My husband went to his doctor last week for a checkup, and 2 very exciting things happened. First, you have to understand that because I don’t have a degree in medicine, and an “M.D.” after my name, Jim doesn’t take much of what I say seriously if it relates to his health. I’ve been after him for YEARS to get his snoring checked out, telling him that he doesn’t have normal sleep patterns. Did he do anything about it? Nope. I’ve also been telling him to get a suspicious looking mole on his back checked out. I even offered to make him an appointment with MY dermatologist. Again, nothing.

So he went to his doctor – and he did at least MENTION the mole and the snoring thing. (I’m sure it was in the context of, “My wife won’t stop nagging me!”) His doctor checked out the mole and agreed that it doesn’t look good, so he’s sending him to a dermatologist for it to be biopsied. He also referred him to a sleep study. Jim already made appointments for BOTH! After years of me nagging…finally!

He also happened to mention the mole thing to his mom on the phone, and she said Jim’s sister has had a big problem with melanoma. I can only hope it’s “just a mole” at this point…if it’s anything more, I’m going to be upset that he put off getting it checked for so long!

Have you heard about the lawsuit regarding the Ortho Evra Birth Control Patch? I read on th e blog of a Seattle personal injury lawyer that the manufacturer of the birth control patch knowingly concealed the risks of serious injuries, and even DEATH, and instead aggressively marketed the patch to young women. Eek! I’m a young woman! That’s just…shameful…that a company would let woman DIE because of a defective birth control patch. Studies have shown that the Ortho Evra birth control patch causes 11 times more injuries & damage than the pill.

This group of Seattle personal injury attorneys is asking that anyone who has used the patch and had blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolism, or the family of anyone who died, contact them to be involved in the claim. You can get a free case evaluation from this group of Seattle personal injury lawyers, for this, as well as any other personal injury case. I hope that all of the women affected by this, as well as their families, can be taken care of with this lawsuit…it’s just not right what happened. Not right at all.

I wanted to share with you all what I learned about Accutane, and the changes made to how it is dispensed. It’s been 4 years since I was last on it, and at that time, it was pretty strictly regulated. You had to get blood work done monthly. No bloodwork? No refill. You had to be on 2 forms of birth control, because Accutane does cause birth defects. I had to sign a waiver saying I knew the risks and I wouldn’t hold my doctor or the drug maker liable if anything happened.

The US government thought that by doing all of that, they wouldn’t see any more birth defects due to Accutane. They were wrong. Unfortunately, women STILL got pregnant on the drug. I went to the March of Dimes website and learned that some of the birth defects are:

hydrocephaly (enlargement of the fluid-filled spaces in the brain)
microcephaly (small head and brain)
mental retardation; heart defects
ear and eye abnormalities
cleft lip and palate
and other facial abnormalities

The damage is done in the first few WEEKS of conception. I can’t even begin to say how serious this is….if you are on Accutane, you can’t just tell your doctor you’re using two forms of birth control…you MUST DO IT!

Due to the number of Accutane births, it is even harder to get the medication now, which is why my doctor wants me to try something else first this time around. If, after that, I choose to go on Accutane, I will be asked to register with iPledge before receiving treatment. I have to test negative to two pregnancy tests before going on the medication, and then I must have monthly tests while on the medication. I am willing to do all of it.

I have, thankfully, never experience the pain of infertility. That’s not to say I haven’t cried right along with my friends when they got a negative test result on a pregnancy test. Something that my friends who have issues conceiving have all found to be a big help is the information found online at sites like Fertility Facts. I looked over the site tonight and found it to be a well balanced offering of almost any topic you could think of related to fertility. The articles are varied and well written, and I think it would be a great resource for anyone going through infertility or anyone who has a friend of family member dealing with it. The site debunks common fertility myths (how many times have you heard men should wear boxers to help make a baby? False!) as well as give you an idea of the type of tests you’ll be subjected to in your visitors to a fertility specialist. I really enjoyed this piece on when to seek help for fertility issues. I know a lot of women worry about this – when is too soon? Did you wait too long? You can use a lot of the info found at Fertility Facts to prompt conversation between you and your spouse or OB/GYN as well.

