Study: High risk women may benefit from mammograms starting at age 40
When to get a mammogram screening? Beginning at age 40? 50? Every year or every other year? Recommendations over the past few years have been varied depending on which medical organization you look at. Now two new studies suggest that women who are at increased risk for breast cancer will benefit from mammogram screenings every other year starting at age 40.
Measles cases reached 15-year high in 2011
Back in 2000 measles was eliminated from the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But now a new CDC study tells us there were 17 outbreaks and 222 cases of the highly infectious disease reported in 2011.
An outbreak is defined as three or more cases linked by time or location. The average age of those infected was 14 and most were infected while traveling abroad.
Mindmapping Your Migraine Pain
As far as headaches go, migraines are the worst. Why? Because they’re not just a pain in the head — or the neck, or the eye, for that matter. Rather, they can cause stranger symptoms such as auras (flashes of light in one’s vision), literal blind spots, muscle pain, sleepiness and my personal least favorite of all: foggy headed-ness.
If you hadn’t guessed already, I have a migraine right now. Fortunately, thanks to modern medicine, I no longer have the trademark pain I get at my left temple. Not so fortunately, I still feel like I’m 100 feet below sea level (in terms of the pressure I feel surrounding my skull), and also feel so completely out of it, mentally, that I’m not sure I should even be taking the time to write, right now. But it seems a fitting opportunity — cathartic, even — to get my thoughts about migraines out while I have one.
My first thought was a question, really. Why do I have a migraine when I had my morning coffee, ate breakfast and slept a sweet nine hours last night? And that’s where I realized; nine hours of sleep is a lot for me. In fact, I was proud of myself for hitting the sack before 11 p.m. last night and (gasp) getting up after 8 a.m. But maybe herein lies the problem; migraines can be triggered by sleep pattern changes, says WebMD. From the site: ”Either missing sleep or getting too much sleep may serve as a trigger for migraines in some individuals, as can jet lag.”
Wow. I had always known common triggers for migraines: alcohol, salt, chocolate, aspartame, and, even, jet lag. But too much sleep? In every health magazine I flip through, I read again and again the benefits of “getting your zzzzzs,” so it had never occurred to me to stay up later or wake up earlier to actually curb my risk for a migraine day. Here are two more interesting (and, we believe, less commonly known) migraine risk factors, via WebMD:
- Physical factors. Intense physical exertion, including sexual activity, may provoke migraines.
- Changes in the environment. A change of weather or barometric pressure can prompt a migraine.
Very interesting.
So, what does this mean for those of us prone to migraines?
Find your triggers.
Note the days in your calendar when you get migraine symptoms and, equally important, note what you did differently that day in terms of how/where you slept, what you ate, what the weather was like, etc. so that you may be able to more easily determine your pattern for migraine headaches.
Avoid your triggers.
In this way, you’ll be able to mindmap your own migraines and, hopefully, outsmart them as much as possible. We’re not suggesting you’ll be able to rid yourself of the unpleasantness of them entirely, but we do believe the more you realize what causes them, the more able you’ll be to avoid them. You may even try using this nifty tool from WebMD, which helps you determine triggers and avoid your own migraines.
Photo Thanks To: zigazou76
How to Wear the Pants in Your Relationship With Your Insurance Company
It can be tempting at times to sit back, let your insurance company dictate everything for you, and then… complain about it. I’ve personally had gripes about my insurance company, Kaiser Permanente, in the past. Namely when they denied me initial coverage because I had experienced bronchitis (deemed a “chronic condition”). And then, of course, I griped a bit more when I was charged the “in-patient services” rate for a seven-hour hospital visit where I was more accurately an “out-patient.” But in both cases, I was very justly given the benefit of the doubt when I wrote a rebuttal letter (for the former instance) and a grievance letter (for the latter). In both cases, Kaiser’s initial decisions were reversed. Adding to that, I’ve since learned that Kaiser paid off all of my medical and hospital bills as a part of its 2011 good grace tax write-offs. Needless to say, I have grown to seriously respect the not-for-profit organization that Kaiser is — as well as the way it works to help the people it covers.
The lesson I’ve learned through all of this is that it’s important to always dispute anything against your insurance company that seems off to you. And don’t assume the company is always right. Yes, this can take some time to do because you typically have to sit down and write a very specific letter about what you’re arguing against. That being said, I can say with assurance that it was absolutely worth my time to 1. get health insurance and 2. to get my charges reduced by about 50 percent. Here are three easy tips for writing letters to refute a charge/denial/etc. to your insurance company.
