Awareness – CMT Blog

Walk4CMT coming up on September 18

August 15, 2021 DanLeave a comment

I will be walking as far as I comfortably can in Muscular Dystrophy Canada's Virtual Walk4CMT on Saturday, September 18 — which is somewhere north of 20km at which point the numbness setting it around 10km usually gets into a little more active pain, thanks of course to the effects of a relatively mild case of CMT2. To make it perhaps extra challenging, I'll be four days off the ol' snip and tuck, but I hope it really will make no vas deferens. 😆 If you already donated, thank you! I am still $45 under my goal of raising $1000, so there is room for more donors.

All types of CMT are “Axonal”

March 14, 2021March 18, 2021 Dan KnaussLeave a comment

CMT1 types have commonly been referred to as "demyelinating" and CMT2 as "axonal," which gives the impression the nature of the nerve damage between the two is fundamentally different.

The Problem with Writing about CMT

January 1, 2021February 20, 2021 Dan KnaussLeave a comment

I've been increasingly irritated lately by US-based CMT-related non-profit organizations that seem to compete with each other for donations — supposedly they drive research for "treatments and cures." How well they actually do this relative to the padding of their own budgets is a good question I might take up down the line, but you would think they might at least put some effort into writing plain-English summaries of technical material (medical and scientific research) in ways that educate and inform regular people. But no.

CMT Blogs of Note

July 11, 2020July 11, 2020 DanLeave a comment

Two blogs about CMT I found recently: the MFN2 Project and Help Chronic Pain in Alberta.

CMT’s Impact on Respiration

July 11, 2020 DanLeave a comment

Many people with CMT report having problems with breathing.

CMT in Canada

June 2, 2020June 4, 2020 DanLeave a comment

There are not a lot of Canadian groups and resources organized for people with CMT. How can we build this community?

CMT, COVID-19, and Respiratory Health

April 17, 2020April 20, 2020 DanLeave a comment

A few weekends ago, I listened to the HNF webinar on COVID-19 and CMT with Dr. John Bach of Rutgers University Medical School, a leader in the field of pulmonary rehabilitation, particularly for people with neuromuscular diseases. You can watch it and get a bunch of other materials now — for free — thanks to the HNF.

SIIT and CMT

April 16, 2020April 17, 2020 Dan1 Comment

By far the best thing to do to build mitochondria from an exercise perspective is something called Sub-maximal Intensity Interval Training (SIIT).

Never Get Sick!

April 15, 2020April 20, 2020 Dan1 Comment

Here’s my list of immune boosters and ear-nose-throat (ENT) soothers and cleansers — good in every flu and cold season for prevention and healing.

Late Diagnoses

March 16, 2020March 18, 2020 DanLeave a comment

In the past the norm was we didn't get a diagnosis, so family and friends just shrugged it off and called us "clumsy" or pretended nothing was wrong. I hope this is an outlier experience, but I was pushed into sports, like track and cross country, in high school when my feet and ankles became obviously atrophied.

Dining in the Dark

March 13, 2020March 13, 2020 DanLeave a comment

Blind dining means you enter a restaurant that is completely pitch dark from beginning to end, and you are served by a waitstaff who are literally blind.