I always find the A-Dog articles to be both interesting and thought provoking.
I can?t help but agree with much of this week?s article. While I haven?t done much of the research on the subject personally, I did ask my grandmother?s doctor about using steroids to help heal her broken femur. Watching my grandfather waste away in bed was a harsh reality. My wife mentioned that muscles atrophy after a week of not using them. Anyway, he was in sorry shape. No appetite, massive muscle loss, and he eventually passed away (the way he requested it, in his home).
Anyway, my granny broke her leg trying to walk. She thought that drinking two gallons of water a day was good for her (taking into consideration her activity level). Long story short, her electrolytes got really low, she got up to take a piss and passed out breaking her leg. She?s suffered from osteoporosis for about the last 15 years. They cut her leg lengthwise, and inserted a metal rod to keep her bone in place. However her bone never healed. So now she lay in bed at an assisted living home (aka rest home). Anyway, her doctor wasn?t very receptive about using some type of steroid to help her body repair the damage. I?m not sure it would help in her late stages of osteoporosis anyway.
I guess the thing that really pisses me off about ?modern? medicine is the approach. Most of the time they treat symptoms, rarely spending the time to find the root cause. I guess this is what makes Chinese medicine so interesting. Here?s my interpretation of a doctors visit. Doctor comes in, spends ten minutes interrupting you while you try to explain what is ailing you, then gets out his white pad and scribbles some shit on it. The average person takes the doctor?s advice as gospel and fills the prescription. Never finding out what is the root cause or the real issue. It?s just one big frickin? band-aid approach.
I guess that’s the frustrating part of the issue. She can’t get up on a broken leg, so being bedridden leaves her legs to atrophy. Meanwhile her bones never heal. Not to mention the extreme amount of pain that any pressure on her leg causes her.
Perhaps some light steroid would have helped her retain some muscle mass and perhaps help mend the broken bone.
She does have some OT/PT coming to visit her and doing some light weight exercises (upper body) in bed. However her quality of life has declined rapidly. She’s sharp as a tack mentally. However, I do question her will to get back on her feet.
davo2 If I know which article he was refering to I would read it. Is the Ot/Pt also working on the lower body too? I hope thats not being neglegted I know she can’t move her legs herself but, OT/PT should be able to move the legs around at least.
Check out this weeks Atomic Dog article, titled Medicinal Steroids. It explores some of the uses of steroids in the health care. I can’t speak for the author, but I think he was a bit taken back by the Bush’s State of the Union address.
Personally, it sounded like Bush wanted to eliminate performance enhancing drugs in pro sports. But if the slope is that slippery, I’m sure it would be an all out ban on any sort of hormone replacement/augmentation therapy.