Living With Polio

Millions of individuals who had polio are living in all areas of the world. Survivors range in age from a few months to nonagenarians (in their nineties). Aftereffects vary greatly depending on the number and location of the nerve cells destroyed by the poliovirus. The challenge or ease of living with polio varies for each survivor, depending on the availability of medical care and rehabilitation opportunities, and their family and social support.

Advice, hints, explanations, etc., are categorized by topic and are searchable. The source of the material is identified.

Reminder: PHI’s post-polio.org and IVUN’s ventusers.org or ventnews.org features numerous articles to assist in living with polio.

Losing our rights?

∞ LEADERSHIP
Nancy Baldwin Carter, Omaha, Nebraska

QUESTION: “Members in our group have been commenting on certain changes that affect our lives in many ways. Seems as if various government agencies aren't as willing to help as before, for instance, and sometimes we're left with a financial burden we can't handle. Are we in danger of losing some of the rights so many of us fought for?”

Finding Good Information Online

Spanish translation

∞ LEADERSHIP
Nancy Baldwin Carter, Omaha, Nebraska

QUESTION: “How do we help our members find good online information and use this in communicating with those in the medical community and others?”

Losing members?

∞ LEADERSHIP
Nancy Baldwin Carter, Omaha, Nebraska

QUESTION: “Our group is down to about half a dozen members who rotate meeting at each other’s homes for lunch once a month. I’ve heard of other groups that are losing members as well. What can we do to keep our post-polio data bases from eroding to the point where we lose all contacts and are then unable to help anyone?”

What is expected of a group leader?

LEADERSHIP ∞
Nancy Baldwin Carter, Omaha, Nebraska

QUESTION: “There is some question about what all is expected and not expected of the leaders of our group. We have a couple of new members who have come in and seem to think that we don't ask for or take suggestions from anyone and that we are a three run group which we are not. We ask for help but none is really offered and I have tried as well as the two others to get people to be more forthcoming.”

Techniques to Help Us Make Changes

Mavis Matheson, MD, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

In 1995, I wrote an article called Changing Your Life By Conserving Energy. In it, I listed three techniques from an article by Sybil Kohl. Her techniques have helped me to make healthy choices and prevent further pain and weakness. Kohl [1] suggests three techniques that we could use to help ourselves make changes.

These are push to avoid pain, blank pad and plain talk.

Opportunities to Participate in Research

NEW STUDY ON AFM AND POLIO A new study concerning acute flaccid myelitis (AFM... More

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