[misc.handicap] Post Polio Syndrome

DNMILLER@osu-20.ircc.ohio-state.edu (David Neal Miller) (05/31/90)

Index Number: 8524

Does anyone know of an organization or organizations devoted to
post-polio syndrome?  

(There is/was one in the Washington, DC, area, but mail sent to a
ca. 5-year-old address was returned as undeliverable.)

Thanks in advance.

[Note from Bill McGarry: See the following article]

wtm@bunker.uucp (Bill McGarry) (05/31/90)

Index Number: 8525

I got the following information from the National Organization for
Rare Disorders (NORD) database (on Compuserve):

Post-Polio National, Inc. 
(Post-Polio League for Information and Outreach) 
3581 University Drive 
Fairfax, VA  22030 

(703) 273-8171 
National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) 
P.O. Box 8923 
New Fairfield, CT  06812 
(203) 746-6518 

Polio Information Center 
510 Main Street, Suite A446 
Roosevelt Island, NY  10044 
(212) 223-0353 

National Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and Adults 
70 East Lake St. 
Chicago, IL  60601 
(312) 726-6200 (voice) 
(312) 726-4258 (TDD) 

British Polio Fellowship 
Bell Close West End 
Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 6LP 
England 

Hope this helps!

				Bill McGarry

UUCP:       {oliveb, philabs, decvax, yale}!bunker!wtm
INTERNET:   wtm@bunker.uucp      l-hcap@vm1.nodak.edu
BITNET:     l-hcap@ndsuvm1.bitnet
	    (300/1200/2400 baud, 24 hours)
Compuserve: 73170,1064

rbarth@tumtum.cs.umd.edu (Dick Barth) (06/04/90)

Index Number: 8585

In Issue # 1300, DNMILLER@osu-20.ircc.ohio-state.edu (David Neal Miller)
writes:

   >Does anyone know of an organization or organizations devoted to
   >post-polio syndrome?

The following is INFO file P from the HEX BBS. Hope it's useful.

                                     .....

       INFORMATION FOR POLIO SURVIVORS

  Polio survivors may be experiencing new health problems,
such as:
     *Muscle weakness
     *Muscle and joint pain
     *Unaccustomed fatigue
     *Breathing difficulties

  Recommended reading on this subject is the "Handbook on the
Late Effects of Poliomyelitis for Physicians and Survivors".
This practical, easy-to-read booklet is available for $6.00
from Gazette International Networking Institute (G.I.N.I.) at
the address below.

  The International Polio Network is open to polio survivors
and interested health professionals. For an annual membership
fee of $5, members receive "Polio Network News", a quarterly
bulletin with the latest in post-polio research, support
group activities, and upcoming polio conferences. In addition
members receive the Post-Polio Directory of physicians and
post-polio clinics, and support groups across the country.
Membership applications are available from G.I.N.I.

  Proceedings of the 1983 and 1985 polio conferences sponsored
by G.I.N.I. are available for $16. The 1987 conference is
scheduled for June 5-7 1987 at the Sheraton Saint Louis Hotel.
Write for further information.

  The foregoing information is from G.I.N.I.'s letter to HEX
of 30 January 1986. They may be contacted at:

Gazette International Networking Institute
4502 Maryland Avenue
St. Louis MO 63018
(314) 361-0475

-----------------------------
Richard Barth, W3HWN,  rbarth@tumtum.cs.umd.edu
Handicapped Educational Exchange... (301) 593-7033 (TDD & 300 baud ASCII)
                                    (301) 593-7357 (300/1200 baud, 8N1)

wtm@bunker.uucp (Bill McGarry) (07/04/90)

Index Number: 9020

The following information is from the National Organization for
Rare Disorders (NORD) database (on Compuserve):

Post-Polio National, Inc. 
(Post-Polio League for Information and Outreach) 
3581 University Drive 
Fairfax, VA  22030 

(703) 273-8171 
National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) 
P.O. Box 8923 
New Fairfield, CT  06812 
(203) 746-6518 

Polio Information Center 
510 Main Street, Suite A446 
Roosevelt Island, NY  10044 
(212) 223-0353 

National Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and Adults 
70 East Lake St. 
Chicago, IL  60601 
(312) 726-6200 (voice) 
(312) 726-4258 (TDD) 

British Polio Fellowship 
Bell Close West End 
Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 6LP 
England 

The following is from Dick Barth's BBS (the HEX BBS):

Richard Barth, W3HWN,  rbarth@tumtum.cs.umd.edu
Handicapped Educational Exchange... (301) 593-7033 (TDD & 300 baud ASCII)
                                    (301) 593-7357 (300/1200 baud, 8N1)

       INFORMATION FOR POLIO SURVIVORS

  Polio survivors may be experiencing new health problems,
such as:
     *Muscle weakness
     *Muscle and joint pain
     *Unaccustomed fatigue
     *Breathing difficulties

  Recommended reading on this subject is the "Handbook on the
Late Effects of Poliomyelitis for Physicians and Survivors".
This practical, easy-to-read booklet is available for $6.00
from Gazette International Networking Institute (G.I.N.I.) at
the address below.

