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4B Daily News ��� Wednesday, February 20, 2013 FEATURES Recovering addict needs parents��� support Jury out on epidural addiction is hard and scary, Dear Annie: I am a 19and instead of helping, they year-old heroin addict strivattack. I don���t know what ing toward recovery. I go to else I can do. ��� Begging for five Narcotics Anonymous Mummy and Daddy meetings a week, but I have Dear Begging: Your paroccasional setbacks. After ents are frightened ��� for the most recent incident, I you and for your sister ��� left drug paraphernalia in and they also don���t trust the bathroom. I took full responsibility and was Annie���s you. Getting off of hard drugs is a difficult process, ashamed and disgusted and we commend your with myself. But the first thing my mother said was, by Kathy Mitchell efforts. Your parents��� sup������Did you leave that out on and Marcy Sugar port is important. But if your setbacks include using drugs purpose so your sister could find it and start experimenting? in their home and leaving paraphernalia in plain sight, it contributes to She���s only 13!������ Annie, my sister is anti-drugs, their anger. Would your parents help with and I talk to her a lot about the subject. I believe openness and honesty the cost of a reputable rehab faciliare the keys to avoidance, and I will ty? The Salvation Army also offers do everything I can to save her from a program. You are making making the same mistakes I have progress, but it is often beneficial to be separated from the culture that made. My parents will never under- contributes to your drug use. Please stand addiction, but I wish they show your parents this letter, and would try a little harder. I have tell them you wrote it. We hope it repeatedly asked them to come to helps. Dear Annie: My father has one NA meeting. I wrote them a three-page letter explaining the Alzheimer���s, and I have attended a importance of my going to meetings support group for five years. I have and how valuable their support learned a lot. Please let your readers know that would be to me. I arranged for people to talk to my parents so they the Alzheimer���s Association offers could ask questions that might be support groups, as well as informatoo uncomfortable to ask me direct- tion on local services, how to find ly, but they had no interest. They good medical help and social workdiscourage me from attending meet- ers who can assist with problems ings, and when I brought home lit- including wandering, driving and erature from NA for them, they left medication. You can learn how othit on the floor, and the dog chewed ers have dealt with similar problems. There is informational literait. I am heartbroken and need their ture on how to prepare for what support so much. Fighting my may happen next with your loved Mailbox one. People who do not live in the area with the affected relative (considered a long-distance caregiver) can also benefit greatly from attending a support group where they live. The association���s focus is on all dementias, not just Alzheimer���s. Thank you for spreading the word. ��� Caring for Dad Dear Dad: We often mention the Alzheimer���s Association in this space. It is an invaluable resource, and we are grateful to you for delineating what they do. Readers can contact them at alz.org. Dear Annie: We, too, went through the same turmoil as ������Indiana Mom������ because of a vindictive daughter-in-law who convinced our idiot son (he���s a Ph.D.) to prevent us from seeing our grandchildren. Finally, no longer willing to tolerate this form of ������grandparent abuse,������ we disinherited my son and grandchildren and will never see them again. It was a painful decision, but we had to do it in order to maintain our stability. In retrospect, it was the right decision. We have regained our emotional equilibrium. ��� California Annie���s Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please email your questions to anniesmailboxcomcast.net, or write to: Annie���s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. Horse rescue to hold gala fundraiser Courtesy photo Safe Haven Horse rescue will be holding its Whinny & Roses Spring Gala fundraiser at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 6 at the Shasta County Fairgrounds in Anderson. The event will feature a prime rib dinner, full bar, music, dancing, door prizes, raffel and live and silent auctions. The nonprofit, all volunteer horse rescue is dedicated to giving abused and neglected horses a second chance. Tickets are $40 and all proceeds go to horses at the rescue. For more information and to purchase tickets, call 347-4941 or visit safehavenhorserescue.org. 9 DAYS LEFT TO VOTE! Vote for your favorite Tehama County Businesses! Online Ballots Only at www.redbluffdailynews.com Five Lucky Voters will be selected at random from all eligible ballots on March 1. Each will receive a CARE TO COMMENT? At redbluffdailynews.com, scroll to the end of any story, click the link and type away. for sciatica pain at random, get an DEAR DOCinjection of the TOR K: I have terreal medicine; the rible pain from rest get just a sciatica. Will placebo injected epidural injections or nothing injecthelp? ed (a sham proceDEAR READdure). ER: I wish I had a One recent definite and noncontroversial Dr. K study found that there was only a answer. But as by Anthony L. with so many Komaroff, M.D. short-term (onemonth) relief of areas of medicine, for most not every study of that symptoms question comes up with patients who got any relief the same answer. Some (and not all did). Another large recent say ���yes��� and some say ���no��� ��� for the average study analyzed results from 23 previous studies patient in the study. Sciatica is a persistent comparing steroid injecaching or burning pain felt tions to placebo (sham) along the sciatic nerve. injections. They found The two sciatic nerves are that for some people, an the longest nerves in the epidural injection gave body. They run from the good relief from leg pain lower back down through (but not back pain) for the buttocks and into each several months. But for of the lower legs. The pain most people, the benefit of sciatica can be severe. was quite small. In addiIt can go away on its own, tion, the pain relief did not but for many people, sci- last; after one year, there atica is a chronic condi- was no difference in pain tion that keeps coming between the sham and treatment groups. back. Given the severity of Sciatica occurs when the sciatic nerve is your sciatica pain, it might pinched, irritated or be worth trying an epidurinjured. Inflammation, al injection. But bear in arthritis or a displaced mind that this treatment disk in the lower spine are may offer only a small and often to blame. (I���ve put short-lasting benefit. In addition, you may an illustration showing the common causes of sciati- have heard of the recent ca on my website, national outbreak of meningitis that was AskDoctorK.com.) Doctors commonly caused by epidural injectreat sciatica with epidural tions of steroids that were injections into the spine. contaminated with fun(The word ���epidural��� gus. This was a very refers to a particular area unusual, but very serious, in the spine.) The injec- complication of the treattions contain a steroid, ment. Some people might which reduces inflamma- have had only brief or no tion. The injections can pain relief. For them, the also contain a long-lasting treatment was worse than the disease. painkiller. Talk to your doctor The different causes of sciatica may be one rea- about whether simpler son that studies come to treatments such as exerdifferent conclusions. If a cises, physical therapy, person���s sciatica is caused compresses, painkilling by inflammation rather medicines, chiropractic than by arthritis, it may be manipulation, massage, more successfully treated yoga or acupuncture by steroids ��� since the might be worth considermain effect of steroids is ing. to reduce inflammation. Dr. Komaroff is a The best kind of study for any treatment proce- physician and professor Harvard Medical dure, like an injection of at To send medicines, is a random- School. go to ized trial that includes a questions, or sham procedure. In this AskDoctorK.com, kind of study, every per- write: Ask Doctor K, 10 son gets an injection but Shattuck St., Second only some people, chosen Floor, Boston, MA 02115. BART to try bike experiment again SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ��� The Bay Area Rapid Transit agency plans to again experi- ment with allowing bikes aboard all trains during peak commuting hours. The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/UBiuGD) that BART will lift its current restriction on the practice for the second time from March 18 through March 22. The ban varies by line, but generally restricts bikes from trains in commute directions from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., when they are particularly crowded. BART previously experimented with lifting the ban over the summer, when it allowed bike access to all trains during commute hours on five Fridays. Agency officials say that experiment was a success. They also plan to reconfigure train cars to make more room for bikes. $100 Shopping Spree Have a news tip? at the Tehama County business of their choice! Call 527-2151, Ext. 112