“Step Inside MS”, MS SIMULATOR

[lady_express_44]

What do you think . . . could it have the opposite effect for us?:

"LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Friday and Saturday, September 7th and 8th at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles, residents have a unique opportunity to experience a brief simulation of what it is like for those living with multiple sclerosis (MS) through a state-of-the-art multi-media educational event called Step Inside MS. The event allows participants to experience the world from the perspective of someone with MS and learn how they can be more understanding and supportive of the estimated 12,500 people with MS in the Southern California.

... Accompanied by a trained attendant, participants enter a small theatrical simulator that houses a treadmill where they will be outfitted with goggles and sensory gloves so they experience many of the symptoms that people with MS often encounter, including unpredictable loss of muscle control and coordination problems, numbness and tingling in the hands, hot flashes, and visual and cognitive impairment such as memory loss and decreased verbal ability. The simulation also illustrates social hurdles that a person with MS often faces."

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070905005827&newsLang=en

Cherie

[Jakaloke]

That sounds pretty good, but for best effect, they should advise participants to stay awake for at least 24 hours and to exercise vigorously for an hour or so before beginning the simulation.:)

Scott

[Erin]

tell the participants they have to run a marathon within 2hrs before doing the simulation (so that their legs will be nice and tired), they also have to have some novocaine injected into their mouths (to numb them up and to make it hard to speak), they have to wear special shoes that keeps them from lifting their feet at the ankles correctly (to simulate food drop), a good whack on the head (to simulate a migraine), and a kick to the spine (to simulate back pains)

Oh, and also give them some laxatives and a diuretic or two to simulate the loss of bowel and bladder control.

Did I forget any??

Oh yeah, they can have an injection of a paralytic agent like Curare to simulate the paralysis.

[BBS1951]

Dont forget the Red fire ants inside the gloves to bite them.

[Erin]

darn...I forgot about the fire ants!

Oh, and they have to figure out someway to make their feet and/or hands to be freezing cold while still having an on-fire-burning sensation.

and they also have to wear boots full of thumbtacks.

and they have to learn how to inject themselves with syringes or an autoject so they can see what it's like to do that everyday. (for purposes of the simulation, they can inject saline every hour for about 6 or 7hrs)

[new2TX1]

I hadn't heard the fire ants one before! Really good, I've stepped on a fire ant hill in my younger-non MS life, and experience nerve pain now. Pretty darn close.

Someone once posted another one I haven't forgotten, amazing huh? Fastening bungi cords along legs and arms. I don't have the exact words the poster used, but, you get the picture.

I'd like to know how they are simulating cognitive problems. I am seriously curious about this thing, although, I don't know if I would go through the simulator. Oddly, even though I live with all that stuff, the thought of purposely subjecting myself to "all that stuff" is unsettling.. ahhh frightening.

[Erin]

I hadn't heard the fire ants one before! Really good, I've stepped on a fire ant hill in my younger-non MS life, and experience nerve pain now. Pretty darn close.

Someone once posted another one I haven't forgotten, amazing huh? Fastening bungi cords along legs and arms. I don't have the exact words the poster used, but, you get the picture.

I'd like to know how they are simulating cognitive problems. I am seriously curious about this thing, although, I don't know if I would go through the simulator. Oddly, even though I live with all that stuff, the thought of purposely subjecting myself to "all that stuff" is unsettling.. ahhh frightening.

For the cognitive problems, you could get them drunk or stoned. (that's a waste of good alcohol tho...)

I went to South Dakota earlier this year. Went to a place near Mt Rushmore called The Cosmos. Basically it's a little tourist trap...they claim it's an area that has the trees growing weird directions, and the buildings are all leaning kinda crazy. Even tho I knew it was a trick, my boyfriend and I went to see it, because we thought it was interesting how they made stuff look weird.

Basically, their advertisement claims that gravity acts differently in this spot. So, when you go into the buildings, you feel totally off balance, and there's an optical illusion that the buildings are being twisted.

When I went into the building, I had to turn and comment to my boyfriend and tell him that "this is what MS feels like". (I wasnt having any weird MS symptoms all that week...felt pretty normal until I went to the Cosmos)

My boyfriend said he felt dizzy, off balance, he couldnt walk straight in the Cosmos buildings. I told him "welcome to my world when I'm having a bad day.". He seems to be a lot more empathetic towards me when I'm not feeling good now. Of course, he didnt get to feel all the nastier symptoms like vision loss, the migraines, true vertigo, or the numbness. But at least he knows how I feel when I'm walking weird and just a little dizzy.

Of course, it's the way they constructed the buildings, and they bend the trees on purpose so they'll grow in weird shapes and the clever use of some basic optical illusions are how they make it look like gravity is wonky there.

http://www.cosmosmysteryarea.com/

[karilann]

Erin; we have those places in Michigan called "mystery spot". I'm glad you mentioned one because now I'm going to try and get my hubby in one. I went in once as a little girl and I remember how it felt:eek:

Anything that gets the point across is well worth exploring.

[Erin]

Erin; we have those places in Michigan called "mystery spot". I'm glad you mentioned one because now I'm going to try and get my hubby in one. I went in once as a little girl and I remember how it felt:eek:

Anything that gets the point across is well worth exploring.

You know, my boyfriend wants to move to South Dakota and run one of those mystery spots. He thought the way that they had set stuff up was really cool, and he thinks that it would be fun to manage one. He's been reading up on how to pick a spot for it and how to arrange things to make it seem "mysterious".

I went thru the thing once, and that was enough for me. It trigger feelings and sensations that were way too much like a bad MS day.

[BBS1951]

They need a cattle prod so that when the person flexes his neck, someone shocks him in the legs.

[stickman]

Ahhhhhhh, The Mistery Spots.. Thats A Good Point, Funny I Did't Thing Of That For A Way To Discribe The Feeling. My Dad Knew Most Of Them Around The State And Iv'e Been In My Share. Then After I Grew Up... Ha. Some Of Us Whould Make A Road Trip And Would Go Up To Osscoda And See My Cousin, Grab Some Beers And Hit The One By Tawas.

[Abby2006]

for vertigo, a round stool and a fifth of Jim Beam

Abby

http://img166.**********.us/img166/7686/apples2iw5.gif

[lady_express_44]

Some itching powder in their hair, on their arms and legs.

Send wafts of lovely smelling things through the room, like raw sewage, dirty diapers, and boiling beef bones.

Ask them questions in French and make them respond in German.

Give them all a spinal tap before they enter the room. :D