Photo of the band: 'Body, Soul and Mind'
Paula Abdul found her purpose on 'Idol'
"I knew since I was a little girl that I had this profound way of touching people. My purpose is bringing out everybody's best and being that cheerleader to other people's success," the 44-year-old singer-dancer tells OK! magazine in its latest issue.
"Being a judge on American Idol overshadows being a Grammy Award winner and selling millions of records," she says.
Abdul has been diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), a chronic neurological disorder that causes severe pain.
"I have four titanium plates in my neck. I've had 14 surgeries over the years. I had an operation the same evening as the first season finale of American Idol," she says. "It can come and go at any time, but I no longer have the intense nerve pain that is associated with RSD, thank God."
Abdul — who says she was hit by a drunk driver in 1987 and injured in an emergency plane landing in the early '90s — says she is treated with anti-inflammatory medications and has massage and acupuncture treatments for her pain.
"If I appear exhausted on television, it's because I am!" she says. "I have a lot of sleepless nights because I'm in so much pain. I was taking far more medication on earlier seasons (of 'American Idol'), and nobody said anything. I try to say something and I stumble, and that's what people have picked up on. I'm not polished."
When asked how she responds to claims that her behavior during Idol is sometimes bizarre, Abdul replies:
"I'm sick of it. I've never been drunk. I don't do recreational drugs. It's defamation of character."
The choreographer and former Laker girl also says: "I'm a warrior. I'm not the best dancer, and I'm certainly not the best singer, but I am an entire package of a great performer."
Article by USA today. Retrieved from www.rsds-crps-news.blogspot.com/
The media has had plenty to say about Paula Abdul.....If you have a comment, send to bodyofhope@aol.com
Short exerpt from 'Beyond Praying for Death': A PA Battles Constant Pain By Shelley L. Wood, PA-C, PhD Pain in Perspective But there was another interesting level to that pain: While waiting for the hydrocodone to even slightly decrease my pain, I'd think of the millions of impoverished people in the world who have no analgesics, nor food, nor even a decent bed. An estimated 65 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. That's probably an underestimation. The suicide rate among people suffering from untreated pain is incalculable. Because I was supposed to be making my third medical trip to Haiti in March, I thought a lot about the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere with such terrible conditions and unbelievable suffering. When I called in sick again, a nurse practitioner called me back to see if I would be coming into work that week. I could tell that she'd assumed I had a short-term viral illness. In tears, I told her that I had RSD. She responded, "You'll never get better." It was the worst thing anyone could say. We had all seen or heard of patients who lived with chronic, unremitting RSD pain. I knew that I'd live through this, but with how much pain and for how long? I returned to my prolotherapy doctor in tears because of the increasing pain. She knew I needed more help than she could give. She began calling pain specialists whom she knew, asking them about doing sympathetic blocks to my limbs. The first specialist was going on vacation for two months. The second doctor was too busy. However, the third doctor offered to see me that day and try an alternative therapy to a block. This physiatrist discussed with me doing percutaneous neuromodulation therapy (PNT). PNT is FDA-approved and involves the targeted delivery of electrical stimulation directly to deep-tissue large nerve fibers near the spine. This appears to induce a lasting neuroplastic change in the dorsal horn of the spinal column, restoring a more normal response to non-noxious stimuli and improving the patient's ability to function. At that point in time, he could have offered to shoot me and I would have accepted. So I desperately tried it. After my first 30-minute treatment, I returned home hoping and praying this new treatment would help.
Pain in Perspective
But there was another interesting level to that pain: While waiting for the hydrocodone to even slightly decrease my pain, I'd think of the millions of impoverished people in the world who have no analgesics, nor food, nor even a decent bed. An estimated 65 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. That's probably an underestimation. The suicide rate among people suffering from untreated pain is incalculable.
Because I was supposed to be making my third medical trip to Haiti in March, I thought a lot about the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere with such terrible conditions and unbelievable suffering.
When I called in sick again, a nurse practitioner called me back to see if I would be coming into work that week. I could tell that she'd assumed I had a short-term viral illness. In tears, I told her that I had RSD. She responded, "You'll never get better." It was the worst thing anyone could say. We had all seen or heard of patients who lived with chronic, unremitting RSD pain. I knew that I'd live through this, but with how much pain and for how long?
I returned to my prolotherapy doctor in tears because of the increasing pain. She knew I needed more help than she could give. She began calling pain specialists whom she knew, asking them about doing sympathetic blocks to my limbs. The first specialist was going on vacation for two months. The second doctor was too busy. However, the third doctor offered to see me that day and try an alternative therapy to a block. This physiatrist discussed with me doing percutaneous neuromodulation therapy (PNT). PNT is FDA-approved and involves the targeted delivery of electrical stimulation directly to deep-tissue large nerve fibers near the spine. This appears to induce a lasting neuroplastic change in the dorsal horn of the spinal column, restoring a more normal response to non-noxious stimuli and improving the patient's ability to function.
