Press Release Summary = PsychoNeuroImmunology (PNI), the scientific term for mind-body interaction, helps by means of the mind commanding the body to fight serious illness. Take the case of my husband, for example, who is my full time caregiver due to my disability.
Press Release Body = Mind Body Interaction
PsychoNeuroImmunology
(by Janine M Lodato)
LodatoClan@aol.com
PsychoNeuroImmunology (PNI), the scientific term for mind-body interaction, helps by means of the mind commanding the body to fight serious illness. Take the case of my husband, for example, who is my full time caregiver due to my disability.
Three years ago he was diagnosed with a strong case, an advanced case of prostate cancer. But, because of my quadriplegic condition, due to my late stage SPMS (secondary progressive multiple sclerosis), he must do everything for me, even scratch my nose or my eyebrows or whatever itches or whatever other need I may have.
It appears that his mind is telling his body not to give in to cancer since he must stay strong to be able to help me. His mind commands and the body complies. Consequently his cancer has not gotten worse. Of course, he does get chemotherapy and hormone suppression, but more importantly since he must stay in shape so he would be capable to help me 24/7, his mind decided to keep him in better health than most other cancer patients with conditions similar to his. In fact he is getting better to his doctors\' amazement and great satisfaction.
My husband simply does not have time to be sick and he does not allow himself to be sick. Actually it it is simply a matter of involvement and time. My husband finds time to look after all my needs so he does not allow himself time to feel sorry for himself which clearly helps with his health. He does not have the time and luxury to give up or give in to illness thus clearly he is a very fine example of mind body interaction, PNI, doing a great job of keeping him alive and helping with his fight against cancer.
Maybe every cancer patient should become involved with care giving, even if it is only group interaction with needy people.
So it may be very true that mind body interaction, PNI, has a lot to do with personal health. It is a two way benefit: not only do I get great help and needed services via my husband\'s providing care to me, but he also gains better health by making this care giving effort.
More research need to be done to see how many other care givers benefit from PNI. It could be done by the NIH or the NIDRR, or the AARP, with a simple form mailed to the the caregivers which they could simply fill out with minimum effort.
There are 44 million such informal caregivers in the USA alone: family and friends of the people in need: the chronically ill, the disabled and the frail elderly. 100 million people are in need of such care giving just in the USA.
Only after one walks a mile or more in his shoes will one understand what it is like to be a caregiver to a quadriplegic. His time investment is, of course, 24 hours 7 days a week every week of the year.
Trust me when I say that it ain\'t easy for him to make every waking minute of mine productive. By doing so, getting me involved with many things, he also provides PNI for me as well so my SPMS is now stabilized.
My husband is an original geek, an Internet-oriented intellectual, and he has stimulated me even in my darkest hours: at the hospital, in the middle of the night, when everybody else deserts me.
I have learned a lot about devotion from my husband. He has invented many small but important activities to make my life worthwhile. For example, he warms up my tube socks with a hair dryer before he puts them on, and it feels just great.
At night I wake him up 3-4 times, every two hours or so, to ask him to turn me from one side to another so I do not develop skin irritations on my back which can be very dangerous if they infect. He tells me that he actually likes to wake up every two hours so he can remember many more dreams than it would be if he had slept through the night. Normally one only remembers the last dream which happened just before waking up. He likes to induce the content of his dreams by concentrating on a subject just before falling asleep, so with my interruptions he can cover 4 times as many subjects per night.
But most importantly, he gets me involved, thus forcing me to generate PNI activities during every hour of my life. He helps to keep my mind very busy since that is all that works in my body, but it works very well. My motor skills are shot but my mind is not. And that is clearly the secret behind PNI: keep the mind busy with something interesting, keep the mind involved with interaction with others via face to face and Internet based connections.
The Federal Government should provide a simple low cost device to each and every of the 100 million people in need so they can get involved thus create PNI activity in their bodies and consequently lower the cost of medical care. The 44 million caregivers could train the needy people they give care to in the use of such simple device: a machine which can send and receive email, do search, and maybe do conferencing for virtual group interaction, that is all that is needed. No need for a complex PC (personal computer). This simple \"careputer\", if you allow me a little fun naming it, could even connect to the TV so there would be no need for a high cost display device.
References:
URL
Web Site = http://journals.aol.com/lodatoclan/StemCellResearch/
Contact Details = Janine M. Lodato P.O.Box 838 SAN ANDREAS, CA. 95249-838 ~|__ ( o )\\_
2025
