From offering advice to exhausted caregivers, to exploring whether or not early school times are endangering the physical well being of teenagers, it’s been a busy week here at Thrive. See what you may have missed and/or what others are saying about some of these issues.
Deciphering epilepsy: Epilepsy is a disease that remains stubbornly bewildering—to the nearly three million Americans who have it and the doctors who treat it. This week 60 Minutes aired a piece on the disease featuring research done by Children’s Frances Jensen, MD, recently named president of the American Epilepsy Society.
Caring for the Caregiver: Dixie Coskie is the mother of a child who lived through both a traumatic brain injury and cancer. In this blog post, Dixie writes about the stress that comes from being the primary caregiver of a sick child and the importance of taking care of yourself. The story really hit home with our readers. Check out some of the comments, and join the conversation.
“Thank you for sharing your story! As a caregiver for my son, I also did not care for my own health and suffered the consequences. I am now back in school to become a medical social worker to use our experiences to assist others with chronic medical conditions adapt to their new lives. Even though I had to learn along the way, I do not want others to have to learn the hard way!” Full story »
Dr. Claire McCarthy is a primary care physician and the Medical Communications Editor at Boston Children’s Hospital. Along with her blogs here on Thriving, you can find her at the Huffington Post and Boston.com. Follow her on Twitter @drClaire.
What a whirlwind of a year. Since launching this blog in July, we’ve had more than 230,000 visitors, many of whom have left thought-provoking comments on our posts.
We’ve enjoyed bringing you personal stories and expert insight about current pediatric health topics, and we hope you continue reading us in 2010.
What were our readers most interested in this year? Our most widely read stories range from a video series about defeating a milk allergy to a news report about the discredited Baby Einstein videos. Did you miss any of our most popular posts? We revisit them below. Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on December 6, 2009
Here’s a quick look at what Thrive was up to last week.
Yoga is thought to have many healing powers, but is fighting eating disorders one of them? One patient tells her story of how brain stimulation helps keep her epileptic seizures at bay. Children’s professionalism and ethical practice expert talks about the changing mammography guidelines and gives insight into the health care reform. Children’s Dr. Sharon Levy discusses whether or not home-based drug kits are useful on the MSNBC show “Dr. Nancy.” The National Institute of Health announced 13 new government-approved embryonic stem cell lines, 11 of which were developed at Children’s. The HealthMap team gave us our weekly H1N1 update. Did you know that children with RSV are more likely to be hospitalized than those with seasonal flu? Our Mediatrician sings his praises of Guitar Hero but adds a warning about appropriate lyrics. Good Morning America features Children’s research on autism and facial recognition.
For nearly 10 years, Kate suffered from severe epileptic seizures and lived with life-altering side effects from her many medications. In this video and in her first-person story below, Kate shares her story about how an experimental treatment has changed her life.
Kate’s story
Thanksgiving of 1999 was going to be a great day. My mom was coming home from the hospital after having surgery, and our entire family would be together for a big dinner that afternoon. It was shaping up to be a great holiday—that is, until I had my first seizure. I had the seizure at about 7 a.m. but I don’t remember anything except waking up in the local emergency room with a terrible headache and not being able to move my left side. Full story »
When I think of my father’s epilepsy, I always go back to a seizure he had during one of my Boy Scout camping trips. It wasn’t the first time I saw my dad have an epileptic seizure, but it was the first time I was the only member of our family around to deal with it. We were playing softball and he was at bat. After a pitch or two went past him, he simply let the bat fall to the ground and sat down on home plate. I immediately knew he was having a seizure, so I helped him up, walked him off the field and talked to him until he came back around. When my mother heard about it later, she was upset, asking why I hadn’t called her after it happened. I told her there was no point. It wasn’t like I had never seen my father have a seizure; they were just a normal part of life. Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on November 1, 2009
Here’s a look at what Thrive was up to last week.
Frances Jensen, MD, senior associate in Neurology, was featured in a piece on 60 Minutes about the prevalence of epilepsy and the importance of funding research that can lead to its cure. It’s clearer than ever before: American children are suffering from a Vitamin D deficiency. A novel surgery saves one baby’s vision. The HealthMap team gives our weekly H1N1 update. Children’s doctors talk about how easily H1N1 spreads and Dr. Sanjay Gupta visits Children’s. Our Mediatrician tackles “slut lists” and a Children’s expert offers parents a guide to a healthful Halloween.
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on October 26, 2009
Last night, Frances Jensen, MD, senior associate in Neurology, was featured in a piece on 60 Minutes about the prevalence of epilepsy and the importance of funding research into its cure. Watch the piece here, then keep reading below as Jensen describes how epilepsy is often overlooked as a public health problem and how researchers like her are trying to stop it in its tracks. Also watch below as Jensen shows Katie Couric what an epilepsy looks like from a molecular perspective.
Last night, research by myself and my team was featured on 60 Minutes in a wonderful story about the impact that epilepsy has on the people with it and the challenges of getting the public – including the agencies that fund research – to pay the disease the attention it deserves.
I was excited to be part of this story because raising awareness about epilepsy is important on several fronts. Despite this disease being the third most common brain disorder (after stroke and dementia), the public, and even some health care providers, have little knowledge about it. Epilepsy is defined as repeated seizures, and this can happen at any point in a person’s lifetime due to an inherited condition, an illness or a brain injury of any kind. Seizures are due to out-of-control brain cell activity in a part(or even the whole) brain. Medications, and in severe cases even surgery, are needed to dampen this over-activity in order to prevent more seizures. Full story »
Do you have a Children's Hospital Boston story you'd like heard? By sharing your Children's story you can be a great source of inspiration and encouragement to families who are going through similar situations. And it’s a great way to find support by connecting with others. Share your story today »
