June is National Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month !




     Stroke, Bell's palsy, and sudden deafness are conditions that each have a specific window of time to get evaluated or treated. Learn the signs and seek immediate help to reduce or reverse any disability.




Stroke: There are two kinds of stroke. An ischemic stroke is a blockage that prevents blood flow to the brain, says David Wang, DO, FAAN, chair of The American Academy of Neurology Stroke Section and Clinical professor of neurology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria.


Know the signs:

1. Facial droop
2. Arm or leg weakness
3. Speech problems (an inability to speak or garbled speech)
4. Sudden bad headache
5. Double vision
6. Difficulty walking
7. Vision loss
8. Sudden loss of sensation on one side of the body

                                Pharmaceutical companies make me hot under the collar:


                                             We Americans need a call to action:


The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and other leading medical organizations have called for major changes in how drug prices are determined in the United States. In early 2017, the AAN issued a position statement on three major areas of action that would lower drug costs.




#1:  Negotiate Price: Grant authority to federal agencies to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers under Medicare . This would allow the government to use its purchasing power to obtain prescription drugs at a lower price.( and where Medicare goes, private insurers typically follow.)


#2:  Be Transparent : Require manufacturers to disclose pricing information, including how drugs are priced and the prices paid by insurers and consumers, and limit direct -to-consumer advertising, which creates demand for unnecessary or inappropriate medications and contributes to marketing costs.


#3:  Allow importation : Allow the importation of the same high-quality prescription drugs from Canada when prices for those prescriptions are less expensive than in the United States. Many specialty drugs are priced much higher in the United States than in other countries.