chronic health

[starfox]

I've posted a few things on here before, but I'm continuing to try and refine things...

I'm a first year medical student and I've been working on a proposal for my medical school to do a study on the Appalachian trail. I would like to study the health effects of people backpacking the trail.

I'd like to get a sense of how many people are hiking the trail with chronic health problems - with an aim to gain control over those problems.

If you are, would you be interested in participating in a project, basically aimed at telling your story along the trail - as involved as you would like it to be.

Thanks.

[orangebug]

Just look for all the grey heads among the hikers.

Define chronic illness, which could simply be obesity, hypertension, anxiety, depression and the like. One could suggest that at least one hiker famously used the AT to deal with PTSD.

But most of us over 50 have begun to develop the chronic conditions that will eventually become chronic disease.

[Appalachian Tater]

It seemed to me that almost half the people under 30 were on anti-depressants and a quarter more should have been but were self-medicating with alcohol and marijuana. Wellbutrin was especially popular but it might be a different drug now. Hiking the trail seemed to be good treatment as well.

[Dogwood]

Send me a PM so I can learn more about who qualifies for your study. If I do, I will share my story.

[weary]

I've posted a few things on here before, but I'm continuing to try and refine things...

I'm a first year medical student and I've been working on a proposal for my medical school to do a study on the Appalachian trail. I would like to study the health effects of people backpacking the trail.

I'd like to get a sense of how many people are hiking the trail with chronic health problems - with an aim to gain control over those problems.

If you are, would you be interested in participating in a project, basically aimed at telling your story along the trail - as involved as you would like it to be.

Thanks.

I walked north in 1993 with a leaky heart valve that slowed me down greatly when going up hills. I had the valve replaced a decade later. Unfortunately the cardiologist gave me amiodarone to regulate my heart rhythm, but failed to recognize the symptoms of the amiodarone poisoning my lungs. The resulting scar tissue slowed my hiking. The surgery thus made matters worse, not better.

This won't help your research. But I offer it as a precaution. You need to make sure you know the symptoms of the common side effects of the medicines you prescribe once you become a doctor.

Weary

[Blissful]

Send me a PM so I can learn more about who qualifies for your study. If I do, I will share my story.

Same here.