Man, you seriously took my plea to study the benefits of a drug that you said yourself shouldn't be illegal and had so many benefits as an insult and now you're going to use it as a reason for a freeze out? Sounds kind of like you've just placed yourself on a massive pedestal and left the rest of us behind because I stated factually that the NFL and others still haven't found an HGH test they like, and that Adderall 'abuse' as it were isn't necessary as a masking agent of other drugs you claimed players are juicing on, when the NFL can't even test for said drugs. All they would be doing it putting themselves into the drug program for adderall use rather than nothing at all if they used HGH, since as of now they'd walk clean. It's counterintuitive to take a banned substance to cover a banned substance that can't be tested for or can a player be punished for using.
I am at the point where I am confused at how what I say comes across as an insult (when it was never intended that way and by your own admission you're the expert on the matter of neurological funcion), just because I point out that I am familiar with what a neurologist does, and I do know some who do surgical/interventional procedures (my current neuro has taken muscle tissue samples via biopsy, run nerve testing using needles, electricity, and so on and so forth). My neuro also has never worked with my neurosurgeon for any of these cases. The neurosurgeon didn't treat the tonic/clonic disorders, or anything that was considered chronic... they merely operate on me when I say... blow up a nerve space with a blown disc that compresses the nerves and prevents my leg from moving. You called me out for claiming you were a surgeon. Yes, you are correct in that you never said you were one. You indeed say you were a neurologist. However... you claimed that I had effectively shut down a discussion by having the nerve to "question you", but in the same manner you questioned me. I feel that as somebody who has 2 of the conditions that you would specifically treat in your practice (if you had a patient come to you with them, due to their rarity and underdiagnosis by GP's who pass them your way) and have been treated for them for the better part of 40 years would also give me a pretty good insight into what you do in your field.
I have multiple college degrees myself. I hold multiple teaching degrees and licenses in many subjects, levels, and locales. I am a researcher just as you are and am a member of that fine field of academia along with many other pursuits.
My motives for pointing out the situation with HGH was merely to inform you once again that our players could not have tested positive for it as you claim they could have, but I did attempt to say (and apparently did a poor job of it) that if you are on the research side, rather than the other side (many doctors do this, and more power to them.... we need researchers desperately), then I had a selfish plea that merely said if you look into HGH and how it is being used, then look at it as a treatment for arachnoiditis and the type of brain injuries players are suffering at an alarming rate. There is little in the way of research being done, because neurologists in general have written it off as being incurable and the intractable pain has to continue. There is a large amount of anecdotal evidence building that says that it helps. Guess who would benefit greatly from this treatment? NFL PLAYERS! Not only could it work in the arachnid space, but if it works there, then it could work in the brain. See where I'm going with this? The very drug that has also been dragged into and demonized in this conversation is another drug that hast he potential to help NFL players who are being hurt permanently and having permanent brain damage with the tangles in their brain. If HGH can stop the tangles and treat them in my lower spine (you know.... the vestigial brain), then why could it have benefits in the upper (thinking man's) brain? There are possibilities that are huge. ADD meds are also helpful for those who have suffered brain injury because of their impulsiveness and depression post playing career (and many in their playing career).
The NFL is carrying out a hard and fast stance against two classes of medications that they feel are ruining their game, but are actually two of the medication classes with a high possibility of treating the very players who are getting injured and have gotten injured and are currently suing the league.
I thought it was an interesting research subject and have asked every doctor I know to get involved and hopefully do something to help those of us with different conditions.
I think you hit on a real key point here though... and I'll quote "Before we go any further, I should warn you that the number one way to lose any doctor's attention or respect is to question our training, intelligence or research. I have spent the last 24 years of my life in intense research and study (minimum of 40 hours per week on top of my practice), specifically in the field of advanced neurodegenerative disorders (rather than neuromuscular, as is your condition), and this is the area in which my practice specializes. "
Replace the word "doctor's" with anything that anybody else does here and "field of advanced neurodegenerative disorders....." again with what anybody else does and you'll see that what you're doing is placing what you do on a pedestal above the rest of us and stating that you'll disrespect me (or us all apparently) if we question you in any way about your practice/specialty, and that by asking probing and in depth questions or daring to question your understanding of something medical (especially in this case where you have a serious bit of confusion as it pertains to NFL HGH testing and your claiming as fact that our players juiced and used adderall to cover) just seems a bit much.
We are all experts on something and I don't see guys in other professions saying, "Whoa... hold up... if you're going to question me about anything at all and use facts in your argument, then I'm not going to share any of my super secret information from you, because I'm a doctor, and you aren't, so my information is more valuable than yours somehow."
