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The key to growing old gracefully

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Another candidate for the overpopular Department of the Blitheringly Obvious:

“Social life and mobility are keys to quality of life in old age”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110528191542.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Mind+%26+Brain+News%29

The article goes on to say that old people go to great lengths to stay active and connected, and use their well-seasoned brains to problem-solve issues of daily living at a rate that makes … Continue reading.. →

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Numeric literacy, mental integrity, and fun with ferrets

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Most people get confused when faced with an article about medicine, or any kind of complex science. Because people with extremely expensive educations wrote that stuff, then other people figure (at some level below common sense) that the study’s authors must be fundamentally superior.

Education is not the same as intelligence.
Intelligence is not the same as sense.
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Digestive problems early in life may increase risk for depression, study suggests

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110512171517.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Mind+%26+Brain+News%29

This article states that gut disturbance in early infancy/lifelong gut disturbance (the language is kinda sloppy) can trigger lifelong depression and anxiety.

This doesn’t surprise me, but most of the rest of the article does.

The rat-botherers who did the study presume it’s all about the vagus nerve. Recently, a deliciously expensive procedure which stimulates the … Continue reading.. →

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Antidepressants: Are we sufficiently confused yet?

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I was overmedicated on multiple antidepressants for over a year. A friend of mine is in the midst of a pharmacologic circus as her shrink tries to get her chronic CRPS, fibromyalgia, and concomitant brutal depression under control. As normal people try to make decisions about how to handle this hugely profitable category of drugs, I can only hold their … Continue reading.. →

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Doing what? Doing SOMETHING.

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This links to an article that states the astounding — nay, earthshaking — news that people like to be productive; it’s good for their heads. Exactly what they do isn’t always the point.

I’ve been saying that for years. Being productive is good pain control and significantly helps depression.

Pity I never knew there was funding available to make … Continue reading.. →

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News Alert: U.S. drug shortages threaten patients

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EPINEPHRINE? MORPHINE??  Huh. Who needs a pulse, anyway.  For the record, morphine (in doses 1/5 to 1/2 the pain-killing dose) is used in heart attacks and congestive heart failure. Why? Not just because it’s fun…  Morphine opens the blood vessels in and around the heart and lungs. When you’re having a heart attack, that’s exactly what you need: nice wide … Continue reading.. →

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Rising star of brain found to regulate circadian rhythms

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Glial cells are part of the nervous system, kind of woven throughout it, appearing more densely in some areas (the brain) than others (the fingertips.) They were formerly considered to be just support structures, but I remember, back around 1990, reading articles linking them to inflammatory processes in the brain. Therefore I figured they were part of the brain’s immune … Continue reading.. →

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Picking a target (volunteers welcome)

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I have several topics competing for attention:

– The lowdown on neurotransmitters: what they are, what they do, where and how they’re made.
I can’t find my old version, but I’d rather rewrite it anyway and lard it heavily with current references and links.

– After that, there’s more to say about how neurotransmitters can be affected — for … Continue reading.. →

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Everything has side-effects

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This replaces “The Dominance of Duh,” a diatribe written in a haze of detox from overmedication. This post should be more useful.

“First, do no further harm.”

It’s the most important treatment guideline there is.

Why is that so relevant? Because Nature doesn’t give the body a free pass, just because the poison comes with a prescription. Physics and … Continue reading.. →

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