The Pros And Cons Of Craniosacral Therapy

In 1848, Phineas Gage was a 25 year old working man. An accident occurred to him at work one day which radically changed how the brain was viewed and known to function. He was helping to prepare the way for railroads to be put down when an explosion happened unexpectedly and it sent a 43 inch tamping iron into Phineas Gage’s head through his face, skull and brain. The tamping iron went all the way through and landed some ways off. The remarkable thing was that Gage became conscious within a matter of a few minutes after the incident. Not only did he wake up but he still had the ability to walk and to talk. Even though Gage survived his injuries he was no longer the same.

Alexandra Tsiaras came up with a phenomenal way of describing conception to birth in his interview he did for Ted Talk. There were several things and little details that I truthfully did not know happened so fast during a woman’s pregnancy. It amazes me how people can go through with abortion after watching a video like Conception to Birth. Alexandra Tsiara’s visuals on conception to birth show a whole new outline of how fast a baby becomes a human, and that makes it that much more precious.

Anencephaly is described as neural tube defect that has severe limits on the lifespan of affected infants. The condition is likely to contribute to the failure of the neural tissue to an extent that it can completely close at the cephalic end of the neural system. This medical condition in infants tends to occur between the third and fourth week of a woman's pregnancy resulting in the absence of the cerebral cortex though the brain stem remains intact. While the brain stem manages autonomic functions like blood pressure and heart rate, the cerebral cortex is in charge of functions like purposeful actions, memories, consciousness, and emotions. Infants with these conditions who are born alive tend to have a basic brain stem that can support reflex action like breathing as well as certain reactions to touch or sound. There are several arguments that have been raised regarding the use organs of anencephalic infants who are born alive to save the lives of other newborns. These arguments have emerged because of the consideration that infants with anencephaly are not persons.

Although challenging, the exploration of anatomy sealed any doubt that I may have had about

Hope is a very delicate species that requires a commitment. “The Radiologist stops, freezes one of the many swirls of oceanic gray, and clicks repeatedly, a single moment within the long, cavernous weather map that is the Baby's insides.” The mother’s compelling comparison of “swirls of oceanic gray” to a medical machine and “cavernous weather map” to her baby’s internal organs is depressing. Similarly to the weather and the ocean, cancer is endless. They continue to diverge and reappear. However, if one knows how to swim, they may be in luck as there is always a land or an anchor somewhere in the seemingly infinite distance of blue water. Moore continues to illustrate the mother’s longing to hold onto hope with additional metaphors later in the story. “It is old and thin, like a mashed flower saved from a dance; she dabs it at her eyes and nose.” The mother’s comparison of her old and thin tissue to a mashed flower demonstrates her clench onto hope. A flower from a dance is composed of not only a beautiful physique but of the joy and bliss that it donates to its receiver. A tissue might not have a physical quality; however, a tissue is composed of the faith that things will be better as the tissue sooths the tired eyes and the inflamed nose, allowing the crier to see life with a clearer sight.

The notion of capability to live, as applied to a fetus or a neonate, must be understood as having the sense of capability to live, albeit with help, even if it helps crucial for staying

A seemingly normal man sits on the exam table in a doctor’s office. He was just referred from the emergency room of the hospital moments earlier and his wife is outside the door, making a call. Neurologist and author of Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self walks in and introduces himself as Dr. Feinberg. The man calls himself John and offers his right hand for Feinberg to shake. Then, to Feinberg’s astonishment, he sees his patient had “what looked like severe chemical burns on his hands; the skin was actually seared away, exposing the muscle and bone” (Feinberg 2). When asked about the condition of his hands, John replies that he was doing some work around the house and had a few “little burns.” Because of damage to a certain part

She craved minimal stimulation as her brain on overloaded with sensory processing. In the beginning, she would have to sleep for six hours to allow herself twenty minutes of energy. As time passed, her energy level increased significantly. Furthermore, she needed a calm atmosphere that her mother was more than happy to provide for her. Taylor’s mother monitored the visitation time, the sound of the television, and picked up the ever-ringing phone. When she could not remember what something was, her mother facilitated creating the new memory. For example, Jill could not recall what “a tuna” actually was, so her mother made it for lunch to help her know. The mother was such a help, as she was integral in generating new sensory input such as color and puzzles. Since it was her brain’s left hemisphere that received the damage, reading and math were two exceptionally difficult feats. Taylor’s mother helped her along with learning these abstract concepts. After the surgery to remove the remnants of the arteriovenous malformation, she prepared herself to perform a presentation at a college. She watched the videotape of one of her past presentations repeatedly to help regain public speaking skills. Although she did not understand some of what she was saying, she taught herself the words and the pronunciations of the most difficult ones. She presented the information with success. Months after the stroke, she allowed herself to return to working at the Brain Bank. She began with online tasks, which turned into driving to the hospital a few days a week. Then she attended her 20 year high school reunion, which helped her relearn lost memories. After that, she made the decision to step down from being on the NAMI Board of Directors. She, with the help of her guitar, presented her short speech to over 2,000 members. One year after her stroke, she moved to her hometown. It was there that she was

