In 2016, Post-Polio Health International (PHI) surveyed health professionals with experience in post-polio patient care. A PowerPoint of some of the data can be viewed at Survey of Health Professionals with Experience in Post-Polio Patient Care. Post-Polio Health, Volume 33, Number 3, (August, 2017) will feature an article about the results, too. One thought not discussed in either of the above …
Shared peer advice from polio survivors about what works for them.
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Constipation in Polio Survivors
From my standpoint as a specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the connection between constipation and post-polio syndrome is academic. i.e., it is an interesting discussion and may be important, but I am not sure it changes treatment. William M. DeMayo, MD Here are some practical thoughts. I would address the issue the same as a partial neurogenic bowel, i.e., in …
When the “Cared For” Becomes the “Caregiver”
Audrey King presented at FICCDAT Conference, Toronto, Canada, June 2011 I found my mother’s diary recently – the one she kept during the 1950s when we were an Army family living in England. She’ll be 100 in 8 weeks. She lives with me, deaf, unable to walk & rapidly losing weight. She has dementia which roller coasters between inconsolable agitation …
When the “Cared For” Becomes the “Caregiver”
Audrey King presented at FICCDAT Conference, Toronto, Canada, June 2011 I found my mother’s diary recently – the one she kept during the 1950s when we were an Army family living in England. She’ll be 100 in 8 weeks. She lives with me, deaf, unable to walk & rapidly losing weight. She has dementia which roller coasters between inconsolable agitation …
Techniques to Help Us Make Changes
Mavis Matheson, MD, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada In 1995, I wrote an article called Changing Your Life By Conserving Energy. In it, I listed three techniques from an article by Sybil Kohl. Her techniques have helped me to make healthy choices and prevent further pain and weakness. Kohl [1] suggests three techniques that we could use to help ourselves make changes. These are …
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
The US Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ensures that all children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living. Prior to IDEA, over 4 million children with disabilities were denied appropriate access to public education. Many children were denied entry into public …
Pflex® (my new friend) and More and Physician Response
Carol Wallace, MEd, Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Austin, Texas I contracted polio in 1951 at age 5. Acute and rehabilitation hospitalization totaled two-and-a-half years with six months of iron lung treatment. Both my upper extremities and are paralyzed with only partial and weak right-hand motor function. As an adult, my forced vital capacity averages 48 percent. I require noninvasive mechanical ventilation …
Sarcopenia and post-polio muscle atrophy
Frederick Maynard, MD, retired physiatrist Sarcopenia is a descriptive term for reduced muscle mass and is observed in aging people. While there is undoubtedly a “genetic programming” component to age-related sarcopenia, much of it is related to the reduced activity levels that are common among older people for many reasons and that result in disuse atrophy of muscle. There is …
Learning and Sharing Polio’s Legacy
Jean Graber, Central Kansas Polio Survivors Group Presented at Promoting Healthy Ideas: PHI’s 11th International Conference, June 2014 Legacy means “that which is handed down.” We are the last major group of survivors to have personally experienced the effects of polio. The fear and uncertainty of the future was very real to us and our families. And yet, nearly everyone …
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Technology
Daniel J. Wilson, PhD, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania I have now been struggling with the effects of post-polio syndrome for nearly twenty years. It first appeared as a weakness in my right leg, the one most affected by polio, in 1987. Over the ensuing two decades, the leg has gotten weaker and I began to have breathing problems at night. …