I know in the past, I’ve mentioned on this blog that I don’t wear contacts, and that’s because I injured my eye a few years back. Actually, I didn’t injure it so much, as I got a contact with bacteria into my eye, and that’s what caused the problem. After wearing that icky contact for 8 hours, and then drifting off to sleep…I woke up with my eye swollen shut the next morning. I assumed I scratched my eye with a fingernail when taking out the lens, so I wasn’t in a hurry to get it checked out. The next day, it still hurt, but it was Memorial Day weekend and my doctor’s office wasn’t open. I knew I’d wait for HOURS at the ER, so I didn’t go, and put it off another day. When I finally got it checked out, it was a really bad situation – I almost lost my cornea. Waiting it out, and hoping it would get better really didn’t help me any!

I wish that I had access to this ACLens.com back then. They’re a site that sells contact lenses, like Acuvue, Bausch & Lomb, Ciba Vision, FreshLook, and other top brands. But more than that, they have a education section full of articles and a forum for contact lens users with more than 30,000 posts! They have a feature called Ask The Doctor where you can submit your very own eye related question. I could have really used something like that when I had my eye issue! If I had emailed my question and symptoms, they could have told me that what was going on with me was not just a scratch, and to get my rear to the ER immediately!

I’ve been sitting at my desk, at the laptop, for over 12 hours now. Sheesh! And I wonder why my back aches? I have horrible posture as well. I usually sit hunched over the keyboard, or with one leg tucked under me. When I was seeing a chiropractor before the 3-Day last year, he ALWAYS got on me about slouching. What can I say? I’m a born slacker. Err, sloucher. After a long day of sitting at the computer, I always try to stretch out before I crawl into bed. Bending over and touching my toes usually makes me feel better, but it’s nights like this that I wish I had a professional masseuse living in my house.

Dimpled skin. Orange peel legs. Cottage cheese thighs. Cellulite – the bane of every woman’s existance! For years, various remedies for cellulite have been touted…from creams to rub on your skin to exercises you can do to tone and retain the muscles of your body. Nothing has been proven to get rid of cellulite, until now. The deposits of fat lay on your legs, taunting you with their puckered texture. Although cellulite is normal, who wants it?

There’s a new product on the market called Rubber Glass which helps to reduce cellulite. It’s a small massager which is used for vacuum massage. This technique increases the circulation of blood, and the quality of the tissue. And now, you can get $10 off on your purchase of this item with the promo code rgeasy – that code is valid until 3/21/07. I looked at the before and after pictures on the cellulite massager website and I have to admit, I do see a difference!

Beautifully landscaped grounds. A rec room with a pool table. Smiling employees. A view of the lake. Sounds like a great resort to vacation at, right? Nope, it’s what you’ll find at the Stone Hawk drug rehab center in Michigan. If you have a problem with drugs, or you have a family member or friend who needs help, Stone Hawk is worth a look. They don’t use medication to resolve the issues caused by drugs and alcohol. The clients are not considered patients – rather, they are students learning how to live drug free. Once a student completes the program, they’ll be confident that they can live a drug free life with the new skills they’ve learned at Stone Hawk. If you’ve tried other programs and they haven’t helped, give Stone Hawk a try.

One of my online friends in Texas has vision that’s just about as bad as mine. Or rather, she HAD vision that bad. She finally went through with Lasik last fall with a doctor specializing in Houston Lasik. I’m so jealous! I know she’s very pleased overall with the whole process, and wishes she had done it sooner. I don’t know how she found her doctor, but this website offers advice on how to choose a doctor certified in Lasik. You can read reviews from patients there too, which would be a big deal for me. I would want to make sure that the doctor I chose wasn’t just the cheapest, but that he was the BEST. Those two things don’t always go hand in hand. What I really love about this Lasik website is that they’re non-profit, and they put patients FIRST. They care about helping you, not promoting a certain doctor.

Every time I go out of town with my husband, my mom watches the kids. And when she does, she wants to make sure that if there was an emergency and we couldn’t be reached, that she would be able to get medical attention for our kids. I’ve always just typed up a generic form on the computer stating that we’re out of the county until such and such a date, and that she has permission to seek medical care for my kids, blah blah. This online power of attorney form is a much better option. If there were a true emergency, I’m sure a doctor or hospital would take that a lot more seriously than the word doc I came up with. I don’t like to think about what could happen, but it’s better to be prepared, especially when we’re so far away from home we couldn’t do a darn thing to help.