Sonia Rykiel attends the Sonia Rykiel Ready to Wear S/S 2012 show during Paris Fashion Week at Halle Freyssinet on Oct. 1, 2011, in Paris.

(Credit:Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

(CBS News) French fashion designer Sonia Rykiel reveals in her new book that she has been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for the last 15 years.

According to Women’s Wear Daily, Rykiel, whose symptoms are becoming more visible, writes in “N’oubliez pas que je joue”(“Don’t Forget It’s A Game”), “I don’t want to show my pain. I resisted, I hesitated, I tried to be invisible, to pretend that nothing was wrong. It’s impossible, it’s not like me.”

The 81-year-old designer and her colleagues worked hard to conceal her illness. She was not allowed to be photographed with the cane that she had been using for several years, she confesses in the book, according to WWD.

The book, which is co-written with French journalist Judith Perrignon and published by L’Iconoclaste, is available now.

DOCTORS CORNER with Dr JOHN KABUNGOLAST Sunday, I discussed the role sport can play in the prevention of malaria. This time around it is important to look at the problems which athletes with malaria encounter.Malaria is always a worrying condition in sport because of the many effects it has on the performance of an athlete. it is always a matter of concern when a team, and in this case a football team, is preparing for an important game and then it is reported that one of the team’s best players is struck with malaria.The issue becomes even more complicated when the malaria which someone has is not simple but complicated. I will try to explain a few things on the presentation of either simple or complicated malaria.I am very sure that a majority of Zambians have had malaria at some point and it won’t be a big hustle for me to go through how we can actually tell that someone has a bout of malaria. However it will be important to differentiate between simple and complicated malaria.these two forms of malaria will have a great impact on a player in terms of time taken for recovery and when the player will be allowed to get back and fully participate in a competitive match.Malaria affects all age groups with more serious and life-threatening forms occurring in children and pregnant women.In sport, both athletes and officials can be affected. Nowadays there is a lot of movement of players and match officials to different countries and this is the reason why everything must be done to have maximum protection of our athletes from malaria.FIFA has actually classified malaria to be amongst the BIG THREE medical conditions of public health interest. The other two conditions of this group are Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS.The world soccer governing body has joined the many organisations in recognising that the three conditions are a threat to mankind and deserve to be given priority in terms of awareness and therefore reduce on the sufferings that come as a result of infections with these conditions.Malaria is the main parasitic infection affecting more than 500 million people and causing more than one million deaths each year world over. about 40 percent of the world’s population is at risk of getting malaria, mostly those living in the poorest countries.In football, due to the wide and rapid travel required by international match schedules, teams from malaria-free areas are exposed to infection.All sports persons travelling to malaria-endemic countries even for a short period may be at risk of becoming infected with malaria.In Zambia, malaria is still one of the leading causes of morbidity (sickness) and mortality (death) in our health institutions.Malaria has been around us for such a long time and so many resources and research have gone into ways of reducing transmission, finding drugs, which the malaria parasite is more susceptible to, and more importantly prompt and effective diagnosis of malaria.The most commonly asked questions regarding malaria are how long does it take for an individual to suffer the symptoms of malaria after being bitten by a mosquito? How can someone suspect that they have malaria?What is it that has to be done when malaria is suspected? What are the main treatment modalities involved? What are the effective preventive measures? How long should someone stay away from participating in sport once they suffer from a bout of malaria?for the transmission of malaria to occur, an infected female anopheles mosquito has to be involved. The bite from an infected female anopheles mosquito is a must! The time taken from the time one is bitten up to the time the symptoms of malaria appear is what is referred to as the incubation period.The minimum period between getting an infective bite and becoming ill with malaria is at least six days. Malaria symptoms can actually occur many months after being bitten by an infected mosquito.The specific parasite that commonly causes malaria and of great importance in our country is plasmodium falciparum. The other types of plasmodia which are found include plasmodium vivax, plasmodium ovale and plasmodium malariae.The main signs and symptoms of malaria are a headache, fever, flue-like symptoms including bouts of feeling cold and shivery, profuse sweating, joint and body pains, loss of appetite and general feeling of weakness (malaise).Malaria is a great pretender and can present in many ways including a bout of