We need an MS SIMULATOR!

[sllowe]

Well, WE don't really need one - but the non-MSers need one.
Many of us MSers, Limbolanders, and Differential Dxers deal with invisible MS related problems!

Wouldn't it be nice it there were a Simulator?

   Ok -  If I were to make one (I can see it now)....you stand in it, and on the inside your legs feel like 100 lbs, it's hard to maintain balance (the floor can be tilted, lol)
- you have to look through blurry, or jerky hard to focus glasses, things are going on around you at a very normal pace, but you can't keep up because not only can't you concentrate, you can't move so good to get ahold of yourself, and then, wham warm water runs down the person in the simulator's leg for no good reason. But, all the while, everyone that looks at the person in the simulator thinks they are perfect!  They can't see! They can't feel it!

Aaaah, where are out engineers when we need em. I'll draw it, if someone will build it!!!!!

(((hugs)))
-shell

[doublevision1]

This does exist!  It was developed by a company called Human Condition and is called the Step Inside MS Simulator.

At this year's event, I had made the suggestion to the Nancy Davis foundation that they try to have it on display during thr Race to Erase MS gala next year.  Let the fancy celebrities experience symptoms of the disease they are helping raise money to cure, maybe cause them to shell out more dough to know how bad one can feel with MS.


http://www.hcxdesign.com/multiple-sclerosis-simulator/

"Background
There are over 400,000 thousand people in the US currently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Considered an ‘invisible’ disease, its subjective sensory symptoms vary widely from patient to patient and are often entirely undetectable, even with an MRI. Diagnosing this degenerative autoimmune disorder can take up to five years. The critical process relies almost entirely on a crucial understanding between the doctor and the patient.

"I have studied MS and treated patients for 35 years, but Step Inside MS has taken my understanding to a new level," explained neurologist, Dr. David W. Brandes, Medical Director of the Northridge Multiple Sclerosis Center, as well as Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Our end client wanted to take a thought leadership role in MS by presenting physicians with an opportunity to step inside the lives of MS patients.

Objectives
To develop simulations for both the early and late stage patient experiences.
To close the gap between doctors and patients, and create a more accurate, universal awareness of the disease.
To provide medical professionals the understanding they need to treat MS earlier, and more aggressively.
Solution
The Step Inside MS Simulation demonstrates the wide array of early and late stage MS symptoms. In the early stage simulation, participating doctors walk in synchronicity with video media and actively trip without falling, experience numbness and tingling of their hands, and suffer from the inability to perform common tasks such as picking up a cup or typing an email. In the late stage simulation, they experience extreme heat sensitivity, increased loss of motor control, and optical neuritis.

These realistic symptomatic effects are created through the use of state of art technologies, such as custom designed gloves, feedback enabled multi-track treadmills, binaural audio systems, HD video displays, and infrared heating elements.

Touring the US since its 2007 debut at the American Academy of Neurology, the MS Simulation continues to act as an awareness and advocacy tool for Multiple Sclerosis. It has been featured on the front page of The Boston Globe and gains wide press both online and in print."

[essdipity]

Just as an aside---

Last year I went on a Baltic Sea cruise, and one day the sea was very rough, even for a big cruise ship. Passengers in the hallway were lurching around and grabbing for railings on the stairs.

I thought, 'Welcome to my world,' and even said that to a few of my friends/cruisemates. They acted amazed for maybe 10 seconds, and immediately forgot all about it.

Such is life.

ess

[johnniebear]

sorry typo
                      above should have read,

    then  they start become nice, loving people .   Oh well we can only dream..




I'm  bad
johnniebear

[johnniebear]

How  about one those   phaser from Star Trek?  

I can zap the bathroom door when I'm out in public and change the bath room door in a revolving door,  cause the chances are pretty darn good that when I get out the door I have just turn around and go back in a few times..

The Phaser also doubles as politeness weapon- just aim and shoot & all those darn jerks out in public ,  then start become nice, loving people .   Oh well we can only dream..


Good topic
thx
Johnnibear..

[jujuminx]

OMG BOB, you are a riot!!!!!!

You see my husband is an engineer so I know the type well Shell. Their minds are wired compeletly differently than ours. Their sense of humor is slow to warm up but once they get going, they will have you laughing so hard it hurts.

Way to go Bob!~  I think you win the prize for most creative. The visual is priceless!

Julie

[COBOB]

I have very thick skin and I was thinking out the "Old Age (geriatric) Simulation Suit" that was shown on Today earlier in the year from MIT.  I was actually thinking of a suit that  suit that jerked your leg or arm and then stopped working and dropped you to the ground would be quite difficult :-)

How I could poke an ice pick in the back of someone eye for three days would be a problem.  I'm not sure how I can do that without causing real damage.  

Yes, it would be great to show/teach/demonstrate to People without MS what People with MS deal with somewhere between once in a while to every day.  I think you are right, an "Emergency Stop Button" would have to be high on the list.  Most People without MS would be driven MAD by such a simulation (actually, it is technically a stimulation.)

What are the chances that we could line up the neurologists to be the first ones to try it out?

Bob