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Erin Migdol

Erin Migdol

Category Archives: The Mighty

The Mighty’s Guide to Parkinson’s Disease

01 Tuesday Sep 2020

Posted by emigdol in The Mighty

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This guide was originally published on The Mighty

What Is Parkinson’s Disease?

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder that affects your body’s ability to produce dopamine, a chemical found in your brain that helps you initiate and control your movements. This causes symptoms like uncontrollable shaking in your limbs (known as a tremor), slow movement, a rigid, stiff feeling in your body, unsteady gait and posture, as well as symptoms unrelated to movement like loss of smell, constipation, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, cognitive challenges and blood pressure issues. Parkinson’s most frequently develops in people over age 50, but can also appear in younger individuals, too.

You might feel stiff, like it’s hard to move your muscles, and maybe you have uncontrollable shaking in one or more of your limbs or fingers. You might also feel fatigued and have difficulty feeling motivated to get up. Everyday tasks like brushing your teeth, putting on your clothes, cooking and driving a car might be a struggle due to the stiffness and slowness of your muscles. Perhaps family members have noticed you don’t swing one of your arms when you walk.

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7 Things Everyone Experiencing Medically-Induced Menopause Should Know

16 Monday Dec 2019

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This article was originally published on The Mighty.

For most people who get periods, menopause may seem like a far-off cloud on the horizon — an unpleasant experience we all know we’ll go through someday, but until then, it’s easier not to think too hard about it.

Menopause is the term for the time when your body starts producing less estrogen, which causes you to stop menstruating. It usually starts in your 40s or 50s. If you have an illness that affects your reproductive organs, however, your treatment might cause menopause earlier than normal. This process is called medication-induced menopause (or treatment-induced menopause), and it can be a confusing, frustrating experience, made more difficult by the fact that it piggybacks on top of your other medical issues.

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6 Things Every Parent Should Know About SUDEP

16 Monday Sep 2019

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Originally published on The Mighty

Disney Channel star Cameron Boyce died in July at age 20, with an autopsy confirming the cause was sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Epilepsy is not considered a terminal illness or even a condition that frequently causes death. But in rare cases, it can lead to death.

Naturally, for any person with epilepsy or their parents, news like this is incredibly scary. However, it’s important to remember that SUDEP is rare and education is power. The more you know about SUDEP, the better you can protect your kids (and yourself, if you have epilepsy) against risk factors.

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Americans With Diabetes Take a ‘Caravan to Canada’ for Cheaper Insulin

09 Tuesday Jul 2019

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Originally published on The Mighty

In the United States, people with type 1 diabetes spend an average of $5,705 per year on insulin alone. In Canada, people with type 1 diabetes pay an average of $1,500 CDN (about $1,140 USD) per year for all their diabetes supplies, including medication. So last weekend, a group of Americans went on a “Caravan to Canada” to not only buy insulin for a fraction of what they would pay at home, but also to raise awareness of the price gouging Americans face for the exact same medication.

The group was organized by the Minnesota state chapter of Insulin4All, an advocacy group under the diabetes nonprofit organization T1International. The “caravan” traveled by private bus, starting off in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday and arriving in London, Ontario, the next day after picking up other caravaners along the way.

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Why We Need to Include Chronic Pain in Suicide Prevention

19 Sunday May 2019

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Originally published on The Mighty

When we talk about suicide, we usually talk about it in terms of mental health and mental illnesses. She was depressed. He was “struggling.” She had mental illness for years.

When we talk about chronic pain, especially in light of the opioid crisis, we often focus on the clinical, the diagnoses. The “risks.” Her doctor should never have written that prescription. Opioids are “no good.” Why couldn’t she just take ibuprofen?

What we need to do is start talking about the intersection between suicide, mental health and chronic pain. We need to stop believing chronic pain is just something you “suck up and deal with” and that suicide is just a matter of someone being “sad” and “not strong enough.” We need to talk about the very real fact that chronic pain is a unique factor that can lead to suicide — and the fact that we’re not doing enough to stop it. Leaving people with chronic pain out of the suicide prevention discussion can be, quite literally, deadly.

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New JAMA Study Says Opioids Don’t Work Very Well for Chronic Pain. Now What?