diarrhoea, vomiting, muscle pain or just a backache.these symptoms can occur at intervals and they basically form the simple type of malaria. However, other complications can occur, including mild to severe anaemia, because of the massive destruction of red blood cells by the malaria parasite.The anaemia in most cases is accompanied by dizziness, headaches and the heart beating faster than normal.The other complications can involve the kidneys, leading to renal failure, cerebral malaria accompanied by convulsions and mental confusion.In some cases malaria can result in a player or person going into a coma and if not properly treated this can result in death.The blood sugar levels are drastically reduced (Hypoglycaemia) by the malaria parasite and therefore affecting the energy levels of the individual.Sport, especially soccer, requires a lot of energy and malaria will deplete the energy stores and will not just allow the player to take part in training or a game. Malaria affects almost all systems of the body because of the said primary infection of red blood cells, which are vehicles to deliver oxygen to the many body tissues and organs.it is for this reason that a player or athlete suffering from malaria will not be able to participate in sport for some time.their participation in sport will depend on the improvement of their clinical picture after receiving appropriate treatment. there is no specific time frame with which return to normal physical activity is allowed, however careful monitoring and follow up of players with malaria are of great importance, especially if they are to participate at a very high level.at times recovery can take 10-14 days before an athlete returns to competition.Malaria is mainly diagnosed using a thin or thick blood smear on a glass slide and then competent laboratory personnel have to examine the slide.However, this type of examination or sending of a blood slide to the lab is not practical when the team is out where laboratory facilities are not easy to get.Nowadays the use of RDTs (Rapid Diagnostic Tests for malaria) has extremely made life easy. The tests mainly target the products from the malaria parasite in the blood stream.these tests are very easy to do and can be done by any person who has been oriented in skills of obtaining a drop of blood and the results are ready within a few minutes.Prevention of malaria has to be prioritised if sportsmen and women want to enjoy their sport.it must be emphasised that all camping facilities for sportspersons should have surroundings that are clean and not overgrown with grass.Overgrown grass and stagnant water are perfect breeding sites for mosquitoes.All sportspersons should make sure that they sleep under a treated mosquito net whether in camp or at their respective homes.The use of insect repellents either as applied directly to the skin or sprays has to be encouraged though this might prove to be costly in the long run.Sportspersons should be encouraged to wear long-sleeved clothing to cover the exposed areas and thus prevent the mosquito bites, especially at night when the malaria-causing mosquitoes are active.Another preventive measure is the use of drugs, especially when one is moving from a place where the incidence of malaria is lower than where they are visiting.This is known as chemoprophylaxis against malaria and this is done when an individual travels to a malaria zone (e.g. from Europe to Sub-Saharan Africa).The preventive measures have to target breeding sites for mosquitoes or areas where mosquitoes are likely to be found. In all the districts of Zambia, the Indoor Residue Spraying (IRS) is currently being done to help get rid of mosquitoes.The use of Rapid Diagnostic Tests kits by all teams’ must be encouraged because these are portable and easy to use.The recommended drug of choice for malaria as per our Zambian policy is the artemesinin-based combination therapy and the drug of choice is Coartem for treatment of all forms of simple malaria.many countries in our region have put this as the first line of choice for simple malaria for it has proved to be very effective and with no known serious side effects.The use of fansidar is only reserved for pregnant women in Zambia. The switch from the old chloroquin and fansidar has been due to the many malaria strains which do not respond to these drugs.My role now is to warn sportspersons to be wary of the fansidar they buy off the counter in chemists, BEWARE!!!You might take the fansidar with no response to your suspected malaria.The recommended anti-malaria for complicated malaria is QUININE.  The quinine can be given via the intravenous route or can be taken as an oral drug in tablet or capsule form.it is always important that an early diagnosis and treatment of malaria are instituted so that sportspersons can get back to their normal activities in the shortest time possible.Malaria can be such a huge drawback for an athlete and the entire team. Malaria can be prevented, so all sportspersons must make an Insecticide-Treated Net their number one training partner.Malaria will definitely affect an athlete in training or in competition and full recovery has to be allowed before resuming full activity.For questions and contributions write to: Dr Kabungo Joseph e-mail:

The last-place Twins had just lost their 93rd game of the season Monday afternoon to the Yankees in new York, and Twins President Dave St. Peter was in his Target Field office.

