The latest courseware is finally DONE and submitted. I’ve been aiming for maximum quality this year, which meant more work and more refined proofreading.
My big goal this year is all three parts of the KSTP motto in the top icon:
Laugh at your ills, pay your bills, behave yourself.
The first part is the hardest with more aging, more unexpected stresses from various sources, and new weird health problems. The skin condition that started in June backed off from its dramatic first burst, but it doesn’t seem to be going away. It’s probably eczema, not psoriasis. The first doctor’s diagnosis, which I trusted, turned out to be wrong. He sent me to a second doctor, who then had to undo the side effects of the first doctor’s prescription.
Conclusion: Grandma was right. Don’t trust the doctor, trust your own strength.
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Sidenote: This article at the Eczema Assn’s website makes laughing at ills a bit easier.
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In spite of the difficulties, several dedicated itch researchers have established that many different mechanisms underlie itch. … Several Centers for the Study of Itch have arisen around the United States and in other countries, including one in St. Louis co-directed by Dr. Kim and one in Miami directed by Dr. Yosipovitch.
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Itch research is funny in itself, and YosipovITCH directs the Center For The Study Of Itch. Closing the circle, some of the animations I made for the neurology courseware illustrate the process. Breaking up the feedback loop of itch / scratch / relief is the key. Various medicines and creams help, NOT primarily because of their chemical action but because they provide a healing token. Anointing is the oldest tradition in healing, as old as a dog’s tongue on the C-tactile nerves, which are the prime real estate of eczema.
For a nerve-mediated condition, confidence is more important than chemicals. If you firmly believe that this new cream or pill will help, it will.
Polistra's Mill 