19 Sunday May 2019

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Originally published on The Mighty

A study of 96 clinical trials came to the conclusion that opioids aren’t very effective for chronic non-cancer pain. The study was published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and quickly got the attention of news media, reported on with headlines like “Opioids offer little chronic pain benefit and wane over time” (CNN) and “Opioids don’t work well for chronic pain and are overused, study finds” (NBC News).

If I didn’t know much about chronic pain, I’d say wow — it sounds like a great way to solve the opioid crisis would be to just stop prescribing opioids for chronic pain. Indeed, these types of studies are typically used to justify limiting opioid prescribing for chronic pain. But the study is missing the deeper story and challenges behind chronic pain and opioids, and risks making it even harder for people to get relief from their pain.

Here are four things to remember in light of the new JAMA opioid study.

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What Doctors Should Learn From the Teen Who Died After Ear Infection Misdiagnosis

19 Sunday May 2019

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Originally published on The Mighty

There’s a saying in medicine that “when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.” It means when you’re trying to figure out a patient’s diagnosis, think of common illnesses first, rather than conditions that are more rare and theoretically less likely to be the diagnosis. It’s a theory that can work in guiding doctors to the correct diagnosis — but it’s far from foolproof. And when it fails, the results can be deadly, leaving people with chronic illnesses vulnerable to dangerous medical care.

The story of Rosie Umney, a 15-year-old with type 1 diabetes who died of diabetic ketoacidosis hours after a doctor diagnosed her with an ear infection, should serve as a cautionary tale to any medical professional looking out for “horses” but not “zebras.”

As reported by Kent Live on Wednesday, Umney began feeling sick on July 2, 2018. She went home early from school, and her mother and grandfather took her to an urgent care after she complained of abdominal pain, reflux and was hyperventilating. Umney’s mother and grandfather told the doctor, Sadaf Mangi, they had checked her blood glucose and the results were normal. Mangi diagnosed her with an ear infection and sent her home with a prescription for medication.

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If You Want to Support a Sick Friend, Let Bradley Cooper Show You How It’s Done

19 Sunday May 2019

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Originally published on The Mighty

After hearing that a friend has been diagnosed with cancer or another illness, most people’s knee-jerk response is, “Let me know if you need anything!” However, they may not follow up or know how they can actually support their friend. Ken Jeong revealed Thursday the sweet way his friend and costar Bradley Cooper assisted his family while his wife underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer, providing a great example of what true support looks like.

Jeong’s wife, Tran, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, after the birth of their twin daughters. Jeong was filming “The Hangover” in Las Vegas while she underwent chemotherapy in Los Angeles.

Jeong told Entertainment Tonight that Cooper drove him from Las Vegas to Los Angeles for the holidays, and then invited the Jeongs to his house since Tran wasn’t strong enough to travel anywhere.

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10 Surprising Truths About Alzheimer’s Disease

19 Sunday May 2019

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Originally published on The Mighty

Alzheimer’s disease tends to be well-known for its distinguishing symptom: memory loss. But there’s so much more to the condition that people may not realize until they or their loved one is faced with it. No two people with Alzheimer’s disease are exactly alike, and by better understanding the various symptoms and challenges they go through, loved ones can provide even better support and care.

We partnered with the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative, led by Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, to ask our communities what they were most surprised to learn about Alzheimer’s after they or a loved one was diagnosed. Hopefully this information can help you in your own Alzheimer’s experience. What surprised you about Alzheimer’s disease? Share in the comments to help demystify this disease for others.

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This Woman’s ‘Horrible’ Airport Experience May Sound Familiar If You Have an Invisible Disability

19 Sunday May 2019

Posted by emigdol in The Mighty

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Originally published on The Mighty

If you live with an illness or disability that doesn’t look the way others expect a disability to look, you know how common it is for people to accuse you of “not really being ill” or “faking it.” Sometimes these accusations can even lead to people refusing to provide you with disability services and assistance — something one airline passenger is fighting, after airport employees dismissed her invisible disability.

Nathalie Allport-Grantham, a 23-year-old from the U.K., told The Mighty she’s pursuing a formal complaint against London Stansted Airport after employees denied her assistance because she didn’t “look disabled.” Allport-Grantham has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), Marfan syndrome and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).

She bought a ticket on a Ryanair flight from Stansted to Nice, France and requested wheelchair assistance at the time of purchase. When she and her boyfriend arrived at the airport on December 31, she was given a wheelchair and her boyfriend was asked to wheel her to the gate (this is standard practice at Stansted).

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