The Twins played without Joe Mauer, who is being paid $23 million this year and is finished for the season because of pneumonia, and Justin Morneau, who is paid $14 million and is done for the season because of concussion symptoms and a minor knee procedure.

Mauer, 28, who is in the first season of a $184 million, eight-year contract, played in just 82 games this season.

Morneau, 30, who is in the fourth season of an $80 million, six-year contract, played in just 69 games.

Both players’ contracts are guaranteed. I asked St. Peter if he has second thoughts about having signed Mauer and Morneau, both of whom have been American League most valuable player, to such immense deals.

“Absolutely not,” St. Peter said. “We obviously are huge believers in Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, and we still believe to this day that they will continue to be cornerstone players for this franchise as they have been throughout their contracts. This was obviously a very difficult year for both of them, as well as other people throughout the organization.

“Our job is to support them and their efforts to come into spring training as healthy as they possibly can. hopefully, that will happen. and if it does, I like our chances for both of those guys having huge bounce-back years next year.”

St. Peter said there “absolutely” is no unknown ailment that has sidelined Mauer, who in 2009 won his third AL batting title (.365) with 28 home runs while leading the league in on-base percentage (.444) and slugging percentage (.587).

This season, Mauer finished with three homers while batting .287.

“There is no conspiracy theory relative to Joe Mauer’s health,” St. Peter said. “He admittedly has had a very challenging year, and nobody is more frustrated than Joe. It’s pneumonia. it isn’t Lyme disease. it isn’t Lou Gehrig’s disease. it isn’t anything else.

“He has seen some of the best doctors in the world at the Mayo Clinic. I think they’d tell you if it was anything more than that.”

In his first two starts for the Vikings in 2009, Brett Favre completed 14 of 22 passes for 110 yards and one TD, without an interception, against the Browns in Cleveland, then completed 23 of 27 for 155 yards and two TDs with an interception against the Lions in Detroit.

In Donovan McNabb’s first two starts for the Vikings, he completed seven of 15 passes for 39 yards, no TDs and one interception, against the Chargers in San Diego, then completed 18 of 30 for 228 yards and no TDs or interceptions against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

A bunch of Jerry Kill’s pals from his days coaching small college Pittsburg State (Kan.) were at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday to celebrate his first victory as Gophers coach over Miami (Ohio).

Terry Skrypek, Brother Francis Carr, Frank Asenbrenner, Tracy (Schultz) Warner, Emmy (Treacy) Springer and Rick Cover will be inducted into the inaugural Hill-Murray Hall of Fame at the merged school’s 50th anniversary Saturday before the Pioneers’ 1 p.m. football game against South St. Paul. both teams are 3-0. Ex-Vikings QB Brooks Bollinger is in his first year as Hill-Murray coach.

DON’T PRINT THAT

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said Tuesday that Rick Adelman was the top choice of basketball president David Kahn when the Wolves began their search for a coach to succeed fired Kurt Rambis.

“Early in the process, David had put down Rick as his first choice,” Taylor said.

Adelman will be officially announced as coach today at Target Center. Taylor, because the choice was primarily that of Kahn, isn’t expected to attend the news conference. He said Kahn deserves the credit.

Adelman’s deal, the Pioneer Press has reported, is for $20 million for four years. The fourth year is an option year for both Adelman and the Wolves.

“Rick wasn’t clear if he was going to coach or not coach, so we went through the whole process and interviewed everybody else,” Taylor said. “We were prepared to go ahead, and then (Kahn) went back and talked to Rick, and Rick said he wanted to come in and interview.”

