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As
many of you know, last Wednesday the Journal of
the American Medical Association (JAMA) published
an article that linked an Italian teenager's tongue
piercing to a neurological condition called atypical
trigeminal neuralgia. (The 18 year old was suffering
from electric-shock-like jolts of pain in her
head that disappeared when her jewelry was removed.
Although it is infrequent, adjacent dental fillings
composed of dissimilar me tals may also trigger
attacks.)
While
the JAMA article was objective and info rmative,
the Associa ted Press picked up on it and ran
a story—titled “Teen's Tongue Piercing Linked
to Pain”—which tied the woman and her piercing
to typical trigeminal neuralgia, a much more severe
condition that has the unfortunate (but oh-so
sensational) nickname “the suicide disease.”It
seems the pain from this disorder is so severe
that those who suffer from it often consider suicide
as a relief from their suffering. Needless to
say, this is not the severity of the disorder
specifically outlined in the JAMA article.
Since
the Associa ted Press sells their stories to paper
s a round the country, it has been appearing with
alarming frequency over the last week, often with
the new headline “Tongue Piercing Linked to ‘Suicide
Disease.'”
As
the Medical Liaison for the APP, I have sent letters
to the Associated Press seeking to clarify the
situation. I am also drafting letters to various
newspaper s a cross the country that have run
the story as well, but it is difficult, as there
are so many.
The
reason for this email is this: The APP needs your
help in tracking down newspapers (or in some cases,
television stations) that have taken the sensational
nature of this story and run with it, reprinting
the info rmation presented by the Associated Press,
and often embellishing it with their own flair.
If you have seen this story appear in your area,
please furnish us with an emailed copy of the
article, the Newspaper where the story was run,
and the contact info for the editor. Please include
all contact info, including full email and mailing
addresses. This will allow us the opportunity
to contact them and attempt to offer a bit of
clarification about the JAMA article.
You
can contact me at me dical@safepiercing.org,
or the APP Secretary, Christina Shull, at
secretary@safepiercing.org. If we intend to
get these letters to the editor out in a ti me
ly fashion, so the more quickly you can get us
this info rmation, the better. Thank you for your
help.
(More
information about the JAMA study, the Associa
ted Pres s article, and our response to both will
be printed in issue #38 of The Point: The Journal
of the Association of Professional Piercers.)
James
Weber
APP
Medical Liaison
Christina
Shull
APP
Secretary
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