Sound Medicine -- December 8, 2001

This week IU doctors discuss:

Human cloning

Fibromyalgia and meditation

Raising a child with a conscience

Human cloning

Cloning human beings sounds like science fiction, but it's becoming more of a reality. Recently a privately funded lab in Massachusetts claimed it successfully cloned a human embryo in order to create genetically compatible replacement cells to treat a range of illnesses.

It's an unsettling and unsettled national debate. Co-hosts Barbara Lewis and Dr. Kathy Miller discuss the issue with bioethicist Dr. Eric Meslin, director of the Indiana University Center for Bioethics. Dr. Meslin is former executive director of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission.

Resources

Read a list of current articles on the topic at the Washington Post Web site.

Fibromyalgia and meditation

Chronic pain, stiffness, fatigue, headaches and digestive problems are just a few of the symptoms that affect an estimated 6-8 million Americans believed to suffer from fibromyalgia (FM). Roughly 80 percent of sufferers are women, and the cause is unknown. Treatments range from aspirin to sleep aids to anti-depressants to ease the symptoms.

Dr. Sandie Sephton and colleague Dr. Paul Salmon are studying whether some of the symptoms associated with fibromyalgia can be lessened through meditation. Dr. Salmon is professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Louisville. Dr. Sephton is assistant clinical professor at the University of Louisville and director of the Psychoneuroendocrine Research Laboratory.

Resources

Drs. Salmon and Sephton are starting a new fibromyalgia study at the end of January. Participants must be non-smokers and meet other criteria. For enrollment information call (502) 852-5562 or email sephton@louisville.edu.

ImmuneSupport.com provides excellent links to support groups and chat rooms for sufferers of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Also find great information on these and related conditions.

Get authoritative information on the disorder from a variety of sources collected by the MEDLINEplus service.

Raising a child with a conscience

Does your child care if he's naughty or nice? We talk with Barbara M. Stilwell, M.D., co-author of Right vs. Wrong--Raising a Child with a Conscience.

Dr. Stilwell describes the five moral stages of a child's development and how parents can best teach right from wrong. Stilwell is associate professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine. She's also a faculty member in the IUSM Program in Medical Ethics.

Resources

Right vs. Wrong -- Raising a Child with a Conscience, by Barbara M. Stilwell, M.D., Matthew R. Galvin, M.D. and S. Mark Kopta, Ph.D. Indiana University Press.
ISBN:0-253-33709-7. Available at bookstores or by calling 1-800-842-6796.

Upcoming topic: new methods of birth control. Questions about the vaginal ring, the birth control patch, or the new intrauterine devices (IUDs)? Phone or email us.

Call (317) 274-IU4U or email us at soundmed@iu.edu.

Read our Privacy Policy

This week's Medical Mystery — A cure for the common cold?
The weather’s getting cold, it’s wet and dreary, and you feel that first cold of the season coming on. You pick up some cold medicine, which you know will help your symptoms. Yet you also know that with or without the over-the-counter drugs, your cold will last the same amount of time.

If we can clone cows and make computer chips the size of molecules, why can’t we cure the common cold?

Find out.

Weekly Notebook: Symptoms of Fybromyalgia

• Sleep disturbance
• Depression
• Daytime tiredness
• Headaches
• Alternating diarrhea and constipation
• Numbness and tingling in the hands and feet
• Memory difficulties
• Feelings of weakness
• Dizziness

Source: The Cleveland Clinic, via Web MD.