Michael J. Fox and the benefits of disease

In my position here I speak to many, many people with serious disease, and so I am constantly seeing attitudes of 'management' of their condition.

Frankly, the way people respond to serious disease seem to align quite well o Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' states of grief (bargaining, anger, denial, depression and acceptance). Michael seems a wonderful benchmark for the acceptance phase, evidenced to me by a comment he made to Dr. Oz on Oprah.

Perhaps I don't have it word perfect.. but he said something like "The good thing about Parkinson's is that you soon give up vanity."

It got me thinking; what are the pointers in the disease process that allow us to move through the stages of grief to acceptance? And to what degree does vanity, ego, self-image affect our ability to come to terms, accept and emotionally move on?

Love to hear your responses.

Speaking of Household Pollutants, now we're seeing Parkinson's Disease links!

A new study published in the Annals of Neurology has drawn a link between workers exposed to trichloroethylene, or TCE, and Parkinson's Disease.

The small study does not provide conclusive proof that exposure to the chemical can cause symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease, but it draws a link based on studies of workers who were exposed to TCE in the air for 25-plus years, and who also dipped their arms into vats of TCE.

TCE, a common solvent, is used to remove grease from equipment, including computer equipment, during manufacturing. It is also used to manufacture refrigerants. It is among the most common pollutants found at Superfund sites around the US, and it has been found at low levels in urban air and in many drinking water supplies.

The study linked exposure to Parkinsonism, a group of disorders with similar symptoms to Parkinson's, such as slowness of voluntary movement, stooped posture and trouble with balance. Of 134 workers surveyed, 14 showed three or more symptoms. Laboratory studies of rats have shown that TCE can damage mitochondria, which has been identified as a precursor to degenerative diseases. Other studies have drawn similar links with pesticide exposures.

The authors called the study evidence of a "strong potential link" between exposure and disease.