  The International Polio Network is open to polio survivors
and interested health professionals. For an annual membership
fee of $5, members receive "Polio Network News", a quarterly
bulletin with the latest in post-polio research, support
group activities, and upcoming polio conferences. In addition
members receive the Post-Polio Directory of physicians and
post-polio clinics, and support groups across the country.
Membership applications are available from G.I.N.I.

  Proceedings of the 1983 and 1985 polio conferences sponsored
by G.I.N.I. are available for $16. The 1987 conference is
scheduled for June 5-7 1987 at the Sheraton Saint Louis Hotel.
Write for further information.

  The foregoing information is from G.I.N.I.'s letter to HEX
of 30 January 1986. They may be contacted at:

Gazette International Networking Institute
4502 Maryland Avenue
St. Louis MO 63018
(314) 361-0475

Hope this helps!

				Bill McGarry

UUCP:       {oliveb, philabs, decvax, yale}!bunker!wtm
INTERNET:   wtm@bunker.uucp      l-hcap@vm1.nodak.edu
BITNET:     l-hcap@ndsuvm1.bitnet
	    (300/1200/2400 baud, 24 hours)
Compuserve: 73170,1064

shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) (07/07/90)

Index Number: 9057

Rancho Los Amigos Hospital (RLAH), in Downey, CA, has a very active
post-polio program.  My husband's been very pleased in his dealings
with them.

RLAH is a rehabilitation center for Los Angeles County and is over
100 yrs old.  My allergist did her residency managing iron-lung
patients there in the fifties.

We're especially impressed with their expertise in wheelchair systems.
They've recommended that Ken go to a motorized chair and suggested a
very small, light-weight system that attaches (semi-permanently) to
a conventional chair.  The huge conventional motorized chairs would
really limit his mobility here at NASA Dryden (he's the Senior Staff
Scientist), since it, like many government facilities, has too much
equipment and too many people in too little space.

Mary

wtm@bunker.uucp (Bill McGarry) (10/02/90)

Index Number: 10691

This information is from the National Organization for Rare
Diseases's database on Compuserve.  NORD is an organization that
specializes in information on rare diseases and will put you in contact 
with other people or parents of children with the same disease or
disorder.  Their address is:

       The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)
       P.O. Box 8923
       Fairfield, CT 06812 (USA)
       Phone:    (800) 999-NORD
                 (203) 746-6518 (In CT)

NORD can also be reached on Compuserve.

NORD has information on some 500 rare disorders and also has
information on orphan drugs.

Post-Polio Syndrome occurs at least 10 years after a person has
been stricken by polio.  It is characterized by gradual
deterioration of muscle function and increased weakness which
usually occurs in the limbs that had been most severely affected by
polio.  Sometimes the disorder involves those muscles apparently
fully recovered or previously uninvolved, including muscles
necessary for respiration.  Other symptoms may include fatigue,
muscle pain and twitching (fasciculations).

The exact cause of Post-Polio syndrome has not yet been
identified.  Theories that the dormant polio virus may be
reactivated years after polio first occurs have been dismissed in
the absence of scientific proof.  Other theories that Post-Polio
patients appear to be aging more rapidly in certain parts of their
central nervous system than their peers are also unproven.
Recently, scientists determined that Post-Polio Syndrome is not a
form of Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

In a 1987 study of Post-Polio Syndrome patients, scientists found
evidence  that nerve cells in affected muscles may grow many small
sprouts from the message-transmitting axons of healthy nerve cells
during recovery from polio.  These sprouts take over the function
of neurons killed by the polio virus.  After years of functioning
beyond capacity, the nerve cells can weaken and  lose the ability
to maintain these sprouts, which then begin to shrink, and  the
whole muscle becomes weaker.  As a result of this discovery,
researchers  hope to develop an experimental treatment that may
improve sprouting of the  axons.

Other studies, such as investigating the presence of abnormal
proteins  in cerebrospinal fluid, and the effect of the polio virus
on nerve cells in  muscle fibers of Post-Polio patients.