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And the results are in — 17 Comments

  1. Fascinating, I have just googled Pagets and you appear to be  correct. Not even in the ‘what can I do if I have it?’ sections do they say ‘give up smoking’. Vitamins? Check! Healthy diet? Check! Exercise? Check! Check! Check! Smoking? Nada, nix, niente, no-ski….  Shurley some mishtake there?

    • This must be how Pasteur, Edison or Columbus felt – discovering the first and only disease not caused by smoking?  Nobel Prize territory?

      • If anyone from TC reads this blog, we can expect a headline in the near future declaring that “Recent research suggests that Pagets could be caused by smoking. Experts have said that to reduce the risk of Pagets, it is recommended that all tobacco smoke and vape steam should be avoided at all costs.”

        I’m sure we won’t have to wait for too long before it’s added to the list.

        • When I was scribbling away at this, that thought did occur.  They are probably updating their lists at this very moment.

      • Correct – yet whenever I try to cheer up such a Googler by saying “If it’s terminal, can I have your iPad and first pick of your DVDs?”, I get accused of insensitivity!

  2. I looked it up too. Sounds like the male version of osteoporosis or something similar. Interesting symptoms but the one that got my attention was how your skull starts getting bigger. Your head getting any bigger than it already is sounds like the last thing you need. 😉

    Oh, and it affects those over 60 the most. I guess I’d better start checking my enzyme(s) ahead of time?

    And the tyres? Weak sidewalls. Tires get old the sidewalls get weak from supporting the weight of the car for so long regardless of the mileage. Anyway, it sounds plausible.

    • From Wikipedia:-

      The condition was initially described by Dr. James Paget. In a paper published in 1877, Paget told of five patients with “a rare disease of bones” which presented with slowly progressive bone deformities in the 4th and 5th decades of age. Strikingly, the first patient was described to have many of the classic complications of the disease, including arthritis related to abnormal bone mechanics, cranial nerve palsies associated with an enlarging skull, and malignant transformation of a tumor of the radius which ultimately proved fatal. Paget’s post-mortem autopsy evaluation showed “bones of the vault of this skull were in every part increased to about four times the normal thickness,” and microscopic evaluation showed evidence of both bone erosion and abnormal remodeling. Although he incorrectly attributed the findings to a process of chronic inflammation, having ruled out tumor and hypertrophy as alternative etiologies, these prescient observations of a mixed destructive/regenerative process correspond to the modern understanding of the disease.

  3. My grandfather had Paget’s disease, onset in his 50s, made it till his 80s. Can be seriously life limiting. It progressively affected his hearing and sight as skull thickened, curiously opposite effects on his legs where the bones weakened and bent.

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