I’m happy to report that for the most part, I’ve remembered to take a vitamin almost every day this week. I haven’t been so consistent since my mom was handing me a Flintstone’s chewable each morning. Jim reports that the extra vitamin B is turning his uhh…liquid output…a brillant shade of neon green. I’m tempted to try some just to see how it looks!

I will be getting my own vitamins though. I want something with a bit more calcium and iron in it than what Jim is taking. Women just have different vitamin and mineral needs than men do! I was browsing the women’s vitamins and supplements online at N101 Nutrition and they’ve got a big catagory for women’s vitamins and supplements. I need to take a closer look and see which one is best for me. And I also found my favorite Burt’s Bees peppermint foot lotion on their site - yum! Are you listening, Santa?

Tying in somewhat to my post ealier about anxiety attacks, there’s a study being done in families with bipolar illness to determine what genes cause the disorder. Bipolar disorder, or manic depression, is an inherited mental illness. It runs rampant on my father’s side of the family, so I am at risk, as are my children, or developing bipolar disorder. You can make somewhat of an educated guess as to whether you or your children will develop the symptoms of any mental illness that “runs in the family” by looking at several different risk factors.

First, where does the illness lie? Your family? Your spouses only? Both? Attempt to gather information as to if the illness forms a pattern. Grandparents affected? Cousins? Aunts and uncles? Is there someone affected in each generation? If not, the risk decreased. Does the illness skip a generation? (In my case, no.)

Another factor is age. The earlier a person shows symptoms, the more likely they are to pass on the illness to their children. Each generation becomes a little worse than the one before it. However, stress is a big factor, and could bring in bipolar symptoms early.

Lastly, women are more likely to end up with a mood disorder than men. However, in my family, I have at least 2 male family members who are bipolar, and only one female family member.

Interesting stuff.

I suffer from anxiety and anxiety attacks, sometimes called “panic attacks”. From time to time, it turns into an anxiety attack. I didn’t know it, but I’ve been having them since high school. I describe the symptoms of anxiety attacks as “report card day syndrome”. You know you’re getting a bad grade or 2, and you know at the end of the day you’re going home, and your mother is going to ask to see that report card. Nothing good is going to come of that! I feel the same way now, as a 30 year old woman, that I did on report card day. Fluttery feelins in my stomach, stress coming over my in waves - I was a mess right before the 3day walk. I don’t deal well with the unknown, so going into a 60 mile walk was a huge thing for me. For some people, anxiety is more mild - it can be triggered by test taking, or having to perform in certain situations in the workplace.

If you think you’re suffering from anxiety attacks, you can do this simple online screening test for anxiety. If you are suffering from anxiety, the thought of going to the doctor probably makes you break out in a cold sweat. You don’t HAVE to control this with medication. You can help yourself through simple techniques, like the ones outlined in this e-book to cure anxiety and panic attacks. The book explains how to cope with a panic attack, breathing & relaxation techniques, what triggers attacks, and how to neutralize them, the role that genetics play (I know that I was born with this - heredity definitely played a part), how to help your child if he shows signs of anxiety, and the ties between anxiety and depression. All of this is really helpful information if you are suffering from anxiety or just want to know more. I wish my doctor had shared it with me instead of just writing a prescription.

After my own doctor told me I was “too young” to need a mammogram…I found a new doctor. However, some women don’t know when they’ve been led astray. This doctor just died of breast cancer, and she had sued her doctor twice for failing to diagnose her breast cancer. Sadly, she lost both legal battles, and passed away this week.

I spoke a bit the other day about sleep disorders. One such sleep disorder is sleep apnea. I know of several people with it who were the CPAP machine to sleep, and it’s saved their life. Obstructive sleep apnea is caused by obstruction in your upper airway, and you will actually stop breathing in your sleep. Your body strains to breath during your sleep apnea episodes, and most people don’t even realize they have it until a family member or sleeping partner clues them in. If you let sleep apnea go untreated, you can actually develop heart disease from it. If you think you have a sleep disorder, see a doctor. He can send you for a sleep sturdy so that you’ll be properly diagnosed.

I just (finally) got a statement from my insurance company saying they covered my mammogram that I had done in May. Now the imaging company will stop pestering me for the $400 they charge for the mammogram. Is it any wonder why women who don’t have health insurance don’t get mammograms? At The Breast Cancer Site you can help fund free mammograms. Visit their website and click on the “Fund Free Mammograms” button. Donations from site sponsors for each click provide mammograms to low income, inner city, and minority women.

A lot of places in the U.S. have gone smoke free in recent years. Florida is a clean indoor air state, so you can’t smoke in any buildings, like the airport, or the mall. You can’t smoke in restaurants, but you can smoke in bars. Or, you can sit outside at a restaurant and smoke, as we discovered the other day when we ate on the deck at Hooters.

The smoking ban is catching on in the U.K. as well. www.nosmokinglaw.co.uk is a smoking law resource site that provides infomation on the smoking ban in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. When I went to the U.K. several years ago, I was astonished at how many people were smokers. It seemed really prevalent, no matter where we went. I’m happy that one of my favorite counties is working on getting it’s residents to be a bit more healthy. Even if people are still smoking like chimneys, at least it’s being confined to smoking shelters with cigarette bins, and they aren’t puffing away in public places any longer.

Sheryl Crow will grace the fall issue of Women&Cancer, a quarterly magazine covering prevention and wellness topics relating to cancer. She has an interview in the magazine as well, sharing the story of her personal journey since her diagnosis of breast cancer. Crow recently told People magazine she is 6 months cancer free.

There are 3 day walks in a lot of major cities across the U.S., but not many in the desert, including Las Vegas. That won’t keep us from visiting though My husband has been 3 or 4 times, and I’m hoping to make it there one of these days. Lots of other people make the move to Las Vegas permanently - deciding to live there year round. Becuase of this, new homes are booming, and builders are offering plenty of incentives like paid closing costs, free upgrades, down payment assistance and more. Las Vegas real estate has been featured on a lot of the house flipping television shows I watch also. I don’t think I could deal with living in such a dry climate, but I could deal with having so much action in my own town!

The North Carolina State women’s basketball couch, Kay Yow, is taking a leave of absense to fight breast cancer. Yow was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, and it returned 2 years ago. She’s been treating it with radiation, but the cancer was progessing, so she will take time off to procede with chemo.