Siegel provides enlightening guidance in his chapter through using clearly explained analogies, metaphors, diagrams, emerging neuroscience research, and spiritual wisdom. In Part I of this novel, the author primarily focuses on the structure and bountiful abilities of the brain, such as neuroplasticity, “the term used to describe the capacity for creating new neural connections and growing new neurons in response to experience” (5). These new neural connections make way for change, by not only strengthening the areas that one may be weak in, but by also learning how to make better and more conscious choices when faced with turbulence. In Part II, Siegel explores the real-world accounts of this turbulence and how patients are able to utilize mindsight to change how they focus their attention by finding a

On December 23, 2014, neurosurgeon Jeffrey Leonard resected a brain tumor in a ten year old girl that was previously thought to be inoperable. Although it took two operations, due to modern technology and education Dr. Leonard was successful. The girl fully recovered from surgery and was awake and responsive the next morning. Modern surgeons’ knowledge of the human brain has evolved immensely through the ages. The first brain surgeons did not have anywhere near the knowledge that we possess today, but it is because of them that the current treatment of neurological problems is so advanced. Doctors can now perform advanced procedures such as the resection of tumors and clipping of aneurysms all while a patient is numbed and unconscious when previously treatment was a painful shot in the dark. Neurosurgery has evolved not only through extensive research of anatomy and a change in religious perspective, but came hand in hand with the development of anesthetics and the world’s major advancements in radiology and imaging.

In this case, the deciding factor can come down to what trigger word a doctor uses, which is a risky game to play with the life of a newborn. The effects of trigger words are also valid with other medical treatments depending on what trigger word is used and what connotation it has it will affect the patient’s choice for the better or the worse, which makes metaphors in medicine a double-edged

Looking at the extraordinary medical procedures that have become routine today, one rarely stops to CONTEMPLATE the backgrounds or research that went into creating our rich medical knowledge, but not a single one of these few could ever imagine the dark background behind much of our understanding of iatrics. It would often be assumed to be a result of tests on animals, dissections of cadavers, or through observational study. On the contrary, much of it comes as a result of twisted, malicious, and inhumane experimentation on live human beings, with a complete disregard for human life. To these doctors, the victims weren’t human; they were much less than that. Seeing as they personally designed these experiments and desired to learn more

You looked down at your hands again, dried and cracked. You had been doing better for a while, but for some reason, recently you’d been falling into the same old habits. The loops and the headaches were getting bad again, and even the urge to cut had been returning. But now, these things were becoming stronger than ever. And if you had noticed, that means everyone else would too. It didn’t take Ashley very long to catch on, mostly because she or some other nurse had to inspect your room once a week. Anything they didn’t like or they thought was dangerous was

For ethical reasons, he could not ex-periment on human infants so decided on rhesus macaques, a medium sized monkey. Early experi-ments saw the use of sanitary pads to line their cages and observed that they would protest when it was removed(Custance,2012,p.201).He saw that despite the monkeys having all their needs in food and shelter cared for they bonded with the only soft object. From this he hypothesized that the specif-ic tactile qualities of the what provided stimuli were more important than food. The monkeys share 94 percent of DNA which meant he could better apply the research after to humans. In 1958 he conduct-ed an experiment with two different types of surrogate mothers, one with a soft rubber outside and warmed by a lightbulb and the other being wire mesh but having a milk bottle inserted. The soft moth-er was called a “terry cloth mother”(Custance,2012,p.205).His experiment proved clear preference for the terry cloth mother, only leaving it to feed when it did not have the bottle itself before returning to the warmth and comfort. In one experiment, he made the mother abusive. This mother he called ‘iron maiden’ which blew air into the babies face as well as at intervals it prodding the baby away. He went on to see what would happen if certain babies would have no access to the outside world. They

In chapter 3, I was very fascinated with the formation of a newborn. From the prenatal development that is divided into three periods-the germinal period which is after conception, the period of very rapid cell division and initial cell differentiation lasting for approximately 2 weeks. The embryonic period, is the second prenatal period, which last from implantation to the end of the second month after conception; all major structures and organs are formed. The final stage which is the fetal period, last from the end of the second month after conception until birth. I really love babies and I once wanted to be an OBGYN but I am very dramatic and emotional so I had to explore other options that revolved around my interest which led me to my