Anyone who’s had a relative or friend with dementia will know just how destructive the group of diseases is. The condition can impair memory, communication, focus, reasoning, and visual perception, transforming a sufferer into what can seem like an entirely different person in a matter of seconds.
Dr. Philip Grimmer, from Wiltshire in the United Kingdom, was visiting one of his patients with the disease when he saw the words of reassurance written on a whiteboard by a daughter to her mother that he decided to share on Twitter.
“Words of reassurance left for an elderly lady with dementia by her daughter,” Dr. Grimmer explains. “A simple white board left in her sight line in her sitting room. Helped to reduce constant anxious phone calls.”
Words of reassurance left for an elderly lady with dementia by her daughter. A simple white board left in her sigh… https://t.co/kBuKdHyWf2
Dr. Grimmer’s tweet attracted over 40,000 likes and 7,000 retweets. Dr. Grimmer explained to the BBC that he’d initially posted the tweet to share it with his colleagues. “I’d not seen anything like it before in thousands of house visits. It’s caring, reassuring and sensible – it’s just such a simple idea,” he added.
Other social media users took the opportunity to share how they help those suffering from the disease.
@nicknoxx @GrimmPhil Wow – so other people are experiencing the pre-8pm bedtime issues too. Thanks so much for shar… https://t.co/ZdBy1TSEYf
Dr. Grimmer’s image was also posted on Reddit, where it received more than 112,000 upvotes.
Reddit user Kryptosis suggested that “you can use the bathroom whenever you like” be added as a former relative with dementia believed they couldn’t use the bathroom.
Hailley, a nurse from Canada, added:
“I had one resident where I worked who would be in tears because he was worried about his children and having to pay for his meals.”
“It was sometimes tough to reassure him. We had to call his children to talk to him a few times. It was hard to see him so upset.”
She expanded on her comment for the BBC:
“I have seen people talk down to those with dementia, which is just not right. They are still adults who know when they are being treated differently.
“People just do not know how to interact with them. It takes patience and you may not be able to have a conversation with them in the same way you would with someone without dementia.
“The whiteboard addresses what gets asked the most [by those] in long-term care.”
If you’re among the 25% of Americans averse to needles, you’re probably not surprised by the COVID-19 immunization stall. Even for those who want immunity, bribes with beer or lottery tickets may not be enough to override anxiety made worse by pervasive images of needles in the media.
As a physician specializing in pain management, I study the impact of pain on vaccination. Research-proven adult interventions for pain, fainting, panic and fear can make vaccination more tolerable. At a minimum, understanding the reasons needle fear has become common might make the embarrassment easier to bear.
Why needle anxiety has increased
Needle fear has increased dramatically since a landmark 1995 study by J.G. Hamilton reported that 10% of adults and 25% of children feared needles. In that paper, adult patients who remembered when their fear began described a stressful needle experience around age 5.
The childhood experiences of the patients usually related to an unexpected illness; at the time the Hamilton participants were in preschool, vaccines were scheduled only until age 2. For most people born after 1980, however, booster injections given between ages 4 to 6 years became a routine part of the vaccine experience. The timing of boosters maximizes and prolongs immunity, but unfortunately falls within the age window when phobias form. A 2012 Canadian study of 1,024 children found that 63% of those born in 2000 or later now fear needles. In a 2017 study, my colleagues and I confirmed this increase in prevalence: Half of preschoolers who got all their boosters on one day – often four or five injections at once – were still severely afraid of needles as preteens.
Unsurprisingly, needle fear affects how willing teens and adults are to get vaccinated. A 2016 study found needle fear to be the most common reason teens didn’t get a second HPV vaccine. Health care workers are no exception: A 2018 study found that 27% of hospital employees dodged flu vaccines due to needle fear. And most recently, an April 2021 national survey of 600 not-yet-COVID-19-vaccinated U.S. adults found that 52% reported moderate to severe needle fear.