At that point in time, he could have offered to shoot me and I would have accepted. So I desperately tried it. After my first 30-minute treatment, I returned home hoping and praying this new treatment would help. (Read the whole article at www.rsds-crps-news.blogspot.com/)
Comment from Mary (website admin):
"Dear Shelley,
I am 25 and was diagnosed with RSD/CRPS when I was 22 a few months after a sprained ankle.
I wanted to comment on your article and perspective because your words are so very familiar to me. My first year after diagnosis was unbearable. I longed for some end to the suffering every second and every breath I took. I went through countless painful and sickening procedures and treatments like you did. None of which helped for one minute- including the blocks, epidurals, pills, surgeries, etc.
I cried and threw things a lot. I had to withdraw from college and missed months of work. To try to add some humor to my condition, I called myself an "alligator" and told my family I was "going to bite them" as my mood constantly fluctuated. I turned "RSD" into a verb when I was annoyed with everyone around me. "I'm in so much pain I'm about to RSD you!" I would yell to family members. Laughter helped.
I know that as a physician, you have seen the worst of the worst, but some RSD horror stories can have happy endings. For those who persist in search of a cure (like yourself), there can be hope. That is what keeps me going and always trying new treatments. As you probably know, RSD has changed it's name to CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) since it has been found that the regional manifestation of pain is only one symptom of a whole nervous system disorder. It isn't sympathetic at all as was once thought. That helps to explain why CRPS/ RSD so often results in many more health problems and spreading of the pain to other limbs. There are so many advances recently and so many doctors working on advancements in RSD; I continue to look to the future for hope.
I have tried so many treatments- medical and alternative. Nothing over the past 3 years has helped as much as biofeedback therapy. I was in a place where I was just trying to keep alive in the midst of this nightmare. Through the therapies, my pain level has decreased, I'm back in school full time and am working again. Most of all, my inner strength is revived and my hope is abounding. I feel as though I can make it through anything now that I have learned these survival tools. I spent almost a year with a biofeedback counselor specializing in chronic pain. No one can be prepared to handle such a hellish illness. I am so fortunate to have found biofeedback when I did- it absolutely saved my life and my quality of life.
Fter my spirit began to heal, I began a website called www.bodyofhope.com for others with terrible chronic pain to share coping mechanisms, poetry, art, visualizations, news articles, and hope. I draw strength from the others who battle around the world. There are so many little children with this disorder, people who suffer for 30+ years, and people who find a miracle. We are not alone in our walk. It helps to know that others survive- therefore I cannot give up. As your courage has inspired me, I hope that I am able to pass on my story to help encourage others.
I have so many health issues as a result of RSD/CRPS and still have many days of level 10 pain, but HOPE has changed everything and saved me from emotionally suffering. This terrible curse has stolen so much from my body, I refuse to allow it to deteriorate my spirit and emotions any longer! I believe that you and I are miracles waiting to happen.
Thank you for sharing your story. I have posted it on my web site for others to read as your struggle is shared by so many others.
-Mary"
If you have a comment, send to bodyofhope@aol.com
Woman to undergo experimental treatment Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/29/07
OCEAN TOWNSHIP — Imagine that the sharp pain caused by anything from a stubbed toe to a surgeon's scalpel never went away.
Welcome to Judy Hopkins' life.
The 25-year-old West Allenhurst resident suffers from a nightmarish rare disorder called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome, also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a chronic neurological disease that leaves its sufferers in constant pain following physical trauma or surgery. Hopkins, once a dancer and high school basketball player, first experienced symptoms of RSD in 1998, at age 16, after undergoing surgery on her right foot to remove shards of broken glass she had stepped on while working as a lifeguard.
After having exhausted all treatment options in the United States, Hopkins is at the top of a two-year national waiting list to travel to Germany for an experimental procedure so dangerous the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not allow it here. .....Before the end of the year to undergo the experimental procedure in question, called a "Ketamine Coma," at the Klinikum Saarbruecken in Saarbruecken, Germany.
Medically induced coma: Once there, Judy Hopkins will be put in a medically induced coma for five to seven days and administered dosages of up to 900 milligrams of ketamine, enough to cause brain damage, kill her, put her RSD into remission or do nothing at all.
