May is Mental Health Awareness Month – a good reminder to check up - and brush up - on yours. The pain began as a dull off-and-on ache between my shoulder blades. But then, seemingly overnight, it progressed into a persistent, sharp and stinging sensation that moved beyond my neck and down into my arm. The unrelenting pain woke me – and kept me - up at night. And the more I felt the pain, the more I tensed up and the tighter my muscles became, which only added to my discomfort. In no time I became stressed and sedentary, short-tempered and depressed. After spending considerable time trying all my { Read More }
Here’s How to Communicate With Your Doctor
Communication is a skill that's vital - not just in our relationships, but in just about everything we do. By the time we're in this so-called midlife, we hope we've mastered it, but chances are we slip up from time to time. From the insignificant (like your order of a "triple, venti, soy, no-foam latte") - to the noteworthy (like telling the waiter to make sure there's no shrimp in that seafood stew, since you're deathly allergic to shrimp) - without proper communication, we risk a return trip to Starbucks or worse: A life-or-death trip to the ER. The words we choose - and just as importantly { Read More }
Menopause, Bloating, Hair Loss, Friends and Cellulite
Greetings – remember me?? I write that because it’s been a long while since I’ve posted here - and that old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind” scares me a bit. I hate to lose whatever momentum I’ve gained since starting this blog back in 2012 (has it really been that long??). So, thanks for sticking with me! As I write this post, I realize I’ve been a bit, well…absent lately. Short explanation: As a writer, it sometimes is tough to keep the so-called momentum and ideas churning. Long explanation: I hate excuses and I don’t want pity so I’m not going there. But I have been doing a lot of { Read More }
Menopause and Vaginal Dryness
I'm not going to beat around the bush. (Okay, I realize that is a not-so-funny pun.) Why not get right to the point? Menopause brings many changes, and one of the peskiest being a change in the way your vagina feels, which can lead to itchiness, dryness, irritation (which can even lead to bleeding) and trouble with intercourse. Blame estrogen, or a lack thereof. So many women remain silent about this; too embarrassed to bring it up to their healthcare providers. So many healthcare providers stay silent about it, too. Maybe they are embarrassed, too - or perhaps they're unprepared, or too { Read More }
Five (More) Easy Ways to Have Your Healthiest Summer Ever
Happy Summer! I've taken a too-long absence- life gets in the way of work, sometimes- but am back now to reconnect with all of you, hoping that your lives have been a bit less hectic and dramatic than mine has been lately. Summer began on Monday. Yay! I love summer for a number of reasons, the most obvious one being, IT'S SUMMER! The season conjures up so many wonderful memories, and since I grew up very close to the Atlantic Ocean, many of these involve the beach, a place that still calls and comforts me. My father used to say that I was like a turtle, always drawn back to the water. It's { Read More }
Are You the Child of a Narcissist?
It's a common scenario: Your parent is aging, and little by little the roles are reversing. You are becoming their parent, and they are becoming like your child. If you were born between 1946 and 1964, then you might be one of 76 million baby boomers approaching and/or ready to enter retirement. Or perhaps you're first ramping up a career that had been put on hold while you focused instead on raising your own family. (That's how it is for me. When my two sons were in high school, I returned to college for an advanced degree, knowing that once they flew the coop, I'd want to focus on a new career. I'm { Read More }
How’s Your Pelvic Health?
HEALTH STATISTIC(S) OF THE DAY More than one-third of U.S. women suffer from pelvic floor disorder, or PFD. About 377,000 are reported to have had surgery (as of 20102) for the disorder, with those numbers expected to climb significantly over the next several decades. During their lifetime, approximately one in 11 women will have surgery to address pelvic floor issues, says women's health expert and advocate, Donnica Moore, M.D. The Story The pelvic floor contains a group of muscles that act as a sling, supporting the urethra, vagina and anus to keep them all wher they belong. Anything that { Read More }
The End-of-Summer Blues
The end of the summer is upon us and I'm feeling blue. How did that happen so quickly? My favorite season, gone in a flash. While some reasons for my sadness are easy to pinpoint (I loathe winter), others are somewhat within my realm of understanding (read below), while still remain tough to define, floating in a space that feels so personal yet is, at times, so difficult to grasp. Summer's end used to be marked by my return to school. A new school term signaled a sudden and abrupt end to what once felt like an endless stretch of time, so confusing in its contradictions. By the end of the { Read More }
5 Easy (and free!) Ways to Be Happier
Lately, I’ve been thinking about what makes us feel happy. Maybe it’s because it’s summer – something that always made me unequivocally happy – and right now, I’m not feeling that familiar adrenaline-fueled kind of euphoria happiness. Really, when you think about it, that’s perfectly normal, isn’t it? I mean, how can one thing – summer- erase all the other so-called stresses that enter our lives? And who is happy all the time, anyway? For one thing, there’s work. I’ve been slaving over an assignment that is keeping me up nights and taking up immeasurable hours every day. Don’t get me wrong – I’m { Read More }
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