The shame accompanying needle fear can make it difficult to research among adults. CDC/Unsplash, CC BY
Potential solutions for adults
For children, evidence shows that addressing their fear and pain while distracting them from the procedure is most effective in reducing distress.
While adults are not just big children, combining these concepts with findings from available adult injection studies suggest a few potential interventions. For the many who want a vaccine but need some support, here’s what we know:
1. Pain reduction
Relieving injection pain may reduce needle fear by giving patients a feeling of control. For example, a group of patients in New Zealand were repeatedly missing their monthly antibiotic injections for rheumatic heart disease. Their doctors created a special clinic, offering either anesthetics, a vibrating cold device or both during the shot. The interventions in 107 adults reduced pain and fear by 50% after three months. Six months later, half the patients still used the interventions, and the special “missed dose” clinic was no longer needed.
Specifically for vaccination, applying a vibrating cold device to the injection site a minute prior to injection, then pressing just above the site during injection, relieved pain and improved satisfaction for adults, and was most effective for those with needle fear. A horseshoe-shaped plastic device using sharp prongs to confuse the nerves also reduced injection pain but increased anxiety, possibly due to discomfort from the prongs themselves.
Exposure-based therapy involves asking a patient to rank anxiety caused by parts of a procedure, like seeing a picture of a tourniquet or thinking about sharp things, and gradually exposing them to these parts in a controlled environment. Free self-guided resources are available for fears ranging from flying to spiders. However, none of the three studies testing this approach on adult needle fear showed long-term fear reduction.
One of the studies that taught techniques to reduce fainting, however, was considered a success. Fainting, or vasovagal syncope, and needle fear are often conflated. While passing out due to injections is more common with anxiety, it is often a genetic response. Tensing the stomach muscles increases the volume of blood the heart can pump, keeping blood in the brain to prevent lightheadedness during needle procedures.
Surprisingly, there are no studies on adults using distraction for injections. Two studies, however, have found that pretending to cough reduces pain from blood draws.
Dropping F-bombs could also help: A recent study found that swearing reduced pain by one-third compared to saying nonsense words. Distraction with virtual reality games or videos has been shown to be more effective in children, although there have been mixed results in adults.
Mentally engaging tasks may also help. A visual finding task given to children during intramuscular shots has been shown to reduce pain and fear, with 97% rating the experience more pleasant than previous blood draws. Adults may need a more complicated task, but a similar intervention could work for them as well.
Use multiple interventions and go in with a plan
To reduce needle fear, research suggests the more interventions, the better. A 2018 study summarizing research on vaccine pain concluded that patient-operated cold and vibration devices combined with distraction techniques were most effective. Canada has implemented a practical national needle fear intervention for their vaccine rollout, emphasizing preparing ahead to help make vaccine day more comfortable.
Adults who don’t like needles are in the majority. Taking control of your vaccination experience may be the best way to combat needle anxiety.
Amy Baxter is a Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Augusta University.
This article previously appeared on The Conversation. You can read it here.
Though the holiday festivities from last weekend have waned, there’s plenty to enjoy as we head into the peak of the summer season. Here are ten of the best things we’ve seen this week that are sure to bring joy to your heart and a smile to your face.
1. British footballer Mason Mount gives a superfan his jersey—and her face is everything.
Though “football” (err, soccer) is not quite as big a deal on this side of the pond, England’s winning streak has U.K. fans jumping for joy. And this young fan, Belle, got the surprise of a lifetime when England’s Mason Mount walked into the stands and handed her a jersey. That face screams pure joy.
This moment had me 🥺 @masonmount_10 👏🏾 https://t.co/tzWWlPijW6
2. Is there anything cuter than a baby saying “Mama” in his sleep? No, there is not.
Sometimes joy comes in big, celebratory packages and sometimes it comes in tiny, sweet ones. Watch this wee one talking in his sleep about his favorite person in the whole world. Babies are seriously the best.