1. As I said before, rule #1: Do not assume your insurance company is correct in everything it does and every decision it makes. To add to this, trust yourself. You know if bronchitis is a “chronic condition” or not. If it isn’t, have the confidence to explain this.
2. The primary form of debating against your insurance company is a letter. To refute charges, denials, etc., you will need to write a specifically-tailored letter to someone who will, essentially, become a case worker for you. It is important to write clearly and concisely. List things with bullet points so it is clear and easy to read and comprehend. Pretend you’re writing a letter to a precocious child. In other words, make it so it’d be easy for anyone to read.
3. Be timely. Don’t wait a month before committing to writing your rebuttal or refute letter. Rather, show your insurance company that you mean business by sending them that argument far faster than they have the capacity to act against you.
Have you ever had to defend yourself against your insurance company? Let us know your tips in the comments section below!
Photo Thanks To: 401K
Planes, Mules and Helicopters: How a Travel Disaster Turned Into a Life Lesson
This guest post is brought to you via the incredible Bernie Charland via his blog, Public Relations Rogue.
I recently returned from what, on paper, was an expensive adventure debacle. Despite a “fail” in my original quest – reaching the summit of one of the world’s seven summits – I learned a much more important lesson on the value of friendship and compassion, as well as the importance of good old face-to-face conversation. For the first time in years, my laptop, iPhone and all things wi-fi and social media were totally useless and irrelevant.
Here’s my travel story. This past December I was on a climbing expedition to Aconcagua, Argentina’s mammoth mountain, which was highlighted by an almost comical series of physical misadventures, travel snafus and unexpected twists. At the heart of my story is the small problem of getting altitude sickness (I’m totally fine now) and having to get off the mountain, pronto, from Camp 3… located at 18,200 feet elevation. My quest to get off the mountain and back to civilization (Santiago airport) was similar in detours and frustration to the John Hughes classic “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” (FYI – in the interest of brevity I will omit the 24-hour flight delay from my home to start my voyage, caused by a plane malfunction, causing me to arrive in Mendoza, Argentina one day late and having to scramble by mini-bus and then foot, assisted by pack mules, to join my expedition mates.)
Getting back to Base Camp, or Plaza Argentina, went well enough considering my wobbly legs and altitude-induced exhaustion. That’s where the real problems started. The camp doctor confirmed what my guides and I knew – I would quickly feel much better at a relative “low” elevation of 14,500 feet – but should get off the mountain as quickly as possible. That made sense, but it quickly became clear that would be as difficult to get off Aconcagua as it was to get to and up the mountain.
Here were my choices:
- Book a flight on the Aconcagua Park helicopters. The advantage here is speed (15 minutes flight time to logistics center and hotel at base of mountain) with negatives being high cost (don’t ask) and total unpredictability of timing due to the notorious mountain winds.
- Book a “carry” mule to take you back to park entrance. Advantage is you don’t have to hike, or carry your massive pack, but negatives are timing; 3-4 days delay to get a carry mule up to Base Camp and then 2 days or so to hike/ride back down. Also not cheap.
- Book a mule to carry our packs to park entrance. Advantage is we can guarantee departure in 1-2 days, but cost is mixed (need to pay for mule and time spent in Base Camp) and this would require my guide to return to Camp 3 to retrieve his gear and hike back down to accompany me to part entrance. Did I mention this is a grueling 12-hour hike, even accounting for the lighter daypacks and downhill grade.
- Stay at Base Camp for perpetuity drinking $10 dollar beers and avoiding showers.
I chose the helicopter option. But not so fast… things happen on their own time on the mountain. The timing of the helicopter flights is totally unpredictable; the notorious, screaming winds on Aconcagua often make it too dangerous to fly. As it happens I was on stand-by, fully packed and ready to go, for about 30 hours. That delay was costly, since Plaza Argentina is like most mountain base camps – a global village where costs for limited services are often astronomical (e.g. $40 cash for a meal, $10 for a Pepsi.) Finally, the weather broke and I was able to leave Base Camp with a park helicopter almost 32 hours after I arrived. I was too happy to realize I was petrified during the ride, but let me say I now know what it feels like to fly a helicopter in bumpy, fierce cross-winds mere feet from mountain peaks. (I can take that one off my bucket list.) Finally, back to civilization…sort of.
