Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, M Ed Psych, Omaha, Nebraska, is a polio survivor, a writer, and is founder and former director of Nebraska Polio Survivors Association. It’s time we got this straight: palliative care is not the same as hospice. As Karen Rafinski put it in June’s AARP Bulletin, “Palliative care is about making the most of life with a …
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Aging Well with Post-Polio Syndrome: Addressing Physical Reasons for Sleep Problems
Researchers at the University of Washington’s Aging Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (2009) Getting a better sleep may not always happen overnight, but if your sleep problems are due to medical issues, there are ways you can manage them. Many medical problems can disrupt sleep in people with post-polio syndrome, such as breathing problems, so treating them is a first …
Aging Well with Post-Polio Syndrome: Dealing with Pain
Researchers at the University of Washington’s Aging Rehabilitation Research and Training Center Chronic pain is something that many people, including many individuals with post-polio syndrome (PPS), face on a day-today basis. In fact, from the preliminary results of our recent survey of post-polio people, we found that 373 out of 419, or 89 percent, reported at least some daily pain. …
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 …
Aging Well with Post-Polio Syndrome: The Benefits of Muscle Strengthening
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Aging with a Physical Disability (2011) Muscular Strengthening is one of the most common recommendations of physical medicine and rehabilitation for people with PPS struggling with symptoms. However, historically, any type of exercise was once thought to be bad for people with neuromuscular diseases (such as muscular dystrophy, post-polio syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc.). …
Polio’s Effects
GENERAL INFORMATION LETTER FOR POLIO SURVIVORS Why are “old polios” who were stable for years now losing function? What should they do about it? Jacquelin Perry, MD, DSc (Hon), Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, Downey, California The basic problem is that polio destroyed some of the nerve cells that activate the muscles. To the extent possible, the neurological system …
Aging
Due to recent advances in medical rehabilitation, emergency medicine, and consumer education, for the first time in history persons with significant disabilities, like their nondisabled counterparts before them, are surviving long enough to experience both the rewards and challenges of mid- to later-life (Ansello & Eustis, 1992). Aging with polio has not come without its costs. In exchange for the …
A Gentle Death, Part I
Part I of a three part series published in Post-Polio Health, (Volume 29, Number 2) in 2013. Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, MEd Psych, Omaha, Nebraska My mother has been on my mind. She’s been gone now for ten years. Death finally came to her after several merciless years of progressive suffering and pain in the nursing home she had selected to …
A Gentle Death, Part II
Part II of a three part series published in Post-Polio Health, (Volume 29, Number 3) in 2013. Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, MEd Psych, Omaha, Nebraska Surely we don’t need studies to prove that planning ahead is a good idea, yet plenty of them exist, even when it comes to end-of-life issues. The goal, of course, is to assure that a patient’s medical …
A Gentle Death, Part III
Part III of a three part series published in Post-Polio Health, (Volume 29, Number 4) in 2013. Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, MEd Psych, Omaha, Nebraska At the far end of the end-of-life spectrum lies palliative care, a set of services created to benefit the chronically ill. In fact, it’s so far from the end that, at times, it may not appear …