3. Recovered addict offers to pay for woman’s rehab after she stole his dog.
After Brayden Morton’s Shar-pei Darla was stolen from his yard, he posted a plea to help find her on Facebook, with a reward of $5000. Ultimately, a woman called weeping, admitting to taking the dog. When Morton met with her, he recognized immediately that she was a drug addict. Morton himself has been in recovery for six years and works as a Drug and Alcohol Interventionist, so he gave her a hug and offered to help her into rehab.
4. 14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde became the first African-American champion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Zaila Avant-garde is a wonder. Not only is she the first African-American to win the national spelling bee title in its 96-year history, and the first student from Louisiana to take home that crown, but she alsoholds three Guiness World Records for the most basketballs dribbled simultaneously, the most basketballs bounces, and the most bounce juggles in one minute. Watch out, world. This girl is going places.
Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from New Orleans, won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night by cor… https://t.co/wbcqeBBfN5
No student should ever be made to feel bad that their family is struggling to afford food, and they certainly shouldn’t be shamed for something they have no control over. Yet in some places, kids with school lunch debt are given jelly sandwiches instead of a hot lunch, some are given a stamp on their hand that says “I need lunch money,” and some even have their lunches thrown away in front of everyone. Absoluetly appalling. Minnesota is ending allllll of that, with the state education commissioner saying, “Our lunchrooms are an extension of the classroom and set students up for academic success.” Read the story here.
6. 12-year-old Mi’kmaw boy walks 200km (124.2 miles) and raises more than $40,000 in response to residential school tragedies
With the discovery of hundreds upon hundreds of Indigenous children buried in unmarked graves at Canadian residential schools has come a great deal of pain and trauma. Landyn Toney, a Mi’kmaw boy whose great grandmother spent her childhood at a residential school, decided to channel his anger over that history into something positive. “I’m not the kind of person that just wants to let my anger go,” he told CBC News after five days of walking. “I wanted to show my anger by doing something good.” He held a 200-kilometer fundraising walk to raise money for Indigenous causes.
7. When the pandemic canceled graduation, this teacher brought the stage to every graduating senior to walk.
Dedicated educators are a gift to the world, and this Canadian P.E. teacher is clearly dedicated. Not only did he create a portable graduation stage, but he personally drove it around to each graduating senior’s house and had their families present their diplomas as they walked the stage. Love seeing such creative and innovative solutions to pandemic limitations.
8. The doggy-dancing duet that never gets old.
It’s not a new video, but it also never gets old. Buddy Mercury playing the piano and singing (seriously, what the heck) and his little friend dancing along is the epitome of awesome. The simultaneous tail wag and butt wiggle really put the cherry on top of this delight sundae.
9. Kiddo putting his “personal best” fishing catch back in the water with such a sweet heart.
Somebody please give this kid his own nature show. The way he’s so proud and awed by her, and then how gently he puts her back in the water. “She’s so big and beautiful…” Gracious, it doesn’t get any sweeter.
10. Finally, here’s a triple dose of seratonin to push you through the weekend.
“Dogs and cats living together—mass hysteria!” Or maybe it’s just exactly the world we all want to live in. It’s not possible to not love these clips of kitty-puppy love.
Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.
Snoh Aalegra leads things this week with the release of her third album, Temporary Highs In The Violet Skies. The 13-track project is supported by guest appearances from Tyler The Creator and James Fauntleroy as well as excellent production from The Neptunes, No I.D, Sevn Thomas, and others. Charlotte Day Wilson also appears with a new project, that being her official debut album, Alpha, while Tinashe readies her upcoming album with her latest single, “Bouncin.”
Snoh Aalegra — Temporary Highs In The Violet Skies
Almost two years after she gave us Ugh, Those Feels Again, Snoh Aalegra is back doing what she does best on her third album, Temporary Highs In The Violet Skies. Its 13 songs capture the Swedish singer traversing through the highs and lows of love through moments that bring her closer to her partner and others that make her grow apart from them. The project is a mostly solo effort aside from a pair of guest verses from Tyler The Creator and another from James Fauntleroy.