The helicopter and a quick car ride by a local support team got me as far as a small hamlet of hiker hotels and restaurants on the main highway, roughly halfway between Santiago and Mendoza. Though this area is a staging area for many expeditions, it’s a desolate and isolated place. Thankfully, I found a hotel that served as unofficial home to climbers – and a great place for a hot meal and shower. My challenge, despite the new comforts, was to try to get a bus ride to Santiago to catch my flight home – a seemingly simple proposition since I was on the main highway to/from there from Mendoza. But things are not so simple in Argentina. Due to the Christmas holiday timing, nothing moved (and no phones were answered) for roughly 24 hours. Then the hotel staff discovered that very few of the bus lines stop at this particular spot on the highway.
Well, thanks to the help of the friendly staff at my hotel, I eventually booked a seat on a small, stuffy mini-bus and made my way to Santiago. I thought I was in business when I noted the very loud, very old video players booming old Guns & Roses videos in the bus. But then the smoking started. And little did I know the route would actually go right over the spine of the Andes. Let me say that I have never, that I recall, been more afraid for my life than during the roller-coaster drive through the steep, sinewy ravines they consider a highway. The area around Portillo (a ski resort for hard-core skiers wanting snow during the North American summer) was something like a scene out of Lord of the Rings, with gigantic, jagged peaks seemingly looming over the highway road. Local drivers shifted lanes with abandon, apparently not concerned about either gravity or the hundreds of trucks coming from the opposite direction. Other passengers informed me calmly that this stretch was notorious for rock falls and traffic fatalities.
After my white knuckle ride, I found myself in a Santiago bus depot about miles from the airport…and with a very tight window to catch my flight back to the U.S. Thankfully, a Chilean version of a guardian angel – an honest taxi driver who claimed to be a former auto racer – helped me get my luggage and got me to the airport in 15 minutes. Many rules of the road were ignored and broken, but I made it safely. Once at the airport, things began to fall back into place: check-in, security, coffee, boarding and the relative security and comfort of a flight home.
As noted, the best part of this story is not that I eventually got home – though not in the time or fashion that I expected – but that every step of the way was due to the effort, ingenuity and support of people along the way. My tools of the trade were conversation – often in broken Spanish or variations on tourist mime – and reliance on the incredible friendship and assistance of strangers along the way. I did use technology a couple of times – notably a fax/phone at the hotel – but that’s about it in terms of my usual communication tools. And I think it was good for me. The lesson: communication is about people, not the technology or tool.
Here’s a list of those I need to thank for helping me get home:
- Tom and Jonathan – my guides – and the rest of the staff at Mountain Guides International
- The rest of the “Happy Endings” expedition
- Veronica and others (including Base Camp cooks) at Grajales Expeditions
- Steve, Julie and staff of the Ayelen Hotel de Montana in Penitentes
- My Russian helicopter pilot (too scared to remember his name)
- My Santiago taxi driver (never got his name)
Photo Thanks To: Miradas.com.br
Komen Takes Its Stance Against Planned Parenthood, But Why?
Did the Susan G. Komen organization halt its funding to Planned Parenthood as a result of purely political pressures? By eliminating all funding to Planned Parenthood, is the Komen organization taking a pro-life stand against the nation’s most recognized pro-choice organization? And if so, is this a stand-off that our nation’s women will suffer from? Perhaps most importantly, is this a battle of healthcare — or a war of political origins?
Whether this is an all-out war or not, this is a case of two organizations who both, above all, claim to stand for women’s health — the issue that should be at the forefront of all of this. But the reality is that women’s health is being negatively affected as a result of the political and social biases that come into play. Just as Susan G. Komen just did, it seems that in today’s day and age, you have to pick a side to be on. The sides seem to be panning out to not only be pro-choice or pro-life but, alas, Republican or Democratic. We truly hate to see politics play this heavily into an issue that should rightly be about protecting the health of our nation’s women.
It only seems appropriate, then, to say this: We believe you can stand for women’s health (and women’s rights) without conforming to one political party and its aligning ideologies. We, here at Bedside Matters, are two women who support proactive health, and we each have a wide array of political insights. However, we do not let those play into our decisions about our own health or the health of others. We’re here to say we’re agnostic when it comes to women’s health because we truly believe all women should have the right to take care of their bodies and their babies in whatever way they choose to.
