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6A Daily News – Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Vitality & health Marijuana collective worker says pot gave him his life back SOQUEL (MCT) — Boulder Creek Collective founder Marc Whitehill, a former nurse, has seen a lot of people come through his doors seeking medical marijuana, enough that he thinks he has a pretty clear idea of the patient demo- graphic at most local dispensaries. He estimates 60 percent are 40 or older and use cannabis "to avoid taking much harsher pharmaceutical alternatives to treat nausea, sleeplessness, anxiety and aches and pains," he said. They use the medicine instead of resorting to com- mon prescription painkillers and tranquilizers. Another 20 percent are youngsters with no visible signs of illness. "With them, I have to trust the physician that they made the right call," he said. But the last category, the 20 percent who are chronically or terminally ill receive special attention at the Boulder Creek Collective. If not for these patients, medical cannabis might not have grown into a burgeoning industry. One such patient is Gary Goldsworthy, 42, who was given a free membership at the collective in exchange for volunteer hours about two years ago. Goldsworthy was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disorder that triggers the immune system to attack the gas- tro-intestinal tract, when he was 27. During a long period of remission, Goldsworthy had been a successful musician who toured nationally with acclaimed blues artist James Armstrong. But an additional diagnosis of skin cancer and the removal of several lymph nodes a few years ago caused a resurgence of the Crohn's and sent him downhill fast. When he first discovered marijuana as medicine, he had been housebound for more than a year, confined to his bed and the bathroom, hardly able to eat and suffering from diar- rhea and intense abdominal pain, among other symptoms. "I kept on getting advised by nurses to try (marijuana) because I don't get a natural appetite," he said, explaining that smoking has allowed him to regain some semblance of his former life, bringing him out of the house and allowing him to eat regularly and have more energy. Against the advice of his doctors, Goldsworthy eventu- ally decided to forgo the mainstream treatments that cost $50,000 a year, in favor of marijuana which he got for free, and which he thought did a better job addressing his symp- toms. redbluff.mercy.org Visit redbluff.mercy.org or scan this code with a QR reader app on your smart phone to learn more information. Discovering Women's Health; A Health and Wellness Series.. Wednesday, February 8th - 6:00pm-7:30pm, Red Bluff Community Center Call 530-529-8038 to reserve your FREE space today Waterbirth Class Ideas from experts on diet, exercise and the difference between migraine and stroke 6:30pm-8:30pm 2/8 Cardiac Support Group Community Basic Life Support Auxiliary Valentine Bake Sale Grief Support Group Auxiliary Scrub Sale 6:00pm-8:30pm 2/13 6:00pm-10:00pm 2/14 8:00am-3:00pm 2/14 Lupus/Fibromyalgia Support Group 6:30pm-8:00pm 2/15 Weekend Childbirth Class 6:00pm-9:00pm 2/17 9:00am-3:00pm 2/18 Columba Columba Columba Hospital Hallway 3:00pm-5:00pm Thursdays Coyne Center Columba Columba Columba 529-8026 527-5077 529-8026 529-8002 528-4207 529-3029 529-8026 529-8026 8:00am-4:00pm 2/28-29 Warde/McAuley Room 529-8002 SAN JOSE (MCT) — Hugo Campos has a small computer buried in his chest to help keep him alive. But he has no idea what it says about his faulty heart. All the raw data it col- lects, especially any erratic rhythms it controls with shocks, goes directly to the manufacturer. And some of it later gets sent to his doc- tor. But Campos had to step onto a national stage in his fight to see the data his body produces. His David-and-Goliath campaign puts him on the leading edge of what's called the "e-patient move- ment" — "engaged, equipped and enabled" — that seeks to harness data so patients can learn more about their bodies. "It's mine. I paid for it. It's in my body," asserts the tech-savvy 45-year-old, who since his sudden col- lapse at the Fruitvale, Calif., BART station four years ago has devoted himself to studying cardiology text- books, attending device symposiums and scheming how to access the electron- ics of his tiny defibrillator. "I have a right to my own damn data," he said. The information could help him take control of his health, said the Brazilian- born graphic artist. Already he discovered — using an online spread- sheet accessible from his iPhone — that caffeine and Scotch trigger irregular heartbeats. But it would be far better to have raw, real-time data, he said. Federal law entitles patients to easy access to fitness Man demands access to his heart's information MCT photo Hugo Campos holds a cardiac defibrillator simi- lar to the one that doctors installed in his chest as he talks about what it does, Jan. 25, at his home in Oakland. their health records, includ- ing X-rays and pathology reports. But implanted defibrilla- tor data is different. The information stays with man- ufacturers, who use it to monitor and improve their products. And it comes in a format that is not easily understood. Patients can get only interpreted data, not the raw data. "It's just wrong," Cam- pos asserts. "We get all our financial data — why is it different with health care? Patients should be empow- ered to take care of their lives." Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are implanted with small bat- tery-powered electrical impulse generators, such as pacemakers, loop recorders and cardiac defibrillators. The devices are critical for people like Campos, whose irregular heartbeat threatens sudden cardiac arrest. They also wirelessly transmit data to bedside monitors, and then over a telephone line to the manu- facturers. Much of the collected data " such as average heart rate, fluid accumulation, atrial arrhythmias — is diagnostic. Grocery Shoppers! FOOD IS MOVING FROM TUESDAY TO WEDNESDAY Effective next week, our food-related features, advertising and supermarket inserts (Raley's & Safeway) will appear in Wednesday editions rather than Tuesdays every week. This will align our "Best Food Day: with that of most other Northern California newspapers. D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY Now Accepting NEW Patients. No referral needed in most cases. ALLERGY Clinic with Diane Kinney, PA-C Kylie Carreras, LVN NOW OPEN! Red Bluff Call NOW to schedule an appointment 528-1220 RED BLUFF 331 Elm Street Timothy Frantz M.D. Board Certified Otolaryngologist 2138 Court Street 222-5115 REDDING Complete Dental Care • Cosmetic Dentistry • Adults And Children • New Patients Warmly Welcomed! www.MooreandPascarella.com But these devices also collect huge amounts of proprietary information, such as wiring breakdowns, battery voltage and the time it takes to release a shock. Calls and emails deluged him after an online video of last November's TEDx- Cambridge speech went viral. He has also testified before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and been featured on National Public Radio. He's started a blog, founded an online "Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) User Group" and embraced a new world of patient advo- cacy through social media. He's even written a protest song inspired by Malvina Reynolds' "It Isn't Nice." ("It isn't nice to grab my data, from my implantable device. Then to hog it, keep it from me. That's not right, I've told you twice. It isn't nice.") To prepare himself to understand the device and its data, he earned a certifi- cate from the Arrhythmia Technologies Institute. "Patients need to educate themselves," he said. "It really is the only way to get a proper seat at the table." In an effort to better understand their construc- tion, he's bought 19 differ- ent used devices on eBay, storing them in velvet sacs in a gold-decorated box. "He is a pioneer. He's an articulate visionary who sees what is possible and expresses it as common sense," said Dave deBronkart of Nashua, N.H. DeBronkart is a kidney cancer survivor who launched a right-to-informa- tion campaign after discov- ering that his hospital had exported a Google personal health record riddled with inaccuracies and omissions. Campos' campaign has a professional supporter. "It is embarrassing to leave our patients in the dark, by design or techno- logical necessity," wrote Dr. David Lee Scher in his blog. The former cardiac electro- physiologist founded DLS Healthcare Consulting, which advises digital health companies. He cautions that the data is very technical, even for physicians, and often irrele- vant. He urges patients and physicians to work together on a solution. In resistance, Campos has decided on a risky polit- ical act, rejecting his remote monitor. "I will not be monitored remotely unless I'm part of the loop," he asserts. But new allies have ral- lied to him: hackers. More than a dozen engi- neers have volunteered to help him tap into the wire- less system and unlock the data. "I'll get it," he said, "one way or another." 1010 Jefferson St., Red Bluff 527-7800