Recently, news came out that eating processed meats (like bacon and sausage) is strongly linked to developing cancer.
Category: Health
All about healthy minds and bodies.
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What You Need to Know about Flu Shots
It’s flu shot season, but even people who support childhood vaccines are sometimes a bit iffy about the flu shot. Is it really necessary, or just a scam? Can you get sick from it? Do you really have to get it every year? Let’s try to put your mind at ease.
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Please Leave Your Vagina Alone
Usually I can easily ignore the rambling of “Nature’s Children” like Shailene Woodley, Gwyneth Paltrow and the like. But after GOOP/Paltrow’s tip about steaming your vagina, well, I steamed all right. From my ears.
Having lived with chronic fatigue syndrome for six years, and fibromyalgia for at least four years, I wish I could tell you that I’ve made peace with my illnesses. Though I’ve made progress in how I manage my symptoms, I still struggle with knowing that This will never go away.
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An Answer or a Question?
A routine task at work leads to the possible solving of a personal mystery. [TW for heart surgery and parental death]
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CPAP Hurray!
The results were in: mild sleep apnea but severe hypopnea. I’d be getting a CPAP machine, and maybe getting some sleep.
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Before I Sleep
I’ve had trouble sleeping for years but only recently decided to seek treatment beyond an Ambien prescription. My sleep specialist’s request finally wended its way through the insurance process, and I got to have my sleep study.
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Nightmares
Most nights, I am visited by nightmares. They range from “being chased by a crazed murderer” to “being swallowed by a tsunami” to “I’m late for a test in a class I didn’t know I have” to “It’s been a mistake, my mom/dad/cat didn’t actually die.” I wake up feeling sad, depressed, scared, and unrested. […]
As a historian, as a former SCAdian (medieval re-enactor), as someone who likes neomedieval fiction, the question I’ve seen pop up the most is: What did people in the past do about issues like menstruation? Most SCAdians use modern products under their historical clothing, and fictional series can ignore it. But obviously real people didn’t […]
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Adventures in Rosacea
(Full disclosure: I have not had an official medical diagnosis and everything below is based on personal experience, individual research, and ol’ fashioned guess-work.) For most my life I had ‘normal’ skin. Sure, there was the occasional break-out due to stress or a product my face didn’t agree with. Over the past couple years, however, […]
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Stocking the Medicine Cabinet
Oh God, y’all, I think I’m gonna die. At the time I’m writing this, I’m on Day 4 of the world’s nastiest cold. I’ve gone through a whole box of tissues and a bag of cough drops, and I’m starting to lose my voice. I am uncomfortable and want nothing more than to crawl under […]
The European manufacturer of NorLevo, an emergency contraceptive pill that’s identical to many of the most popular morning-after pills sold in the US, announced that they’ll be changing their packaging to warn consumers that it may not work for some overweight and obese women. The FDA has announced that they’ll review the data and decide whether […]
In the past, I’ve written a fair amount about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, covering subjects like parenting, managing expectations, and just how I think I got it in the first place. Because I am still a relatively busy person when it comes to writing and involvement in my local creative community, it’s important that people have information […]
Content warning: discussion of chronic illness, discrimination, dieting, sizeism, weight gain/loss A year ago at this time I was 25 lbs. (11 kg) lighter, but not at much less risk for developing diabetes after having participated in my Tribe’s Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). The Diabetes Prevention Program is a national program designed to target people and […]
I spent a year and a half as the community manager for a major tampon and pad brand. I enjoyed opening with this at parties beacuse it always got a good conversation going. As a pro-woman, ra-ra feminist, I genuinely liked working with this brand and I learned a lot about the awesome people who […]