Of course, it’s not as easy for multi-million dollar organization like the Susan G. Komen foundation to be so willy nilly about its stance on a woman’s right to choose, but let’s not forget; that’s not the issue at hand. We’ll say this outright: Komen was in no way funding abortions. Rather, it was (over the last five years) funding: “about 4 million breast exams and referrals for 70,000 mammograms nationwide,” according to The LA Times, which adds, “Funding from Komen covers about 170,000 of the breast exams and 6,400 mammogram referrals, (Cecile) Richards said.” (Richards is president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.)
In the articles we’ve read about this entire ordeal, it appears that the Komen organization is hesitant to comment much, if at all. This is where we would hope for (but not necessarily expect) more transparency in terms of the motivations for the organization because otherwise, it leads us to believe that politics really has taken precedence over women’s health.
Photo Thanks To: NatalieMaynor
What are your thoughts on the issue at hand? Please leave a comment in the comments section below.
To Improve Your Health, Meditate on This
When I was growing up (not all that long ago, mind you), I remember the general consensus being that meditation was something reserved for wannabe hippies, social stragglers and the like. I know because my dad — who did sun salutations before bed and practiced meditation from time to time — was considered by many to be sort of endearing and slightly eccentric for doing these things. My dad, always ahead of the curve, simply smiled it all off and continued to do his thing.
Today, fortunately, meditation is much more mainstream, and much more medical research has been done on it, enough to prove that mindfulness based meditation is a tool that humans can use to reduce stress and improve overall health and wellbeing. In fact, recent studies even show that meditation can benefit breast cancer patients, as it can lead to better mental, physical and emotional health. That’s not a claim to be taken lightly, and we believe that if meditation can help cancer patients heal, it is certainly a worthwhile health matter to be taken into consideration for everyone.
Futurity.org, which reports research news from top universities and the like, has this to say about mindfulness based meditation:
As reported in Western Journal of Nursing Research, the researchers found survivors who learned MBSR lowered their blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate.
In addition, participants’ mood improved, and their level of mindfulness increased after taking the class. For best results, Armer says, participants should continue MBSR after the class ends to maintain the positive effects.
As if the above weren’t enough to motivate you to begin understanding meditation, WebMD has an article on its site devoted entirely to proving that meditation is a key tool for people with high stress to reduce their anxieties and improve their health. The article states:
“… a study that indicated that meditation improved both physical and emotional responses to stress. In the study, people who meditated regularly for six weeks showed less activation of their immune systems and less emotional distress when they were put in a stressful situation.”
Now you’re convinced (we hope). Of course we’re kidding, but we’re willing to bet you could improve your life by simply trying meditation. For most people, it takes a lot of practice and understanding to successfully meditate, but we think it’s important to let you know that you can do it in a variety of different ways. As WebMD suggests, “If you think that meditation might help you unwind a bit, there are dozens of techniques and disciplines available, from saying a mantra to staring at a candle flame to counting breaths. Keep trying until something feels right. And check out community centers, local colleges, and HMOs for classes; they’re often affordable at such places.”
Photo Thanks To: RambergMediaImages
Second Opinions
When (and how) do you decide to get a second opinion for the diagnosis you’ve just received?
That was the topic of discussion for this past Thursday’s Talk of the Nation radio show on NPR, and it sparked quite the commentary from both patients and doctors alike. (To listen to the full Podcast of today’s show, go here.) For us, too, it has sparked a keen interest in the topic at hand: second opinions. We can’t help but ponder the topic because it is so inherently paradoxical; a second opinion can either save a person’s life or cause them an unnecessary amount of wasted time and money.
Speaking for myself, I pretty much always get as much advice from as many resources possible when faced with any life-altering situation, medical or otherwise. In the case of a severe bout of ovary pain I experienced about four years ago, I spent a matter of about one year and many dollars trying to get opinions on the source of my discomfort. First, I was told I was simply feeling my own ovulation. When it didn’t go away in a matter of a few weeks, the same doctor felt around and determined that there seemed to be a lump — a cyst — on my ovary, but that I should see my primary care physician and get an ultrasound to be sure. I did, and the results were this: I didn’t have a cyst at all, and the first doctor had likely just felt “something” else. At this point, I was totally flustered and confused. I underwent an MRI, another ultrasound or two (over a year or two more) and many tests and pelvic exams. At the end, I was left with several opinions, all of which seemed to amount to the same diagnosis: uncertainty. Finally, about three years into this entire ordeal, when other issues started mounting up in the lady department (think: crazy periods, nausea, severe pain), I was referred to a specialist who told me I had endometriosis. Now, finally, I undergo hormone therapy that has rid my right ovary of any pain and which has rendered my female issues gone.