Taylor said Kahn was patient and waited through the whole process, talked several more times to Adelman and then brought the coach to Mankato for Taylor to meet.

“We spent an evening together and talked,” Taylor said. “After that, Rick told David he was very interested in coming here. David made him an offer, and they worked it out.”

OVERHEARD

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill, on the medication for his seizures: “So they need to get it figured out; that’s my wife’s job, and that’s why I’ve been married 29 years. She’s a heck of a woman. She’s trying to get it figured out, and we’ve got good medical people here, and they’ll eventually get it figured out.”

The days of coaches telling kids to “walk it off” or “skate through it” after getting their “bell rung” from a blow to the head appear to be numbered in Minnesota.

Instead, the mantra is becoming, “When in doubt, sit them out.”

And it might become law.

Bipartisan support has emerged at the Legislature for a proposal that would require young athletes, including in school-sponsored sports and most community and independent leagues, to stop playing if they have a concussion or are suspected of having one. The athletes would have to remain benched and potentially not attend practice, until all symptoms are gone and an expert has cleared them to play again.

The strong stance, which has been adopted by 13 states and is under consideration in 28 others, is the result of significant advances in the last decade in understanding brain injuries and the prevalence of them among athletes.

From pee-wee hockey to the National Football League, virtually every level of high-contact sports is rethinking rules, equipment and how the game is taught with an eye toward protecting the most vital body part, yet the one often overlooked because it’s out of sight: the brain.

A concussion — which is nothing short of a traumatic brain injury — doesn’t show up on an X-ray or MRI like a broken bone or torn ligament, but its effects can be far more serious, several doctors and sports medicine experts testified at a public hearing Wednesday.

“You don’t die from a torn ACL, but you can die from this,” said Dr. Michael Bergeron, director of the National Institute for Athletic Health and Performance and a pediatrics professor at the University of South Dakota’s Sanford School of Medicine.

Bergeron told members of the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee that a concussion, in which back-and-forth or twisting forces damage the brain on a cellular level, leave the organ in an “energy crisis.”

Dr. mark Carlson, who practices sports and occupational medicine at a Bemidji, Minn., clinic, said the only treatment is rest — both physical and mental.

“I tell my patients you need to sleep, or if you can’t sleep, pretend to sleep,” Carlson testified, noting that in many cases, a youth with a concussion should remain home from school, confined to bed. Even playing a video game can be too much stimulation, he said.

Failure to do that can lead to long-term problems, including headaches, an inability to concentrate and nausea.

The brain that’s healing from a concussion is more vulnerable to long-term or permanent damage if the player receives a second concussion.

That’s what happened to Kayla Mayer, a freshman at new Prague (Minn.) High School whose hockey career was cut short after suffering a concussion in 2009. her career, which began at age 3 playing on a pond near her house, might have lasted longer had her participation been cut short after her first concussion.

Kayla and her doctors believe she suffered the concussion while playing and then, because neither she nor her coaches were aware of the symptoms, continued practicing and playing for another 10 days. then during a practice drill, she was upended and smacked the back and top of her helmeted head on the ice. The next day she was dealing with a horrible headache and couldn’t figure out why. she asked her friends.

“They said, ‘Don’t you remember falling and hitting your head?’ ” she told lawmakers Wednesday. “As soon as they said that, then I remembered.”

She still tried to return to play, but her head was so sensitive she couldn’t put on her helmet. she was diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury, but don’t let the “mild” fool you. She’s given up hockey for good, and she said she’s given up a lot more than just the game.

“I have a headache every second of every minute of every hour of every day,” she said. “Sitting here testifying to you, I have a headache.”

She’s especially sensitive to sounds — even a car blinker’s click can cause trouble — and a compromised attention span has led her to spend no more than three hours in class a day. because of the noise in the school cafeteria, she said, she eats lunch in a school office, usually with a few friends.

“But sometimes they forget, and I eat alone,” she said.

Kayla’s travails — and the lack of awareness she said she and her coaches had about concussions — prompted her to become the poster child and lead spokesperson for what’s become known as “the concussion bill.”

