Shared peer advice from polio survivors about what works for them.

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News about people who have made significant contributions to the disability community.

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Eyelid Reduction Surgery

What started as a routine visit to my optometrist to check the blurred vision in one eye led to a series of complex events. The blurred vision was diagnosed as a film behind a lens implanted after cataract surgery. This could easily be corrected by a laser treatment. Dr. Terria L. Winn, ophthalmologist at Grene Vision in Wichita who performed …

Photograph my polio leg with a thermal infrared camera

I recently had the opportunity to photograph my polio leg with a thermal infrared camera. This technology was developed by the military to search out warm bodies hidden in the Vietnam rainforest. I don?t know what companies use it for, but they were showing off the technology at a conference and I was able to use it to see that …

Supplements help Leg Cramps

I’m 66 years old and had leg cramps when I was a little kid and into my 20s and 30s. I especially got them when I was stressed out (by an alcoholic father or later, after I got away from my parents, by studying long hours.) I found out about 17 years ago that indeed I did have polio, as …

What Works: Results and Implications of Post-Polio Clinic Survey

Polio survivors who were evaluated and treated in the post-polio clinic at Saint Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco were surveyed in order to answer four critical questions. We wanted to know if our advice was useful. Most importantly, we wanted to know how polio survivors felt months or years after visiting the clinic. We also wanted to know why …

Coenzyme Q10

I am a physician who has developed post-polio syndrome (PPS) in the past few years. Under the advice of a very bright colleague, a professor of neurology, I have been taking Coenzyme Q10 in high doses with some benefit. At least, I can categorically state that my PPS is “quiescent” for now, when it is usually considered a progressive condition. …

Exercise

In 1949, I contracted polio. I was only 3 months old. From what I was told, the severity of this lasted six months. I didn’t walk until the age of 2. Before that my body was like Jell-O and I had to be carried on a pillow. I have had several surgeries on my right arm and right leg and …

Coenzyme Q10 in high doses with some benefit

I am a physician who has developed post-polio syndrome (PPS) in the past few years. Under the advice of a very bright colleague, a professor of neurology, I have been taking Coenzyme Q10 in high doses with some benefit. At least, I can categorically state that my PPS is “quiescent” for now, when it is usually considered a progressive condition. …

Feldenkrais Therapy helps me

I am a polio survivor who has a brilliant Feldenkrais Therapist who is also a certified physical therapist. She is able to help me move more easily and efficiently. Feldenkrais Therapy is very hard to explain, but basically, I try to use many other muscles to make up for the ones that don’t work well. This leads to fatigue of …

Anodyne therapy and L-Arginine

I am undergoing a series of Anodyne therapy treatments, usually used to treat peripheral neuropathy in diabetic patients. While I do not have neuropathy, I do have impaired circulation in my left leg due to having contracted polio 52 years ago. My leg is typically cyanotic, cold and brutally uncomfortable in winter months. After two treatments I was able to …

Heart Stress Test

I had my heart stress test this morning and everything went well because the health care team was very willing to accommodate my disability. They explained everything that they were doing and what they would do if I got into trouble. They also allowed me to tell them how I needed to make my transfers and to help only when …