Dr. Robert J. Schwartzman of Drexel University's College of Medicine in Philadelphia, perhaps the leading RSD expert in the country, has advised Hopkins to put her affairs in order, her family said. (Continued)
(Continued at http://www.app. com/apps/ pbcs.dll/ article?AID= /20070829/ NEWS/708290347]
[Here is my response to this article & anothers' comment. To read full artcle and full string of comments to this artcile, go to the above link.]
"Steve and others who read Steve's comments,
If you read my other postings, you will see that I am a big supporter of alternative means of treatments, but many find help through "controversial" procedures. I would love it if more of doctors and the public could just be supportive of our willingness to find relief. So many give up on life an/or commit suicide. Sometimes the "scariest" of treatments can be worthwhile.
Many of us are criticized for being on 12+ meds a day, or being on high doses of pain killers- even by our doctors!!! This disease has been named recently "the most painful of chronic pain- even worse than the pain of terminal cancer". So, maybe Steve some doctors, and the public can be more supportive of people like Judy and those of us who would do- and have done just about anything to try to get back some kind of a life.
Your persistence regarding her willingness to go through with this "life and death procedure" as you called it seemed very unsupportive. And your saying that -you would try alternative means before risking your life....would be apprehensive about trying such a "dangerous"..."extreme" procedure...and continually denouncing her courageous decision to try to find her miracle by all means.
I would bet that she has tried every single pill, type of doctor, painful procedures, and alternative therapy before making the decision to go forward with this treatment.
I do respect your suggestions and overall good intentions to try to convince others to try alternative and more mild means of help, but I found your tone and wording somewhat offensive, unsupportive, and condescending toward this young woman. I am also an advocate of alternative means in combination with medical. And biofeedback has been the most beneficial treatment for my pain and quality of life, but everyone is different and until we find a cure, we should be willing to try everything.
I commend those who go through uncomfortable or scary procedures and look to them as pioneers helping our cause and steps toward finding a cure for this ridiculously horrid hellish disease.
Many of us are willing to do whatever it takes to find some relief. And although Steve was discouraging about this procedure, so far, it has been extremely successful with few side-effects (even on children)!
We are all miracles waiting to happen- don't let others discourage you from chasing your miracle. There is hope, and no RSD story is 100% the same. Each of you who march forward daily through this terrifying disease inspires me to keep going. It is so rare to find positive information about RSD online, and we need hope and to know that this is not so "rare" as they say it is. I started a website offering hope to those with chronic pain: www.BodyofHope.com as it is so rare to hear the happy endings. -Mary Mattio
More advocacy- and lots of hope at my site.
Your persistence regarding her willingness to go through with this "life and death procedure" as you called it seemed very unsupportive. And your saying that -you would try alternative means before risking your life....would be apprehensive about trying such a "dangerous"..."extreme" procedure...and continually denouncing her courageous decision to try to find her miracle by all means.
I would bet that she has tried every single pill, type of doctor, painful procedures, and alternative therapy before making the decision to go forward with this treatment.
I do respect your suggestions and overall good intentions to try to convince others to try alternative and more mild means of help, but I found your tone and wording somewhat offensive, unsupportive, and condescending toward this young woman. I am also an advocate of
Like I posted previously, I am 25 and have had RSD for 3 years. I am lucky to have caught it early, but unlucky that not a thing helped. Blocks, epidurals, nearly every med on the planet :lol: , electrostimuation, PT, Hydro Therapy, TENS, massage, countless procedures, many many "miracle" supplements lol, and many alternative therapies (you all know the drill).
I think it is important to share out coping mechanisms with one another so I wanted to say that the most helpful treatment for me was Biofeedback counseling (relaxation, visualization, controlling body temp, lowering heart rate, controlling blood pressure, lowering pain, learning how to diminish stress and depression, and getting the tools to live among "the living" more comfortably. In fact, I am studying to do this so I can try to help those in pain, the terminally ill, and sick children, etc.
I would also like to throw out there that after all the stuff I've tried, the most helpful for me personally has been the mixture of Effexor ( tolerable noepinephrine&antidepressant for nerve regulation), Lamictal( seizure med to help retrain nerves), and 6 months ago I started Methadone (of all things) as my pain med! I do 4 a day 10mgs and it really does well for the circulation and burning, is much less addictive, helps block pain, lasts 6-8 hours of relief, and has a tendency to help lower limbs a lot (rare). I can't afford these, but there are these lollipops that relieve fast for emergencies but are often only covered for terminal cancer patients.
If this helps one person consider Biofeedback or anything else I said- I'm happy! Don't give up! You are your own advocate! Don't be afraid to dump your doctor for a new one. There are more Americans with RSD than have AIDS in America. And research EVERYTHING......yours is probably more extensive, updated, and accurate than what most doctors know!
Don't give up! -Mary Mattio "
