BlogHer - Conditions & Ailments - Comments

Shocked?

Becky-DMBR — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:50:12 -0600

Not at all. Here's what I found: http://deepmuckbigrake.com/2009/11/19/mammogram-guidelines/

Becky

Women under 50 do get breast cancer....

whymommy — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:14:25 -0600

... a lot of it, actually. Just ask the Young Survival Coalition, and the Mothers With Cancer. I am very concerned that the new recommendations will allow us to feel that it's ok to slack off and take "get mammogram" or "check breasts" off our ever-expanding to-do lists.... and that's dangerous.

Trust me, friends, it takes a lot less time to do a breast self-exam and get a screening mammogram than it does to wipe off your schedule for 6 months for chemo, mastectomy and recovery, and another 2 months of radiation. Please take care of yourselves.

I wrote about my read of the original science articles and the recommendations here:

http://toddlerplanet.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/in-defense-of-mammograms/

Am off to read everyone else's links now!

Susan

http://toddlerplanet.wordpress.com & http://motherswithcancer.com

"Flow"

Liz Henry — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:09:51 -0600

Wow Denise. Now I want to read that book! My Amazon account is cowering in terror!

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Liz Henry
Composite: Tech & Poetics
lizzard@bookmaniac.net

Flow

Denise — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:18:00 -0600

In the BlogHer Book Club, we just had a very long discussion about menstruation. OK I discussed and others looked on in mostly horror.

And, I tweeted photos of three of the six books that I purchased (for all six children) for Christmas.

~Denise BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings

I knew there had to be a story behind it!

moonfever0 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:45:45 -0600

Cool baby shower! And too bad on Sproingy. The progesterone ones really make periods into barely a trickle. Haven't seen a super-maxi in ages!

The uterus piñata!

Liz Henry — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:27:00 -0600

Oh I'm glad you liked it! Even though I still hate everything. The uterus part was a paper mache cover over a balloon, the Fallopian tubes were paper towel rolls, and the ovaries were wadded up newspaper wrapped in duct tape. It took a team of us an hour to wrap that sucker in frilled crepe paper. Inside we had candy, horrible baby dolls, and super-super maxi pads painted with nail polish. People were walking around the baby shower with the bloody-looking maxipads stuck to their foreheads. It was epic and gross!

Lucky you with the IUD... Mine didn't work out very well, twice, and I don't want to try it again!

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Liz Henry
Composite: Tech & Poetics
lizzard@bookmaniac.net

Love the uterus pinata!

moonfever0 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:43:29 -0600

I am thankfully under the influence of the lovely Mirena, so I have gratefully avoided all those tempermental cycles for the last five years. But I do remember how infuriating it was when people around me seemed to know that PMS was here and I didn't.

The pinata is fantastic. Reminds me of the womb knitting pattern on Knitty, two of which I made and photographed here.

EFT

Terena — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:29:43 -0600

Interesting. I haven't heard about EFT. thanks. and thanks for the comment. I love your signature. made me laugh.

transforming chaos into art, over and over again. www.medusasmuse.blogspot.com www.gravity-check.blogspot.com

Alzheimer's, Dementia, CJD, and Cancer

MLOKnitting — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:32:04 -0600

My grandfather died physically healthy but a victim of Alzheimer's. My family made the same mistake as most - thinking that home was the best place for him. Decline tends to be much slower in well-structured facilities. It is heart-breaking to see so many families make that same mistake and hasten the decline through denial of the patient's needs.

Sadly, one of the greatest satirists of our time, Terry Pratchett, has early onset Alzheimer's and his latest book Unseen Academicals shows where some of his thinking processes have weakened. It doesn't have the sharpness of his previous books. It is truly one of the saddest things to see.

One of the things about dementia is that it also includes most prion diseases. They are on the uptick. I have known 3 people who have died of CJD - and I live in Michigan, not the UK. The decline is so fast that there is nothing that can be done. I know that some of the same drugs being used for Alzheimer's are being used to treat CJD. Sadly, both can only be diagnosed via autopsy.

The mention of cancer by several commenters has me wondering if there might be an effect from chemotherapy drugs that may trigger dementia in old age - since "fuzzy thinking" is part and parcel of what is now termed "chemo brain." My grandfather was a coal miner and had been exposed to many hazardous materials. I wonder how many Alzheimer's victims had environmental triggers that we don't know about.

Sorry if this seems a bit scattered, but the realities of this disease are devastating and even when faced with it most families do not cope well. Most prefer to deny its realities instead of accepting what is necessary for the patient.

MLO / Melissa

Books, Movies, Games, Ovarian Cancer, and Life in General at http://www.mloknitting.com/

Thanks!

Willful Woman — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:48:30 -0600

Thank you for writing on this. I'm always interested in diseases that affect the entire family and I can't think of another one that does in quite the same way that Alzheimer's does. I'm especially interested in women's health and this is quite a fascinating intersection of the two. Women, so often being the main repository for family memory and tradition, have so much responsibility (at times a joy, sometimes a burden) in that sense. What happens to the family when the wife/mother/grandmother loses her memories? Who steps up and how?

Always a... Willful Woman @ www.besidethestonewall.com Visitors always welcome! Bring your stories to share!

CFS and Wrongful DX

Gladys Tells All — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:17:23 -0600

I too went to the doctor looking for help. I had been previously diagnosed with CFS but didn't recognize new symptoms. I went to a new endocrinologist who diagnosed me as a pituitary dwarf. I am 5'3" and 49 years old obviously not a pitiuitary dwarf. This dx caused me to loose my insurance and now I am uninsurable.

I have suffered and re-suffered with CFS since my 20's. I was told I had Lupus, RA, MS, psychosomatic symptoms, hypochondria and neurosis as well as depression and laziness. Yeah I was told this by so called professionals. One of those so called professionals basically gave me a 100 medical fico score.

I am sorry you have gone through this, just know you are not alone.

EFT

Gladys Tells All — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:09:54 -0600

Have you trid EFT...no not electronic funds transfer, emotional freedom technique. It has kept me from eating sugar and I am a sugar addict. I used to eat sugar sanwhiches. Hey it's worth a shot.

Hi Diana, Thanks for your

womenonthefence — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:31:18 -0600

Hi Diana,

Thanks for your comment! I didn't write GET ACTIVE, you're right. It was almost a no-brainer for me, as my readers know how important I think staying physically activity is. Great suggestion.

And if they run out of vaccines, you're right. I won't have to decide, LOL!

:))

All of your suggestsions are

ProjectEatMe — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:01:24 -0600

All of your suggestsions are awesome but I have one to add: Get active. Or move to Texas. Or as a middle ground, get active outside in the SUN - don't wait till night time to go for a walk.

PS, if you're lucky they will run out of vaccine and you won't have to decide :)

Diana Leah Wilson

http://projecteatme.blogspot.com