A trauma surgeon from the Canadian Navy has won an innovation award for a potentially lifesaving medical device inspired by a hair clip. The ITClamp is a medical clamp designed to minimize blood loss from traumatic wounds suffered on the battlefield or in civilian accidents. “It wouldn’t matter if you were a medic or soldier, this idea is just simple, and anyone could self-treat or treat a buddy within seconds of the injury,” Dr. Dennis Filips told the Edmondton Journal.

Using the social media tools Twitter and Facebook, Carly Fleishmann, a nonverbal severely autistic teenager, has broken down communication barriers to become the outspoken “voice” of autism.

In her blog, Carly’s Voice, the 17-year-old from Toronto writes about the disorder and other topics teenagers find interesting and she tweets on Twitter @CarlysVoice to more than 23,000 followers. Her Facebook page is an exchange where both autistic and non-autistic friends and strangers ask questions and comment. “I was asked if I get sick and tired of answering questions,” writes Carly. “The way I see it, how is anyone really going to know the truth about autism unless someone with autism talks about it?”

Carly’s world changed when, after years of intensive therapy, she had a major breakthrough. At age 10, when frustrated with her therapists, she painstakingly typed the letters: “HELP TEETH HURT.” At that moment it was clear she understood words, and could read and spell.

In a newly published book, Carly’s Voice, (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster) written by Carly’s dad with Carly, Arthur Fleishmann describes that breakthrough moment as a flurry of phone calls to him and his wife who were away on vacation with their other two children.  They were stunned.

Before that day, it had been impossible for Carly to “tell” anyone what she felt, even when she was in pain. She had only communicated needs and tasks by pointing to picture cards. Returning home days later, the Fleischmanns labeled everything in the house.  Carly typed when she wanted to. Physically, it was very demanding for her to sit still and concentrate on the physical act of typing, and it would depend on her mood.

But over time, she began to relish “her voice” and began to show a funny and sarcastic tone. At times, she’d make fun of her brother and use the colloquial expression: “Duh?” when annoyed.

At some point she began to IM Arthur at work, and then, as she prepared for her shared Bat Mitzvah with her twin sister, she wrote her speech but wanted talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to read it, to be Carly’s voice. That sent the family on a mission to connect the two.  It worked – Ellen read the letter on video.

In the book, Arthur tempers those amazing moments with the mayhem of their lives. Carly was still hyperactive, had insomnia, threw tantrums and exhausted them all. She was on medication. She spent long days in therapy or school and part-time in residential care.  Arthur describes their fears, his wife’s cancer–first diagnosed when Carly was two–their fights with school districts and relationships with other families and the individual therapists. The book’s video trailer has gotten thousands of hits on YouTube.

As for being so honest, Arthur said they have followed Carly’s lead, “Living with autism comes with its miraculous highs but also with its gut-wrenching lows. I wanted families who are caring for a child with any form of exceptionality to feel that they were not alone.”

Carly gives hope to other families that communicating with their seemingly unresponsive children may be worth every effort.  In a tweet, a parent described how her child talks to her hands. Carly wrote back, “It’s actually a good thing.” And, “Tell her I say keep it up girl friend (sic).” She has explained to parents why their hypersensitive child hates clothing touching her skin (like she does) and that when she looks at someone, she’s overwhelmed by what she sees–“over a thousand pictures of a person’s face”–and looks away. According to her father, she has an almost-photographic memory.

What’s next?

Carly is attending mainstream high school where she works hard at staying in control. She told a Twitter follower: “I would like to work for Barack Obama in four years as I think it’s called ambassador for autism and get #Autism out in the open.”

She told me by email: “My story shows and proves that you can never say never and that parents need to believe.” And she is not giving up Twitter any time soon. As Carly would say, “Keep it up, girlfriend.”

CONNECT THE DOTS

You can read Carly’s Voice blog and watch videos of Carly answering questions via keyboard. In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its latest report on children with autism. Autism Speaks shares facts about autism, advocacy and awareness. Also check out these related Healthy Outlook Blog posts: “Smartphone Apps Address Autism,” “Can Genetic Testing Solve the Autism Puzzle?” and “Technology for Autistic Children.”