Charlotte Day Wilson — Alpha
Seemingly years in the making, Charlotte Day Wilson finally arrives with her debut album, Alpha. It boasts 11 songs and contributions from BADBADNOTGOOD, Daniel Caesar, and Syd for an effort that speaks on the singer’s inner struggles with love, growing, and breaking free from old ways that she’s finally able to speak on in a clearer way. It should also be noted that the project is produced by Charlotte herself.
Tinashe — “Bouncin”
After teaming up with Buddy for “Pasadena” last month, Tinashe keeps things moving with her latest single, “Bouncin.” The track is a flirtatious effort that will hopefully bring fans closer to the release of her upcoming album, an effort that’s already looking to be a promising follow-up to her 2019 project, Songs For You.
Mariah The Scientist — Ry Ry’s World
Atlanta’s Mariah The Scientist slowly grabbed the attention of R&B lovers little by little with the release of her 2019 project, Master. Now, she’s back to prove that she’s here to stay with her latest full-length effort. Ry Ry’s World invites listeners into the universe that makes Mariah what she is and through its ten songs, the singer stays absolutely true to herself, even if it comes off as simple and uneventful. Fans will also be greeted with appearances from Young Thug and Lil Baby on the project.
Amorphous — Things Take Shape
The past year has been an amazing rise towards fame for viral producer Amorphous. The 23-year-old went from sharing mashups of music’s biggest names to working with them on his brand new project, Things Take Shape. Kehlani, Brandy, James Fauntleroy, and Bree Runway appear throughout its six songs that capture Amorphous’ versatility through R&B, house, and other sounds.
Jam & Lewis — Jam & Lewis, Vol. 1
As producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and extremely decorated. Hailing from Minnesota and Nebraska respectively, the production duo has notched sixteen No. 1 singles with the likes of Janet Jackson, Usher, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, and more. Decades later, the pair steps out as Jam & Lewis on their debut album, Jam & Lewis, Vol. 1. Its ten songs are highlighted by appearances from Mary J. Blige, Boyz II Men, Usher, Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, and others.
Ant Clemons — “Section” Feat. Kehlani
Ant Clemons is still building off a 2020 year that saw the release of his debut album, Happy 2 Be Here, an effort that later earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album. Now, in 2021, the singer is back with more music thanks to his latest single, “Section” with Kehlani. The pair admit to mission a past lover and despite their attempts to cope with the feelings during a night out of drinking, the alcohol only seems to make things worse for them.
Kyle Dion & Ja Rule — “Placebo”
Two years removed from his sophomore effort, Suga, Kyle Dion is finally gearing up to release a new album. The currently untitled project will arrive on August 20 and to build some excitement for it, Dion shares his latest single, “Placebo” with Ja Rule. The track is a fun and bright record that makes a departure from his past melancholy records. “People are ready to have fun,” he says about the song. “Nobody wants to be sad as hell anymore — we already did that.”
BJ The Chicago Kid — “Type Of Day” Feat. Eric Bellinger
BJ The Chicago Kid returns with his third installment in his “BJ Wednesdays” series. After last week’s cover of The-Dream’s “Fancy,” BJ calls on Eric Bellinger for an original effort in “Type Of Day.” The song marks the duo’s second collaboration after their 2019 song, “Back It Up.” Their newest effort is quite the feel-good record to enjoy as you head into your weekend.
Jean Deaux — “Gang”
After dropping off Watch This! last year, Jean Deaux returns with her second single of the year with “Gang.” The bouncy track finds the singer reinforce her loyalty to the people she loves the most while refusing to switch up and turn her back on them. “Gang” is also the follow-up to her March single, “Easiest Thing.”
Jawan x Tiffany — “To Myself”
After moving through the music world as solo acts earlier in their career, Jawan x Tiffany joined forces last year for their debut single, “Finally.” Nearly a year removed from the single and the duo is back with their latest effort, “To Myself.” Jawan x Tiffany detail a relationship bonded by an impenetrable mold of chemistry on their new song. “Communication is always key in any sort of relationship,” the duo said about the song. “With ‘To Myself,’ we wanted to empower people to not be afraid of being vulnerable. We can’t expect others to know how we feel if we never speak up.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson hasn’t responded to Stephen Dorff’s sympathy over her place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but her sympathies are otherwise occupied when her husband is performing on Saturday Night Live.