In addition to requiring that athletes suspected of suffering concussions be pulled out of play until cleared by a qualified person, such as a trainer or physician, the bill would require coaches and referees to review concussion-awareness materials and take a free online training course offered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This bill does not prevent sports concussions,” Bergeron said. “But it puts the right processes into place.”

He said the awareness of how concussions happen and how serious they are will probably prompt many coaches to reconsider drills and techniques that put their players at risk.

Perhaps the most obvious example is football tacklers who lead with their helmet — a technique that was considered unsound decades ago but has become more common as helmets have improved and weight training has allowed boys to strengthen their neck muscles.

Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, the bill’s chief sponsor, said he’s planning on modifying several aspects of the proposal to clarify that coaches, referees and school and sports officials can’t be held liable if they fail to follow the law.

“This is all about protecting our youth athletes by raising awareness,” Hamilton said.

The bill passed on a unanimous voice vote and is headed to the Committee on Government Operations and Elections. A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate.

Hunger is a disease; starvation is its extreme form. Hunger can lead to starvation; starvation to death. Obvious, no?

Some symptoms of hunger I’m experiencing: sleeplessness; irritability (also occasional patience and gentleness, obviously not bad things, but see “weakness”); stomach cramping and other gastrointestinal symptoms; general achiness; headache; loss of cognition (that is, I seem stupider than usual, except for when I feel more insightful, insightfulness that may be delusional); hyperosmia (fancy word for “extremely sensitive to smells” — both good and bad); exhaustion (see “sleeplessness”); weakness; distraction (extreme, not like checking your e-mail every minute); distraction (did I say that?); lethargy; weight loss (I know, you’re envious, but obviously this can go too far). and a different kind of distraction: the near-constant thought of food.

I am on my fourth — and last! — day of fasting, and I’m very much aware of all of this. I have those symptoms. I’m tired today; the thing got different. Walking down the street I’m slower than everyone else, and breathless. (Imagine working, or looking for work, in this state.) It’s no longer a game, although as I said in my post yesterday, I know that I’ll eat my fill tomorrow. I’m truly hungry; I’m not starving.True hunger is not just a feeling, but an insufficient intake of energy (calories) and nutrients. all obvious. Hunger is not “I need something to eat,” but a disease, or at least the precursor to the disease starvation. It has a cure and a cause. the cure, as we know, is nutritious food. the cause, as we know, is a lack of same. Obvious.

What causes the lack? Imprisonment, torture, being stranded on a desert island, anorexia, crop failure … and both a lack of aid and bad distribution of nutrients. some (or much) of both of these last two stem from unregulated capitalism and greed. bad distribution is causing roughly 15 percent of the world to be overweight and 15 percent of the world to be hungry. the amount of grain being fed to industrially raised livestock in the United States alone is enough to alleviate much if not all of world hunger.

The cost to the United States of extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy for one year – this is only one example, there are dozens of others — is $42 billion; the U.N.’s World Food Program spent $1.25 billion last year. the estimated cost of obesity-related diseases in the United States alone is $150 billion annually; at least some of that money could be saved by reducing the consumption of soda and other junk food and industrially produced meat, all of which cause disease, directly or indirectly. and the grain that’s used to produce all of that could alleviate hunger. (Ethanol is a whole other issue, as are diet and health care costs, both of which I’ll get to; not today.) For more on this, see Stuffed and Starved, the great Raj Patel’s book.

I’m ambivalent about our intervention in Libya, but it’s cost us a billion dollars so far. whatever you think about our “interventions” in Afghanistan and Iraq, they have cost us a trillion dollars. the World Food Program says it can feed a kid a day for a quarter, though undoubtedly just well enough to ward off starvation. if you allowed a $1.50 a day for a hungry person — the cost of a soda, and just above the poverty level, according to the World Bank — you could feed every one of the world’s starving and hungry for more than two years for a trillion dollars. Bombs or butter? (Peanut butter, maybe.)

I’ll stop now, and provide what I hope are some interesting observations and links from my work this week, a week I’ll be grateful to see end; I’m not a “thank God it’s Friday” person, but this week is different.

