NOTE:         I want to mention that just for this time, the next meeting will be on April 17, 2002.  The normal meeting on March 20th had to be postponed until April 17th, because the church had a function on that day and was not available. Remember, the meeting address is: St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 900 Maryvale, Dr. at Union Road, Cheektowaga, NY.

At the April 17^th meeting, we will have pizza, pop and coffee.

Attending the December meeting were: Don O’Connor, Pat Doeing, Jean and Gus Arndt, Bill and Barb Woodworth, Bud and Sue Foster, Gerry and Emilie Willman and Susan Calvaneso. Everyone brought something for all us to share.  Coffee and soft drinks were provided, so the meeting was very successful.

We went over our mailing list again, and eliminated some more people receiving the newsletter. If anyone knows anyone that would or should be on our mailing list, please let Don or me know and I will send them a newsletter.

If you haven’t paid your dues for the year, please send to Clarice (Susie) Foster at 74 Marilyn Dr., Cheektowaga, NY  14225.

The following came from the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center – The Post-Polio Institute and International Centre for Post-Polio Education and Research -- For Immediate Release:  January 13, 2002. Englewood, NJ –

PRESIDENT BUSH FAINTS LIKE A POLIO SURVIVOR.

While watching a football game, President George W. Bush swallows a pretzel that irritates his esophagus. The irritation causes his pulse and blood pressure to plummet and he faints.
 

         An unheard of experience? Not for some of the world’s 20 million polio survivors with Post-Polio Sequelae. PPS are the unexpected and often disabling symptoms – overwhelming fatigue, muscle weakness, muscle and joint pain, sleep disorders, heightened sensitivity to anesthesia, cold and pain, as well as difficulty swallowing and breathing – that occur about 35 years after the poliovirus attack in 75% of paralytic and 40% of non-paralytic polio survivors.
 

         “It’s called vaso-BAGEL-syncope, a play on the name vaso-vagal syncope,” says Dr. Richard L. Bruno, Chairperson of the International Post-Polio Task Force and Director of the Post-Polio Institute and International Centre for Post-Polio Education and Research at New Jersey’s Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. “This is a problem that we have been studying in polio survivors for years.”
 

         The President’s problem likely had to do with the vagus nerve, “Bruno explains. “The vagus is the main highway for nerve traffic to your esophagus – the swallowing tube – your stomach and intestines.” The vagus carries commands from brain stem neurons to activate the muscles in your throat, esophagus, stomach and intestines that make swallowing, digestion and elimination possible. The vagus also sends commands that tell your heart muscle to slow down and your blood vessels to open up. “Vagus nerve stimulation, causing a drop in heart rate and blood pressure and blood vessels opening up, is responsible for the common kind of faint, called vaso-vagal syncope, “says Bruno.” But the vagus nerve is a two-way street,” explains Bruno, a clinical psychophysiologist who trained as the autonomic nervous system fellow at the Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. “The vagus both send commands to your heart and gut and listens to the results of those commands.” The vagus also carries information about how much food is inside your throat, esophagus, stomach and intestines back to those same brain stem neurons. “Anything that irritates the esophagus – like swallowing a large piece of bagel or even a pretzel can stimulate the vagus enough to slow the heart and drop blood pressure, which may be what happened to the President,” says Bruno. “I assume he will have the same tests that we give polio survivors: a video-fluoroscopic study to make sure his swallowing muscle are working while his heart is being monitored, to make sure the vagus isn’t overactive and electrical impulses are being conducted properly through the heart.”
 

Did President Bush Have Polio? Why do polio survivors have more problems with the vagus nerve, heart rate and blood pressure than do those who didn’t have polio? “The poliovirus damaged brain stem neurons that control the vagus nerve, and possible damaged the nerve itself,” says Bruno. “Vagus damage disrupting the normal functioning of the gut may explain our 1985 Post-Polio Survey findings that swallowing difficulty, diarrhea, colitis, ulcers and constipation are as much as six times more common in polio survivors than in those who didn’t have polio.”
 

         Bruno has been following a growing number of post-polio patients from around the country who come to The Post-Polio Institute. These polio survivors don’t usually faint but do feel exhausted after eating a meal. Bruno has found that, when these polio survivors’ stomachs fill with food, the vagus nerve is apparently over stimulated and triggers a drop in blood pressure, causing feelings of fatigue. “Polio survivors also report another problem: food sticking in the upper esophagus,” said Bruno. “We think this is due to the vagus not stimulating esophagus muscles to move the food downward. When food gets stuck, irritation triggers a painful esophagus muscle spasm that also stimulates the vagus nerve, causing blood pressure to drop and the heart to change, what apparently happened to the President.” The relationship between fatigue, brain stem damage and low blood pressure links polio survivors to another group: those with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). About one quarter of CFS patients have fatigue that is associated with low blood pressure or changes in heart rate. Some CFS patients report fatigue when a hot shower or hot room causes blood pressure to drop, as do about one third of polio survivors. “Other CFS patients have blue feet,” says Bruno, “just like our PPS patients’  ‘polio feet,’ suggesting that blood poking in the legs contributes to low blood pressure.
 

         Did President Bush have a mild case of polio, damaging his brain stem and causing a “vaso-bagel” faint? “We have evidence that more than 150,000 Americans had a mild and undiagnosed case of polio and could be at risk for all PPS, not just ‘vaso-bagel’ problems, says Bruno. Bruno’s 2001 International CFS Study found that 20% of baby-boomers, like the President, who are diagnosed with CFS today had a childhood illness that looked like a mild case of “non-paralytic” polio. “So at least those 20% of baby-boomers may have PPS today, not CFS,” explained Bruno. “But the President doesn’t have chronic fatigue,” said Bruno. “You don’t need to diagnose him as a hidden polio survivor to explain his faint. Although rare, ‘vaso-bagel’ syncope does happen to those who didn’t have polio.”
 

If anyone has anything – news, information, etc. that they would like to be put into the next newsletter, please contact me by e-mail at scalvaneso@hotmail.com, and I would be happy to insert the information. Please expect the next newsletter somewhere around the beginning of June 2002.

Susan M. Calvaneso
Recording Secretary
February 28, 2002