Sticking With GLP-1 Helps to Maintain Weight Loss
Anyone who has struggled to maintain weight loss knows the frustration of losing weight only for it to pile right back on once we slow down or stop whatever weight loss program or diet we were following. This yo-yo effect can discourage, demoralize, and even damage our health. Yet, many diet and exercise programs are […]
A Guide to Hormone Replacement Therapy
Having reached the age of perimenopause, I have newfound empathy for my mother. I remember how I used to giggle and poke fun at her when she would lie on the cold bathroom floor trying to cool herself from a hot flash. As a self-centered teenage girl, I honestly thought she was being overly dramatic. […]
The Role of COX Enzymes in Pain and Inflammation
Everyone deals with physical pain at some point in life. No matter what kind of pain it is, it’s usually caused by inflammation. Inflammation, or swelling, happens when the body reacts to an injury, illness, or something that irritates it. Inflammation is often seen as a bad thing, but it’s actually part of the immune system’s […]
Epilepsy Awareness One Purple Day at a Time
Epilepsy Awareness Day, also known as Purple Day, is observed every year on March 26 with the support of the Anita Kaufmann Foundation as a part of National Epilepsy Awareness Month. It was started by Cassidy Megan, a nine-year-old from Canada, to help people understand epilepsy and reduce the fear and stigma often associated with it. […]
The Importance of Poison Control Centers
Every 15 seconds, someone in the US contacts a poison control center for help with an accidental poisoning. Accidental poisoning is the top cause of preventable deaths in the United States, killing more people each year than car accidents or gun injuries. In 2023, more than two million people all across the country called in […]
Gallstones & Weight Loss FAQs
Like many others, my mother has had issues with her gut most of her life. Several years ago, she experienced an episode of excruciating pain in her chest. Fearing a heart attack, she called an ambulance, but by the time they arrived, the pain had subsided. After some investigation, it was discovered she had sludge in her […]
Living With Young-onset Parkinson’s Disease (YOPD)
Parkinson’s disease is a disorder that primarily affects a person’s movements and mood. It gets worse over time and happens when specific nerve cells in the brain stop making enough dopamine, a chemical that helps create smooth muscle movement. When we think of Parkinson’s disease, many people associate it with something that happens to older […]
Can Drugs and Alcohol Change The Teenage Brain?
People naturally want to keep doing things that deliver a reward. For example, when a hungry person eats, the brain’s reward system reacts positively with a flood of dopamine, the pleasure hormone. In the same way, a game of Candy Crush on a smartphone helps people relax after a long day. However, the brain’s reward […]
Introducing the Dawn Phenomenon
The dawn phenomenon (DP), also known as the dawn effect, refers to an observation that just over one half of people with diabetes, and nearly one-third of prediabetics, are experiencing early-morning surges in blood glucose, between 3:00 and 8:00 AM, despite not having eaten anything for several hours. This can make it harder to keep […]
The Realities of Juggling Work Family and Caregiving
For years, I watched my mother care for others. As a young woman, she nursed her mother, who had multiple sclerosis. After that, she nursed my father through cancer. And not long after he passed, she nursed her father through dementia, and most recently a sister through breast cancer. While she sees this as a […]
