Slopes

Pierre did some analysis of my metrics that he's authorized me to share:

I entered your numbers in an Excel spreadsheet and I get the same results. ...[T]he variation of the best try out of three is roughly +/- 2.

I also calculated the slope of the curves. For the first period the slope of the left hand curve is -0.067 and for the second period the slope is -0.11. For the entire period, that is from the 2/9/05 to the 5/14/05 excluding the days when no measurement was done, the slope of the left hand is -0.09. For the first period, the slope of the curve of the right hand is + 0.27 and for the second period, the slope is -0.06. For the entire period (2/9/05 to 5/14/05) the slope of the curve of the right hand is +0.049.

This is just putting numbers on the curve that you have plotted. It confirms that you lost strength in the left hand in both periods and that the loss in the second period is worst than in the first. As for the right hand, you gained strength in the first period but lost some in the second. Overall, you gained strength in the right hand.

What does this say about your ceftriaxone trial? Maybe the loss of strength in the left hand would have been worse if you had not taken the drug. But unfortunately it appears that the ceftriaxone has not stopped the loss of strength in the left hand. I don't know if the initial gain of strength in your right hand can be attributed to the ceftriaxone, but it seems now that you are also slowly losing strength in your right hand.

I often wonder what are the effects of these daily measurements on your morale. In your blog, your morale seems good. I hope that these numbers don't depress you.

Thanks for the analysis, Pierre. Knowing the numbers makes me feel more secure. Not knowing would make me anxious, but nothing has been able to make me depressed in my adult life. Lately, my self-measured inhale volume and the ALS clinic measurements of my breathing all show improvement, so that metric even offers hope.

I started taking the Alpha Lipoic Acid and the sublingual B-12 again today. We'll see if they restart the rashes.

Left grip is 41 pounds (37, 41, 40), right grip is 93 pounds (88, 93, 91), left leg balance is 16.17 seconds, and inhale volume is 4800 mL. I've had fasciculations across my nose today and yesterday. Not the first time it's happened. It feels a bit odd.