Here are some more detailed statistics on global hunger from the U.N. World Food Program; their estimate that 98 percent of the world’s hungry means that to a great extent the programs designed to prevent or alleviate hunger in the United States are working. (Why would we not want that to continue?) the first question on the U.N.’s Hunger FAQ page is, “Is there a food shortage in the world?” the answer: “There is enough food in the world today for everyone to have the nourishment necessary for a healthy and productive life.” This I discussed a bit above, but it also brings in the issue of food waste, a topic to be explored at length another time, and that extends from large-scale production to our own refrigerators.

Worldwide, much food is supplied by rural smallholder farmers (who themselves may go hungry). When governments or corporations buy up or lease huge amounts of land in developing countries to ensure their future food security (or, equally likely, simply to make a profit) the small farmers are put even more at risk. Here’s a site that collects news stories about these land grabs and their impact.

The 50 million Americans who don’t have consistent access to food are called “food insecure.” Here are the USDA’s most recent stats on food insecurity, along with an older Washington Post article by Charles Lane that questions the USDA’s methodology; it’s worth reading. Food insecurity certainly exists; something like one in four families runs out of food sometime during the month. and even if the “real” number is lower, it’s still too much, and it’s a good thing that we fight it with some success.

But food insecurity is not the same thing as hunger. bill Abrams, who runs the terrific anti-poverty agency Trickle Up, was telling me about “the hungry season,” the time of year in agricultural communities where food simply runs out; people forage wherever they can, looking, for example, for rice in anthills. (If my fast were involuntary I would probably begin foraging today.) the Times’s Nick Kristof has written about hunger — and charity — brilliantly and extensively, of course.

Finally, some more about voluntary food restriction: David Beckmann, the wonderful man who got me into this mess, told me on the phone yesterday that he was “incredulous” at “how I was doing this without praying.” (I said I did it by working.) and it’s true that the history of fasting is tied closely to religion (and not so much to the currently trendy “cleansing”). Mark Oppenheimer wrote recently in the Times about fasting as a way to get closer to God. (One comment on this: “vegetable broth and smoothies” may be a diet, but it’s not a fast; a billion people would happily live on vegetable broth and smoothies. Smoothies!) Here is more from some of the religious leaders I’ve been talking to over the past week. we agree upon this: HR1, the proposed budget, must be fought.

Note that it’s Lent, and soon to be Passover, which means that many Americans are voluntarily restricting their diets right now. Longer term, my hope is that we’ll see increasing numbers of people recognizing the secular benefits not of fasting — which I can tell you is pretty extreme — but of relaxed food-related self-discipline, represented by flexitarianism, by the Meatless Monday campaign, and by my own (perhaps badly named) crusade for “less-meatarianism”, all of which can have positive effects on the environment, on our personal health and on world hunger.

For the record, I’m no closer to God now than I was on Sunday. (Still, I’m thinking of wearing a What Would Jesus cut? bracelet.) the closest experience to fasting, in my life, is running marathons. There is some spirituality in both but mostly suffering, and you get out of these things what you expect. I expected to learn some things, and I have. the most important ones are affirmations of what I already knew: some of us eat more (and worse) than we need to. others eat less (and worse) than we need to. It will be a struggle to fix this, but there are solutions, and they’re, well, obvious.

I was diagnosed with Lyme in July and after 21 days of doxycycline I felt better but continue to have some days where I am tired and feel like I want to take a nap. overall,I am not debilitated by any means but I just don't feel the same as I did before being diagnosed. Yesterday I received a Tetanus shot and today I feel a little icky…..kinda tired…no fever or full blown Lyme symptoms but I am wondering if the shot may not have been such a good idea???

Continue to treat lyme

21 days is not enough time. trust me i have had lyme for 6 years and i am on tons of groups with thousands of sick lymies

please treat more. doxy wont be enough this late in the game IMO

lymediseaseanswers.com/site-m…

Or any game like that.
I just really want to practice…. even tests or something would be nice.

Only online and free, please.