chiari spinal stenosis & fluoride

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Dr. Rosner asserts that spinal stenosis is part of the problem in

chiari malformation

Google search = fluoride spinal stenosis

The first website is:

http://www.niams.nih.gov/hi/topics/spinalstenosis/spinal_sten.htm

Nonarthritic Acquired Spinal Stenosis

The following conditions that are not related to arthritis or

degenerative disease are causes of acquired spinal stenosis:

Tumors of the spine are abnormal growths of soft tissue that may

affect the spinal canal directly by inflammation or by growth of

tissue into the canal. Tissue growth may lead to bone resorption

(bone loss due to overactivity of certain bone cells) or displacement

of bone and the eventual collapse of the supporting framework of the

vertebral column.

Trauma (accidents) may either dislocate the spine and the spinal

canal or cause burst fractures that produce fragments of bone that

penetrate the canal.

Although surgery that involves fusion (union) of vertebrae may be

skillfully performed, tissue swelling after surgery may place

pressure on the spinal cord.

Paget's disease of bone is a chronic (long-term) disorder that

typically results in enlarged and deformed bones. Excessive bone

breakdown and formation cause thick and fragile bone. As a result,

bone pain, arthritis, noticeable deformities, and fractures can

occur. The disease can affect any bone of the body, but is often

found in the spine. The blood supply that feeds healthy nerve tissue

may be diverted to the area of involved bone. Also, structural

deformities of the involved vertebrae can cause narrowing of the

spinal canal, producing a variety of neurological symptoms.

Fluorosis is an excessive level of fluoride in the body. It may

result from chronic inhalation of industrial dusts or gases

contaminated with fluorides, prolonged ingestion of water containing

large amounts of fluorides, or accidental ingestion of fluoride-

containing insecticides. The condition may lead to calcified spinal

ligaments or softened bones and to degenerative conditions like

spinal stenosis.

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http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE/PE-STEN.HTM

Stenosis can also be caused by other degenerative conditions such as

spondylosis or spondylolisthesis; traumatic conditions such as tissue

swelling after surgery, vertebral fracture, and dislocation; skeletal

conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis; or

metabolic conditions such as Paget's disease or fluorosis, an

excessive level of fluoride in the body

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http://210.18.47.195/vmu1.2/dmr/dmrdata/cme/fluorosis/Fluorosis.htm

Pre skeletal stage: The duration of this stage may vary with the

amount of fluoride daily ingested. Reportedly, it ranges from 10 to

30 years or even longer in endemic areas and from 10 to 15 years or

longer in cases of industrial fluorosis (Singh and Jolly 1970; e

et al 1970). It is usually free of any signs or symptoms in its early

stages in endemic regions. The persons concerned may occasionally

complain of pains in the small joints of the limbs and back, which

are often mistaken for rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing

spondylitis. However, various reports from Europe and America suggest

that there would be symptoms corresponding to gastrointestinal,

musculoskeletal, respiratory and visceral systems during this stage

(Roholm 1937, Waldbott 1956; Petraborg 1974). The majority of these

visceral symptoms may be due to allergy to fluoride in susceptible

individuals or the effect of fluoride on the various target organs

and these are nonspecific.

Myelopathy: Patients suffering from fluorosis usually experience

difficulty in walking because of the progressive weakness in the

lower limbs. With the spreading of this weakness to the upper limbs,

neurological disabilities occur that make the patient bedridden.

Cranial nerve lesions: The skull is not much affected in fluorosis

and basal cranial nerve foraminae are not usually encroached upon

except at advanced stages of the disease (Singh et al 1963). Of the

cranial nerves, the most frequently affected, in a quarter of the

cases investigated, has been the eighth nerve. In all such cases

calvarial changes caused by fluorosis are discernible. A progressive

high frequency perceptive deafness is observed. Moreover, the bone

conduction is affected more than air conduction. Neverthless, total

deafness rarely occurs. It is, perhaps, the compression of the nerve

in the sclerosed and narrowed auditary canal that accounts for the

deafness in fluorosis (Rao and Siddiqui1962).

Cerebrovascular accidents: Involvement of vertebrobasilar circulation

caused by the compression of cervical osteophytes may occasionally

occur(Singh and Jolly 1970). Increased calcifications of major

vessels and disturbance of lipid metabolism that has been reported in

fluorosis may bring about cerebrovascular accidents.

The occurance of certain other neurological features like headache,

tetaniform convulsions, mental depression, electroencephalographic

disturbances in fluorosis have also been reported (Waldbott 1962).

In fluorosis there is involvement of the rib cage, which causes

restrictive lung disease. Vital capacity is reduced and FEV1/FVC

ratio is above 85% and respiratory curve of flow- volume loop is

flattened when the lungs are abnormally stiff in late stages due to

restrictive ventilatory defect

Radiology of fluorosis;

The skull shows minimal changes in the calvarial bones. Sclerosis of

bone at the sutural lines is one of the minor manifestations.

