis. There are no official tallies of their numbers, but Wagner James Au, who has written extensively about Second Life, estimates they may account for roughly 20 percent of users. Some active members estimate the number higher — at as much as 50 percent.

Unlike traditional gaming, Second Life is governed by few rules. Residents can customize their avatars in an infinite number of ways. They can fly and teleport as easily as they can walk, run, and jump. They can build bespoke homes and islands almost from scratch, and buy and sell wares in virtual stores — from biker gear to bird song to the ability to swim like a mermaid. They can marry a Second Life lover, take a rocket to the moon, or simply tuck themselves into bed at night.

For many disabled residents, who may spend 12 hours a day or more in Second Life, the most important moments and relationships of their lives happen inside the virtual world. For them, the fevered fantasies of a decade ago have become reality: Second Life is where they live.