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The Brain-Bladder Connection
Erik and Salina Andersen were at wits’ end. Since the age of 3 ½, their son, Alek, suffered from torturous spasms. Sudden, intense pain in his bladder area would drop their son to his knees 20 to 30 times a day and trigger incontinence. “Alek called them ‘twisties,’” said Erik Andersen. “You could see the pain in his face.”
Their search for answers for Alek’s ‘twisties’ led the Chicago couple to multiple specialists whose conflicting diagnoses offered no relief from the debilitating episodes. After 2 ½ years of endless frustration, the Andersens finally found the help they needed from Israel Franco, MD, Director of the Yale New Haven Children’s Bladder and Continence Program.