Appearing remotely on the Kelly Clarkson show on Wednesday, Johansson talked about a number of things including her new Marvel movie, acting on Broadway, and her family. That included Jost, her husband and co-head writer on Saturday Night Live. According to the actress, it’s hard to watch the show while knowing that someone you love is involved in the high-wire act of putting on a live TV show about once a week.
“I now rarely watch the show without having just a sense of… not overwhelming panic, just like, a slight underwhelming panic,” Johansson said. “Because I just feel like at any moment something’s going to fall apart. And that’s the excitement of SNL, that it’s absolutely live.”
It’s not that she’s expecting disaster, of course, but that the “excitement” of live TV for audiences changes when you know someone putting in that work on screen.
“When you’re emotionally invested in it and not just entertained by it, it takes on a little bit of a different life,” she said.
That certainly makes sense, as scripted TV and movies have a much bigger safety net for when things go wrong. You always want to see the people you know performing at their best, and even though Jost ordinarily only appears on camera for Weekend Update he has a large role on the show behind the scenes. The rest of the interview has some fun Marvel tidbits, but ahead of an uncertain summer for Saturday Night Live, it sure sounds like Johansson wouldn’t mind more Tom and Jerry films in Jost’s future rather than more anxiety-filled live TV.
Baton Rouge rapper Fredo Bang isn’t quite a household name yet, but with his latest collaboration, he takes a massive step toward the spotlight and the inevitable stardom that awaits him. Linking up with Chicago’s breakout artist Polo G, the street-bred rapper honors his most loyal comrades on the reflective “Bless His Soul.”
The connection between the two rappers and their shared gift for melancholy recollection makes for an easygoing combination on a beat produced by DJ Choze. The video, shot by DrewFilmedIt, sees the two rappers performing their verses in front of a motel occupied by their crew as visual allusions to the traumatic experiences of their lives flash by. They also show off their muscle cars, echoing Polo’s late-verse claim that he’d purchase a “Hellcat just for racin’, f**k around and bought the dealership.”
Fredo’s Rolodex is swiftly filling up with hood superstars he’s called on to collaborate with over the past several months. While his 2020 debut album Most Hated contains appearances from Lil Baby, Moneybagg Yo, and YNW Melly, he recently reconnected with Moneybagg Yo for the video to his song “Doin My Dance.” Meanwhile, Polo G’s star continues to rise as well as he netted his first Billboard 200 No. 1 debut with Hall Of Fame earlier this year.
Watch Fredo Bang’s “Bless His Soul” video with Polo G above.
The climate has been working hard this past week to promote Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.
First, the Gulf of Mexico caught fire. Now, parts of New York are literally underwater after torrential rains from Tropical Storm Elsa battered the East Coast this week. In short, the planet is either burning or sinking, which means that AOC’s climate change proposal is looking really good right now, something she’s been happy to point out on Twitter.
The Congresswoman took to social media to share videos of her fellow New Yorkers battling the effects of the storm. In one, a woman can be seen wading through waist-deep water to get to the subway. In another, cars are stranded on a major highway as riders escape to safety in the back of a utility truck. Both videos show the real-world consequences of ignoring climate science right now, and AOC is using them to put pressure on her fellow lawmakers — you know, the ones who’ve been having weekly phone chats with Exxon lobbyists who are paying them to convince their constituents that the Earth isn’t stuck inside a CO2 microwave that’s nuking our environment to death.
Here she is dragging her conservative colleagues for taking climate change advice from fossil fuel execs instead of actual scientists:
“The Green New Deal, which is a blueprint to create millions of good jobs rebuilding infrastructure to stem climate change & protect vulnerable communities, is unrealistic.”