What’s the take-away from this story? I’m not entirely sure because it’s so utterly unique. But maybe that’s just it. Your body is wholly unique and (often times) strange in the way it acts. And, also often times, it can take a long while before anything is determined in terms of any diagnosis. With all of that said, it’s important to always see your primary care physician at the very least — and to get a second, third or fourth diagnosis whenever you feel it’s right.
The take-away from the Talk of the Nation discussion was ultimately the same: you need to do what’s right for you. If you feel uneasy about a diagnosis one doctor made, see another. In the case of managing your own health matters, you have to do the research, make education decisions and, ultimately, give in to what your gut is telling you.
What’s your opinion on second opinions? Let us know in the comments section below!
Photo Thanks To: *King of the Ants*
The More Involved You Are in Your Health, the Healthier You’ll Be
This quote, via The New York Times pretty much sums up our mantra: “By taking an active role in their care, patients could be healthier, clinicians would feel more gratified, and even health care costs would decrease, as there would presumably be less need for additional services outside the doctor’s office.”
The funny part of it is, most people don’t take charge of their own health matters, to the detriment of their own wellbeing. What’s more, most people don’t take the time necessary to actually understand their own bodies and what they’re potentially doing to them with their personal habits. If people simply took the time to research and understand what they’re at risk for, or what the diseases they already have are actually doing to them, they might be more apt to change their actions and motivate more overall wellness. Here’s the proof:
“Not long ago, the researchers examined the survey results of over 25,000 Fairview Health patients and compared those results with various objective measures of wellness like blood pressure, body mass index, blood sugar and cholesterol levels, emergency department use and hospitalizations.
Although not all the differences were dramatic, patients who were more involved in their health were less likely to smoke, be obese, get hospitalized or go to the emergency room than those who were less engaged. And while more affluent patients tended to be healthier than those who were poorer, patients who were more active in their own care tended to be in better health than their socioeconomic peers, regardless of income.”
Do you, whomever you are, wherever you are reading this, realize how ridiculously simple this whole proactive health matters thing is and how much it could affect you? Theoretically speaking, being more involved in your health could save your life.
We’ll leave it at that, and we’ll refrain from offering any tips, tools and ideas for involving yourself more in your own health for the sake of keeping this post simple. That said, if you simply take today to better understand what ails you or what your habits may be doing to you, you could be doing yourself the biggest favor of your entire life.
To read the full New York Times article, go here.
Photo Thanks To: havankevin
How Accomplished Do New Year’s Resolutions Really Become?
As 2011 comes to a close, we couldn’t resist writing up a post about the proverbial New Year’s Resolution. In researching just that, we came across this article, To Your Health: Time for New Resolutions, published on NPR’s Health Blog today. This post — unlike most, which are giving health resolution advice — actually gives some interesting insights (statistically speaking) into what people resolve to do most and what percentages of people actually accomplish their resolutions in the New Year. The pared down verdict comes out to be this, from the post:
“ A little over half of the people we surveyed said they’ll resolve to exercise more. More than a third will resolve to lose weight. And 13 percent say they’ll commit to either quitting smoking or reducing how much they smoke.”
Followed by this, also pulled directly from the article:
“Overall, 57 percent of respondents who wanted to lose weight in the past told us they’d reached their goal.
Quitting smoking is more challenging. Among people who had vowed to quit smoking at least once in the past five years, only 36 percent said they had succeeded.”
You can see explore the full health poll of New Year’s Resolutions here if you want to read more.
Overall, you can rest assured this year knowing that it’s better to make a resolution to do something proactive about your health than to make no such resolution at all. Regardless of whether or not you’re going to achieve your exact, perfect weight or if you’re really going to run every single day starting January 1st, it’s important to set goals for yourself that you can, at the very least, work toward. There’s at least some proof to support that you’ll glean some health benefits from simply trying.
With that, we’ll say Happy New Year! Have a safe, healthy weekend of celebration — and if you don’t yet have a resolution, perhaps decide to simply be more proactive about managing your own health. That’s something we can certainly stand behind. And you can always read the Bedside Matters blog for tips, support and advice in doing just that.
Photo Thanks To: imgfave