Here’s yet another reason not to skimp on sleep: Studies show that snoozing fewer than five hours a night can boost risk for developing type 2 diabetes. So does working three or more night shifts per month—along with day or evening shifts—according to findings from the Nurses’ Health Study. A new study suggests that when volunteers were limited to about 5.5 hours of sleep at varying times per 24 hours, their blood sugar levels rose after meals, sometimes to the pre-diabetic range, while their metabolism slowed by 8 percent.  For optimum health, snooze seven to nine hours a night in a cool, dark and quiet bedroom. And if you want to track your sleep habits, check out our blog post about GE’s free Sleep On It mobile app.

Actually a set of two small, adhesive pieces resembling small round bandages, Provent fits just inside the patient’s nostril: It’s lightweight and hypoallergenic, without the noise and bother of a CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure) machine, currently the treatment of choice for sleep apnea. But not all experts believe Provent to be the sleep apnea solution for every patient.

“Everyone wants it at first because it’s not the CPAP,” says Dennis H. Auckley, M.D., director of the MetroHealth Center for Sleep Medicine in Cleveland. “But I’ve already seen some limitations.”

A person with sleep apnea stops breathing repeatedly as she sleeps, sometimes as often as 30 times an hour. Those sleep interruptions can last anywhere from a few seconds to more than a minute.

Most often, the culprit is obstructive sleep apnea, in which the muscles in the back of the throat relax so much that the airways narrow or completely close, cutting off the person’s air supply. A small percentage of cases are diagnosed as central sleep apnea, which can happen as a result of heart failure or stroke.

When the airway “collapses,” air cannot move past the blockage. Breathing then stops, eventually raising the person’s risk of stroke, heart attack, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat). What’s worse, symptoms of sleep apnea often are vague: Snoring, sleepiness during the day, morning headaches and choking (with or without waking up).

Current treatments are designed to open the patient’s airway. The CPAP machine includes a mask that fits over the mouth and nose, blowing air into patient’s throat as she sleeps to keep her airways from closing. A mouthpiece also is available for people with mild apnea; it adjusts the lower jaw and tongue to help keep air flowing. Both treatments can cause discomfort of various kinds. In severe cases, people can have surgery to remove excess tissue in the throat, clearing the way for better air flow.

With Provent, discomfort is minimal. The patient inserts a rubbery disk into each nostril. A tiny, one-way valve is located in the center of each disk; as the patient breathes out, the disk creates resistance—a “back-pressure” that helps prevent the airway from closing.

In a 2008 pilot study by Stanford University’s Sleep Disorders Clinic and the University of Melbourne, 30 sleep apnea patients used Provent for one night. Their oxygen intake increased significantly while their snoring decreased. Those results were affirmed in a joint 2009 study by five sleep centers, in which 34 people used Provent for 30 days. Those participants also reported feeling less sleepy during the day.

Still, not every apnea patient will benefit from the easier-to-use device. “In my experience, Provent seems less useful for patients with allergies, or conditions such as chronic rhinitis,” Dr. Auckley says. “When their noses are clogged, they’ll just drop their mouths open. If you’re a mouth-breather, you’ll not do well with a nasal device.”

Provent, which is disposable after just one use, also is expensive for some patients—about $120 for a one-month subscription. “I see value for patients who travel,” Auckley says. “You can carry several days’ supply in your wallet; there’s no weight or bulk to it.”

Still, Dr. Auckley is concerned about Provent’s impact on the other conditions linked to sleep apnea, such as heart disease, blood pressure and diabetes.

“On CPAP, your risk for those diseases goes down,” he says, “because your sleep apnea is truly being treated. As long as patients are on CPAP, their elevated risk of those diseases due to sleep apnea is diminished. But for Provent we have no data, and currently it’s not being studied.”

His advice to patients using Provent: “After you’ve been using Provent for a while, ask for a follow-up sleep study to see if the device is really controlling your sleep apnea. If your symptoms persist, it may not be the right treatment for you.”

CONNECT THE DOTS

Check online to learn if you are at risk for sleep apnea. Extensive information about Provent is available on the manufacturer’s website. Also check out these related Healthy Outlook Blog posts: “Can an Oral Device Treat Sleep Apnea?” “Promising New Treatment for Sleep Apnea: A Pacemaker,” and “Women Suffer From Sleep Apnea, Raised Heart Risks, Too: MedlinePlus.”