“Instead we will do the adult thing, which is take orders from fossil fuel execs &make you swim to work.” https://t.co/tVdCWTLZBd
And here she is pointing out how frustrating bipartisanship is when it comes to climate change legislation, especially when the other side of the aisle is happy to filibuster any meaningful change while parts of the U.S. are melting under rising temps.
The Phoenix Suns got a bit of good news on Friday afternoon. According to a report by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, reserve forward Torrey Craig, whose hard-nosed defense and ability to hit perimeter shots off the bench have led to him being a member of the team’s rotation during the playoffs, did not suffer a serious knee injury during Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
Craig, who is slated to get a ring no matter who wins the series due to the fact that he played for the Milwaukee Bucks for the first half of this season, appeared to injury his knee after attempting to draw a charge on Giannis Antetokounmpo. He was helped to the back and did not return.
Fortunately for the Suns, Craig underwent an MRI that showed no structural damage, leading to him being viewed as day-to-day ahead of Sunday’s Game 3.
An MRI on the right knee of Suns F Torrey Craig revealed no structural damage, source tells ESPN. Craig injured knee in Game 2 on Thursday. His status on a return is day to day.
With Dario Saric suffering a torn ACL in Game 1, Craig would have been an understated but major loss for a thinning Phoenix frontcourt. Instead, Craig being able to take the floor (if his knee is in a good enough place, of course) gives the Suns the ability to throw out small-ball lineups when Deandre Ayton rests instead of relying on backup big Frank Kaminsky, which appeared to by Monty Williams’ preferred hand to play before Craig got hurt.
Matt Damon has appeared in plenty of hit movies, including The Martian ($655 million at the worldwide box office), Interstellar ($651 million), and Saving Private Ryan ($485 million), which unlike the other two, is not set in space. Unless there’s an asteroid battle scene that I forgot about. It’s been awhile. Either way, Damon has a keen eye for blockbusters (and a keen ear pop-punk songs in mid-2000s comedies), but he’s not in the highest-grossing movie of all-time. He could have been, though.
“I was offered a little movie called Avatar, James Cameron offered me 10 percent of it,” he told Deadline at the Cannes Film Festival. “I will go down in history… you will never meet an actor who turned down more money.” Oops.
Avatar is up to $2.8 billion after reclaiming its box office throne from Avengers: Endgame. That means Damon could have made $280 million for playing a blue cat-person, but he passed because he was shooting the Jason Bourne movies and made the “moral” decision to not ditch the franchise. The role instead went to Sam Worthington, who probably did not get a 10 percent cut of that $2.8 billion. But he did make enough scratch that he hasn’t had to work much since Avatar came out 12 years ago. That’s the only reason I can think of for why Worthington didn’t pull a Leonardo DiCaprio and become the king of Hollywood. It certainly has nothing to do with his acting…
Damon doesn’t seem bitter about turning down Avatar, but James Cameron should still cast him in Avatar 5. Give the guy who’s worth a reported $170 million a break.
Glaive has established himself as one of the more fascinating rising teenagers in music over the past year or so, and now he has teamed up with another similarly internet-boosted artist, Eric Doa, for a new single. The song is “F*ck This Town,” and like many of Glaive’s tunes, it packs a lot of energy and hooks into its sub-two-minute runtime.
Glaive says of the track, “‘f*ck this town’ was made the second time I met eric in person. This song was the first one we made… we freaked that.”
Ericdoa added, this song is special to me cause it’s the first hook me and ash ever wrote together #wholesome.”
The pair has a collaborative EP on the way, which doesn’t yet have a confirmed title but is due for release at some point in September.
The song lines up with how Glaive previously described his music-making process, saying, “It was a good way of getting out emotions instead of being friggin’ sad all the time. Most of my songs are pretty sad, but I’m a pretty happy, energetic person. Getting rid of all those negative emotions through music — then I don’t have to talk about it at any other time.”
Watch the “F*ck This Town” video above.
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