However, the bones at the base show marked thickening. The

petroclinoid ligaments show dense calcification. The occipital

protuberance is very prominent and exostoses may be occasionally

noted. Small osteophytes may encroach upon the foramina and produce

cranial nerve palsies, as for instance, the 8th nerve. A tendency

toward calcification may be noted in the falx cerebri.

Osteosclerosis is a well-known effect of chronic fluoride

intoxication, which can also cause osteoporosis and osteomalacia. It

was Roholm (1937) who describing bone changes in industrial fluorosis

suggested that in certain cases osteoporosis could occur.

Computed tomography is the best imaging modality for visualization of

bony pathology and it provides more details than plain skiagrams.

Besides proper appreciation of the morphological anatomy, density of

the various parts of the vertebra, it shows the exact location and

direction of the osteophytes compressing the various neural elements

and thus helps in proper surgical planning. Spinal canal and root

canal stenosis are also better appreciated with CT scan

MRI is superior to CT in the evaluation of cervical and upper dorsal

area because of shoulder girdle artifact on CT image, but in

demonstration of minute ossification of ligaments and spinal canal

stenosis, CT is more useful.

Surgical management of skeletal fluorosis with neurological

manifestations:

Neurological manifestations of fluorosis are mainly mechanical in

nature although at advanced stages secondary vascular changes may

supervene. Surgery obviously can be of little help to the alleviation

of neurological deficits in view of the extensive prevalence of the

disease. Surgical decompression is only possible in such of those

early cases in which the compression is confined to a small segment

of the vertebral column. But management of even these cases bristles

with problems because of the marked fixity of the spine and rigidity

of the thoracic cage. Moreover, the markedly reduced expansion of the

chest and the vital capacity of the lungs tend to create

postoperative chest complications. Furthermore, the intubation of the

trachea during anesthesia becomes problematic because of the rigidity

of the cervical spine and what is more because of the difficulty

experienced even in positioning of the spine during surgery. That is

why laminectomy, which has to be extensive in view of the disease

being widespread, becomes difficult and burholes have to be used for

removing laminae (Aggarwal and Singh 1964; Webb-Peploe and

Bradely1966; Lester 1974; Reddy et al 1974; Naidu et al.1994).

However, the results of surgical decompression of the spine

undertaken in a select group of cases were found to be encouraging in

the case of cervical region, but discouraging in that of dorsal

region (Reddy et al 1974) which might be attributed to the

pecularities of the anatomical features of these regions.

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Does fluoride cause brain swelling?

google search = fluoride swelling myelin

http://www.sonic.net/kryptox/press/news98.htm

Another presentation at the ISFR conference showed photographs of

microscopic brain damage of rats which drank water with sodium

fluoride (NaF). Dr. Chubek and co-workers found that the rats on the

fluoridated water for 21 days had the highest concentrations of NaF

and had brain cells that were smaller and mishapen. The myelin, a

substance which surrounds certain axons and nerve fibers, was

swollen:

" A neuropathological study and computerized morphometric analyses

revealed revealed a marked shrinkage of cerebellar granular and

Purkinje cells, perivascular myelin swelling, and astroglia reaction,

especially in the white matter of brains in the NaF-treated animals.

Neuronal and myelin changes appeared to be more pronounced ... "

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/doewatch/message/9374

Metabolic Pathogenesis Hypothesis for

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia

In discussing chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM),

as is

true for other disorders, it is important to distinguish between the

root

cause (etiology), the development of the disease (pathogenesis) and

the

abnormal function of the body after the disease has become established

(pathophysiology). The main emphasis of this paper is the

pathogenesis of

these disorders, but there is also discussion of some etiologies

proposed

by others. .......

.........In the case of neurons,

the major use of ATP is to drive the sodium-potassium ATPase ion

pumps.

When these are short of ATP, they are unable to maintain the

intracellular

ion concentrations at the proper values. This leads to a change in the

osmotic potential inside the cells, because the pumps normally move

three

sodium ions out when they bring two potassium ions in. The results

are a

decreased concentration of potassium inside the cells and an increased

concentration of ions in general inside, and the latter causes the

cells to

absorb water and swell. This produces the observed edema, and may be

the

origin of the need to perform Chiari surgergy in some PWCs. Their

brains

may have have swollen too much for the available space allowed by the

bones

of the head and neck. Another effect of the lack of ATP for the ion

pumps

is that the membrane potential drops, and this reduces the threshold

for

firing action potentials (nerve impulses). This may be one of the

origins

of the increased sensation of pain in FM. (The other appears to be

spinal

in location, and appears to be associated with lowered serotonin.)

http://www.xrefer.com/entry/463479

Sodium pump

A mechanism by which sodium ions are transported out of a eukaryotic

cell across the cell membrane. The process requires energy in the

form of ATP, being a form of active transport

. The most important type is sodium/potassium ATPase,

which is a membrane protein that exchanges sodium ions (Na+) for

potassium ions (K+), thus maintaining the differential concentrations

of each ion across the cell membrane. This differential is vital to

cellular function, e.g. in establishing the resting potential

of a neurone.