If you don't feel like sharing that part of your life and discussing medical matters, then that is your own choice, but I'd hate to think that you would come to this board and if somebody ever disagreed with you on something that you do or are that it means that you will take your ball and go home. This is what we do... we share our expertise, we question those who know more than us, we try to reach consensus, and we gripe about the team.
I have been berated over my profession, and told how crappy our public schools are and how the way I teach is "stupid" compared to some other teaching methods that certain individuals state. Guess what? I don't care. I don't threaten to pull my expertise on the matters of educational law, policy, mandates, my extensive knowledge (15 years of intense study and work on the 'simple' matter of Title IX and what it has meant to this nation and access to school's, funding, facilities, and education... and yes athletic endeavors. But FYI sports are merely the tiny tip of the iceberg and have made Title IX the most misunderstood thing to take place in the US education system in history, but I'll explain my knowledge of it for days with members here if they ever want to, and have for years upon years, because I feel it is in a way my duty to share that knowledge with my friends here and I don't need their "respect" in order to chime in with my expertise. I am up to the challenge and feel that when I know something then it is up to me to share it. That's what we do in a community, and I see us as a collaborative community of learners.
Right now we're all collaborating on what this adderall business means and what it boils down to in the NFL and how it will impact things moving forward. As a neurologist, I thought you might have a different spin due to its treatment of those who have suffered brain injuries, as many NFL players have. You took what I said though and got angry with me.
I fully recognize as an educator, former administrator, university student teacher supervisor, new teacher mentor, state land trust and school community chair, a spouse of a wife who is at the top of her field with a master's plus all hours to give her the doctoral equivalency in math education (just needs to finish thesis) and 17 years at the top of her field in the highest scoring public school in the western US departmentally, and the son of a university professor and also of a parent who was a secondary level teacher, award winning coach, and was the man in charge of extremely high level government facilities in the PNW region that we ALL have background and experience that we bring here and don't speak of and justify everything we do, and that we all change how we present information based on the audience.
But.... I feel that if anybody here took the attitude that you're suggesting here about "if anybody speaks to me in a certain way, then you will get no info from me) then we'd all be spinning our wheels. We have engineers, scientists, lawyers, doctors, nurses, IT gurus, store managers, cooks, entrepeneurs, college students, high school students, high level athletes, coaches, men and women who serve us proudly in the military and have access to stuff we could never imagine, writers, retired folks, and those like me who talk too much. Each of us makes this place valuable and our shared information is what makes this place so special. To say that if anybody ever dares point out an inaccuracy will lead to negative consequences, then I feel you're really shortchanging yourself, because that means anybody can play that card at any time, and that's a very bad thing for this very place. There is too much info to be had, and if I didn't have breakdowns from guys on different plays and such (our X's and O's guys) then I wouldn't know half as much about offenses than I do now. I would like to think that I've shared enough to earn my keep too.
But by all means.... if you feel that you've been insulted and somehow I've questioned your credentials and capabilities to the point where you've lost any 'respect' and I've created a 'shut down' or 'freeze out' on your field of knowledge, then my mistake. I take full responsibility group. I was merely attempting to shed some light on a plight to somebody who said they are on the research side and I was hopeful (and selfishly attempted) that I could try to find somebody who would join in the project that is informally set at this stage to build studies of HGH and its use in those who suffered from traumatic (or even semi-traumatic) brain injury, and whether it helped create recovery where it was otherwise thought impossible. The second part was that there is a possibility due to stimulants impact on nerve firing/brain function, that it could be used consistently to help players overcome the effects of concussions more quickly. I've seen it work miracles for those who had minds that had seemingly turned off like a light switch, and I feel that from my non-medical degree view that it could do the same for those who took a knock to the head and may be a key to helping to unlock the mystery of what happened to guys like Junior Seau and Dave Duerson, and may prevent further injuries and deaths in the future through the use of said drugs either alone, or in a cocktail that helps to repair or to open neuropathic pathways as the brain "reroutes" its connections and helps the player re-establish their brain function.
The possibilities are limitless and somebody is going to change the world with that research and finding the combos that work. I am certain of it.
Thanks for your time and dedication. Apparently I've made another "e-enemy" for life, but I do feel that I wasn't speaking as a knucklehead who had no idea what a neurologist does and was merely pointing out that I had worked with many and found that some had more of a knack for specific areas than others, but all of them knew what I was dealing with and were familiar on all past and present first, second, third, and non-interventional treatment options are/were.
R.I.P. Dad. I miss you. You will never be forgotten
1/12/39 - 8/7/08
