Brat Dialog

From Corposcindosis

Re: Questions for Songboy about ETS and CTFSPT. Post by songboy1234 on Jul 10, 2006, 1:22pm

Quote: Do you have any formal Medical Qualifications?

No

Quote: If not what other qualifications do you have?

Personal experience with T2-T4 sympathectomy, textbook neurophysiology study, personal experience with 100+ ETS patients, many detailed conversations with various M.D.'s and Ph. D's, participated in a week-long study of neuro-cardiology and other aspects of my autonomic dysfunction at NIH, and have done extensive research of published literature on ETS, and of sympathetic nervous system function and dysfunction. And, until credible threats "legal and otherwise" came my way, I was the author of the most comprehensive website about ETS surgery.

Quote: Do you suffer from Hyperhidrosis?

Yes, it's horrible.

Quote: If you do, how would you say it effects your day to day life?

I spend most of my life in wet underwear. It's embarrassing and tiresome to explain to people why my shirt is soaked from the chest down. My daughter thinks hugging me is "yucky". That hurts.

Quote: Where do you source the majority of your information from? (eg- Internet, interviews with patients, medical reviews, personal opinions etc)

I distinguish between three types of data - anecdotal, theoretical, and empirical. All of the claims on my site were backed by at least anecdotal and theoretical evidence, and most of them by all three. I clearly labeled every claim with little checkboxes, indicating the status of the evidence. The overall idea is to gather information from the availble literature and compare that to the theoretical model generated from the textbook physiology.

At a number of points, my CS model predicts changes in function which have not been studied, or have only been studied in animals. Take bone metabolisim, for instance. My model predicts increased bone resorption, because SNS is known to inhibit bone resorption. Dr. Ahn really got my attention when he theorized about bone metabolism at the IHHS conference, so I looked into it, and as far as I can tell, it's only been studied on rats and gerbils, and guess what? In those studies, sympathectomy makes the ear bones resorb rapidly, just like my model predicts.

So, Dr. Brat, perhaps you might want to start taking bone scans of your patients pre and post operation. That would be very informative, and I would certainly publish the results in the current version of my thesis. That is, if I should ever be so brave enough as to ignore the threats issued to me from your patient, nurse what's-his-name.

Quote: Have you or anyone close to you had ETS done?

Yes, besides myself, I have become close friends with other ETS patients.

Quote: If so what were the effects?

"ETS ruined my life" is a common refrain.

Quote: Why are you doing a Thesis on ETS/CTFSPT?

Because it has not been done. I have read at least 100 papers on ETS, and 99% of them contain no scientific measurements of any kind. Someone needs to create a definitive resource, and clearly the surgeons aren't interested.

Quote: What do you hope to achieve with your Thesis?

I expect Corposcindosis to become the most comprehensive theory of thoracic sympathectomy anywhere. Routinely patients are not given an understanding of what to expect from sympathectomy. I'd like to change that.

Quote: What about ETS/CTFSPT do you have a problem with?

Lack of informed consent.

Quote: Can you see any benefits at all to ETS/CTFSPT?

ETS affects many, many organs glands and muscles. Viewed in isolation, depending on your original complaint, any one of the effects could be viewed as a "benefit". ETS will lower cardiac output. If you feel your cardiac output is too high, it's a benefit. ETS will paralyze certain blood vessels wide open. If you believe that certain blood vessels are too constricted, that could be a benefit. The same could be argued for each of the affected body parts (heart, lungs, blood vessels, thyroid, bone, bone marrow, arrector pili, adipose tissue, etc.)

The problem, of course, is that we don't get to pick and choose which organs, glands and muscles get affected. It's a package deal. Patients should be told about the whole package

Quote: It's well documented that you think all Doctors lie about ETS, can you prove this past your own opinion? (With medical texts, interviews etc. Please include any appropriate links)

I invite anyone to visit any ETS surgeon website and compare that to the truth. In my large experience, I have yet to encounter a single patient who gave anythng close to informed consent. I think that if the surgeons told the truth, very few people would consent to it.

Quote: What side effects would you live with, or expect others would live with to be free of Hyperhidrosis? (I personally would put up with quite a lot to be free of it.)

The premise of this question is false. A sympathectomy does not cure hyperhidrosis. It does not leave a person "free of hyperhidrosis". The best that can be said is that is stops all sweating in one large area of the body, and makes the other part of the body sweat a lot more.

What you or I would be willing to trade in exchange for a normal sweating response is not relevant, because doctors do not know how to do that.