Cushing's Info

Robin (staticnrg) submitted an abstract to Medicine 2.0.  Medicine 2.0 is the annual open, international conference on Web 2.0 applications in health and medicine, also known as the World Congress on Social Networking and Web 2.0 Applications in Medicine, Health, Health Care, and Biomedical Research.

This conference distinguishes itself from "Health 2.0" tradeshows by having an academic form and focus, with an open call for presentations, published proceedings and peer-reviewed abstracts (although there is also a non-peer reviewed practice and business track), and being the only conference in this field which has a global perspective and an international audience (last year there were participants from 18 countries).

An academic approach to the topic also means that we aim to look "beyond the health 2.0 hype", trying to identify the evidence on what works and what doesn't, and have open and honest discussions.

This year's conference will be held in Toronto, Canada and will be attended by

• Academics (health professionals, social scientists, computer scientists, engineers)
• Software and Web 2.0 application developers
• Consultants, vendors, venture capitalists, business leaders, CIOs
• End-users (health professionals, consumers, payors)

Robin's abstract was submitted and accepted!  WooHoo!

'Paying It Forward in the Digital Age: Patient Empowerment 2.0 Using Web 2.0'

How can YOU help spread the word?

• Participate in the Book Project!  Find out more about that here.

• We always need people to be interviewed in the BlogTalk Interview series.  These interviews usually take place on Thursday nights at 7:30PM Eastern but you can do this at any time that's convenient for you. 

If you're interested in being interviewed, there is more information here.  You can sign up by checking off the box on the Add Your Bio form, sending an email to MaryO, posting in this topic on the boards or filling out this form.

You do not need to be diagnosed to be interviewed!

• Add your own Helpful Doctor(s).  Write a review of existing doctors.  The more info we have, the better we all will be.

This project was started in June 2008 and put on hold due to several "life issues", one of them being the enormous amount of time it takes to apply for non-profit status.

Here are some of the thoughts and ideas that will be in the book when finished, hopefully by December 2009.

MaryO: some people have articles on the website like http://www.cushings-help.com/helpful_hints.htm and these:

• Kate's Family Letter
• Kate's Packing Suggestions For Surgery
• Kate's Pituitary Surgery Observations
• LindaP's Cushing's Tips

From http://www.onmedica.com/NewsArticle.aspx?id=bed82431-f024-423e-bd4c-7dc0a4fcfbd6

Louise Newson, general practitioner, Solihull. Reviewed by Andrew Krenz, endocrinologist, Southampton.

Tuesday, 19 May 2009.

Key learning points

• The commonest cause of Cushing’s syndrome is iatrogenic
• 2% of obese, poorly controlled patients with type 2 diabetes diabetes type 2 diabetics may have Cushing’s syndrome
• Various biochemical tests are needed for diagnosis; this is complex and requires specialist expertise.
• The underlying cause of Cushing’s syndrome needs to be determined
• Treatment and prognosis depend on the underlying cause.
• Surgery is the treatment of choice for Cushing’s disease i.e. pituitary-dependent