Want a cool, free tool with clever features to help monitor your sleep quality and duration? Read, “Snooze Control: New App Tracks Sleep Habits.”

A friend calls hot flashes “power surges.” And while the sudden sensation of heat and sweating is familiar to millions of middle-aged women, experts say that until recently, relatively little was known about what triggers hot flashes. A new study found that during a hot flash, heart-rate variability—beat-to-beat changes in heart rate—fell significantly, suggesting that the parasympathetic nervous system may not be working less well than it normally does. However, women have a variety of treatment options, including lifestyle changes, and over time, hot flashes wane and usually disappear.

You know that burning sensation you get when you bite into chili, cayenne, habanero or jalapeno peppers? That’s the capsaicin speaking, the active component that irritates any tissue with which it comes into contact. (The amount of inflammation, which can vary from mild to blistering, depends on the capsaicin concentration in the particular fruit. And to put it out, drink milk, not water!)

Recent research suggests that the chemical so hot that it can make your eyes tear and your mouth feel scalded can also reduce the pain from postherpetic neuralgia (lingering pain following shingles), sore muscles, backaches, arthritis pain, and sprains and strains. Interestingly, Native Americans rubbed hot peppers on their gums to relieve mouth pain, according to Christopher Noto, MD, Department of Anesthesiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, who conducted a study on high-concentration doses of capsaicin for postherpetic pain.

Capsaicin is a main ingredient in topical pain relief patches that can be obtained in low dose OTC and higher doses in prescription patches, such as Qutenza, that are used with physician supervision. Dr. Noto explained that when applied to the skin, capsaicin binds to nerve receptors that are involved in the generation of pain. “When it is first applied, you get a burning sensation because the receptors are involved in causing pain. However, after several applications, these neurons go into a desensitized state. If you have repeated applications of low dose or single application of a high dose, the nerve endings stop responding to further stimulation.”

OTC patches such as Salonpas, Zostrix or Zostrich generally have a very low 0.057% solution. To get an effect, it has to be applied several times over a period of days. Results are varied. Dr. Noto and his team tried an 8% prescriptive patch applied for 60 minutes to patients with postherpetic neuralgic pain and found that 40% got significant relief for up to three months when compared to the control group.

In the study, the most common side effect was mild to moderate skin irritation in the area where the patch was applied.  Consult your doctor before using any capsaicin preparations. They can interfere with certain medications, such as ACE inhibitors, sedatives, theophylline and antihypertensives, and should also be avoided if you’re allergic to peppers.

CONNECT THE DOTS

The healthymagination Healthy Outlook Blog has an earlier post with more news about pain patches. More info about capsaicin and allergic rhinitis can be found at the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology. Also check out these related stories:  “New Treatment Options for Chronic Pain” and “Really? The Claim: Listening to Music Can Relieve Pain.”

Surprisingly, watching sad movies actually makes people feel happier, because it evokes thoughts about their loved ones, according to a new study. “People seem to use tragedies as a way to reflect on the important relationships in their own life, to count their blessings,” lead author Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, an associate professor of communication at Ohio State University in Columbus, said in a university news release. However, study participants who had self-centered thoughts while watching the movie, such as, “My life isn’t as bad as that of the characters,” didn’t get any boost in joy, Health.com reports.

Their top five health concerns were: mobility impairment; memory loss; medication side effects; vision loss; and hearing loss. With the exception of medication side effects, only 9-40% of the men reported that these top issues had been screened, treated or addressed at their healthcare appointments. Surprisingly, side effects from medication still ranked as one of their top five greatest worries, even though almost 85% of the men surveyed said that this topic had been screened or addressed.

The study findings were far from negative though:  81-96% of the men said they had received screening or counseling on stroke, heart disease, diabetes, pneumonia and prostate disease and notably, none of those health issues were top concerns. The study surveyed 2,325 men between the ages of 55-97 years, with an average age of 72.9 years.

So why is there such a gap between the health concerns that older men are most worried about and those that they are being screened for?

Study author Cara Tannenbaum, MD, MSc says, “This study’s findings provide an opportunity for better care. Doctors are doing a very good job, such a good job that it’s time to move to the next step and work on preventing age-related decline. People are now living with chronic illness for a long time, so while screening for chronic illness is still important, we need to focus on disability-free life expectancy and the quality of later years.” Dr. Tannenbaum is The Michel Saucier Endowed Chair in Geriatric Pharmacology, Health and Aging at the Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, at the University of Montreal in Quebec.

