Number of students with Tourette symptoms grows

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ApproachingLight
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Sorry for the less than graceful opinion without any concrete info. Had a sister who had it, and we became convinced it was more about attention.

If it is environmental, why only girls? If environmental why only teenage girls? That just doesn't make sense.

Brockovich discusses LeRoy on Dr. Drew

Brian Tabor
Posted by: Eli George
LeROY, N.Y. (WIVB) - Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is joining the quest for answers about a mysterious illness affecting at least a dozen high school students in LeRoy.

Brockovich appeared on HLN's Dr. Drew program Friday night and said she is investigating a train derailment four miles from LeRoy schools back in 1970 that dumped thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals. Brockovich believes the chemicals were never cleaned up and 40 years later that may be affecting children in LeRoy.

"[The EPA had an] agreement order with the railroad to start a pre-remedial phase to build a vapor-extraction system for the bedrock, to get the toxins out. It does not appear to have been done," said Brockovich.

She says she's sending a team to take soil samples in LeRoy.


http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/genesee/br ... on-dr-drew
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Matt
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well.. as much as modern feminism would like to teach us otherwise, the body chemistry and minds of males and females are different. Women are also exposed to certain forms of toxic contamination men aren't (TSS for example).
Also behavior. Perhaps the behavior led them to exposure. For example, something as simple as women going to the women's room, men to the men's room.
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ApproachingLight
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K Matt. So let's follow this. Not for some regulators who could justify their jobs by finding some cause. But hopefully for some truth. Seems like a lot of sniffers right now.
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Matt
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Hopefully they find something. Post any updates if you find them.
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The story was on nightly news last night.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/
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Matt
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Not sure how yelling at people is helping, other than spreading panic. Sit down, shut up and act like an adult. :down:
Angry parents, association does not prove causation.

Frustrated Parents Let Words Fly During LeRoy Meeting
LeRoy, N.Y. – The frustration and confusion that’s spread throughout LeRoy over the past few months seemed to boil over at a meeting with parents and the superintendent Saturday morning, as hundreds of people packed the high school auditorium looking for answers as to why at least a dozen girls in the small town have developed a mysterious illness.

“There’s no environmental cause or infection cause to the condition that we’re seeing in our students,” Superintendent Kim Cox reassured parents.

Saturday was the first time Cox publicly addressed the media’s and parents’ concerns about the uncontrollable “tics” similar to Tourettes syndrome exhibited by the girls.

At least three parents stood up at a microphone in the middle of the auditorium and began yelling.

We aren’t buying what you’re selling!” said Patrick Frauley.

On multiple occasions, Cox and a panel from Leader Professional Services, Inc. — an independent testing firm from Pittsford — tried to respond to parents’ questions about testing that’s being done on school grounds, but were interrupted by people in the crowd.

“You are not doing your job! You are not doing you job at all,” one parent yelled from the audience. “You need to prove to us that [the high school] is a safe place to put our children.”
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http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/ ... 2RYFQ.cspx
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I also saw on the news that a woman has also gotten symptoms of this.


http://news.yahoo.com/four-more-suspect ... 00065.html

Conversion disorder made the headlines Friday as the New York State Health Department released its preliminary findings regarding 12 girls in LeRoy who have been diagnosed with the disorder beginning late last year. It was also announced the doctor treating the 12 cases had potentially identified at least four more in the last two days.

What is conversion disorder?

According to the Mayo Clinic, the diagnosis of "conversion disorder" was originally conceived as a term to describe a physical health problem that has its roots in a mental or emotional crisis. A person who is diagnosed with a conversion disorder typically cannot control the physical manifestation of the mental or emotional crisis in question, and cannot control the physical symptoms that result.

Conversion disorders are usually fairly temporary, although while the person is suffering from one it can cause severe difficulties and distress. Symptoms typically include sudden limitations or changes in either a person's physical movement or one or more of their senses.

How is it treated?

CNN reports there are a range of treatments available. Because the root causes are stress-related, treatments often center on counseling of some kind. Anti-stress or anti-anxiety medications might also be temporarily given. In cases where the physical manifestations of the disorder are particularly troublesome or limiting, physical therapy may also be prescribed, and hypnosis and even magnetic stimulation of the brain may be attempted as therapy to aid an afflicted person.

How is it diagnosed?

By ruling out everything else, including other neurological diseases or the possibility that a person is being dishonest about their symptoms. In the case of the LeRoy students, the New York Health Department looked at environmental factors as well, including the possibility of contaminants from a 1970 train wreck and chemical spill site making their way into the school's systems somehow. Possible undiagnosed adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine and the possibility of illness caused by strep bacteria were also researched before being discarded for lack of evidence.

What caused the conversion disorder to develop in the LeRoy students?

No one is certain. Preliminary reports suggested a connection between social media and the spread of the conversion disorder among the students, although this remains unconfirmed. Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, who is treating the patients, pointed out to NBC affiliate WGRZ 2 that LeRoy is a small town and the students know each other, which might have contributed to the disorder's spread.
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It seems highly unlikely that either of the chemicals spilled by the train derailment are causing this, but it's a claim that needs to be taken seriously. First, neither chemical is a neurotoxin. Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a very common industrial and dry cleaning solvent that thousands of men and women have been exposed to. It certainly causes cancer, but not these kinds of neurological effects. Between the distance from the spill to the school, and the time period for dilution and natural degradation to occur, any exposure would be at very low levels, similar to what people living or working near a dry cleaner would experience. Nowhere else is Tourettes being seen. Cyanide is the other contaminant that was spilled, in the form of a solid cyanide salt. This was readily cleaned up by digging up the soil that it was spilled on to. But OK, let's assume that some of it was left behind, and it dissolved into the groundwater and 40 years later someone drank it. Again, the concentrations would be very, very low. But more importantly, cyanide affects the body by preventing hemoglobin in the blood from absorbing oxygen. The skin turns blue (cyan), and the critical organs become oxygen starved. This is not what is happening to these children.

If I had to speculate, which everyone else seems to be doing, I would be concerned about a food-borne or mold/fungus-based neurotoxin. I appreciate the concern and frustration of the parents, but chasing wild geese is not the answer.
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