Meeting the goal of living disability free as long as possible will require a new shift in thinking by older men, physicians and nurses, and society alike. Older men need to be encouraged to discuss their top concerns, even if they find topics like depression and incontinence to be difficult or embarrassing. Physicians and nurses need to allow more time during health care appointments to provide counseling about exercise, nutrition, bladder and brain health and they should also be asking patients how they are feeling emotionally. Finally, society needs to de-stigmatize the health conditions of aging people so that they are not living silently with health worries.

To help older men live disability-free as long as possible, Dr. Tannenbaum recommends that public health initiatives focus  more on prevention. For example, investing in balance training and re-engineering community surfaces could prevent falls, hip fractures, emergency surgeries and rehabilitation.  Cognitive exercises could help prevent memory decline. Programs that include regular exercise and neighborhood transportation could help alleviate depression and isolation. Communication initiatives to provide checklists to discuss with a physician or how to stay connected to friends and family members in other cities could help address worries that would otherwise remain silent.

“It is time for the health care system to invest in strategies for older adults to preserve their autonomy, mental health and well-being. As older men’s health priorities become better understood, a shift in the way health care is delivered and reimbursed will be required,” says Dr. Tannenbaum.

CONNECT THE DOTS

GE and WebMD created the Better Health Evaluator to help people prepare for and improve communication at their next doctor’s visit. The New York Times publishes a blog called The New Old Age: Caring and Coping which explores issues for older people and their caregivers. Also check out our earlier posts, ‘Focus on Men’s Health Week This Father’s Day,” “ Prostate Cancer: When the Doctor Becomes the Patient,” and “Should Healthy Men Have a PSA Test?.”

For centuries, people have been exercising with hoops made from wood, bamboo, vines, and even metals. Now weighted hula hoops have become a trend in gyms and health clubs. I recently bought one myself and was happy to discover that not only is hula hooping a lot of fun, but it’s a great way to tone your belly, waist, glutes, thighs and knees with cardiovascular benefits. And while it takes some practice to master the twirling motion, you may also find that this very cool form of exercise helps reduce stress and improves flexibility.

Pharmaceutical startup Help Remedies hopes to apply more than a Band-Aid to the situation. Known for its eye-catching and eco-friendly medicine products, Help Remedies recently introduced a bone marrow donor registry kit that simplifies matches. “Help, I Want to Save a Life,” provides a sterile cotton-tipped swab and a postage paid envelope inside a “Help, I’ve Cut Myself” bandage box.

When you cut yourself shaving or grating cheese you simply collect a small amount of blood on the swab before applying a Help bandage. You drop the swab in the secure envelope and send it off to DKMS, a leading bone marrow donor match service. It searches its database looking for a match. The idea originated from Douglas Graham, an ad copywriter who a decade ago had a brother fighting leukemia and in dire need of a transplant (fortunately, he received it).

Douglas, while teaching a course at Miami Ad School in New York City, asked his students for ideas and they collectively decided that including a swab and envelope in a box of bandages was the ideal solution. The idea stuck with Help co-founders Richard Fine and Nathan Frank who described the system as a “simple and smart idea.” They approached DKMS and established the program. The registry service is now fully functional.

The kit, available at major pharmacies and retailers such as Walgreen’s, Target, Duane Reade and Drugstore.com, is part of a larger portfolio of Help Remedies medical products that address everything from a stuffy nose and headache to insomnia in a generic and somewhat humorous manner. Fine and Frank, two former branding and advertising executives, hope to make a significant difference. Says Frank: “Hopefully you will not have a cut, but if you do, maybe you will think about joining the registry.” Those who don’t have a cut but want to register can also do so at www.getswabbed.com.

CONNECT THE DOTS

To learn more about the bone marrow registry program, visit the Help Remedies website. For more information about bone marrow transplants visit MedlinePlus. You can also obtain information about registries at Marrow.org and DKMS. You may be interested in these related Healthy Outlook Blog post: “Wanted: More Bone Marrow Donors,” “Adult Stem Cells Reboot the Immune System (Part 1),” and “An Adult Stem Cell Makeover for Sickle Cell Anemia (Part 2).”